No surprise, women who suffer from migraines and chronic headaches are often plagued with depression along with many other physical symptoms, according to a new study.
Of the more than 1,000 women researchers monitored in five states, more than 40 percent suffered from chronic headaches (the rest suffered from episodic headaches), and almost 90 percent were diagnosed with migraines. The numbers tell the rest of the story:
- Patients with chronic headache problems tripled their likelihood of related symptoms, including nausea, low energy and pain.
- Chronic headache sufferers were four times more likely to report problems with major depression.
- The likelihood of major depression increased by a factor of 32 in patients who had disabling migraines.
The good news here is that most of the very same solutions for treating migraines also work to ease depression, eliminating the need for useless drugs that often worsen the problem. Among them:
Neurology Vol. 68, No. 2, January 9, 2007: 134-140EurekAlert January 8, 2007