If you get migraine headaches, you have a higher risk of also having one of several other health conditions. Or, you might be at greater risk for developing another condition in the future. Migraines have been tied to concerns ranging from depression to asthma to heart disease .
Around 18% of women and 6% of men get the severe headaches (which are often accompanied by other migraine symptoms like nausea and sensitivity to light and sound). “One of the reasons migraine is so common is because so many pathways lead to migraine,” says Richard Lipton, MD, director of the Montefiore Headache Center in New York City, “and those pathways may differ from person to person.”
That can make treating migraines more difficult; what works for one person might not work for another. But if you do happen to have migraines and another condition, you might actually have a treatment benefit: “You [may be able to] make two things better with one drug,” Dr. Lipton says.
Keep an eye out for signs and symptoms of these other conditions!
