Coping, Doctors, Society, Treatment, Triggers

Stress Doesn’t Trigger All (or Even Most!) Migraines!

The pain is too bad for me to write much, but I wanted to be sure you all saw this excellent story from The Daily Mail. The Doctor Says You’re Just Stressed. But Could it be More Sinister? addresses that doctors often dismiss migraine and other conditions as “just stress” and advise patients to relax. The best part? This quotation from Dr. Giles Elrington, a neurologist and director of the National Migraine Centre in England:

“If I had a pound for every patient I see who is told their headache is down to stress, I’d be a rich man. Saying headaches are just down to stress won’t do. While stress, or the let-down period after stress, can trigger migraine attacks, it occurs in only 10  per cent of cases.”

Did you catch that? Stress is a factor in only 10% of migraine attacks. I’m not sure how the influence of a particular trigger can be calculated, but I like the man’s conclusion.