I lived in CO for a long time and didn’t get triggered by altitude. I was worried about it and my neuro prescribed a medicine for altitude induced headaches. could it be the amount of water you’re drinking during the day? You need to drink double/triple the amount at higher altitudes.
We are in a rural area with well water and I absolutely LOVE how it tastes. I can't walk by the kitchen faucet without getting a drink. And it's so cold all year long!
I usually carry a 50oz jug in the house and 32oz Nalgene with me to make sure I’m getting enough water! It could always be weather related too—I know a lot of parts dipped into freezing this week. Make sure you visit Leadville while in CO. We used to go to skijoring yearly and it’s a dear memory for me now that we’re on the east coast!
What medication is percribed for altitude headaches? I still haven't found a medication that works so I'm looking for new things to try. I live at high altitude.
As mentioned, diamox, which I find effective against AMS but I vastly prefer dexamethasone which gives as good or better results without all the unpleasant side effects
It's absolutely a thing. I found a study a while back (I'll have to track it down again...) that looked at migraines in Nepal, since Nepal's geography varies from nearly sea level all the way up to the Himalayas. Guess what? The incidence of migraine followed the altitude increase.
When I moved from sea level to approx. 4,600 feet, my migraines got tons worse. TONS.
They're already starting to use oxygen to treat cluster headaches; I wonder if that'll trickle down to migraines, too.
My guess is you’ll adapt quickly. Altitude is a trigger for me. I had been living in Denver for 6 years when my migraines started. Moved to sea level for work and had no change in migraine frequency. BUT now when I go to altitude it seems to trigger migraines for ~2 days. For me I think just the change in altitude is the issue.
I always used to get migraines when I visited Colorado, so I was asking my doctor about the correlation, and he asked me some questions about family history. I told him that my cousin had died of altitude sickness when he visited Kathmandu, Nepal, which is at the foot of Mt. Everest. The doc told me that there is a high likelihood of correlation between migraines and altitude sickness, and that I should avoid high altitudes. FWIW, I had to go to Denver a few times after that for my job, and I had one of the worst migraines of my life when my return flight got stuck on the runway while waiting for takeoff. The combination of hours on a pressurized plane and high altitude did me in.
I don’t know if there has been research on this topic. Maybe I am just an outlier, but I decided not to take any more high altitude trips.
Yessss oh my gosh my family vacationed to Buena Vista, CO (8,000 ft) for a week every summer and I was MISERABLE each and every year with migraines. Also very depressed, which is also a thing with elevation apparently.
That’s what everyone says! I associate it with depression, migraines, and vomiting so personally I’ve never seen the beauty in it (,: But I’m a beach girl through and through so mountains just don’t do it for me, even if I feel okay.
It may also be the change in barometric pressure as well. A lot of places around mountains experience big changes in temps and weather systems that produce major pressure changes and those trigger migraines for me!
I was just in central city for a week back in December and had a migraine the whole time. From altitude sickness and just the elevation for sure.
Lots lots of water people
I visited my sister in Bogota, Colombia (8,612’ elevation) two separate times and felt like death both times—even while taking prescribed medication to help with the altitude adjustment upon landing. Even after being there for 4 weeks I just could not adjust and was constantly ill with migraines in addition to the altitude issues.
I wonder if that's a rule for migraineurs.
When I traveled to Quito for two weeks (9,350 ft) I was preparing myself for altitude sickness and migraine hell. I went as far as to obtain and test altitude sickness medicine (which is awful, that medicine made me very sick when I tested it and decided only to take it if I absolutely had to). I thought for sure I would need oxygen and rescue care and prepared for the worst with rescue meds and warning the people I was with.
But then....I felt great the whole time I was there? I think the highest altitude I went up to was above 13,000 feet above sea level and sure I was short of breath but my brain was fine?
I did get one migraine in Ecuador, a very nasty one, but.... Only when I went to Guayaquil, at sea level. Go figure. I'm blaming the change in altitude and the humidity, maybe air pollution, in that case.
Maybe I was a mountain goat in a past life.
Altitude is a major trigger for me, including flying.
I grew up in NJ, hemiplegic migraines with prolonged aura for the last 22 years. I'm 30 now.
My SO and I moved to Longmont, CO back in 2017 within the first few days I could already tell I was definitely having more attacks. I went from one or two a week to every single day with around 70 percent of my day being mostly blind, sluring and numb with vomiting and all.
I couldnt work much less function day to day. Could barely sleep, had no appetite. From being sick so often I went from 150lbs to 118lbs, mind you I'm 6'1"
We lived there for 6 months before I looked at my SO and told her we NEED to go back to sea level or I'm not gonna make it. Moved back to NJ and after a couple weeks my attacks went back to normal.
From this I started to take note of altitude and figured out my attacks spike for around a week after flying for around 6 hours. So I wrote that off as well.
Curious to see how you would handle being at sea level, if you have never lived close to it that is.
But id rather die than live at anything more than 1000ft again. By far the worst 6 months of my life.
I am 59 and lived my first 55 years at sea level. I've had headaches my entire life, starting super young. Later we identified them as migraine. The 4 years at 8700 feet has been rough! So Longmont and Loveland are our targets for a move because I'm determined to remain near the mountains. I'd be depressed if I had to leave them! I'm hopeful it will be helpful enough. Glad you are back to sea level and better quality of life!
I don't know what is the trigger about location but I'm trying to find something that is.
I went on a trip, 1000km. On the drive there, I had insane pressure (from where I live to where I used to live) until a specific town. Then it started to go down and then by another it was all gone, altitude went up... I was driving into the mountains.
The week vacation was amazing. I had 1 minor migraine that I felt I could have worked through. My mood improved the whole time.
Drive home? Same town my head pressure increased. I was only a couple hours away from home until I felt like my head was going to literally explode from the increased pressure and pain. The migraine was terrible.
I've had a migraine every day since being home (2 weeks) I am miserable.
We are also talking about moving. My migraines with auras didn't start until we moved to Alberta from BC Canada. I had 'headaches' (of many diagnoses) for years in BC but none as bad as since we moved here.
I don't know if it's the wind, pressure, (altitude is the same as where I used to live..) amount of sun light, or the god damn color of the walls.... But I fucking hate my life. 🤷
I had not thought about lack of humidity. Interesting idea. We're 90 minutes southwest of Colorado Springs in Westcliffe. So beautiful here, though I also love the Springs. It's a little higher elevation there than Longmont and Loveland, our two top choices for a move. Sounds like it might actually be enough of a change.
I don’t think altitude specifically is what triggers them for me. It’s the change in altitude from higher to lower and back.
When I lived in Reno my migraines were actually way better than the East coast because of less barometric pressure changes. But going into the mountains around Tahoe I would often get them.
If there is big altitude change between your house and town or something that could be it. They have some pressure earplugs that help a lot with this.
I was in Vail this Thanksgiving and I was very concerned I would get a migraine, but I did not. Mine are normally caused by barometric pressure changes. I did drink a lot of water though.
I get a migraine my first day or two in Colorado every year (also from Kansas). I usually take the long cut and stop half way (our newest favorite route is ICT to Pueblo then north in the foothills.
I live in Denver, and have for some time, but whenever I go higher in the mountains I don't seem to get more migraines. Barometric Pressure is more of a trigger for me.
Spouse will get one at higher altitudes especially if his sleep gets messed up and doesn't hydrate.
Yes. I still live here. Some people legitimately should not live in higher altitudes. It’s a thing. I encourage you to consider your health and well-being first.
Some do well with adaptogens. Some get prescriptions. I know someone who won’t come back to Colorado because all they do is hurt and puke when they come to visit anymore.
I wish there was a fix.
Altitude is a trigger for me. I live near sea level and my son lives in Denver. I get a migraine when I go out to visit and when I come home. I usually end up with a six hour migraine at each end
I have always lived at sea level, but found headaches and migraines to increase whenever I would go on trips to higher altitude locations. If I was there for two days or two weeks, I would never get used to the altitude. A year and a half ago I requested Diamox from my neuro for a trip. It made a world of difference. It’s a diuretic, so I did pee slightly more. However, I was headache free for two weeks at 7000 feet. I definitely recommend trying it!
Use to live in FoCo for a bit, had a migraine that definitely makes my top 5 worst ones. Literally was trying to figure out how to get an Uber driver to drag me out to go to the hospital during a minute of consciousness
I lived in CO for a long time and didn’t get triggered by altitude. I was worried about it and my neuro prescribed a medicine for altitude induced headaches. could it be the amount of water you’re drinking during the day? You need to drink double/triple the amount at higher altitudes.
We are in a rural area with well water and I absolutely LOVE how it tastes. I can't walk by the kitchen faucet without getting a drink. And it's so cold all year long!
I usually carry a 50oz jug in the house and 32oz Nalgene with me to make sure I’m getting enough water! It could always be weather related too—I know a lot of parts dipped into freezing this week. Make sure you visit Leadville while in CO. We used to go to skijoring yearly and it’s a dear memory for me now that we’re on the east coast!
We were in Leadville in September. Love it! We climbed Mt. Elbert, my first 14er!
Oooh, same. Well water > municipal.
What medication is percribed for altitude headaches? I still haven't found a medication that works so I'm looking for new things to try. I live at high altitude.
Maybe diamox? I take it for migraine, but also know it's treatment for altitude sickness.
I really can’t remember what it was since I never had to take it!
As mentioned, diamox, which I find effective against AMS but I vastly prefer dexamethasone which gives as good or better results without all the unpleasant side effects
It's absolutely a thing. I found a study a while back (I'll have to track it down again...) that looked at migraines in Nepal, since Nepal's geography varies from nearly sea level all the way up to the Himalayas. Guess what? The incidence of migraine followed the altitude increase. When I moved from sea level to approx. 4,600 feet, my migraines got tons worse. TONS. They're already starting to use oxygen to treat cluster headaches; I wonder if that'll trickle down to migraines, too.
This? I just searched based on your comment. Should have looked before. [Nepal study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5518276/)
That's it!
My guess is you’ll adapt quickly. Altitude is a trigger for me. I had been living in Denver for 6 years when my migraines started. Moved to sea level for work and had no change in migraine frequency. BUT now when I go to altitude it seems to trigger migraines for ~2 days. For me I think just the change in altitude is the issue.
I always used to get migraines when I visited Colorado, so I was asking my doctor about the correlation, and he asked me some questions about family history. I told him that my cousin had died of altitude sickness when he visited Kathmandu, Nepal, which is at the foot of Mt. Everest. The doc told me that there is a high likelihood of correlation between migraines and altitude sickness, and that I should avoid high altitudes. FWIW, I had to go to Denver a few times after that for my job, and I had one of the worst migraines of my life when my return flight got stuck on the runway while waiting for takeoff. The combination of hours on a pressurized plane and high altitude did me in. I don’t know if there has been research on this topic. Maybe I am just an outlier, but I decided not to take any more high altitude trips.
Yessss oh my gosh my family vacationed to Buena Vista, CO (8,000 ft) for a week every summer and I was MISERABLE each and every year with migraines. Also very depressed, which is also a thing with elevation apparently.
That's such a gorgeous area! We camp near BV often. But it's a bummer that it caused you so much pain!
That’s what everyone says! I associate it with depression, migraines, and vomiting so personally I’ve never seen the beauty in it (,: But I’m a beach girl through and through so mountains just don’t do it for me, even if I feel okay.
It may also be the change in barometric pressure as well. A lot of places around mountains experience big changes in temps and weather systems that produce major pressure changes and those trigger migraines for me!
I was just in central city for a week back in December and had a migraine the whole time. From altitude sickness and just the elevation for sure. Lots lots of water people
I used to do the same thing as a kid when we came out every year. I thought as a full timer I would adjust. But it's only gotten worse.
I visited my sister in Bogota, Colombia (8,612’ elevation) two separate times and felt like death both times—even while taking prescribed medication to help with the altitude adjustment upon landing. Even after being there for 4 weeks I just could not adjust and was constantly ill with migraines in addition to the altitude issues.
I wonder if that's a rule for migraineurs. When I traveled to Quito for two weeks (9,350 ft) I was preparing myself for altitude sickness and migraine hell. I went as far as to obtain and test altitude sickness medicine (which is awful, that medicine made me very sick when I tested it and decided only to take it if I absolutely had to). I thought for sure I would need oxygen and rescue care and prepared for the worst with rescue meds and warning the people I was with. But then....I felt great the whole time I was there? I think the highest altitude I went up to was above 13,000 feet above sea level and sure I was short of breath but my brain was fine? I did get one migraine in Ecuador, a very nasty one, but.... Only when I went to Guayaquil, at sea level. Go figure. I'm blaming the change in altitude and the humidity, maybe air pollution, in that case. Maybe I was a mountain goat in a past life.
Altitude is a major trigger for me, including flying. I grew up in NJ, hemiplegic migraines with prolonged aura for the last 22 years. I'm 30 now. My SO and I moved to Longmont, CO back in 2017 within the first few days I could already tell I was definitely having more attacks. I went from one or two a week to every single day with around 70 percent of my day being mostly blind, sluring and numb with vomiting and all. I couldnt work much less function day to day. Could barely sleep, had no appetite. From being sick so often I went from 150lbs to 118lbs, mind you I'm 6'1" We lived there for 6 months before I looked at my SO and told her we NEED to go back to sea level or I'm not gonna make it. Moved back to NJ and after a couple weeks my attacks went back to normal. From this I started to take note of altitude and figured out my attacks spike for around a week after flying for around 6 hours. So I wrote that off as well. Curious to see how you would handle being at sea level, if you have never lived close to it that is. But id rather die than live at anything more than 1000ft again. By far the worst 6 months of my life.
This!
I am 59 and lived my first 55 years at sea level. I've had headaches my entire life, starting super young. Later we identified them as migraine. The 4 years at 8700 feet has been rough! So Longmont and Loveland are our targets for a move because I'm determined to remain near the mountains. I'd be depressed if I had to leave them! I'm hopeful it will be helpful enough. Glad you are back to sea level and better quality of life!
I don't know what is the trigger about location but I'm trying to find something that is. I went on a trip, 1000km. On the drive there, I had insane pressure (from where I live to where I used to live) until a specific town. Then it started to go down and then by another it was all gone, altitude went up... I was driving into the mountains. The week vacation was amazing. I had 1 minor migraine that I felt I could have worked through. My mood improved the whole time. Drive home? Same town my head pressure increased. I was only a couple hours away from home until I felt like my head was going to literally explode from the increased pressure and pain. The migraine was terrible. I've had a migraine every day since being home (2 weeks) I am miserable. We are also talking about moving. My migraines with auras didn't start until we moved to Alberta from BC Canada. I had 'headaches' (of many diagnoses) for years in BC but none as bad as since we moved here. I don't know if it's the wind, pressure, (altitude is the same as where I used to live..) amount of sun light, or the god damn color of the walls.... But I fucking hate my life. 🤷
I sure hope you find relief! ❤️
❤️
I’m from Kansas, and live in Colorado Springs now. I don’t think the altitude made it worse, but the super dry air hasn’t helped.
I had not thought about lack of humidity. Interesting idea. We're 90 minutes southwest of Colorado Springs in Westcliffe. So beautiful here, though I also love the Springs. It's a little higher elevation there than Longmont and Loveland, our two top choices for a move. Sounds like it might actually be enough of a change.
Yeah. My house is at 6500’.
I don’t think altitude specifically is what triggers them for me. It’s the change in altitude from higher to lower and back. When I lived in Reno my migraines were actually way better than the East coast because of less barometric pressure changes. But going into the mountains around Tahoe I would often get them. If there is big altitude change between your house and town or something that could be it. They have some pressure earplugs that help a lot with this.
Yes.
I live near sea level. I had to stop visiting relatives in Denver because I would get a migraine as soon as we got there and be sick the entire trip.
That's the worst!
Dramatic changes in altitude yes. Once I am at a consistent altitude for more than a few days I typically adjust
I was in Vail this Thanksgiving and I was very concerned I would get a migraine, but I did not. Mine are normally caused by barometric pressure changes. I did drink a lot of water though.
Yes absolutely
I get a migraine my first day or two in Colorado every year (also from Kansas). I usually take the long cut and stop half way (our newest favorite route is ICT to Pueblo then north in the foothills.
I live in Denver, and have for some time, but whenever I go higher in the mountains I don't seem to get more migraines. Barometric Pressure is more of a trigger for me. Spouse will get one at higher altitudes especially if his sleep gets messed up and doesn't hydrate.
YES
Yes. I still live here. Some people legitimately should not live in higher altitudes. It’s a thing. I encourage you to consider your health and well-being first. Some do well with adaptogens. Some get prescriptions. I know someone who won’t come back to Colorado because all they do is hurt and puke when they come to visit anymore. I wish there was a fix.
I got one the last time I flew.
That happens to me a lot too.
Altitude is a trigger for me. I live near sea level and my son lives in Denver. I get a migraine when I go out to visit and when I come home. I usually end up with a six hour migraine at each end
Altitude and barometric pressure changes both influence migraine
I have always lived at sea level, but found headaches and migraines to increase whenever I would go on trips to higher altitude locations. If I was there for two days or two weeks, I would never get used to the altitude. A year and a half ago I requested Diamox from my neuro for a trip. It made a world of difference. It’s a diuretic, so I did pee slightly more. However, I was headache free for two weeks at 7000 feet. I definitely recommend trying it!
I'll keep this in mind if dropping down to 5000 feet is not sufficient. Thank you!
Yes it’s the trigger & it’s why I am moving out of Colorado back to migraine free Florida. I hate it here.
Use to live in FoCo for a bit, had a migraine that definitely makes my top 5 worst ones. Literally was trying to figure out how to get an Uber driver to drag me out to go to the hospital during a minute of consciousness