New England Regional Headache Center Inc

12/18/2024

Happy Holidays to all our wonderful people! Stay safe and well! Let’s travel into our new year with less headaches and better memories! From all of us at New England Regional Headache Center

11/21/2024

What are your migraine triggers?

For those of us with migraine, we all have individual migraine triggers (factors which contribute to initiating a migraine attack) and we all have individual migraine protectors (factors which contribute to preventing a migraine attack.)

Our migraine threshold is an invisible line where any additional stimuli will push us over the limit for a migraine attack. All of our triggers push us closer to this line, and all of our protectors allow us to get farther from this line.

This threshold is not fixed; it changes depending on the progression of our migraine disease. Some of us experience central sensitization which pushes us into chronic migraine status. Our migraine threshold is likely very low at this point. It may feel like almost anything will set us into an attack.

The migraine threshold theory can help empower us to gain back some of the control from our disease. We can identify our triggers and our protectors to help try to set ourselves up for success. If we know we have an upcoming social event which may be very triggering for us, we can ensure that we are eating, sleeping, managing stress, and hydrating properly before the event to help minimize our risk for an attack.

It’s important to remember that we are never to blame for our neurological disorder. We can do everything “right” and still get an attack. We can do everything “wrong”, and it is still not our fault.

Dr. Tine Poole of Norway explains, “Migraine lives its own life. You can have some triggers and you can avoid the triggers, but sometimes you just get a [migraine attack] anyway. So don’t fall into the pitfall of blaming yourself for it. It’s not your fault. It’s a brain disorder.”

08/26/2023