Family Health Guide

Preventing a Migraine and Avoiding the Triggers

One of the first steps in managing migraines is to identify your migraine triggers and try to avoid them.

By identifying migraine triggers you will be able to spot the warning signs and therefore control the migraine attack better. You can quite often abort a migraine attack if you take some form of treatments as soon as you notice the first migraine symptoms and the often accompanying aura.

If a migraine attack starts try to treat it as quickly as possible with a painkiller or your migraine medication.

Many factors are known to trigger a migraine. You need to identify the ones that affect you. Avoiding these factors may help in reducing the frequency and severity of the attacks.

Keep a diary for a few weeks to identify trigger points
Avoid any food you find brings on an attack. Common dietary triggers of migraine include red wine, cheese (especially matured cheese) and chocolate.
Eat regularly, missing a meal can trigger an attack.
Follow regular sleep pattern if possible, because changing it may trigger an attack.
If stress is a trigger you may find it useful to try relaxation techniques.

Amost 15% of adults experience migraines. If you are a woman, you have about two times higher risk of being affected. This risk increases further if you have a family history of migraines.

You should see your doctor if:

You experience unusual symptoms that are abnormal for you
The migraine or headache progressively worsens
You e have a headache following a head injury
You have fever, a stiff neck, or confusion
Coughing, sneezing, bearing down, or straining while on the toilet leads to headache
Weakness lasts after the headache has gone