Things you may not know about migraines

This article lists three things you may not know about migraine headaches.

You're familiar with the pain of a migraine—the intense throbbing concentrated mostly on one side your head and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, or hypersensitivity to light and sound. You know that these recurring headaches can last a while and that a number of factors might trigger an attack. Here's what you might not know about migraines:

Obesity may raise your risk. Researchers at Johns Hopkins recently analyzed data from nearly 4,000 adults and found the odds of episodic migraines (the kind that occurs 14 days or fewer a month) were more than 80% higher in the obese participants. The risk was greatest among women, whites and those under age 50. What might cause the link between obesity and migraines is still up for debate, but experts do know other factors—such as family history and gender, for example—make you more prone to having migraines.

Lightning could spark one. Changes in weather or barometric pressure are known migraine triggers, but results from a study of patients suggest lightning may affect the onset of headaches. Researchers found that people were nearly 30% more likely to experience a migraine on days when lightning struck within 25 miles of their home; they speculate that electromagnetic waves, an increase in ozone or fungal spores caused by the lightning could be the culprits. Another surprising time that could set off a headache? At the start of a weekend or first day of vacation. To help determine your triggers, keep a headache diary: note when your headaches start, how long they last and what, if anything, provides relief.

Poor treatment could lead to more frequent headaches. That's according to research recently presented at a meeting of the International Headache Congress. Scientists found that people with episodic migraines who received inadequate treatment for acute headaches were more likely to develop chronic migraines, defined as 15 or more migraine days a month. Migraines can't be cured, but you can prevent attacks or relieve symptoms with the right mix of meds, behavioral changes and even alternative remedies. Work with your doctor to determine your treatment plan.

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Lightning may trigger migraines

Researchers found that people are more likely to have a migraine headache on days when lightening is striking somewhere around their home.

Weather has long been considered one of many potential migraine triggers, but a new study links lightning, specifically, to the onset of the severe headaches that plague more than 28 million Americans.

Based on headache logs and weather data for Ohio and Missouri, researchers found that people were 28 percent more likely to experience a migraine on days when lightning struck within 25 miles of their home.

"We're very surprised and very happy with the results in that this is the first study to link lightning to migraines," said Dr. Vincent Martin, the study's senior author from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio.

Migraines are severe headaches - sometimes accompanied by light sensitivity, visual hallucinations or nausea - that can disable a person for hours or even days at a time. The majority of migraine sufferers are women.

Martin told Reuters Health that a migraine may result from a person experiencing certain "triggers," such as stress, lack of sleep and dehydration.

Previous research has also found links between the onset of migraines and high barometric pressure, high temperatures and high humidity.

Most of the past studies looking at weather and migraines, however, relied on an individual's observations and did not always account for other, possibly unseen, local weather conditions, the researchers write in the journal Cephalalgia.

For the new study, they used information collected from three sensors that track lightning near Cincinnati, Ohio, and five sensors near St. Louis, Missouri. Those sensors allowed the researchers to know where and when lightning struck and the intensity of each strike.

They also used the headache diaries from two previous studies of 90 migraine sufferers in those areas who were between 18 and 65 years old. In those diaries, the participants recorded their headaches for three to six months.

After comparing the weather data with the headache journals, the researchers found that a lightning strike within 25 miles of a person's house was linked to a 31 percent increased risk of any kind of headache, and a 28 percent increased risk of the more severe migraine headache.

Martin said that could mean an extra one to three migraines per month for an individual, but he added that it depends on the person and the weather.

As for how lightning might affect migraine occurrences, Martin said it could be that the electromagnetic waves and ozone created by the lightning have something to do with it.

"The other theory is that when these thunderstorms roll in they can create more allergy spores in the environment," he said, which could create a problem for some people.

But the researchers cannot say for certain that lightning causes migraines, even though they used a computer model to account for other meteorological changes that occur during a thunderstorm.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Hayrunnisa Bolay of Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, cautioned that the study had limitations, including its failure to account for the participants' own individual risk factors.

"In brief, one can only conclude that weather conditions associated with lightning have the potential to induce headache in migraine patients," she wrote.

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