Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by shartshooter 719 days ago
I (late 30’s male) grew up with migraine and ultimately discovered that they were triggered by caffeine mixed with dehydration and/or chocolate.

Having discovered this I’ve been able to control them completely, but realize that not everyone’s triggers are the same.

I carry sumatriptan just in case but have never felt as though it’s made a difference. I’m always hopeful for more solutions to migraines for those who suffer

3 comments

I have a massive chocolate craving in the recovery phase, although I suspect it's just the body going after high-energy food.
I was getting migraines regularly most Mondays until I finally realized that it was tied to chocolate. I ate chocolate on weekends. I stopped eating chocolate and they went away. Now I never get migraines unless I have chocolate. It is likely the caffeine. I don't consume any other caffeine.
Note that there are theories that migraines start long before an actual attack, and that with this migraine comes certain cravings.

I'm other words, one might crave chocolate and coffee due to the migraine, and only later get symptoms, thereby causing us to believe that there's a causation.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

I’ve read enough people say they went coffee free and it helped that I don’t think the craving thing holds up, but I can see it happening in a different symptom: some people say the trigger is like bright lights, but I actually think the upcoming headache may be the one causing the light sensitivity, which would lead us to “remember” the bright lights.