Hey, Colin

[Peaches]

Once again, my head is about to pound off my shoulders because of a freaking cold front and a drop/rise in air pressure.

Is there somewhere in the US, or maybe ANYWHERE that has a lower amount of this occurrence than here? Am I in a bad place? One lady on my migraine board (you can find a board for ANYTHING on the net, hehehe) said when she moved from AZ to GA, hers got a LOT worse. :(

I have one more preventative medication to try that I've been putting off because it makes me tired all the time, but if that doesn't work, I'm packing.

Any suggestions or am I screwed until they start letting people live on the moon? :headwall:

[cj]

peaches, how exactly do your migraine's start when the weather is like it is now?
how does that differ from your normal migraines?
do you feel a pressure in your sinuses or in a specific point behind your face, or is it in your ears?

There's been a few studies done on the effect of weather on our aches & pains ... I did some research last year while I was sick, because i seemed to have something always aching and i hate the concept of taking a tablet to cover up the symptoms of a problem - it doesn't fix it, it just makes you ignore it until next time. the weather can be responsible for a lot of varieties of muscle & nerve spasms because your body doesn't have the right tools to adapt quickly to weather changes - especially when the weather changes quickly.

You can reduce your symptoms by finding exactly the part of your body that starts the migraine - the best way to do this is with a diary (yeah i know, YAWN) - record the migraine, where it starts, how bad it is and what the weather was on that day ... air pressure & cold fronts effect the sinuses, eardrums & the veins behind the eyes ... they then send signals to your brain which starts doing that relax/contract thing that we call 'throbbing' to try to help the body to cope with the change.

Guess what one of the MAIN causes is?! dehydration!!
keeping the blood cells plump with water reduces the effects when high pressure occurs - if your blood cells don't have enough water, they make extra effort to get that water when they start to feel air pressure, doubling the effect of the migraine. You may be able to move somewhere to avoid the high pressure, but it would be a lot cheaper to hydrate your body so it can cope better with the weather :lol:

Water as a cure (http://cat007.com/water.htm)

Here's some extracts from some articles ....

Though the results of their research are a promising step to firmly establishing the link between weather and headaches, doctors still are unclear as to why changes in the weather affects people so strongly.

"There's definitely a very interesting relationship between weather and migraines," said Dr. Matthews, who believes a dense bundle of veins at the back of the nose holds the key. The veins internally regulate the humidity of inhaled air so that it doesn't damage the lungs, according to Matthews.

"These veins have to adjust to a certain pressure, be aware of the air pressure, to figure out how much they have to dilate or contract," he explained. "If there's a sudden change, they have to adapt to keep the air at the right humidity. In migraine sufferers, this vascular system adapts too quickly. Basically, people with migraines and weather triggers have trouble adapting their vascular system to changes in the weather."

from: Weather may be a headache for migraine sufferers (http://www.weather.com/newscenter/topstories/health/achesandpains/010712pressuremigraines.html)

--
Migraines
Migraines are headaches caused by constriction or dilation of the blood vessels in the brain. Pain generally occurs on one side of the face or head. Sufferers sometimes feel nausea and sensitivity to light or sound. Triggers include stress, hormonal fluctuations, certain types of food and weather.

According to research by the New England Center for Headache, as many as half of all migraines are triggered by weather. (Read more about it in our news coverage from July 2001.) Many migraine sufferers single out cold, dry weather as the culprit, though almost any weather change can be a problem. Some doctors suggest that patients keep a detailed headache journal, so they can anticipate weather changes and take preventative medication, if necessary.

Sinus headaches
Sinuses are the air cavities in the bones around your nasal passages. When sinuses become clogged or infected, the resulting pressure can cause a headache. Symptoms include pain in the front of the head and around the eyes, yellow or green nasal discharge and perhaps a fever. It's believed that barometric pressure changes may bring on headaches, if the sinus cavities are slow to equalize air pressure. Damp, cold weather can intensify sinus pain.

A recent study suggests that most people who think they are suffering from sinus headaches may actually have migraines -- especially in cases where weather is an obvious trigger. Since symptoms of both types of headaches can vary, visit your doctor for a proper diagnosis.
from: Weather triggered health conditions (http://www.weather.com/activities/health/achesandpains/achesandpains101/conditions.html)
--

One thing that really helped my muscle aches was salt water baths twice a week... put pure rock salt (about 2 big spoons) in a hot bath, and soak until the water is no longer warm. Salt draws the toxins out of the system which are a common cause of muscle aches, but you have to drink heaps of water or this will dehydrate you more.

You've probably already been through all this a hundred times, but ya never know when you are going to find a nugget of information that starts you on a run of success so please forgive my verbal fart. It gets so much easier when you understand why the stupid body feels how it does.

I hope you feel better soon, and if not, I recommend the weather in Florida - the humidity rocks for aches of all kinds. :okthumb:

[Peaches]

Thanks for the links, cj! :rokk:

I only started realizing the atmospheric pressure was causing headaches about 3 years ago. The are different in that they pound. My "female" migraines are more like a muscle has been pulled AND it pounds. Hard to explain, but they're just a bit different. They are both in my temples though. :angry: And the "weather" headaches aren't helped by any medication (so far :awinky: ).

I've been drinking a TON of water lately, so I'm OK there. I've kept headache diaries and that helps A LOT to narrow things down.

There's one more preventative medication I'm going to try and if that doesn't work, I'm removing my head from my shoulders or finding somewhere that doesn't have weather fronts! :)

I'm also going to buy a barometer tomorrow so see if it's highs or lows.

Thanks again for the lines! :okthumb:

[cj]

I hope you find something that works soon. its frustrating as hell when you feel like you have tried everything.

Its a good excuse to move somewhere warm & humid though!!! :okthumb:

:biglaugh:

[Almighty Colin]

I used to get severe migraines when I was a kid. So bad I had to get CATSCANS. I'm lucky. They just went away as I got older.

Here's a bold guess. I would bet it is CHANGES in pressure that are the culprit and not the highs or lows themselves. The reason I say that is that the barometric pressure as reported by the weather bureau is not the real pressure. It's the pressure adjusted for altitude so that all the station readings are standardized and comparable. The pressure change from just driving up or down 1000 feet is more than you'll experience in any weather system in an average year. In other words, if you live at 1000 feet altitude or higher the REAL atmospheric pressure is low compared to at sea level period - regardless of what the weather is and regardless of the reading given from the weather bureau. I don't know how far you are from Atlanta but Atlanta is 1000 feet high itself. When they tell you the pressure in Atlanta is 29.92 inches it is probably more like 28.82 inches. The reading they give is the sea-level pressure equivalent which is good for detecting weather patterns but bad for telling you how much pressure you feel if you are sensitive to it.

If pressure changs are the culprit, the answer to if you are in a bad place is "yes". Georgia would be quite high on that list especially in the winter and spring as the jet stream overhead carries low pressure systems and fronts can still easily reach there. You can guess by the rainfall where there is less pressure variation. Maybe you shuld visit your friend in AZ. How do you feel in Vegas? [ok, how you feel at a conference is not a fair test]



Last edited by Colin at May 12 2003, 05:34 AM

[Peaches]

Being in the mountains probably doesn't help. :angry: The peak on my mountain is 2500 feet, so I'm at around 2000 :(

I just need a new head! :)