Recent study has revealed that people who suffer from migraine have higher risk of alcohol-induced headaches as compared to people who don’t suffer from migraine.  

Michael Oshinsky, assistant Neurology professor at Jefferson Medical College (JMC) and Christina Maxwell, doctoral student in the neuroscience programme used animal models to study the link between alcohol and migraine.  

For the study, special rat models were developed in which headaches are induced by continually stimulating the brain’s dura mater with an inflammatory mixture from weeks to months.

Research team compared the effect of alcohol on rats suffering from recurrent migraines with rats without problem of headaches. It was found that rats with migraine problem had increased pain sensitivity, whereas rats in control group showed no changes in alcohol-induced sensitivity.

Oshinsky said: “Our results suggest that dehydration or impurities in alcohol are not responsible for hangover headache. Since these rats were sufficiently hydrated and the alcohol they received contained no impurities, the alcohol itself or a metabolite must be causing the hangover-like headache. These data confirm the clinical observation that people with migraine are more susceptible to alcohol-induced headaches.”