Allergies and Migraine

Allergies and migraine headaches are two increasingly common conditions. There also appears to be a link between them as people with allergies and/or asthma are more likely to have migraines and vice versa. The severity of each also is linked the severity of the other. So is there a a common cause of these two conditions?

Similarities Between Allergies and Migraine

Allergies and migraines are both conditions that can be recurrent or chronic. Migraine is considered chronic if it occurs 15 or more days a month. Allergies can be seasonal, with symptoms only really being an issue during certain times of the year, or year round depending on what your body is mounting an allergic reaction against. Both allergies and migraines tend to be in reaction to triggers. These triggers may be food or environmental. For allergies, symptoms are in response to allergens. Migraines may be in response to a food, sleep changes, weather, blood sugar changes, stress, etc. Things that trigger one reaction may also trigger the other or multiple triggers can happen at once and the combination tips you over the edge.

Is There a Shared Root Cause?

Maybe. Though migraine is very complex and there are lots of different possible causes, for our purposes today, we will focus on histamine as being a possible contributor to migraines. Histamine is mainly known for its role in allergies, being the main chemical driver of allergy symptoms. What does that have to do with migraines? Perhaps several things:

-Allergies cause inflammation. Inflammation contributes to migraines.

-Continuous IV histamine can trigger headaches.

-Histamine is a known vasodilator and vasodilation is a cause of migraine headache.

-Mast cell mediators and histamine act the central nervous system/irritates nerves causing/contributing to migraines. This may be especially important around the trigeminal nerve (a major cranial nerve that innervates the face)

-some anti histamines, specifically H3 and H4 blockers have been shown to help migraines

-Histamine is a vasodilator (dilated blood vessels in the brain are a known part of migraines) and activates nerve cells.

-CGRP (known in migraines) is released in the presence of histamine.

-Histamine is one of the many possible food triggers in migraine.

What Do We Do With This Information?

Great question. If you have allergies and migraines, focusing on managing histamine better could potentially help with both. If you need help getting started, Integrated Harmonies can help in two ways. First, check out the last three blog posts to learn about allergies, histamines, mast cells, and the nutrients and foods that can help with stabilizing mast cells and managing histamine. Second, click here to book your first session. It may even be covered by your insurance!

I am not a doctor. The information contained on this Website are for educational and informational purposes only. The information contained on this Website and the resources available for download through this Website is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed medical or health advice.

Gazerani P. Migraine and Diet. Nutrients. 2020;12(6):1658. Published 2020 Jun 3. doi:10.3390/nu12061658

Ferretti A, Gatto M, Velardi M, et al. Migraine, Allergy, and Histamine: Is There a Link?. J Clin Med. 2023;12(10):3566. Published 2023 May 19. doi:10.3390/jcm12103566

Guan LC, Dong X, Green DP. Roles of mast cells and their interactions with the trigeminal nerve in migraine headache. Mol Pain. 2023;19:17448069231181358. doi:10.1177/17448069231181358