If you often find queasy or drop off your appetite as amigraine attackcomes on , it may ( or may not ) give you some puff to know you ’re in good company .
A review publish in 2022 in the journalCellsfound that up to one-half of people with hemicrania reported experiencingnauseawith their attacks over 50 percent of the time .
What ’s behind the throbbing headache and churn stomach connecter ? And more significantly , is there anything you’re able to do to exempt nausea or cast when it comes with sick headache ?
Here are some answers .
1. Is Nausea a Side Effect of Migraine?
sickness is a commonsymptom of migraine — so common , it ’s part of thediagnostic criteria , according toRoderick Spears , MD , endowed chair of migraine and head of the cephalalgia partition at Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island .
Nausea does n’t appear the same for everyone with migraine . “ In some the great unwashed , if they have mild nausea , it might present as [ not having ] an appetency . They do n’t need to eat , because they feel like they will get sick , ” say Dr. Spears . “ For more full - blown nausea , the somebody may be perspire , and if they do n’t stop the sick headache , they ’re going to commence vomiting . ”
2. Is Nausea or Vomiting More Common With Any Specific Type of Migraine?
sickness and emesis can occur during a migraine attack with or without halo and are often found investibular migraine , a case that interferes with proportion but does n’t necessarily come with top dog pain . Symptoms of vestibular migraine can includevertigoand sensitivity to motion , according toJohns Hopkins Medicine .
People with vestibular migraine normally experience gesture illness ( motorcar or ocean ) beginning in puerility and have a story of migraine with headache .
3. Why Do You Get Nauseated During a Migraine Attack?
Nausea can happen in any phase angle of a migraine attack , but it most often occurs during theprodromephase , which signals the beginning of the attack and can last for 60 minutes — or even several days , according to theAmerican Migraine Foundation .
“ We do n’t know on the button why some people experience nausea with migraine , ” says Spears . expert once think that stomachal stasis , which is when the stomach empty more lento than normal , was the underlying case of nausea in hemicrania . But more recent research has demo that improving gastric stasis during a migraine flak still does n’t relieve nausea , according to a paper published inPatient Related Outcome Measures .
That say , the common denominator between sickness and migraine seems to be [ the hormone]serotonin . “ Serotonin plays a role in the brain during a migraine onslaught , and there are a caboodle of serotonin receptors in the bowel , ” explains Spears .
4. Can Throwing Up Help Relieve a Migraine Attack?
“ There are some migraine patient , especially younger affected role , who know that if they vomit during a migraine attack , it will in reality abort the attack , ” says Spears . It ’s not exclusively have sex why this is the case , although there are different theory .
While throwing up may avail lay off a migraine attack , Spears does n’t advocate endeavor to make yourself vomit . “ The goal is to serve affected role avoidthrowing upwhen that ’s possible , ” he sound out .
If you do vomit , you should drink water afterward to avoiddehydration , according toMedlinePlus . And if you develop unmanageable emesis , you should seek immediate aesculapian attending , according toCedars - Sinaihealthcare system .
5. How Do You Relieve Nausea Caused by Migraine?
If you know sickness as amigraine symptom , talk to your Dr. to ensure it ’s address in yourtreatment plan .
“ Almost all unexampled migraine therapy cover what are call the ‘ most pestiferous symptoms , ’ which admit light sensitivity and sound sensitivity , along with nausea and vomiting , ” says Spears .
Triptans , for instance , if taken too soon in a migraine flak , can check the attack and alleviate the symptoms , including nausea , allot to the National Headache Foundation . On the other hand , some people feel sickness as a side effect of triptans .
The migraine medications called ditans and gepants aim to cut migraine attacks by targeting specific receptor on receptive nerves . These drugs are also designed totreat nauseaand emesis .
6. Can Eating Certain Foods or Skipping Meals Trigger Nausea or Migraine?
Eating certain foods or skipping meals cantrigger migraine , which can then get on nausea , tell Spears . “ It ’s not as usual for people to do something to cause sickness and then end up with a migraine attack on the back end ; it ’s only in a small percent of patients that sickness would occur first , ” he says .
The foods that trigger a migraine onrush vary from person to person , but processed meats , hard cheeses , and foods with a lot of preservatives in them are common culprits , saysLauren Doyle Strauss , DO , a cephalalgia specialist and assistant professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston - Salem , North Carolina . you may exaggerate it on any food , though . “ Moderation is a good theme . Do n’t eat or salute anything to inordinateness , ” she enounce .
Because skipping meals can activate hemicrania attack , it ’s a good idea to routinely have breakfast , lunch , and dinner with some collation throughout the mean solar day , according to Dr. Strauss . This can aid maintain blood sugar level and preventhypoglycemia , or low blood sugar . Hypoglycemia may bring in on a megrim or make it regretful , according to the National Headache Foundation .
7. Can Nausea Make Migraine Treatments Taken by Mouth Less Effective?
In some case , yes , nausea can fall the effectiveness of acute migraine treatments take orally , says Spears . “ I find this is specially true for nocturnal migraines — the megrim that wake citizenry from sleep . Often , the nausea is so [ bad ] at that gunpoint that guide an oral medicine can be ineffective , so those individuals do need an substitute route of administration , ” he read .
Options include a dissolvable oral tablet , a nasal spray , or an injectable , say Spears . “ It could also be a rectal suppository , which are n’t very pop anymore but are a practicable option , ” he adds .
If you have nausea , contract your medication in a unlike way of life may improve its efficaciousness , consort to a introduction given bySimona Sacco , MD , at the 2021Migraine World Summit .
other nausea can be an indication that there ’s some impairment in how the gut is form . “ This may pass to delay or uncompleted absorption of an unwritten drug . If this is suspected , it ’s in effect to use non - unwritten drugs , ” pronounce Dr. Sacco , a professor of clinical neurology at the University of L’Aquila in Italy and the director of the neurology and stroke unit at Avezzano Hospital .
The Takeaway
Migraine