Introduction Factors that collectively contribute to starting the cascade of reactions known as migraine are called triggers.
Triggers can be anything from sleep pattern changes, certain foods and chemicals, hormone levels, weather changes, and sensory overload (strong sunlight, perfume.
) The point at which the migraine begins is your trigger threshold.
The further beyond your threshold you go, the more severe your symptoms become.
Once the system gets going it's hard to know how long the associated symptoms will last, even after triggers have been reduced.
Keeping trigger levels over one's tolerance levels on a regular basis may be a major contributing factor to chronic headache and migraine symptoms.
How Does it Work? Here is an analogy: Think of your body's tolerance for triggers like clear glass measuring cup or a chemistry beaker.
The glass can be filled a variety of different colored marbles - each color represents a different trigger.
The clear cup can only hold so many marbles.
You can fill it entirely with one color marbles or a variety.
It doesn't matter.
All that matters is that when the glass becomes full - the migraine process begins.
How full your glass is as a starting point can vary from day to day and sometimes is entirely out of your control.
If hormones and weather changes are trigger factors for you, then sometimes you will start the day out with your glass partially full without doing anything at all.
This explains why sometimes eating a little chocolate or sleeping in can trigger a migraine and then other times not.
Reactions to triggers as well as tolerance thresholds are different from person to person.
Some people are very sensitive overall and others are not.
What is a trigger for one person may not be for another.
All of these factors make controlling headaches and migraines very difficult for doctors and the medical community who prefer "one size fits all" treatments.
Can you really prevent headache and migraine attacks by avoiding triggers?

• Many people have had great success with treating their condition with trigger avoidance.
  However, there will always be some people who will not be able to experience relief from their symptoms using these techniques.
  Why is this?
• You may have headache and migraine triggers you cannot easily avoid (such as sensitivity to strong smells.
  )
• You may be so sensitive that you have many triggers and even the smallest amount of exposure may affect you.
  
• You may have trouble determining what your triggers are as some such as food and weather will provoke a delayed reaction of between two hours and three days.
  
• Your triggers may not cause migraines independently but rather in combination with other triggers - making them harder to spot.
  (Example: drinking red wine may not cause a migraine attack on its own but when combined with drinking on an empty stomach or without drinking enough water - it will.
  )
• You may enjoy certain triggers so much (say chocolate) that you are not willing to give them up.
  

Keep in mind that even if your triggers seems unavoidable that there is benefit to be gained by controlling avoidable triggers.
Remember that everyone has a unique trigger threshold - essentially your capacity to tolerate triggers of all kinds.
This capacity is like a glass - it can only hold so many triggers - but preventing avoidable triggers from entering the glass leaves more room for triggers you cannot avoid (or those you choose not to avoid.
) This also explains why sometimes you notice a migraine after exposure to a trigger and then other times nothing happens.
It all depends on how close you are operating to your trigger threshold.