Headaches and humidity

[Gcalex]

It seems to be generally accepted that humidity worsens headaches, but I don't find any explanations WHY this is so.  Does high humidity, for example, increase intracranial pressure?  Or is it just, like so much surrounding headaache, a mystery?

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-SH]

First of all, keep in mind that I am unable to diagnose you because I am unable to examine you, this forum is for educational purposes. Changes in weather, such as -barometric pressure, high humidity, extremes of heat and cold are known to precipitate migraine headaches.  Some people attribute them to "sinus headaches", but most headache expert agree that these are likely migraines.  There are many triggers for migraine headaches, and there is no established cause for any of them. The main theory for the cause of the triggers is increased central sensitization (people who suffer from migraines are more sensitive to small changes that other people).  When studies of weather related headaches were conducted it seemed to be change in weather conditions that was most predictive of a headache rather than the specific weather condition itself.  Medications that prevent headaches such as topamx, nadolol, elavil, verapamil to name a few, work by decreasing this central sensitization.  Humidity does not increase intracranial pressure.  I hope this has been helpful.