Hot, humid days are bad for migraine! Migraines are a common neurological problem that can interfere with a person’s ability to function.
The individual has a hypersensitive cerebral cortex. Their brain is just more sensitive to all sensory inputs. They are sensitive to lights, noise, smells and movement and sometimes one sensory modality more than others.
This hypersensitivity may be pervasive and manifest without the headache phase. They may have transient visual loss that is bright and involve just part of their field. They may have tingling, numbness type sensation especially of one side of face or one arm that seems to move up arm.
The worst sensation is inability to speak. People may have difficulty finding words or expressing themselves or speaking at all. It may be transient and come and go or last for hours. Some patients look back at emails and realize they made mistakes.
My multiple sclerosis patients worry they are having a relapse especially if they have minimal headache or the headache phase is easily controlled with medication.
Remember relapses are not so transient and do not come and go.
Weather changes, all the electrical storms and dust storms, hormonal changes, sleep disruption, changes in schedules can lead to perfect storm of migraine symptoms.
Nancy Nealon, MD