If you experience both allergies and migraines, you will experience worse headache symptoms.
According to a new study, those who have allergies and migraines may experience more severe headache symptoms. The study was conducted by researchers at Montefiore Medical Center, Vedante Research and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and published in the journal Cephalagia. It showed that people who suffer from both rhinitis and migraines experience more frequent headaches than those who do not have allergies.
“We are not sure whether the rhinitis causes the increased frequency of headaches or whether the migraine attacks themselves produce symptoms of rhinitis in these patients. What we can say is if you have these symptoms, you are more likely to have more frequent and disabling headaches,” researcher Vincent Martin wrote in the report.
Nearly 6,000 people with migraines who are part of the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study were included in this research, and were asked if they suffer from nasal allergies, seasonal allergies or hay fever. Those who answered yes to this question indicated that they have rhinitis. The doctors then discovered that two-thirds of the people in the study who experience migraines also had allergies. The frequency at which individuals with allergies experienced headaches was 33 percent higher than people who only have migraines.
People who experience the worst headache symptoms are those who have what is known as “mixed rhinitis,” meaning that their allergies are triggered not only by known allergens such as pets or pollen, but other irritants like perfume or cigarette smoke. Those with mixed rhinitis had a 45 percent greater risk of experiencing frequent headaches as well as a 60 percent higher risk of those headaches being very severe.
Help keep your migraine and allergy symptoms at bay with a Whirlpool air purifier, which will help remove the pollutants in your home’s air.