There are several common triggers associated with migraine headaches. Not all individuals with migraines will be sensitive to every trigger, but most people with migraines will have an increased risk of headaches when confronted with one or more of the following:
* Environmental changes (e.g., weather, altitude, time zone changes)
* Strong odors, bright lights, loud noises
* Interrupted sleep patterns
* Hunger, fasting (this causes low blood sugar levels)
* Alcohol (especially red wine and beer)
* Smoking
* Caffeine
* Food additives (e.g., monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates)
* Hormonal changes in women (i.e., menses, birth control, HRT)
* Medications
* Stress
Other common causes of migraine headaches include complicated combinations of triggers including foods, food additives, allergies, constipation, liver malfunction, too much or too little sleep, emotional changes, sun glare, flashing lights, and lack of exercise.
Interestingly, most of these triggers adversely affect the adrenal glands due to stress on the body. For instance, barometric pressure changes, interrupted sleep, alcohol use, food additives, smoking, allergies, stress itself and many medications can all put undue pressure on the adrenals to respond. As we will talk about in the following posts, this can set the stage for a migraine.
The Adrenal Glands
The adrenal glands are your ‘fight-or-flight’ organ; basically, they help you respond to stress. However, long periods of excessive stress can diminish the adrenals ability to adapt, which means you won’t cope with stress as well. It also means that the hormones and neurotransmitters that the adrenals produce – including cortisol, adrenaline/epinephrine and norepinephrine – can become imbalanced. In response, the body needs to adjust other hormone and neurotransmitter levels, including insulin, serotonin and dopamine. This makes it much more likely that stress will trigger a migraine.
Luckily, there is an easy, at-home test that can help us determine how well your adrenals are functioning. This test is only used as needed and most people don’t need to run this test in order to achieve results. However, it’s nice to know that testing is available should we need it so we can find your customized solution by addressing your exact causes of imbalance.
The many stages of adrenal fatigue
Modern lifestyles produce constant high levels of stress that stimulate the adrenal glands. The impact of chronic stress is that cortisol levels never get a chance to return to normal. Our bodies think that being late for a meeting, getting stuck in traffic, a computer crash or the kids yelling in the back seat is the equivalent of a saber-tooth tiger racing after us. This constant stress causes several detrimental changes in the body that threaten not only your sanity, but your overall health and longevity.
Long periods of chronic stress gradually deplete serotonin as the body tries to down regulate excitatory signals. This can often trigger a migraine. Once serotonin is sufficiently depleted, the excitatory arm of the nervous system has free reign, often creating prolonged states of anxiety and agitation or irritability in addition to regular headaches. At this stage, many people describe that they ‘just can’t relax anymore’.
With continued stress, excitatory neurotransmitters also become depleted; this is when the body just can’t keep up anymore and many people struggle just to get up in the morning (or anytime during the day). These people often experience depression or chronic fatigue accompanied by nearly constant headaches.
A simple salivary test can help determine how your adrenals are functioning, identify what stage of adrenal fatigue you are in and guide us to the necessary therapies to restore proper adrenal function. This simple, do-at-home test involves taking four salivary samples throughout the day to measure your cortisol and DHEA levels. The results show you exactly where you are along the progression towards adrenal exhaustion.
The graph above shows the four stages of adrenal fatigue. In Stage I, cortisol levels are high and DHEA levels begin to fall. As stress continues, cortisol levels begin to fall (although they will be within the “normal” limits), but DHEA levels will be low (Stage II). In Stage III, both cortisol and DHEA levels will be low. Stage IV represents adrenal exhaustion; this is where both cortisol and DHEA levels are very low.
Once we know where you are along this curve we can develop a plan to help support your adrenals, help your body handle stress more effectively and restore optimal functioning over time.
To learn more, please visit: http://naturalsolutionsformigraines.com/
