STRESS & MIGRAINE - Let's talk about it

This is an old topic that regularly came up on the other fourm and that has always inflammed souls and ended in a fight
I would like to talk about stress here where we can discuss respectfully.

My very personal experience in 20 years of migraine has brought me to some conclusions:

Stress is NOT the cause of migraine. Migraine is a neurological chronical disease.
Stress is NOT a real trigger
Stress is more a risk factor that increases the chances to get migraine by any minor trigger.

When I live particularly stressing periods, my body seems to be more sensitive to anything around. A minor weather change, a few minutes in the sun without sunglasses, a strong smell, loud music, an overcrowded bus can trigger horrible migraines. These situations are totally harmless if I am not stressed.

What's your personal experience?

Huh, really, this is a hot button topic? Huh...who knew?

I personally have been completely free of migraines on most of the most stressful days of my life.

And I did not get one after the stressful day ended either, like some people describe.

This past Friday is a great example, as I had the Celebration of life for a dear friend which was put on by my partner and I put on which caused me a whole lot of stress. I went the entire day without a migraine.

I wouldn't say that stress causes a migraine, but I would say that it makes it much worse for me.

If a migraine is simmering and I'm under stress and not listening to the signs and taking action to abort the migraine, then the migraine will start to grow. This is compounded further by holding tension while I am in pain and working harder instead of taking a break, and next thing I know I'm in a mega migraine situation that can last days.

It doesn't cause it, but stressful situations during a migraine can make things hell for me.

For me I don't think stress really causes migraines, but it does reduce my capacity to cope with them and so they are worse than they otherwise would be. I do particularly get worse migraines after a big stressful event but this too is my body being caught at its weakest and so less able to 'fight back'.

Things I can do to conserve my natural reserves help with this - resting where I can, getting plenty of sleep, meditating, moderate gentle exercise (no over exertion). I think it all comes down to neurotransmitters ie a limited supply that isn't regenerated as quickly as so called normal peoples are.

Stress to me is many things. Mental stress, physical stress, sensory stress (loud noises etc), sustained low grade stress, short sharp bursts of intense stress and so on. I think the reason this issue can be inflammatory to some is that in our modern society admitting to being 'under stress' is a sign of weakness, and also that the common perception of being under stress is just the psychological type.

Whilst going through big stressful events I seem to be able to delay any impending migraine until I relax. Then it catches up with me!

I used to think stress was a Migraine trigger AND that it was a trigger for me until a Migraine expert challenged me to keep a detailed diary, especially during times of stress. What I found was that the stress itself wasn't a trigger, but things I do when stressed ARE -- skipping meals, not drinking enough and getting dehydrated, crying, not sleeping well. All of these triggers are avoidable, so keeping that diary did me a great service.

Whether stress itself is a trigger can be a hot-button topic. I just hate to see people assume that stress itself is a trigger and not really investigate if there are things they do or don't do during stressful times that might actually be the triggers. Because I accepted the challenge and found what my true triggers are during stressful times, I can now avoid most of those Migraines by keeping the possible triggers in mind and taking better care of myself.

I don't think stress is a trigger for me; however, I do think - as with any chronic disease out there - that being under sustained stress is not good for our disease. When I am under stress I think that having a migraine is the straw that breaks my back, resulting in a sort of desperation. On the delicious days when I allow myself to stay home from work for no real reason other than some quiet, alone time I find it easier to remain "happy" despite the pain. I guess by "happy" I mean less likely to fall into a hole of despair.

I should be sailing pretty good with my head right now, as I'm at the "sweet spot" as far as my botox goes...that is, weeks three to eight post injections. The thing is, my stress is at an all time high.....so my sweet spot is not so sweet.

I've been getting nasty knife-through-the-eye migraines and nothing I take is helping. They are not every day thank goodness but taking too much out of me at a time when I really, really can't handle them. I'm pretty desperate right now...and the stress has another few months to go before it can end. ACK!!!!!

I agree with the others here. I have just been through an extremely stressful year, and my migraines have been much less in both frequency and severity than they were in the two years prior when there really were not a lot of stressful things going on (mostly due to a better preventative approach). When I do have a migraine however my coping skills for dealing with stress are much lower. So stressful events at that time can make the headache worse. I also find that the effects of stress (mostly sleeping poorly) can bring on a migraine. But I definitely don't think migraines are any indication or our relative ability to handle stress. I've always been pretty easy going and able to handle a wide variety of stressors fairly well, and I don't think that has changed too much other than when I have a migraine.

I totally agree that it does not reflect on ones ability to handle stress. I've been through more stressful situations then most people alive today and handled it just fine, without an end result of a migraine.

As of late though, I have to admit, the work stuff has me crazy stressed and I have not been coping super well. Not the worst stress I've ever been through by any means, but this time around it's really affecting me. I'm not sure why. I;m pretty sure the migraines are partially related this time around. Stress has never been a trigger for me...but it may be at the moment. Sucks.

I think it's simply an individual response.
To some people stress is a trigger, to some not.
Or, to some stress is one of the stronger triggers than others.

I am luckily not very susceptible to stress as a trigger. I can be under a lot of stress and it won't trigger M in me.


But, oh, wait -I just remembered - the most current theory says stress is not a trigger per se- it merely further weakens
our immune system.

For example, the way we don't actually get a cold directly from stress, as it is a virus or bacteria that causes colds while
stress just causes our immune system to become weaker, making the virus or bacteria able to enter our body much much more easily thus causing the cold.

In a similar way, when we are stressed we are more prone to give in to our common triggers.


Risa

Stress in itself is not a trigger for me. I handle stress really well. What I don't handle well is anger and grief. mostly because those make me cry and that almost always triggers a migraine. Sustained episodes of stress wear me out, and that reduces my tolerance for triggers.

It used to really piss me off when my ex-husband would blame my migraine episodes on not being able to handle stress. I thought I was doing really well at handling chronic pain from three to four different neurological disorders (depending on what was affecting me at the time), raising two kids, keeping up a house, working, and dealing with a moron for a husband. Funny how after the divorce and the "stress" of being married was no longer affecting me, the migraines continued exactly as before. He was very puzzled by that.... Moron.. Never really understood it is a neurological DISEASE!

He was very puzzled by that.... Moron.. Never really understood it is a neurological DISEASE!

Perhaps because his moronic brain was too limited to comprehend all that information?


Risa

You got that right!! When my daughter started getting migraine at age 8, he was convinced that she was "copying" me so she could get out of doing things. Such an ass... It was 4-5 years before he really believed that she was sick. It was soo hard on Sarah to have her father telling her she was faking.

I'd want to do very bad things to someone who would allow their child to suffer in pain and have the audacity to tell her it was made up! That makes my blood boil.

I remember very, very little of my childhood, but there was one point when I must have had strep throat. I was in soooooo much pain and my mom was so mean. It stuck with me. So angry!

It's a big part of why I divorced him. Who needs that kind of crap in your life?