Migraine and headache due to weather and allied causes and its specific treatment.

Attacks of migraine resulting from climatic cold or heat-stress are a common occurrence in 20-30 per cent of a population exposed to weather changes. The electrical charges (positive ionisation and sferics) engendered by every incoming weather front produce a release of serotonin. In addition there also exists a syndrome of adrenaline deficiency, which may produce headache, while a third reaction, intermittent hyperthyreosis, plays a lesser role in evoking headache. The differential diagnosis of the various types of headache is based upon the profile of neurohormones excreted in the 24-hours urinary output, which permits a comparison between normal and weather-stress days. Such a procedure may provide an appraisal of the underlying metabolic disturbance. Consequently, appropriate treatment can be administered to the patient, and its effect controlled by analysis of any possible neurohormonal change.