Interestingly there is little documentation of alcohol causing headache evidence. Studies suggest that there are various other components of alcoholic beverages which trigger alcohol headache.

Few people are extremely sensitive to alcohol and can get headache soon after consumption of alcohol and the people who suffer from alcohol induced headaches are more at more risk of suffering from migraine headache besides suffering from headaches caused by alcohol.

WHY DOES ALCOHOL CAUSES HEADACHE?

Alcohol headache is caused because of the vasodilatation of the blood vessels which is further aided by the ethanol present in the alcohol. Few of the alcoholic beverages are:

• Vodka
• Gin
• White wine
• Red wine

Among these vodka, gin and white win seems to be fairly tolerated by the migraine sufferers while red wine is thought to be much more potent in terms of migraine stimulation.

There is a chemical called tyramine (vide infra) in the red wine which has been touted as being the main culprit in causing alcoholic headache. This cause of alcohol headaches has not been proved with any degree of certainty, but the observation that red wine is a more potent trigger is commonly accepted as it contains one of the main migraine triggers the tyramine.

People who suffer from alcohol headache take pain killers to kill their headache. This is very dangerous as the alcohol consumed if still present in the body system can get combined with pain killer drugs consumed like acetaminophen then they may suffer from serious problems like liver damage.

Further few people drink coffee to avoid headache but coffee is also a diuretic which may further intensify the alcohol induced headache.

Drink good amount of water if you suffer from headache due to alcohol.

The best thing to cure alcohol headache is to avoid drinking alcohol.

There are few things which can be done to avoid hangover headache but I don’t want to discuss it here as I am strict against drinking alcohol by any means. I would just like to say avoid drinking alcohol and be free from headache. It is the best way to cure alcohol headache.

The headache caused because of the contraction of the muscles of the neck is called tension headache. More than 70% of headaches are of these kind. One can identify the painful areas on the muscles of our neck by running our fingers on any one side of the neck.

Prolonged psychological tension, sitting in poor posture or in the same posture for a longer period of time often produce a spasm of muscles in the back of the neck and this muscle spasm produced draws the tissues over the surface of the cranium very tight, so that the pain is felt not even on the back of the neck but also but also over the top and front of the head. This pain is a steady and aching kind of pain usually with no nausea, vomiting or flashing lights. To avoid such kind of tension headaches one should try to avoid emotional stress and disturbance, and do neck stretching and rolling exercises whenever you happen to stand or sit in same posture for a longer time. Further contraction of the eye muscles, scalp muscles and facial muscles for a longer time can also produce tension headache.

ALCOHOLIC HEADACHE-

Large quantities of alcohol intake causes hangover leading to severe headache. Alcohol is toxic and the toxicity of alcohol directly irritates the meninges or coverings of the brain, thus causing pain the head. Alcohol intake also leads to dilation of the arteries of the brain and this inturn produces a pain like migraine. Naturally the best treatment of this type of headache is to avoid excessive use of alcohol. Further the patient is advised to take bed rest till the crisis is over.