Chronic Health Blog

Headache Cause #2: Weather

Today in the Headache Series will be another headache cause that may surprise you - the weather.

Weather

Studies have shown that those who are prone to getting headaches are especially attuned to changes in rising and lowering temperatures, high humidity and cloudy weather.

I am someone who can tell as soon as I wake up what the weather is like outside. I guess because of my CFS and Fibromyalgia my body is extra sensitive, so headaches are just common for me and the weather does trigger them. For those of us who are headache prone, cloudy, rainy weather can bring on terrible headache pain.

The changes in weather are thought to trigger chemical and electrical changes in the brain that irritate nerves, which at times can cause pain that is pretty bad. Anywhere from 50% to 60% of migraine patients will identify a weather change as the trigger for their headaches.

Dr. Mark Green, MD, the director of headache medicine at Columbia University suggests:

Pretreat with 400 milligrams of ibuprofen a day or two before expected weather changes. Naproxen or aspirin may work as well.

Sandy Robinson also is the blogger for her own website, Fighting Fatigue and the Fighting Fatigue Forum. On the WebbleYou Network, Sandy is co-blogger for the American Idolist blog.