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Cigarette Smoking And Migraine
A MyMigraineTeam Member asked a question 💭

Hi all
Everything I have read says that cigarette smoking is bad for migraineurs. However, I remember the years that I smoked - and admittedly, I was a “light” smoker - far less than a pack a day - but the thing is, I had LESS migraines during that time. And it is odd considering that some studies show that smoking can cause more migraines. The studies, however, seem small and not entirely conclusive. Since nicotine constructs blood vessels, this is considered bad for migraine. But a doctor once… read more

posted January 2, 2023
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A MyMigraineTeam Member

I hear you! I am also sensitive to perfumes. They are all made with petrochemicals, even the most expensive ones. Not many women know that. All fragrances and perfumes are harmful to the human body and many people are sensitive to them to various degrees. I buy unscented shampoo, unscented soaps, and even unscented cleaners. Any product that lists “fragrance” as an ingredient can be a trigger for me!
As far as cigarette smoke, yes I do hate it…NOW. But there was a time in my life when I could handle it and it didn’t give me any migraines. Strange, right? Perhaps it has more to do with the changes in my body over time than with the cigarette smoking itself. It seems that the older I get, the more sensitive I am and the more migraines I get. :/

posted January 5, 2023
A MyMigraineTeam Member

I can NOT be around cigarette smoke at all! It will give me a migraine within minutes! And another big immediate trigger is a scent from Bath & Body Works - Cherry 🍒 Blossom! If I came to pick my Momma up to go somewhere and she had forgotten and put that on, she had to wash off as much as she could before we could leave. I hated that, but she understood and washed off as much as she could... bless her heart ❤️ Something in that scent was just vile and went straight to my head. And one other thing immediately affected me like that from back in the late 80's, early 90's - does anyone remember that yellow Georgio perfume?! My husband bought me a beautiful bottle of that for a gift and I couldn't wear it at all! He was a little bit unhappy at first, the bottle was around $200, but there was nothing I could do about it 🤷🏻‍♀️ So my Momma got a very nice bottle of perfume for her birthday that year!! She was used to getting all sorts of scented things from me, but that one was especially nice 🥰💗🥹

But overall, I would say cigarette smoke is my biggest nemesis because it's more wide-spread. I was so happy when they started banning it in more places 😁

posted January 5, 2023
A MyMigraineTeam Member

AshleyKelley27: probably your body was likely reacting to not having nicotine when you tried to quit. Nicotine is a powerful vasoconstrictor and your body probably got used to that. Then when you took away the nicotine, the blood vessels (esp. in your head) dilated a lot more and bingo! More migraines! It’s been my experience that anything that has an effect on serotonin and/or the dilation or constriction of blood vessels can cause a migraine. For some people things like caffeine and cigarettes can alleviate their migraines, (which is why Excedrin migraine contains caffeine) But it seems that for other migraineurs those substances can actually cause migraines.

posted January 5, 2023
A MyMigraineTeam Member

Me I tried to quit and I got a lot more migraines trying to quit than smoking

posted January 2, 2023

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