<sub>IIH and Weather

Does anybody find that if they overheat during hot or humid weather their headaches gets worse?</sub>

Hi,
Does anybody find that if they overheat during hot or humid weather their headaches gets worse?

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie,

I have noticed that I do and always have done since having IIH and being on the medication. I don't know if that is because the medication is a diuretic, which as we know gets rid of excess fluid, and then sweating and getting hot on top of that could possibly cause some dehydration which might explain having headache.

It might be an idea to ask your Doctor and see what he thinks, as of course, this is only a personal theory.

Heidi [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I definitely do, even with my VP shunt. It's nothing like it was a year ago but it's still there :(

It's driving me crazy, I get so darn hot. Bedroom has to be in the low 60's for me to sleep well. I have a fan set up in every room to help keep me from overheating. I wonder if that is the Diamox??

I'm not taking meds at this point & still get headache when it's hot. I just assumed it had something to do with pressure or fluid changes..like storms & menstrual cycles.

I too am not on meds(stopped tramadolas it makes me feel so sick)and find myself overheating, I think you are right about pressure and fluid changes. Thanks everyone

Bonnie

Fever is known to raise intracranial pressure. (I think this is why my son throws up whenever he spikes a high fever; he hasn't been diagnosed yet but he has my craniofacial anatomy.....) If you remember or ever learned the equation from chemistry, PV=nRT, with P being pressure and T being temperature, it is obvious that pressure increases as temperature increases. imagine your microwave meal heating up; the plastic wrapper will blow up if you have not vented it. I absolutely HATE being hot and now I know why. I am sure that if the ambient temperature is enough to make you feel very hot, that it is increasing your intracranial pressure.

Does that hold true if one just feels hot but it doesn't register on a thermometer. I know I have too much insulation so that keeps my inners warmer than my skin, but would that also affect the pressure, ya think?

measuring temperature can be fraught with inaccuracy. I don't completely trust anything but a rectal (core) temp. so you may think your body temp isn't elevated but you may not be getting accurate temps. it's hard to imagine that the ICP (intracranial pressure) could increase from a rise in temperature that is not affecting the entire body; it should be.

the other thing that might seem contradictory is that I have noticed I tend to feel better if I take a hot shower. I think what is happening is that my periphery is vasodilating such that my blood pressure is dropping during the shower. this will translate into decreased cerebral perfusion pressure and decreased cerebral blood flow, which we know will decrease ICP. my mother who has similar issues but has not been diagnosed has noticed the same phenomenon.