Migraines are more than just bad headaches; they often bring on fatigue. The link between migraine and tiredness is complex, tied to many neurological and metabolic factors. 

It's key to grasp how migraine leads to exhaustion to better manage symptoms and improve life quality.

When a migraine hits, the body undergoes many changes that make you feel tired. These changes include imbalances in neurotransmitters, increased oxidative stress and inflammation, metabolic factors and disruptions in sleep patterns. 

Together, they form what's known as a migraine hangover. This shows how complex and deep the impact of migraine can be.

Understanding Migraine and Fatigue

Migraines are intense headaches that can last for hours or even days. They often come with migraine symptoms like nausea, sensitivity to light, and changes in vision. 

Many people find they feel very tired, both during and after a migraine. This tiredness makes everyday tasks seem hard.

It's important to understand how migraine and fatigue are linked. 

Firstly, events that can contribute to an energy deficiency, such as fasting, exercise, oxygen lack (altitude) or alcohol, are amongst the most frequent migraine trigger factors. 

Other known migraine triggers, such as perfumes, loud noises, light, perfume, toxins, processed foods, MSG and more can also negatively impact energy metabolism via increasing oxidative stress.

The migraine pain might be seen as a warning sign that you are running out of energy, forcing you to rest.

When you have a migraine, your body is under some additional stress, such as inflammation, electrolyte or neurotransmitter or hormonal imbalances all can play a role in addition to the metabolic stress.

This stress can use up your energy even further and makes you feel more tired. It also makes it harder to think clearly, making daily tasks tough.

Learning about the effects of migraine on energy levels is key to managing them better. 

By addressing both the headache and the fatigue, people with migraine can improve their lives a lot.

The Neurological Factors Behind Migraine

Understanding why migraine makes us feel so tired is key.

When a migraine hits, it changes how our brain works. This includes altering brain chemistry, ion gradients, inflammation, oxidative stress all of which can contribute to activating pain pathways.

This can lead to a breakdown in normal brain function and homeostasis has to be restored. This can take a lot of energy and can make us feel very tired.

This mix of pain and fatigue can make it hard to get better. Our body has to deal with the migraine pain and this alone is exhausting.

In addition, migraine can come with an imbalance certain neurotransmitters (see below).

Several neurological and metabolic factors contribute to feeling tired during and after a migraine. Knowing about these factors helps us find ways to fight fatigue from migraine.

Neurotransmitter Imbalances During migraine

During a migraine, imbalances in neurotransmitters can also contribute to fatigue.

These chemicals play a big role in how we feel and our energy levels.

Role of Serotonin in Energy Levels

Serotonin helps control our mood and sleep. When serotonin levels drop during a migraine, we feel more tired. This can mess up our sleep, making us feel even more fatigued.

Keeping serotonin levels balanced is key for our mental and physical energy.

Dopamine’s Impact on Motivation and Focus

Dopamine is key for motivation and focus. If dopamine levels change, we might not feel like doing things and have trouble concentrating. This can make us feel more tired and less able to do daily tasks.

Since migraine often affects dopamine, we might feel very tired and not care about anything.

GABA’s Contribution to Drowsiness

GABA helps calm down nerve activity. But during a migraine, GABA levels go up. This can make us feel very sleepy and less alert.

This can make us feel even more tired after a migraine. It's important to keep GABA levels in check to fight fatigue from migraine.

Cortical Spreading Depression and Its Effects

Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a key event during migraine attacks.

It's a wave that excites brain cells in synchronization, slows, messes up ion concentrations and increases inflammation and afterwards it slows down brain cells, changing how the brain works.

This tsunami can make people feel very tired. The CSD is the phenomenon underlying the migraine aura.

CSD and migraine are closely linked. It can make pain from migraine worse by making pain pathways more sensitive. This means people may feel more pain and be more exhausted.

Hypothalamic Activation: Sleep-Wake Disruption

The hypothalamus plays a key role in managing feeding, energy, general homeostasis, sleep and wake cycles. When it gets activated prior and during a migraine, it can disrupt all these things

This leads to more migraine fatigue. People find it hard to keep a regular sleep schedule because of this.

It's important to know how the hypothalamus affects sleep during a migraine. 

When a migraine hits, it can change how alert and energetic you feel.

This can make it hard to get better from a migraine.

Several things can make sleep patterns worse during a migraine:

• It's hard to fall asleep because of the pain and discomfort.
• You wake up more during the night, so your sleep is broken.
• Changes in hormones can mess with your ability to sleep well.

These issues can make you feel more tired and fatigued. Understanding these problems is key to managing migraine fatigue and sleep-wake disruption.

Physiological Stress Response to Migraine

We all know that stress in almost any form (psychological, physical and chemical) triggers a migraine attack.

The migraine attack itself also leads to a big stress response in the body, causing hormonal changes. When an attack hits, cortisol and adrenaline levels go up. 

These hormones make you more alert and ready for danger. But, staying in this state can increase oxidative stress and lead to fatigue making you feel very tired and worn out..

Hormonal Changes During an Attack

During a migraine, hormonal changes, especially what is known as the fight or flight response, can influence your body's normal functions. 

Cortisol is one of these stress hormones that makes you feel energetic at first, liberating energy reserves, so you can fight or flight, but then you crash, when reserves are used up, feeling very tired.

Adrenaline is another very potent fight or flight hormone, which makes your heart beat faster, but if you don't recover properly from the stress, you'll feel less energetic.

Inflammation and Systemic Fatigue

Neurogenic inflammation is a big part of having a migraine. When you're having an attack, your body releases inflammatory substances. 

This inflammation makes you feel tired all over, leading to a cycle of exhaustion that can last even after the migraine is gone.

Pain, Sensory Overload, and Energy Depletion

A migraine can cause a lot of pain and pain is very exhausting. The body works hard to handle the pain, using up a lot of energy.

This can lead  to feeling very tired.

Many people also feel overwhelmed by too much sensory input during a migraine. Not enough energy makes it hard to filter sensory input.

This can make light, sound, and smells seem too much. Sensory input in turn can make the brain spend even more energy and make you feel even more tired.

Exhaustion from Severe Pain

Severe pain can make you feel very tired. When you get a migraine, your body does many things to try to handle it. 

This can make your muscles tense, your heart beat faster, and your nerves get overworked.

These changes make the pain worse and make you feel very tired. It can be hard to get better after feeling this way.

The Burden of Sensory Hypersensitivity

On top of the pain, you might also feel overwhelmed by too much sensory input. Sounds and lights might seem too loud or bright. 

This can make you want to find a quiet, dark place to rest.

This sensitivity can make you feel even more exhausted. It adds to the pain and makes it hard to break the cycle of discomfort.

Why Does Migraine Make You Tired?

Migraine fatigue is a complex issue, tied to many physical and brain factors. Knowing why we feel so tired during and after migraine helps us understand causes of tiredness better.

At first, many migraine trigger factors, such as fasting, alcohol, exercise, altitude, lack of oxygen, dehydration, not enough sleep, stress (psychological, physical or chemical) can be negative for energy metabolism and deplete the body’s energy reserves, thereby making the brain energy deficient.

In addition, neurochemical imbalances are part of migraine, which can also contribute to tiredness.

Changes in serotonin and dopamine levels cause fatigue. These changes affect our mood and energy, leading to the migraine effects.

The release of stress hormones during a migraine eventually make us feel even more tired. Down the line stress hormones increase fatigue, affecting our daily life. 

Plus, migraines often make us feel overwhelmed, draining our mental and physical energy. This makes migraine fatigue feel overwhelming.

Not sleeping well also adds to the fatigue. Many people with migraine have trouble sleeping before and during an attack. 

This is key to understanding possible causes of tiredness. All these factors together leave us feeling very tired, even after the migraine is gone.

The Impact of Sleep Disruption on Fatigue

Sleep problems often go hand in hand with migraine, making people feel very tired. 

The cycle of pain and bad sleep makes it hard to get better. It's key for people with these headaches to fix their sleep issues, as insomnia and poor sleep can make things worse.

Insomnia and Poor Sleep Quality

Many people with migraine have trouble sleeping or wake up often. This not only makes sleep poor but also makes you feel more tired. 

Without enough good sleep, migraine symptoms can get worse, creating a tough cycle to escape.

Altered Sleep-Wake Cycle Effects

Disrupted sleep deeply affects the sleep-wake cycle. It can mess up your body's natural rhythms, leading to constant tiredness. 

Not getting into deep sleep is crucial for feeling refreshed. Sticking to a regular sleep schedule can help improve sleep quality.

Postdrome Phase: The Migraine Hangover

The postdrome phase, often called the migraine hangover, comes after a severe migraine attack. 

It can last from 24 to 48 hours, leaving people feeling tired, weak, and foggy in the head. Unlike the headaches of a migraine, this phase has its own set of symptoms that can affect daily life and well-being.

Understanding the Aftermath of a Migraine

Looking closer at the postdrome phase shows how hard it is to recover from migraine. People may feel extremely tired, making even simple tasks hard. 

They might also struggle with thinking clearly or concentrating. This time is when the body tries to get back to normal after the migraine's disruption.

Neurotransmitters, Nutrient Depletion and Recovery

Another key part of the migraine hangover is the loss of or imbalance of key nutrients, energy and neurotransmitters.

A migraine can mess with the levels of these important chemicals, making recovery harder. 

As the body works to rebalance itself, the effects can make people feel very tired and not sharp mentally and physically.

Knowing about this loss helps people better understand their recovery and get back to their daily lives with more energy.

Conclusion

Understanding the role of energy metabolism, neurotransmitters, oxidative stress and inflammation, nutrients, stress hormones and more in migraine and the postdrome phase can help individuals navigate through the challenges of recovery. 

It is important to be patient with oneself and allow the body time to restore its balance.

Engaging in self-care practices such as staying hydrated with increased mineral and salt intake, resting, and eating nourishing whole foods, adding essential nutrients and antioxidants, amino acids, alternative brain fuels such as ketone bodies and fatty acids can support the body in replenishing these essential chemicals. 

By acknowledging why migraine can increase fatigue individuals can approach their recovery with a greater sense of understanding and compassion for themselves.