You may have an elderly relative who says that she can
predict the weather based on the pain in her arthritic knee.
Or maybe you find that you get headaches on damp days. While
many people believe there are links between weather and
certain medical conditions, there has been little evidence to
prove it. But a study recently published in the journal
Headache suggests that weather can be a trigger for
migraine headaches.
Approximately 18 percent of women and 7 percent of men suffer
from migraine headaches, which are a result of changes in the
brain and surrounding blood vessels that cause pain and
sometimes nausea, vomiting and light or sound sensitivity.
While known triggers include wine, chocolate, sleep
deprivation and stress, many people with migraine say that
weather also sets off their headaches.
This study, conducted by researchers at the New England
Center for Headache in Stamford, Conn., assessed 77 migraine
sufferers who tracked their headaches on calendars for 2-24
months. Participants filled out a questionnaire about if they
believed the weather affected their headaches, and if so, how
strongly it influenced headaches. Researchers also obtained
weather data from reporting station near the participants
from the National Weather Service. They then assessed the
relationship between weather and the participants' headaches
based on absolute temperature and humidity, barometric
pressure and changing weather patterns.
The study found that about 51 percent of the participants did
have a weather trigger, though about 62 percent thought that
they were sensitive to weather. The most common weather
trigger was extremely hot or cold weather, the second was an
extreme of atmospheric pressure such as humidity or dryness,
and the third factor was any major change in the weather over
a two-day period. Almost 40 percent of all participants were
found to be sensitive to one weather factor, while about 12
percent were sensitive to two factors.
Study author Dr. Alan Rapoport, MD, director of the New
England Center for Headache and a clinical professor of
neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians and
Surgeons in New York City suggests that people who think they
might have weather-triggered migraines track their headaches.
"Any good headache specialist should have a patient tracking
their headache on a calendar," he says. "It's difficult for
patients to do as careful a study as we did, but they can try
to correlate the weather with the degree of headache they
have." Those who determine that they are prone to headaches
when the weather pattern is changing, for example, could
carry their acute medications with them at that time, or take
preventative medication before the weather change to avoid a
migraine.
It's not yet understood why weather causes migraines. We know
that migraineurs have an inflammation in the meninges, or the
covering of the brain, as well as dilation of the blood
vessels in the meninges. Exactly how weather patterns trigger
the abnormalities that start the migraine process is not yet
known. The next step is to figure out exactly how weather
triggers a headache attack, so that these headaches can be
more successfully prevented or treated.
2004 Dr. Reuven Bruner. All Rights Reserved.
For more information contact him at: POB 1903, Jerusalem,
91314, Israel; Tel: (02) 652-7684; Mobile: 052 2865-821; Fax:
(02) 652-7227; Email: dr_bruner@hotmail.com
