Hunger as migraine trigger/sign

[untonuggan]

I read somewhere (note: citation lost in my bookmarks folder) that missing meals can be a migraine trigger. I've been somewhat dubious about this, except recently I've noticed it as a definite trend in my migraines. I get super hungry, can't find something to eat (I'm out, no food, unprepared, yadda yadda), headache comes knocking. However, I have also read that hunger itself is a sign that a migraine is coming. So which is it, the chicken or the egg?

All I know is that today I noticed a slight head pain and a gnawing hunger....I told my partner I needed food NOW, we ate, I had a giant (caffeinated) soda, put on my sunglasses, and that seemed to ward things off.

Thankfully, because after last week's epic migraine I don't think I could have faced another one. (Why do they always hit on Mondays? I don't even start work on Mondays, I work part time on weird days? WTF, brain?)

Comments

[the_rck]

I know my husband gets headaches from being hungry. His aren't migraines. They're resolved by him eating.

I could see someone migraine prone getting a hunger headache that turned into a migraine pretty quickly.

[untonuggan]

Interesting...I hadn't heard of "regular hunger headaches" before but I guess that makes sense. It must be something about a drop in blood sugar or something. I know I also get super-duper-cranky if I'm hungry. It is not pretty.

[kaiz]

Hunger is definitely a migraine trigger for me, but only if some other trigger/s is also present. For instance, if there's a storm front moving in and I haven't gotten enough sleep in the past week and I don't eat? Whammo, migraine. If there's no other trigger, 99 times out of 100 I can nuke the incoming headache pretty quickly with some food.

[untonuggan]

Yeah, I think that's about what I've found so far. I think I need to start carrying snack packs of something in my purse and my car. And then (the key) restocking them after I've devoured them.