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Wine Without Migraine: Try PureWine

With the weekend coming up, wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a glass of wine without migraine? Imagine enjoying a glass of red or white wine while enjoying a mom’s night out without suffering from wine sensitivities? How about drinking a cold beer with a few co-workers at a happy hour without any side effects? Sounds too good to be true? Thanks to PureWine, it doesn’t have to be!

Migraine Strong is a PureWine affiliate. We were given a free Wands to try. Our opinions are honest and our own.

Alcohol

Alcohol is a well recognized migraine trigger. According to American Migraine Foundation, alcohol can trigger a migraine attack anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. People with migraine are also more susceptible to hangovers. 

Leiden University Migraine Neuro-Analysis (LUMINA) study of Dutch adults with migraine with or without aura found that over 25% of migraine sufferers stopped drinking alcohol due to its presumed potential to trigger migraine attacks. Additionally, about one-third of participants reported a quick onset of attack, within three hours of having a drink. But, not all alcohols are created equal when it comes to triggering migraine.

PureWine 

PureWine Inc. is a privately held company founded in 2014 by a father and son team, Dr. David Meadows and his son, Derek. They both suffered from wine headaches and experienced allergic reactions to red, white, rosé and sparkling wines. As a result, they developed a filtration device which removes histamines and sulfites from wine without changing its taste aroma or color. The device does not add any nasty chemicals to your wine. They essentially created a “Brita filter for wine.” They created an ability to give us wine without migraine.

PureWine currently offers two products: one for the glass (The Wand) and one for the bottle (The Wave). Both of these products were designed to remove sulfites (which are present in all wines–even wines labeled “no added sulfites”) and histamines that prevent a majority of people from fully enjoying their wine experience.

All you need to do is place The Wand™ in your 6 oz glass of wine (or beer), swirl it around for 3-8 minutes, sit back and let The Wand™ do the rest. By simply placing The Wand™ in your wine for 3 to 8 minutes prior to drinking, up to 95% of sulfites and histamines will be removed! The longer you keep it in, the more histamines and sulfites will be removed. If you have migraine, swirling longer is better. The Wand™ works on all wines–red, white, rosé, and sparkling–and even beer! Meanwhile, The Wave™ does the same thing by purifying your entire bottle of wine as you pour. 

What Causes Wine Intolerance?

There are two major categories of chemical compounds in wine which cause wine intolerance: histamines and sulfites.

  1. Histamines are chemicals made by our immune systems. The histamines found in foods and beverages are also very common. Some people have more sensitivity to histamines than other people. Wand™ and The Wave™ are the first products available that remove the four kinds of histamines found in wine that cause allergic responses.
  2. Sulfites are preservatives that are added to wine to preserve it in the bottle. They also occur naturally in wine, but in smaller amounts. Most wines contain between 10-200 Parts per Million (ppm) sulfites. All wines have sulfites. 

The PureWine products have been proven by independent third-party testing to remove histamines and sulfites from the wine without altering the taste, aroma and color of the wine. 

Marina’s Story

Social media would lead you to believe that nothing brings moms together quite like wine. There is so much more to mommy friendships than wine, but it certainly does help create the initial bond. I’m pretty sure I saw a T-shirt on Etsy the other day that said, “They Whine, I Wine.” Oh and let me tell you, do the kids whine!  

However, for the first 4 years of motherhood, my reality was completely different. The kids whined, and I had non-stop migraine attacks. I was not able to go out, let alone drink alcohol. See my full story, HERE. It was a long journey to get my migraine disease under control and to learn to manage it. And there was no wine for me.

I did not have a single drink for almost 5 years because alcohol always triggered an attack within 1-2 hours ever since I started drinking in college. That is until I heard about The Wand by Pure Wine. 

Mommy Friendships

It is now that I can see first hand the role wine plays in motherhood and mommy friendships. It’s ever present at every corner of mom interactions. Wine is there when we commiserate over how hard the days are with our littles, when we relax at home and chat with each other over Facebook, when we get together for a book club, or when we go out for a mom’s night out.

The First Trial

The first time I tried using The Wand by PureWine, I was at a comedy show with my mom friends. I forgot my ear plugs (Mistake #1) and my migraine glasses (Mistake #2). The speakers were loud and strobe lighting was flashing into my eyes. I plopped The Wand into my glass of wine and let it sit there (Mistake #3). If you don’t remember anything you read from this blog, remember this, SWIRL THE WAND FOR 8 MINUTES. If you plop it into your glass, it doesn’t actually filter the wine. Before I even brought the wine glass to my lips, I was already feeling the familiar sensation in my neck and temples which was mocking me that I thought adding wine (unfiltered wine at that) to my bucket would somehow make the situation better. It did not. SWIRL The Wand™, my friends!

Learning From Mistakes

I learned from my mistakes and have since hosted a moms’ night at my house where I served wine. I twirled and swirled The Wand and in my glass for 10 minutes and I drank it as the girls and I chatted for hours. After everyone left, my husband immediately asked me if my head was hurting. No, it wasn’t. I answered in shock, thinking that it will start soon. But it didn’t, and it didn’t hurt the next morning. “Crazy” is all my wide-eyed husband could say. Crazy!

Many new moms feel isolated when they get situated in their new roles as a parent or a stay at home mom. Not being able to drink in new social situations may further alienate them from making friends. It’s true that not everyone will accept you when you don’t drink. And you certainly don’t have to drink to be accepted. I’m grateful that I feel supported and do not feel pressured to drink in my mommy community. But I also now love having an option to have a glass of wine without migraine if I wanted to.

Having friends who see you as you are is priceless and cheaper than wine. However, there’s also something beautiful about being able to join other moms during these events and view them from the same perspective as everyone else. And hey, The Wand™, makes an awesome conversation starter!

Eileen’s Story

My Father-in-law introduced me to wine when my husband and I were still dating. This was back before I even knew that my occasional headaches were actually migraine. Wine, gourmet food and cooking elaborate dinners was a huge part of our family traditions. 

Eventually, migraine became an equally huge part of my life. I started to suspect that maybe wine and beer were triggers for some of my migraine attacks. However, it wasn’t always consistent. Some wine seemed to always trigger an attack, while others were only occasionally. And certain beers were the very devil for my head (I’m looking at you IPA’s!) This uncertainty was because of how many other triggers were at play. But before the Bucket Theory was developed. 

Is Drinking Wine Really Worth It?

After a while, the unpredictability of whether the wine would trigger me or not was just too much and I gave up drinking (from my own glass). I would take small tastes from my husband’s glass if I wanted to see what a particular wine tasted like. I mostly just smelled beer. While my family was disappointed on my behalf, they couldn’t deny having a dedicated designated driver was a bonus when we went to a restaurant!

After 18 years of chronic and mostly intractable migraine, I finally found my way out of that state and was feeling pretty good. But drinking wine was still pretty dicey and beer was an absolute no go. I could drink wine, but would usually limit myself to one glass and had to make sure that my bucket was pretty low. I felt like I had to keep a running tally of what I had eaten, what the weather was like, how I had slept the night before and where I was on the stress meter. It was a lot just to enjoy a glass of wine. And invariably I woke up in the middle of the night super hot, sweaty and uncomfortable anyway. 

A solution?

Then along came The Wand by PureWine. This little wand was claiming to rid me of all of the calculations I had to do in order to enjoy my glass of wine without migraine. All I had to do was place it in my glass of wine and swirl for about 8 minutes (Marina goes for 10, I do 8). This seemed easy enough, but I have to admit that I was skeptical. First, easy rarely works. Second…I didn’t have a second. I just wanted it to work! But, at this point, I was trialing trigger foods, why not trial this!

The First Test – Wine

I brought a box of Wands to a family get together. They intrigued my family. My sister-in-law also has migraine, but her problem with wine is heat and sweating in the middle of the night as well. So we both decided to try them that night. We both swirled the PureWine Wands for 8 minutes in our glasses of wine (we actually used them on two glasses). The ‘wanded’ wine tasted slightly different…more smooth, less tannic than the wine straight from the decanter. I was fine with that. 

The results were fantastic. No migraine attack for me and no middle of the night heat and sweating attack for either of us. We were excited to have the option of using The Wand™ to enjoy our wine and avoid these unpleasant side effects. I have continued to use The Wand™ on numerous occasions and have had these same results each time. 

The Second Test – Beer

I decided that I wanted to give PureWine one more test. I haven’t had an IPA in 5 years and I wanted to see if The Wand™ was up to the challenge. For me, IPA’s are pretty virulent triggers and I will usually have a migraine attack within about an hour of drinking one. I purchased just one Founders All Day IPA for my test. I chilled it super cold, I and poured it into a glass. Then used The Wand and swirled it for about 9 minutes. I was a little nervous about this!

The Wand™ does knock a little of the carbonation out of the beer, but the taste was everything I remembered! I enjoyed it with my homemade pulled pork and coleslaw and waited to see what would happen. I waited and waited. And nothing!! This was particularly impressive because we had a huge thunderstorm roll through, I didn’t sleep very well the night before and I had a really busy day. All things that could have contributed to my bucket being full. Overall, very impressive.

woman in blue shirt with glass of beer using PureWine The Wand to prevent migraine
Eileen

I think The Wand™ by PureWine is yet another tool that we can use to lower our migraine threshold and enjoy this very social aspect of our lives! 

Danielle’s Story

Wine was a very big part of my life. That is, until migraine became a bigger part of my life.  Since graduating from college, I had occasional migraine attacks, but the frequency spiked in my 40s. I had daily, round-the-clock symptoms and had to stop all alcohol intake. I felt like I was in mourning as wine was in our family culture. My husband and I had quite a delicious collection that we had acquired since we were dating. 

Fortunately, I learned how to get migraine attacks under control and dared to try wine again. I was thrilled to be able to get away with 1 glass of wine, but when I had 2 glasses, I usually awoke with a headache or the start of a migraine. 

I am thrilled to have The Wand™ as I can consistently drink 2 glasses without paying the price for my enjoyment the following morning. Last week I had 3 glasses. Another nice effect was that when I left the restaurant, I didn’t have the “heady” feeling that I usually have with wine. I felt great.

PureWine Promotion

Migraine Strong partnered with PureWine because we see how well these products work. You can purchase any PureWine products at 15% off when you shop at this LINK with the code migrainestrong. Shipping is free on U.S. orders when you spend $24.95!

We would love to hear about your experiences with the PureWine Products. We sure love them!

Wine Without Migraine: Try PureWine

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Migraine Strong

The Migraine Strong team has a passion for writing content about living with migraine. We rely on our personal and professional experiences to bring information to our readers that will help them get migraine in better control and live the lives they desire. We empower our readers with evidence-based and actionable information to work alongside their healthcare providers so they may minimize the impact of migraine in their lives.

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