Migraines and asthma flare-ups may be due to weather changes, says doctor
Chinooks bring warmer days, but as the temperature increases, hospitals and family doctors see an uptick in people coming in with medical conditions.
Dr. Raj Bhardwaj, family physician and an urgent care doctor at the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre, says the connection between weather changes and health conditions has been observed for thousands of years.
Calgarians are familiar with chinooks, which occur when warm, dry winds blow down the eastern slopes of the Rockies, causing a cloud "arch" to appear west of the city.
"This is not about the actual temperature. This is about the weather conditions and how extreme changes in weather conditions can actually make extreme changes in health conditions," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday.
Hear more about Dr.Raj's take on how weather can affect medical conditions in the video at the top of the story.
Bhardwaj notes a lot of people have the idea that they can predict the weather based on different symptoms or flare-ups. As well, some nurses and doctors believe women can go into labour due to sudden changes in the weather.
"A lot of studies have shown that there might be a small effect.… The fluctuations — even strong winds like chinooks and the associated pressure changes — might actually correlate to an increase in rupture of membranes," he said.
Bhardwaj says another popular phenomenon is the well-known link between migraine headaches and weather changes.
"There's actually two types of migraine sufferers," he said. "You can actually break that group up into, 'I get my migraines before the chinook hits,' and other ones say 'I get my migraines when the weather changes.'"
Bhardwaj notes some research on migraines and weather has been done around Calgary because of the chinooks.
"They've done studies on just pressure change and they figure that it's probably a combination of the fact that Calgary is actually really high in elevation," he said.
He adds it's not 100 per cent clear whether it's the sudden change in temperature, pressure, humidity, ions in the air during the chinook or a combination.
Other conditions that can be caused by weather changes include asthma flare-ups.
The doctor says there's data that indicates asthma can be sparked by extreme cold air and higher levels of dust or pollen, so it makes sense that asthma attacks might be triggered by certain kinds of weather.
In some cases, thunderstorms can cause an increase in asthma attacks.
"We're talking epidemics like 10 times the number of people going into the emergency room over 24 to 48 hours in asthma attacks than we would normally expect," he said.
During thunderstorms, Bhardwaj says, the dust and pollen have an effect.
"In the first 20 to 30 minutes of a thunderstorm, the pollen gets blown around, but also again there are all these positive ions that collect near the ground," he said.
"We figure that the positive ions near the ground actually attach to or break up the pollen and make it sort of easier to breathe it in."
He says there are cases where people get their first asthma attack during a thunderstorm — which has been reported in Calgary and all over the world.
Tips for weather-sensitive conditions
Bhardwaj says that whether you are prone to migraines, have asthma or other weather-related medical conditions, the following tips can help you manage them.
Try to get it under good control before a huge weather change, if you can.
Make sure you're taking your prevention medication in the case of a migraine or asthma.
Have a plan to get it under control if it gets worse. Examples are rescue medications, talking to your doctor and having a plan to get to the ER if needed.
Do you have a medical condition that worsens during weather changes? Tell us in the comments below!
With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.
