Almost all led bulbs flicker to some degree

Expensive ones don’t because they fully rectify ac and smooth voltage to create a constant dc source, but tons of cheap ones only put a diode to half rectify the signal (50/60hz flicker) or fully rectify and then cheap on filtering (less flicker but still perceptible)

A hue bulb recorded on slow motion setting:

A cheap $2 bulb on same setting:

Hue bulbs can also generally do adaptive lighting, which means you can pick the color temperature and in some cases have it automated. Philips is gross and anti consumer, changing the TOS a decade after release to require a cloud account. Fuck them. Find another vendor ideally that uses zwave/zigbee/matter if you want them to be “smart” but that’s only necessary if you want the adaptive lighting (cree makes non smart led bulbs that can change temperature via a switch on the bulb, for example, but Crees power supplies are mixed. Some flicker, some do better). If you have an incompatible dimmer switch attached to the light this can also introduce flicker, fyi

That all said keep in mind other things could be relevant based on what you’ve said: screen use (more flicker), barometric pressure, viral exposure, humidity shifts, hormonal changes, etc that can all act as migraine triggers. Finding a good medication can be life changing and medications in this domain have shifted drastically in the past decade. Cgrp stuff can either work as abortive (eg cgrp antagonists like ubrelvy) or preventative (eg cgrp monoclonal antibodies like emgality) and don’t have the cardiovascular risks of triptans. Unfortunately these are astoundingly expensive if you don’t have good insurance but they can be life changing

My solution was to replace every light bulb in and around my living space with tunable white ZigBee bulbs, connecting them to Home Assistant, and using a plugin called Adaptive Lighting to have them automatically change color temperature based on the sun’s position.

Hi there. I used to get migraines really bad when I was younger. I also have a sensitivity to artificial light. Natural bright sunlight does not have the same effect. Unknown why this is. Warm diffused light is my preference. I’ve noticed friends and family can sit around with what I consider horrible bright lights during the evening.

Have you tried any gepant drugs for migraines? Triptans suck and topiramate is not only unhelpful but actively dangerous, but CRGP agonists are only about 5 years old and seem to be really helpful for a lot of people.

I’m about a month into esketamine therapy and I haven’t had a migraine in a couple of weeks. I was even shocked to find that a standard strength acetominophen alone was sufficient to lift a headache I had last night.

I got a prescription pair of (zenni) “migraine lenses” and they slap my ass clean off. I can feel my eyes relax the moment i put them. Especially if im looking at a screen all day. I sometimes get tension headaches that last for 1+ weeks and since i started using them, it’s greatly decreased. Cannot recommend them enough

Cold cap
BC powder (basically powdered Excedrin)
Dimmable lights
Dark mode
Caffeine
Ear plugs

This is my survival pack that I have with me virtually at all times. If the type of lighting is the issue, try yellow tinted glasses. It can help with blue light triggers.

i am the same as you. before being diagnosed with fibromyalgia (which was the main cause of mine) i couldn’t live without my theraspec glasses. they have pink lenses that filter all the most harmful strains of light, and are FSA/HSA eligible.

you can also send in your own frames (their selection is limited) and they will do prescription lenses.

I’ve always heard light sensitivity is more prominent with blue lighting than warm lighting that’s really interesting (and probably also irritating for you because it’s a more uncommon problem to sort out).

It’s probably something you already knew about, but they make LED bulbs that connect to your phone so you can change the color and intensity as you need. Maybe experiment with one to see if there’s a color or intensity that’s more tolerable and decide if you want to get them for a whole room?

It’s either that or maybe it has something to do with the refresh frequency of the lights? Some people get mad migraines with certain computer monitors because of their refresh rates. Maybe the newer LED lights have something going on with that too.

That’s about all I can think of. Best of luck to you, comrade owl.

LED lights suck for that. I simply dont work with a migraine, it would be completely impossible cause I get a visual aura and tunnel vision as a lead up and during. If I get those symptoms I immediately go home, means ive got an hour to lie down in the dark before the pain train. I know for a fact I wont be able to get any work done and will start throwing up from the pain within a couple hours. I’ve found caffeine can help, but sleep helps way more so take your pick there. Smoking weed also helps. Mine is triggered more by humidity related stuff moreso than lights but the lights dont help once the ball is rolling.

Also if theyre getting more frequent or worse see a doctor. I’ve had migraines since I was 8 but its gotten better if anything. It was at least predictable, climate change is fucking that up rn tho

Same went for my partner, she used to get them all the time. Obviously change your lightbulbs and all that, but there’s some other elements you can try to control for.

The first one that changed her life was proactive symptom management. The more you get migraines, the more you’re going to get them, as they don’t fully recover between flare ups. As soon as she felt them coming on it was an immediate stop what you’re doing that’s causing it, and take ibuprofen. Have a half hour shut eye if you want. It sounds unhealthy but eventually it’s meant she’s basically fully kicked them - she rarely gets them anymore and when she does she cuts them off before they can take hold.

If you dont wear glasses, get your eyes tested - could be that one eye is slightly under focusing or something and is aggravated by the light. If you do wear glasses, get your eyes checked too.

Screentime. Screens, especially deep focusing on them for long periods with high contrast (like a light mode word doc), can be a killer. If your job requires it, it may be time to look at what jobs don’t force you to look at one so much.

Overall fatigue reduction. Especially your eyes and brain. Everything in your body works worse when you’re tired. Get proper sleep. In the day, don’t let your body get run down - if you’re waiting for lunch time and starting to feel an energy dip, cram a banana in and sink a pint of water - don’t let your body get low.

Eat good food, lots of omega vits and so on. If you don’t exercise, try to go on walks or whatever - not only will it peel you off a screen, but over time your body’s resistance to being fatigued will go up.

Shrooms or pharmaceutical serotonergics like sumatriptan are worth trying.

You can get Botox injections to strategically numb certain muscles.

Or there’s this whole new drug class they’ve been working on recently: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9043885/

Even sunlight used to trigger mine, or make them worse. Allergens and stiff back and smoulder muscles contributed. The main thing that helped is just breathwork and calming myself down by lying down in the dark and sleeping or thinking about something besides my headache, just eyes closed and not thinking, just “watching” my thoughts come and go as quickly, without attaching tu them.

My wife has the same trigger for migraines.

Have you tried huffing medical oxygen?

I’m vitamin D deficient like all the time and when it’s really low my sleep goes to shit and my migraines come in the hardest.