When Weather Goes to Your Head

According to the American Headache Society®, between 4 and 10 percent of children in the United States suffer from migraine headaches caused by a variety of triggers, including certain foods. Recent studies show weather can also contribute to this painful condition.

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain published a study stating that children who have migraine headaches were three times more likely to get them when the weather outside was rainy or humid.

“We often see children whose headaches peak with certain weather conditions,” says Anne Albers, MSN, RN, nurse practitioner at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “The pattern becomes fairly easy to spot: If a storm is coming, they get a bad migraine.”

Symptoms associated with migraines include:

• abdominal pain
• nausea
• sensitivity to light and/or sound
• severe headache
• vomiting

When to Call the Doctor
If bright sunlight, stormy weather or high humidity triggers your child’s headache, have him or her stay inside where air conditioning or heat is available to help stop the headache.

“Occasionally, a child’s headache is allergy-related,” Albers says. “However, when a headache affects a child’s quality of life—by causing him or her to miss school for several days, for example—schedule an appointment with your child’s pediatrician.”