A while ago I wrote that I was pretty sure that nightmares can trigger midnight migraines… today I’m adding another unconventional culprit to the list: wearing socks to bed.
Hear me out…
For a few months there, one of the biggest banes of my life was midnight migraines. I was travelling ok throughout the day, with only minimal pain, but not suffering from any of the other migraine-miseries, such as nausea, brain-fog or cramping neck muscles. I almost felt like I was in remission during those daylight hours. BUT THEN, I would go to be feeling ‘fine’ (in a chronic pain scale kind of way), and then WAMMO! In the middle of the night, I would wake up with a raging migraine attack… agony and vomiting… ugh.
I started to pay close attention to what seemed to be happening earlier in the evening, and I THINK I found three POSSIBLE culprits (for me) that MIGHT have been causing my midnight migraines… my language is deliberately non-committal, because when it comes to migraine-triggers some things are not always obvious.
+ The first trigger I couldn’t actually observe, but I remain deeply suspicious of: hormonal surges. Before I started on Hormone Replacement Therapy, my perimenopause seemed to act out the worst in the middle of the night, with insomnia and night sweats… all that calmed down with the medication, but I suspect hormonal fluctuations might still be at play behind the scenes…
+ The second thing was that I had got into a habit of drinking A LOT of water just before bed. My theory was that if I had accidently gotten dehydrated during the day, then super-hydrating before bed was a way of evening out the score. I think this was a potential mistake. In my past post about drinking too much water, I revealed that there is a risk that you flush your system of the minerals and salts that it needs… my water-myself-up model was potentially washing-myself-out, and without food going in at the same time, I was setting my body up to fail overnight.
+ The third thing I noticed is that I tend to suffer from overheating. I’m one of those people who gets into bed and shivers… brrrrr… the sheets are so cold! Even on a warm night… brrrrr… so, I wear socks to bed – and sometimes a jumper and a beanie. Then I promptly fall asleep and warm up the bed, and oops… I’m encased in woolens and the surplus heat that’s building up can’t escape… and I know for a fact that during the daytime, I do NOT like to overheat, because being too hot can trigger a migraine… doh!
After I realized this, I tried a new sleep routine. I can’t do too much about the hormones (if that is a problem), but I stopped drinking so much before bed and stopped overdoing it with the Antarctic wardrobe. Instead, I place an electrolyte drink beside the bed (you can’t go without fluids if you’re thirsty) and I use a heat pack to stay warm when I first get into bed – something I can set aside when the bed has warmed up.
Now, I hate jinxing the universe by saying things out loud… and I never pretend to know anything for certain about my migraines… but (shhhh….) it’s been a month since I’ve had a midnight migraine.
We’re all you-nique, so it’s unlikely that my triggers are your triggers… that said, there are a lot of commonalities between us all, so it can’t hurt to think about the above and see if it applies to your situation.
Now it’s over to you – if you’re waking up in the middle of the night with a migraine, what might you be doing that’s accidentally triggering an attack?
Good luck and stay curious,
Take care taking care, Linda xx
PS – don’t forget about your teeth: grinding and clenching my teeth was also a trigger for my nighttime migraines, but I got a mouthguard some time ago – read more here.
PPS – Disclaimer – I’m not a trained medical professional, so please be sure to talk to your doctor about your condition before making any significant changes to your healthcare routine.
The Mindful Migraine 
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