Headaches a Big Headache for Sufferers

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Women who suffer from chronic headaches end up with more than just the pain associated with the headache.

According to University of Toledo researchers, women whose heads throb on a regular basis are four-times more likely than those who experience fewer headaches to report symptoms of major depression. They're also three-times more likely to report physical symptoms like low energy, difficulty sleeping, nausea, dizziness, sexual problems or bodily pains.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,000 women, 90 percent of whom were diagnosed with migraine. About 440 of the women reported chronic headache, which is defined as 15 or more headaches each month. The remainder suffered from episodic headache, defined as fewer than 15 headaches per month.

Women diagnosed with the most severe form of migraine headache were 32-times more likely to suffer from major depression if they were also experiencing some of the other physical symptoms noted in the study.

The investigators report they aren't sure how headaches may be causing depression or these other symptoms but suggest the link may lie in a dysfunction of serotonin in the central nervous system.

"Painful physical symptoms may provoke or be a manifestation of major depression in women with chronic headache, and depression may heighten pain perception," reports study author Gretchen Tietjen, M.D. "This relation between migraine and major depression suggests a common neurobiology."

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SOURCE: Neurobiology, 2007;68:134-140