Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Increase Risk of Migraine and Headache in Overweight People

I just read this article, Obesity may raise headache risk and can't wait until everyone I know emails it to me. (Yeah, right.) If you're a Migraineur you know what I'm talking about. By the end of the day, you'll have 47 copies of this same thing.

This article cites a research study that examined the

...association between body mass index (BMI), the ratio between the weight range an individual falls into, and headache among men and women, 20 years of age or older, who participated in the 1999 to 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
(You can calculate your BMI HERE.)

Before you send me this article, please read it again. The article doesn't say being overweight causes Migraine but says being fat (that's what us un-politically correct people call it) "may increase the likelihood" of Migraine or severe headaches.

And before you go around thinking that if you gain a few (or more) pounds you're going to start having Migraine attacks and/or severe headaches, read this part again:
An increased prevalence of headache may be associated with being underweight as well.
In other words, being skinny may also increase the likelihood of Migraine or severe headaches. However, there were only 152 (2%) skinny people out of the 7,601 study participants so this needs to be investigated further.

The article goes on to say that for those who are overweight:
...weight management might be a useful approach in headache management
So, to all 47 of you who are planning on emailing this article to me with a note that says losing weight will CURE my Migraines...please DON'T.

5 comments:

Debbie said...

Pam,
I think I heard about this one. I love your humor.

Pam said...

Thanks, Debbie!!

Kelly said...

Pam, I laughed out loud on some things you wrote in your post about people emailing you. This happens to me all the time.

My mom's old high school friend who is a nurse randomly sends me mail with magazine articles about Migraine. No note or anything...just the article...

Thanks!

Princessa Con Problemas said...

Being politically incorrect has become an art....a fine art.

ARNie said...

I found your blog, when you linked to my own.

Interesting interpretation of the data that obesity can increase the occurance of migraines.

Did they include research on how many within their study was Low Thyroid, as well? Since a few of the many symptoms of Low Thyroid are:
weight gain
difficulty loosing weight
migraine headaches
high cholesterol

(sarcastic smirk)Did any of you see this possible correlation in their research? I didn't.

 
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