INMYOPINION GOODNEWSABOUTMIGRAINES

AS A MIGRAINEUR since the age of three, long having given up hope of being one of the lucky ones who eventually grow out of regular attacks, I keep a close eye on all migraine research.

So it was with a little concern that I read the latest study, published this month, which found that migraine is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

The Danish researchers had looked at data from 50,000 patients with migraine over 19 years, comparing their health outcomes

with half a million people who didn’t suffer migraine.

The message to be drawn from this is not to worry, but those with migraine — around 15 per cent of the population — do need to be meticulous in their attention to the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

These include a family history, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, and high cholesterol levels.

As well as modifying these risk factors, you need to stick to the lifestyle advice that everyone with migraines is given anyway: get enough sleep (seven to eight hours) but not sleeping in excessively, take regular daily exercise, drink enough water and take care not to miss meals.

The good news is that if you are assiduous about the migraine triggers, you’ll be fitter and less at risk of heart attack and stroke than people who don’t have that ever present incentive to modify their behaviour — a really bad migraine.

Every cloud can have a silver lining.