On headaches

[da]

I've been tracking my headaches over the past two weeks. The first week I reduced my caffeine intake, on the chance caffeine was making them worse. The second week I've had no caffeine at all. I spent a little time this afternoon making plots- when I had headaches, and when I've had to take Tylenol.

I also grabbed the air-pressure data for our local weather station, and plotted the 15-minute air-pressure differentials- I've been curious about this association, and melted_snowball told me it's a wives' tale that you can predict air-pressure changes by observing headaches.

What can I say?

The obvious: I get a fair number of headaches. I've taken 16 extra-strength Tylenols in the time period. There were three days I didn't take any. Four days I took two, one that I took three.

It appears caffeine helps cut down on headaches- I took 12 Tylenols in the last week, and 4 in the previous week.

I can't say anything useful about air-pressure. I had lots of headaches when the air-pressure wasn't particularly variable. But I also get headaches from other sources, such as, um, staring at the computer too long without a break.

The air-pressure data is... shaggy. It only changes in increments of .03 kPa or less in a 15-minute interval, and the weather data is only measured in .01 kPa increments. I don't know if I should be looking at bigger time intervals, or smaller- I haven't spent much time on the analysis, since I am trying to get some work done today also. I also wonder how much the air-pressure I'm experiencing is different from the air-pressure at the weather station, since I'm going in and out of doors all the time, and as melted_snowball points out, there is a difference between indoor and outdoor air pressure.

I should have also tracked how many hours of sleep I get and when I've taken naps, because I think that is probably a factor as well.

Comments

[psychedelicbike.livejournal.com]

Any chances the headaches happen to be your body punishing you for depriving it of its rightful caffeine? It's been known to happen, and a gradual reduction of total caffeine intake has been known to work in such cases.

It's like the delerium tremens, only less fun.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

I expect it's more than just an old-wives tale. It's not reliable, but there do seem to be some folks who have pain related to changes in pressure.

Found a page with a former meteorologist who conducted a two month study of barometric pain. If you plot his data, there's a pretty clear correlation.

[says-simon.livejournal.com]

My headaches are usually inflicted by molds. Do you have allergens up there? Austin has been referred to as the Allergy Capital of the US. We also call ourselves the Live Music Capital, and of course, the State of Texas Capital.

[mynatt.livejournal.com]

Not that I've tracked it, but for me the most important factors seem to be sleep, caffeine, and how much water I drink. All three of those can dehydrate your brain and cause headaches that way, and most people don't drink as much water as they should (and if you consume caffeine or alcohol, you need more).