News & Research

Migraineurs May Have Higher Sex Drive

Sexual desire, an unexpected migraine comorbidity? Both have been linked to levels of serotonin and a recent study explored whether they were truly related. According to a press release on the study “researchers hypothesized that abnormalities in the serotonin systems of migraine sufferers may influence their sexual desire. Because high levels of serotonin are associated with low sexual desire, and migraine sufferers have low levels of the chemical, it was predicted that they would report higher levels of sex drive.”

And indeed they did. In a study with 68 participants, migraineurs reported levels of sexual desire that were 20% higher than that of people with tension-type headache. The results also indicate that migraineurs may have higher levels of sex drive than the general population.

WebMD’s article on the study also considers whether an orgasm could be a migraine abortive.

4 thoughts on “Migraineurs May Have Higher Sex Drive”

  1. Hi Kerrie.I was kicked out of the implant trial because I have hepatitus C.I didn’t know you had to have perfect health.But I really don’t know if it would have been a good thing anyway.I am pretty active and I swim daily,I’m wondering if I would have been able to continue that.Anyway talk to you soon.

  2. An interesting study, however in the book “Heal Your Headaches”, the author, Dr. David Bucholz, points out that orgasms can also cause severe headaches.

  3. I think these findings are extremely interesting for what they tell us about the possible connections between migraines and depression.

    But I must say that I hope the flood of news articles making jokes about “not tonight honey, I have a headache” dries up quickly. How annoying!

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