“I can’t remember if I was depressed about my migraine headache or I had a migraine headache because of my depression,” joked one client.
Joke or not, the idea that depression and headaches are somehow linked is not off the mark at all.
At first blush, one tends to reason, “Of course she’s depressed – she’s in pain!” This, however, is not the only reason.
One recent study showed that 67% of people who suffer from chronic depression (depression lasting longer than six months and generally not attributed to any one depressive episode, e.g., death of a loved one) also suffer from migraine headache.
This number is too high to be ignored. Keep in mind that this study was evaluating chronic depression, not migraine headache.
So, depression causes or at least triggers headaches, especially migraines, right? Not so fast. Another study showed that 40% of those experiencing chronic depression also experienced chronic pain such as headache or back pain.
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.
While it’s not clear whether depression causes headaches or headaches might cause depression, it is believed that they may both share the same biology.
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.
This is the part where I get on my “soapbox” and preach – be careful! Medications to treat both migraine headache and depression can have very serious side effects and can be largely trial and error.
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 you suffer from migraine or tension headaches, I highly encourage you to try my Migraine and Headache relief program. The all natural breathing and relaxation exercises are highly effective and results have been proven!
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