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Men and Headaches

Although migraine headaches are more common in women, migraines do affect men as well. You just don’t seem to hear about it as much—until it affects your favorite football or basketball player. Migraines in men have the same symptoms as migraine in women, although men are not affected by hormonal fluctuations like women are.

Some headaches, like tension-type headache, occur in men at similar rates as in women. There are also a few headache types that occur predominantly in men: cluster headaches and, contrary to popular belief, sexually-induced orgasmic headaches.

Men with migraine

What are some unique facts about men and migraine? Men are somewhat less likely to seek medical care for their headaches than women are, and are also a little less likely to receive an appropriate migraine diagnosis. This is unfortunate, since having migraine increases a man’s risk of having a heart attack. We do not yet know whether controlling migraines prevents this risk, but being under the care of a physician helps to monitor the risk—and take action if necessary.

If you are a man with persistent headaches, seek medical help. It might prevent more than just headache pain.

by Christina Peterson, MD

updated Feb 8, 2010

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