Why Do Some Wines Give Me a Headache?

The interval between drinking red wine and developing headache varied from 30 min to 3 h, and only one or two glasses need to be ingested. Wine contains some ingredients such biogenic amines (histamine, tyramine, phenylethylamine etc), sulphites, phenolic flavonoids that theoretically could provoke headache. For people with migraine, alcohol can trigger an attack anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours after consumption, according to the American Migraine Foundation. This is the typical type of headache induced by alcohol, compared with delayed alcohol-induced headache (DAIH) that appears the next morning — also known as the hangover headache. If you experience migraine headaches after drinking alcohol, it may be best to avoid alcohol.

In fact, an inverse relationship between density and metabolic functioning of regional brain 5-HT system and alcohol preference was repeatedly reported in animal studies [69–72]. Since alcohol can trigger migraine and tension headache attack, only a low percentage of headache patients should drink alcoholic beverages. Few and often only descriptive studies exist on this topic, with marked differences in the percentage of consumers perhaps depending on the country habits [19, 24, 26, 31–33] (Table 2). No differences between migraine and tension headache were reported [24, 26] (Table 1). ADs have been reported to trigger the principal types of primary headaches. Certainly, ADs, even in small doses, trigger headache in some MO patients, but what is debated is the degree, which depend, in part, from the population studied, the country where the study was performed and the study approach.

Is alcohol per se or another component of alcoholic drinks the headache trigger?

In fact, prospective studies report a limited importance of ADs as migraine trigger. If ADs are capable of triggering practically all primary headaches, they should act at a common pathogenetic level. The mechanisms of alcohol-provoking headache were discussed in relationship to the principal pathogenetic theories of primary headaches. The conclusion was that vasodilatation is hardly compatible with ADs trigger activity of all primary headaches and a common pathogenetic mechanism at cortical, or more likely at subcortical/brainstem, level is more plausible. The role of dietary triggers has been well reviewed previously [1, 2].

We can assure you that in most cases they will indeed lessen in severity and will eventually go away, but it does take time. While some people try to prevent headaches by taking over-the-counter pain medications before drinking, this can be dangerous. When you take a drug such as Tylenol while drinking, there is a potential for severe side effects, including liver damage.

What Types of Alcoholic Drinks Are Most Likely to Cause Migraines?

Early effects of alcohol can dull sensations and have an analgesic effect, but as alcohol leaves the body it can have the opposite effect and actually increase sensitivity to pain. Some studies have reported that alcohol can trigger a migraine headache in people who are sensitive to it in as little as 30 minutes — or it could take 3 hours. This review was performed using a literature search on PubMed from 1988 (date of the first IHS classification) to December 2014.

These same histamines are chemicals that are released in the human body when we have an allergic reaction and they can cause several varied effects. Runny nose, contraction of muscle tissue, lower blood pressure, dilation of blood vessels, and stimulation of gastric acid secretion in the stomach are all reactions that can be caused by ingestion of histamines. It is worth noting that grape skins contain considerable quantities of histamines and histamine precursors, which would explain why the high histamine content in certain varieties of red wine may induce a merciless headache. However, some people are more sensitive to histamine than others, so this theory implies that a particular fraction of the population is more susceptible to wine intolerance. This work considered the alcoholic drinks and other triggering factors taken the day before onset of headache.

Tension-type headache

For example, if a patient has been consuming an average of 12 drinks per day for 10+ years, the baseline for blood alcohol levels has remained fairly steady for a very long time. In cases like this, it is less surprising to see prolonged https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/alcohol-and-headaches-why-does-alcohol-cause-migraines/ withdrawal; and in cases of prolonged alcohol withdrawal, it is also common to see the symptoms take longer to go away – including anxiety and headache. Wine does not need to be ingested in excessive quantities to produce headache.

• Prolonged alcohol withdrawal is fairly rare but more common in those that have been drinking steadily for long periods of time.
• However, two conclusive negative studies were found on the relation between oral tyramine and headache attack in dietary and nondietary migraine.
• Acetaminophen makes it harder for your body to process alcohol and can damage your liver.

Include how you felt the prior 48 hours as well as any stress or anxiety you were under at the time. A migraine each time you have a night out should be good reason to abstain. Some people only sip a glass or two of wine before their head starts to throb. Many different factors can contribute to a hangover as a result of drinking. Drinks containing more alcohol and congeners may worsen the chance of developing a headache.