John Claude Krusz, Ph.D., M.D.
ANODYNE Headache and PainCare
5446 Glen Lakes Drive
Dallas, TX 75231
214-750-6664
http://anodynepaincare.org/Clinic_Staff.htm
Transcript: Managing barometric pressure drops
Well, while we know there are many, many triggers for trigeminal neuralgia and for that matter, migraines, headaches, and other pain syndromes. People have often remarked “Oh, I’m better than the weather forecaster. I can tell you when my pain is going to increase.” Well, yeah, you actually can because before the rains come, four to twelve hours, you have a drop in barometric pressure. Barometric pressure drops tend to be associated with pain and headache flare-ups. And so, people who travel to high altitudes for instance can come down with trigeminal neuralgia or migraines just because they’re at a higher altitude with a lower outside barometric pressure.
When the barometric pressure falls, as it is doing here today, we’re going to get calls on headaches and pain flare-ups and people will say “My pain is worse, what should I do?” Well, you should use the barometric pressure fall as a signal to perhaps increase your oral medications or to think of some other strategy that helps you to treat your pain and not wait until you’re slammed by worse pain. In other words, treat in advance, kind of preemptively so that you can be a better quarterback for your pain level and treat it sooner.