Is Your Headache an Imminent Stroke Indicator?

Stroke is one of the health events that scare us the most, mainly because it seems to come out of the blue and because it can leave us badly disabled.

Recent studies have, however, revealed a few indicators of an imminent stroke. Using those indictors, you have time to address the issue in time.

In a new study published in the journal Headache, researchers wanted to find out if frequent headaches are one of those stroke indicators.

And the results were terrifying… but only for some people.

The researchers analyzed information collected by the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.

This study’s 11,592 subjects were interviewed to map their migraine history between 1993 and 1995. They were then observed for 20 years to see who would have ischemic strokes.

The authors of the new study compared the migraine histories with ischemic stroke incidents and made some interesting discoveries.

Firstly, strokes were very uncommon in people below the age of 50. As such, no type of migraine below the age of 50 could be linked with stroke risk. Therefore, it can be safe to say that migraines and headaches over your life do not buildup to a stroke later on, as many people believe.

But people experiencing frequent headaches after 50 were at a drastically increased risk of stroke.

And the type of headaches and migraines made all the difference:

Many people who got migraines only had headaches and possibly nausea and neck stiffness. These are called common migraines.

Others sufferers have headaches paired with sensory disturbances called auras. These are called classic migraines.

Visual disruptions were found to be the most common and often include flashing lights, blind spots, partial vision loss, and zigzag patterns. Other sensory disturbances that sometimes occur include tingling or numbness in the face or hands, auditory hallucinations, random smells, and so forth.

Migraine sufferers whose aura first started after the age of 50 had double the risk of ischemic stroke as compared to those without headaches and those with common migraines.

Of the 11,592 participants in the study, 447 had migraines with aura and 1,128 had migraines without aura.

Those whose aura started above age 50 had an 8.27 percent chance of stroke, while those without migraines or without aura had a risk of approximately 4.25 percent.

It’s therefore important to take your headaches seriously if your aura starts above age 50, and especially if you have other cardiovascular disease risks like high blood pressure, high cholesterol.

This also proofs my long-lasting claim that migraine and headaches are caused by lack of blood flow throughout the brain. Here are some simple exercises that will load your brain with oxygen and heal migraine and headaches permanently…

To clear our cholesterol plaque buildup in your heart (and prevent it from causing a stroke), cut out this one ingredient, as explained here…

And to get your blood pressure below 120/80 – do this simple exercise for 9 minutes…