Toxins

Toxins are another possible contributing factor to migraines. Mercury poisoning for example is one possible cause of migraines. I'm not sure how much of an issue this one personally, but it's worth considering, and I've switched to lower toxin products such as soap and shampoo.

Anything that comes into contact with the body can affect how it works. For example:

• Air: Is it polluted? Is there a major road nearby? Air filters may help.
• Water: Does it contain heavy metals? Pesticides? Microplastics? Try a water filter.
• Chemicals: plastic packaging for food or anything else that comes in contact with you. Supermarket and till receipts are apparently fairly bad, as are many baking papers.
• Coatings: non-stick coatings on frying pans

Anything put onto skin is absorbed, for example:

• Make-up and remover
• Moisturiser
• Soap
• Shampoo and conditioner
• Triclosan in hand wash and toothpaste may disrupt the biome

The EWG Skin Deep guide has assessed many products and ingredients to determine whether they contain toxins, and rates them out of ten - 1 being great, 10 being bad. The hand moisturiser I was using contained Triethanolamine (6), Propylparaben (9), and Methylparaben (3-4). What would these chemicals do to me? It looks like they could cause allergies or impact development and reproduction. For example "Parabens mimic estrogen and can act as potential hormone (endocrine) system disruptors". I changed moisturisers.

Anything that is in contact with skin for a long time, such as moisturiser or make-up, will probably have higher impact than things like soap that are in contact with the skin for seconds.