Headaches following alcohol consumption ...

[Mark46]

   For around three or four years now, I have been suffering from headaches some two hours or more after the consumption of any amount of alcohol - although typically as few as two drinks upwards of any kind of alcohol.  The headaches come on slowly but persistently and follow a line from the left side of my neck across the top of my head to just above the left eyebrow.  They are not sharp pains but more of a constant 'throb' and can go on for hours.  Pain relief medication does nothing and the only relief I can get at all is the application of something topical like '4-Head' or the American 'Head-On'.  Although I have been a reasonably 'active' drinker in the past, if anything now, at the age of 61 (male), I rarely have more than two drinks at a time ... which is why I'm surprised at the onset of these headaches.  My own doctor has, thus-far, not taken it very seriously and tends to take the line that, after years of 'getting away with it, maybe you've finally developed an allergy!'  

[JoeCrockett]

Wow. Surprised to see that so many people have the exact same symptoms as I do. I'm 49 and have been a moderate drinker all my adult life. I even brew my own beer. I have a very high tolerance and rarely experience hangovers. About six months ago, I started getting a bad throbing at the left base of my skull anytime I drink more than a beer or two. Analgesics do nothing to alleviate the pain. I'm an Ironman triathlete and an ultramarathoner and every physical and lab test proclaims me the picture of health. Just don't understand...

[missworld92]

I was in the same situation. I am a 24 year old female, I used to be able to drink alcohol all the time with no issues. It was not until last year that I started getting migraines immediately after having 1 drink. I experimented with everything, I heard that taking Zinc an hour before drinking helps your liver produce an enzyme that helps process alcohol better, so I tried that, but it was of no help/didn't work. I did research on what alcohol does to your blood vessels, and it dilates your blood vessels. I am a heavy coffee drinker, and the caffeine in coffee constricts your blood vessels. So having those two might not be the best idea within a 24 hour period, since the two conflicting processes might cause a migraine. I quit my coffee addiction, and now I am happy to report that I do not have migraines after drinking anymore. My experience may not help most of you, but I thought it would be worth telling if it might help at least one of you.

[dado7]

@nickeljeff - good suggestion, but my head, for example, hurts only after I consume alcohol, about more then 0,25 dl of beer or more then 0,15 dl of wine (as a rule of thumb), not after I consume other food that is full of histamine.

For me it is a good shoot though as I am otherwise allergic to histamine (slightly) and mites (largely).

I found out that drinking lot of water (which can be realated to widening of arteries, which shrink by the effect of alcohol - they basically dehidrate), especially mineral of water, and eating refreshing food (salad, ice cream) helps, but usually it only prolongues the effect.

[Burnhag]

I have been suffering with migraines from drinking even one glass of wine.  I started taking famotidine (an oral antiacid) prior to any wine consumption and I have not gotten a migraine since.  I am a nurse in a chemo infusion clinic, and we often given famotidine to prevent a reaction from some infusions of chemo, and my coworker suggested I try famotidine prior to wine consumption.  Well, guess what, it worked like a charm and I feel like I have my life back.  I was almost ready to quit drinking all-together!  I hope this helps someone who loves wine, but is almost ready to give up!

[nickeljeff]

Burnhag, famatidine is a histamine H2 receptor antagonist and may be helping your histamine intolerance. Do you get headaches from some foods? Some foods have high levels of histamine as does alcohol. See my post below.

[nicola66]

I've made some progress]

rmsmi I have tried that supplement and thought for awhile it works, no but now I'm just not so sure--

Dbbjfields - this is EXACTLY the pain that I have.

After going to a headache specialist and my headaches getting worse, I believe I have hemicrania headaches-- you can try treating them with indomethacin.

As for supplements, I have tried everything, and the only ones that helps are

Ginger
Turmeric
Boswellia ]

I've also found using the TENS machine is the equivalent of massaging my neck constantly, if you can get the right spot. -- this can also be dangers if you are zapping your spine so be careful

Boswellia appears to work similarly to indomethatcin-- Be careful with indomethacin as it causes upset stomach and screws up your stomach lining, bad news if you're ingesting lots of alcohol. I would take 1300 or more of boswellia extract and maybe 600-1000 curcumin with fats and pepper to help the body absorb it-- some days it seems to work wonders other days i'm not so sure. Do all with caution.

I think this is really is all part of an underdiagnosed headache type which is rarer than migraine or may coincide with it.

[ReMiles]

They aren't quite in the dark. The main problem is that, while they have good knowledge of *statistical* efficacy of a given treatment for migraines - i.e. what treatment seems to work most often for the largest percentage of people - migraine in particular has wide variance of behavior between individuals. It's just impossible to guarantee a treatment to an individual sufferer.

The best you can do is to have the patient run down a list in descending order of what seems to help the most people, and hope they run across a treatment that they respond to without wasting too much of their time.

This type of general information is easily available online. Working one-on-one with your doctor will (hopefully) help you zero in on an effective treatment for you as efficiently as possible and with regards to side effect and other health issues particular to your medical history.