Do you suffer from barometric pressure and headaches? What in the World is this? Well, when the clouds roll in and the pressure drops, you know what I mean! Your head starts throughout the day as it further. Unfortunately, if this is the case, many people think they are getting a sinus headache. Unfortunately, this is usually not the case. What you are is really migraines. The throbbing can be on one side or the other or even both! Up to 40% of all migraines are around the forehead and the nose is the reason why you think you are always “sinus”.
As good as any migraine sufferer can tell you if the pressure drops, or if the humidity is high, rather than migraine will soon meet. Currently, scientists are not quite sure why this happens. (No. It is not the full moon!) A few theories have been advanced. A neurologist noted that the changes in barometric pressure could cause small changes in the pressure of the fluid in your brain. This could set off the migraine-receptors in the brainstem.
A few years ago, in an APA (American Psychiatric Association) meeting, Dr.Mindlin Jefferson Medical College of thought, perhaps this type of migraine was due to dilation of blood vessels due to pressure changes. This idea is a little more complex, since the vessels stretch during a migraine, no matter what the cause is. The basic theory is that the air pressure receptors in the brain (the regulation of blood pressure when you stand up and position change) may also be affected by atmospheric pressure changes. As the pressure decreases, perhaps these receptors are activated and cause vasodilation in the head and therefore headache.
Nothing like this has worked well, but those of us with migraine are always up to the point where we can predict the weather, almost as good as the arthritis patients!
How can we succeed in barometric migraines?
There are several ways you can be headache caused by pressure changes.
1. If you take daily medication, such as anti-seizure medication, you may want to increase the dose slightly, when the weatherman says, the pressure will change. By going up a dose for a few days, and then comes back down, this may blunt the oncoming headache.
2. Increase your magnesium intake. I advise patients to go from 200-400 mg per day during this time. This too could help blunt the headache during this time.
3. At the beginning of the headache, take your medication as soon as possible. If you are the triptans (like Imitrex), add Naprosyn or Aleve to the mix. These medications have a longer action and can stay in your system long enough for the weather to blow over!
4. Exercise! In this way aerobic exercise you raise seratonin and endorphins, which blunt the headaches. In addition, if the weather is bad, and you can not go outside, might as well do something productive.