Many migraine sufferers appear to have cold hands and nose, according to a new study by Finnish researchers described in the Wall Street Journal. The study compared 12 women with migraines with 29 healthy controls without migraines. Family history of migraine was present in 85% of those with migraines and 31% of controls. Five migraine sufferers had auras. The average temperature of the nose and hands was 3.6 degrees lower in migraine sufferers and two out of three had temperatures lower than 86 degrees, which is considered the lower end of normal. Only one out of three of those without migraines had temperatures below 85 degrees.
The authors speculate that the disturbance of the autonomic nervous system in migraine sufferers might be responsible for the constriction of blood vessels, which leads to lower temperatures. However, the authors do not mention a much more important cause of coldness of extremities, which is magnesium deficiency. Our research has shown that up to half of migraine patients are deficient in magnesium. One of the main symptoms of magnesium deficiency is coldness of hands and feet or just feeling colder in general than other people in the same environment. Other symptoms of magnesium deficiency are muscle cramps in legs and other places, mental fog, palpitations, PMS in women, difficulty breathing (intravenous magnesium is also given for asthma), and other. Blood test for magnesium is not reliable because the routine test measures so called serum level, while over 98% of magnesium sits inside the cells or bones. So, if someone has symptoms of magnesium deficiency we strongly recommend oral magnesium supplementation or give an intravenous infusion of magnesium. I’ve also seen many migraine sufferers without other symptoms of magnesium deficiency who are in fact deficient and respond to magnesium. This is why I wrote an article for doctors in a scientific journal entitled: Why all patients with severe headaches should be treated with magnesium. This is also why I included magnesium as a buffering agent in Migralex, an over-the-counter headache medicine.
