Barometric pressure affects headache?!

I definitely believe that changes in weather affect headaches, and there has been a great deal in the news about this lately. There was a research study that came out recently that said that there is a significant increase in migraines (seen in ERs) during changes in weather. They didn't talk specifically about barometric pressure, but that is one hypothesis.

WEATHER changes and HORMONAL changes are my biggest triggers. I have a friend who checks the weather constantly but my question is this......what good does that do? It would seem to be an obsession in itself which isn't good for us migrainers.

Can someone give me a baseline / guideline then for pressures?

There is a study that shows the capillaries in the lungs modify seratonin in the blood in response to reacting with electrically charged particles in the air. Changes in brain seratonin levels are implicated in migraine. Just in advance of weather changes (usually clouds coming in to fill lowering pressure), the electrical field at the surface of the earth changes to become more positive than it was (it becomes overall positive during thunderstorms with lightning and high hot wind events).

The more positive the overall electrical field of the earth, the more postive you are too, and so the fewer positive and the more negative particles in the air will stick to the capillaries in your lungs and change the seratonin levels in your brain. It is a complex system where the body tries to regulate it all but the weather change thing throws the system into a bit of a tizzy.

There are still studies to do but there appears to be something about the concentration of electrically charged particles in the air, the overall electrical field at the surface. That's why people think it is the air pressure, but are at a loss to figure out why they feel bad _before_ the weather hits and once it's hit and during it all they don't get worse or start to get better. The electrical changes are like a blanket in front of the pressure changes, so people feel those first. That's the theory, anyway.

Now there are some people with high CSF pressure and no leaks, so high air pressure makes them worse and that's pretty easy to match up. The ones with small CSF leaks react to pressure changes in more complicated ways, depending on whether the leak closes up when the pressure outside is climbing relative to the fluid pressure inside.

The theory helps understand why closing PFO's might help some people with headaches -- since a PFO prevents some of the blood from going through the lung and so picking up some seratonin through this particle exposire lung capillary process. It's an area for research.

Anyhow, if you were wondering why you feel bad a bit before the weather hits, it is more likely to have to do with an electrical process the weather forecasters don't track that may occur a bit ahead of the pressure change itself.

I generally (would estimate more than 90% of the time) have increased head pain with weather fronts/barometric pressure changes and I do not fly often, but can not say that I "usually" have increased pain with cabin pressure changes (takeoff/landing etc)

Interesting.

I have had migraines since I was 16. They were definately hormonally or food triggered. Early in mty 40's the character of my headaches changed and they became more weather related. I live in the Pacific NW and our weather can change 4 or 5 times a day in the spring time and in the fall. Sometimes I wake up with a headache (cloudy), it will be gone by noon (sunny) and back by the middle of the afternoon (cloudy) and gone by evening (sunny). I have had no problems with air travel.

Stronglady4me

Ihave problems with fluid around the outside of my ear making it feel puffy. MRI reports shaow i still have fluit from a previous csf leak,,, Maybe a new one or the patch didnt work. Every time there is anykind of a pressure change i end up with a headache and hearing loss drops real bad,, almost all my hearing now seems to be conductive hearing through the bone vibrations.. My problem started at Emory Hospital through a Melanoma cancer on my nose. Half my nose was removed, Reconstruction of the nose was using mos-surgery with my forehead scalp. When I came from reconstructive surgery and came conscious, I Couldn't HEAR the surgeon talking to me.. Dr Setha said it was just the medication but it wasn't and she would not look into it.She was just out of med school and was just starting up a new practice... HMMMMM bad to admit a serious mistake that early.especially for a new " Beauty Cosmetic Surgery Practice"
I started loosing memory, concentration, forget where i was, couldn't remember where i was going , hallucinations and etc. I was a Design Eng so needless to say, i couldn't safely hold down my job so I had to early retire.
Sadly i had to fall back on the VA Medical... I went to the clinic and they were setting me up with hearing aids.They did a CT scan first, Said they found heay fluid in my ear. Had to put a tub in it first ti drain the fluid to be fitted for hearing aids,,,supposed to only drain 1 day...5 days later i still had a drop of fluid every 15 seconds coming out,call them back and went back in and they looked a little farther on the CT scan and found a CSF leak in the surgical area for the reconstructive surgery.
Sadly these Drs came from Emory Hospital in Atlanta and just wanted to hee and haw about it and finally decided they had to do surgery to close the leak, I fell once in the hospital after the surgery hit my head on Bath wall... Head swole up... Dr Mattox blew it of said it would be ok,,,...
Came home and for about a month , things started getting better,,,hearing,memory all things,,, then about as quickly as it came,,,all the good went away. Another Mri showed fluid but no help offered,,, blew me off...6 mos later,,,another MRI,,, still have fluid.... blew me off again...went to my primary care for headaches,,sent me to Neurology..another MRI, show fluid..The Primary care Dr could see there was a problem and the ENT Clinic was Clearly trying to cover Emory Hospital of Atlanta's Butt. She got permission to send me to a outside nero Dr,,, I went,,, He said after hearing all ,,, he would not touch it,,, I needed a ENT Dr that did lower crainial surgery,,, put a dye in my brain to see where the fluid is leaking from,,,she was trying to get this set up in Augusta Ga Va that handles this...When the ENT VA clinic hear she was trying to help me,,, The Hospital got on to her and let her know it wasnt her posintion but the ENt's,,,, They had to complain. So now im screwed to probably die this way...I swear that a lot of drs have changed from the hypocrisies oath to a hypocrites oath... which worships money and each others butt. too tire to go on now... bad storm outside and bad headache... Im 66 yrs old and my reasoning on how to get things done is gone,,, sorry about errors ,too tired to proof read

There has to be a link! My only 2 triggers that I can easily pinpoint is weather and hormonal. I know exactly when it's going to rain. I get terrible migraines with the weather change. I do feel like there is a strong link between the pressure and migraine. I recently visited California and amazingly, my headaches went away. Mind you, I've been dealing with 24/7 constant migraines for the past 3 years now and have tried almost every treatment doctors and nondoctors have thrown at me with no success. I researched California and found it has one of the lowest barometric pressures in the U.S. I live in Washington, DC now and noticed instantly the change in pressure even when I was on the plane flying to and from California. Even when the weather was rainy and cloudy in California, I experienced no headaches! As soon as I was back on the East Coast, however, my headaches quickly came back :(

I think there is a direct link between the barometric pressure and headaches. I'm still trying to research this further.