Are migraines making you dumber?
If you think migraine attacks are fogging up your brain, take heart. Neurology reported on a study to find out if people with migraine were actually suffering from cognitive damage. In other words, is your power to think and reason and learn decreasing because of migraine symptoms? The answer is, according to this study, no.
The study was done in the country of Denmark with twins. If a twin had migraine, she/he and the other twin were invited in for the study. They were given tests on things like fluency and word recall. These subjects were middle aged, and about 1400 took part. The discovery was, in the words of the report, that "A lifetime diagnosis of migraine was not associated with cognitive deficits in middle-aged subjects." So, if you’re feeling dumb, I guess you can’t blame it on those headaches!
2 December 2011 @ 5:56 pm
Did they do the study on a chronic migraineur or just people that gets migraines occasionally. I think that those who suffer from chronic migraines might agree that this study is wrong!
3 December 2011 @ 7:11 pm
I don’t think it affects you long term…. However, I’ve noticed, like for 2 or 3 days after… I have problems remembering things.. Did they test that theory?? A temporary memory loss….
10 December 2011 @ 9:39 am
I notice they more often in the month that I get them, the more “dumb” I feel. I think you’re right, they need to study cognitive recall etc… right after a migraine.
21 May 2017 @ 10:08 pm
I have been suffering from migraines since I was 7 and I can tell this study is wrong. Whenever I have a crisis I am unable to remember even basic words, can’t remember words or even names of people in my family and trying to put 3 sentences together takes ages. It does affect our mental ability.