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Weather Changes Can Trigger Migraines

© Barbara J. Mitchell

Don't you just love it when scientists conduct an expensive study to prove what common sense and experience taught the rest of us years ago? The latest in the "I told you so" department is the finding at the University of Calgary Headache Research Clinic that Canadian Chinook winds can trigger migraines.

Chinooks, incidentally, are warm, dry, westerly winds that blow down the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains into the Province of Alberta.

Werner Becker, M.D., a neurologist who wrote about the study for the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, indicates that these winds are perfect for learning about the link between weather and migraines "because they have a definite time of onset and are a profound weather change."

Of the 75 patients who kept detailed headache diaries for this study, 32 were more likely to have migraines during periods of Chinook winds. On pre-Chinook days 17 patients were more likely to have migraines, and on Chinook days 15 patients (particularly older people) were more likely to have migraines when the wind blew more than 24 mph. Two patients were more likely to have migraines on both pre-Chinook and especially windy Chinook days.

About half of all migraine sufferers believe a change in the weather can be a migraine trigger. In fact, a change in barometric pressure, the approach of a low-pressure weather front, temperature change, etc. are often included in lists of possible migraine triggers.

Like many other people, I used to be able to predict rainy weather by my migraines; now I've joined another set in predicting rain by my arthritis. Maybe I should have been a meteorologist. In other words, none of this is surprising. Most of us have long known that a change in altitude and many other environmental factors, even smells, are possible triggers.

The good news is that with scientific proof, migraine sufferers may find their doctors more cooperative in identifying methods of preventing migraine attacks. As neurologist Richard Lipton, M.D., editorialized in the same journal, "A better understanding of migraine triggers is crucial to identifying preventative strategies and enhancing people's feelings of control."

That's a good point. One of the maddening things about any kind of headache, but particularly migraines and clusters, is the feeling of loss of control. If you don't know exactly what causes them, you feel like a walking time bomb, and you're more likely to just give up on finding relief.

At the end of a story about this Chinook study on the "Doctor's Guide" website is an encouraging quote. According to Dr. Becker, "Most people believe . . . certain weather conditions may precipitate migraine attacks. This study validates what patients have been saying all along."