Can Dehydration Cause Migraines?

Migraine headaches could be up there with dental surgery and childbirth as one of life's more painful experiences.  Some would even say they surpass both.  But unlike root canals or labor, the pain of which can be treated with medicine, there's no quick fix for migraine relief and the causes of migraines are even more elusive.

A migraine is more than a headache. The throbbing pain typically occurs on one side of the head and is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe sensitivity to light and sound. Symptoms can include blurred vision, abnormal sensations of heat or cold, nasal congestion, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, anxiety, depression, irritability and trouble with concentration. But what eludes even the most renowned doctors and researchers is…  What are migraines caused by? 

For many migraine sufferers, intense heat and jumps in temperature have been shown to trigger attacks. A study in the journal Neurology revealed that the risk of migraines increases about 8 percent for every nine-degree rise in temperature. But what is it about temperature spikes that poses the risk for the various types of migraines? The difficulty of staying hydrated is likely the culprit. Dehydration has been shown to cause blood volume to drop, resulting in less blood and oxygen flow to the brain and dilated blood vessels. The major cause of dehydration, the loss of electrolytes, compels nerves in the brain to produce pain signals. If you've ever enjoyed a bit too much of your favorite alcoholic beverage and woken up with a dehydration headache, you know the feeling.  But migraine victims tend to be more sensitive to the debilitating effects of dehydration.