Headaches And Depression – What’s The Connection?
One client joked to me. “I do not remember whether I have a migraine headache because of depression or I was depressed about my migraine headache”
Depression and headaches are always interlinked. It doesn’t matter if it is a joke or not.
When you first get the pain one tend to say of course she is depressed because she is in pain. But it is not the only reason.
Chronic depression is nothing but depression lasting more than six months and it is not because of any depressive episodes like death of loved ones etc. A recent study has suggested that 67% of people who suffers from migraine headache also suffer from chronic depression.
One should remember that this study speaks only about chronic depression and not about migraine headache. It is just too high to ignore.
Does that mean depression causes migraines? Another research shows that 40% of people who suffer from chronic depression also suffer from chronic pain like back pain or head ache.
Moreover, this same study reported that for those who experienced pain with depression, the depression lasted an average of six months longer than with those who did not experience pain.
Still other experts believe that many people (4 times as many women than men) report tension headache symptoms but it’s believed the headache is actually masking the symptoms of depression.
Still it is not clear whether depression causes headache or headache causes depression. But they both share the same platform.
Evidence suggests that both conditions involve serotonin receptors and transporters. In fact, research showed that treating one condition with medication for the other did show some promise.
Mostly medications used for headache and migraine can be trial and error method. So one should be careful about the treatment. Here is where Soapbox and preach are used.
In fact, the FDA has warned against combining certain antidepressants and migraine headache medications because it can cause a potentially life-threatening condition known as serotonin syndrome.
I highly recommend that you talk to a professional about your symptoms if you are suffering from chronic headache and/or chronic depression but don’t be afraid to ask for natural treatment options.
If highly recommend you to use my migrai9ne and headache program. The natural exercises in the program are very effective and with proven results. This is if you suffer from migraine headaches.
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Christian Goodman is a well known health researcher and the writer of most revolutionary natural health alternative methods. One of his most popular breakthroughs is his natural migraine headache treatment. You can know more about Christian on his natural health alternatives blog.
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