Urgent warning to millions plagued by headaches over ‘risk of killer side effect’
MIGRAINES can be agonising, sending sufferers into a dark room to wait them out.
Scientists have warned that people who suffer from these throbbing headaches affecting one side of the face could have a higher risk of developing deadly health conditions.
A new study led by Cecilia Hvitfeldt Fuglsang of Aarhus University in Denmark found that both men and women who experience migraine headaches also carry an elevated risk of having an ischaemic stroke.
This is the most common type of stroke that happens when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, according to the .
These blood clots typically form in areas where the arteries have been narrowed or blocked over time by fatty deposits, in a process called atherosclerosis.
But the research - published in journal PLOS Medicine - also showed that, unlike men, women carry an additional risk of having a heart attack or haemorrhagic stroke.
Read more on migraines
Haemorrhagic strokes - also known as cerebral haemorrhages - are less common than ischaemic strokes and are caused by a blood vessel inside the skull bursting and bleeding into and around the brain.
The main cause of these kinds of strokes is high blood pressure, which can weaken the arteries in the brain and make them more likely to split or rupture.
The team conducted a nationwide study of Danish medical records collected between 1996 and 2018, from individuals aged 18 to 60.
They identified 179,680 women and 40,757 men diagnosed with migraines based on their prescription drug records and compared their risk of a heart attack and ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke before the age of 60 to the risks faced by people in the general population without migraine.
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The findings showed men and women who experienced migraines both had "a similarly increased risk of ischaemic stroke".
However, women with migraines may also carry a slightly higher risk of suffering a heart attack and haemorrhagic stroke, compared to men with migraines and the general population, the study authors concluded.
Cecilia explained: “Migraine was associated with a similarly increased risk of ischaemic stroke among young men and women.
"However, migraine may be associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and haemorrhagic stroke only among women.”
Overall, the results suggested that women are more greatly impacted by migraines, especially since the condition was predominantly diagnosed in women - as evidence by the medical records researchers examined.
The researchers pointed out that since they used prescription drug records to identify patients with migraines, they may have missed people who weren't treated for the condition.
This could have lead the team to underestimate how much migraines contributed to heart attack and stroke episodes.
Since heart attack and stroke can lead to life-long disabilities or even death, the researchers argued that it is vital to identify people at increased risk so that they can be targeted for preventative therapies.
Migrain symptoms and how to treat them
A migraine tends to be a very bad headache with a throbbing pain on one side of the head.
You may get other symptoms just before a migraine, such as:
- feeling very tired and yawning a lot
- craving certain foods or feeling thirsty
- changes in your mood
- a stiff neck
- peeing more
You might also get some warning signs you're about to be hit by a migraine. This is called an aura and signs include:
- problems with your sight, such as seeing zigzag lines or flashing lights
- numbness or a tingling that feels like pins and needles
- feeling dizzy
- difficulty speaking
Migraines can last between two hours and three days, with some symptoms such as tiredness starting up to two days before the head pain starts.
You should see a GP if your migraines are getting worse, you're having them more than once a week and you're finding them difficult to control, NHS guidance says.
You can take pain killers such as ibuprofen and paracetamol to treat them.
If you feel a migraine coming on, the NHS recommends you:
- try sleeping or lying down in a darkened room during a migraine
- try to avoid things you know trigger your migraines, such as certain foods
- stay well hydrated and limit how much caffeine and alcohol you drink
- eat meals at regular times
- get regular exercise
- get plenty of sleep
- try to manage your stress
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