Weather and Migraine – Our First Webinar!

As part of our support for Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, we held a live webinar session last Friday to discuss the topic of Weather and Migraine. The webinar was presented by Christophe, who is a Migraine Buddy Expert, MBplus Content Writer, as well as a Good Days Program Coach! 

If you didn’t manage to watch the session live on our Facebook, don’t worry because we’re sharing the key webinar highlights below!

P.S. The webinar is also available on our YouTube below!

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(i) About migraine risk and threshold

Sensitive brain receptors trigger migraine symptoms when they get upset. They get upset when they are exposed to too many migraine risks. The risk level that brain receptors can withstand is called the migraine threshold. 

We are exposed to multiple risk factors at once everyday. When the overall risk reaches the threshold, symptoms appear.

 

(ii) Upset brain receptors trigger migraine symptoms, risk factors DO NOT.

(iii) Stay below the migraine threshold to remain free of symptoms.

(iv) Three ways to stay below the migraine threshold:

1. Avoid risk exposure

2. Mitigate risks

3. Raise threshold with preventive medications

 

 

(v) Three levels of sensitivity to a given risk factor

1. High sensitivity: risk level raises sharply and quickly reaches migraine threshold. Symptoms appear

2. Medium sensitivity: risk level may not rise as quickly, but may reach threshold eventually with repeated exposure to risk

3. Low sensitivity: risk level will not reach migraine threshold, given that this is the only risk factor we are exposed to (which is not true because we are exposed to multiple risks everyday)

 

(vi) It is possible to mitigate some weather risk factors

1. High luminosity > sunglasses

2. Temperature or humidity variations > air-conditioning or heating at home

(vii) Pressure variations cannot be avoided

Pressure variation refers to a significant drop or rise of barometric pressure

1. Maximum pressure minus minimum pressure

2. High: Above 10mbar (0.3 inHg) of change over 24h

3. Medium: Between 6mbar (0.18 inHg) and 10mbar (0.3inHg) of change over 24h

4. Low: Below 6mbar (0.18 inHg) of change over 24h

(viii) Use Migraine Buddy’s 48h Pressure Forecast tool to check the changes in pressure variation 

 

  

(ix) Pressure variations change according to your geographical location

1. The closer you are to the poles, the higher the pressure variations. 

2. The closer you are to the equator, the lower the pressure variations.

(x) Latitude plays a role in pressure variations, but there can be regional variations as well

 

(xi) Use MBplus tools to help you check if pressure variations are a risk factor for you and whether you are highly sensitive to it 

1. Monthly Weather Reports: depicts pressure variations for your main location over the past month together with your attack records

2. 24h Pressure Variation History: objectively check actual exposure to pressure variations before each attack and avoid relying on intuition

3. 7-Day Pressure Forecast: get more visibility on pressure variations for the week to plan your social activities and mitigate exposure to other risk factors 

 

 

 

(xii) Quantity of pressure variation on top of sensitivity to pressure variation will determine the risk level

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As a token of appreciation for joining our first webinar, we would like to offer everyone who has watched the webinar a special $20 discount off our MBplus annual subscription. 

We’d just like you to fill in your feedback for the webinar in this typeform link and you’ll be able to receive the discount code!

If an annual plan sounds like it’s too much commitment at this point, you can also try MBplus free for 7 days!

We hope this webinar has brought useful insights for you and we would work towards bringing more of such content to you in the near future! ?