Yawning and Migraine: New Insights
Yawning is a common symptom of migraine, in both adults and children. A new study has confirmed the link once again, and is giving us more insight into what kinds of attacks are connected to yawning.
The study looked at 339 patients, of which 45.4% reported repetitive yawning as a part of their migraine attacks. 11.2% reported yawning as a “warning sign” before an attack, with the rest experiencing yawning as either a symptom during the headache phase or a symptom both before and during.
An interesting aspect of the study was how yawning was associated with other symptoms. The symptoms that were more associated with yawning included:
- Aura
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Osmophobia (hypersensitivity to odors)
- Cutaneous allodynia
- Sleepiness
- Irritability/anxiety
- Changes in appetite
The most associated were aura and nausea and/or vomiting.
As the researchers understood, yawning may be associated with drops in dopamine levels. It may be that, for some patients, dopamine drops during a migraine attack (read Why Migraine Attacks may make you withdraw Into Darkness (or, Your Brain on the Holodeck).
Interestingly, yawning is also related to hypoglycaemia/hypoglycemia. Low sugar levels have a complex relationship with migraine, but both have been associated with yawning – and low dopamine levels.
For more, check out this article on Migraine and Hypoglycaemia.
To read the abstract of the recent study, see Migraine and Yawning.
For more strange symptoms of migraine, check out this infographic – Are these the 10 Strangest Migraine Symptoms?
23 October 2017 @ 12:50 pm
I yawn when i have a migraine attack. When i notice near constant yawning, i know i am getting a migraine. I will get a migraine when I have become dehydrated and need to drink water. If I do not eat, almost immediately when my stomach “tells” me to, I will have a greater chance of having a migraine. When I get the yawns, I also know that chances of vomiting during the migraine increases. I get “chills” also prior to a migraine attack. I have been experiencing migraines for 48 years…ever since getting hit in the face with a batted baseball.
27 March 2018 @ 12:17 pm
My seven year old son started complaining of headache and i started noticing yawning. there is an associated between migraine and yawning
13 April 2021 @ 8:54 pm
Funny…. I will have what seems like a migraine most of the day and the yawning occurs when the migraine finally lifts. I’ve made the connection but never read up on that, now I’m reading that yawning is before Or during, but I get it after. There is great relief at this point.