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偏頭痛患者性慾較強烈嗎？
頭痛一直以來是向性說「不」的典型藉口，但是如果你的配偶罹患偏頭痛，你可能較不常聽到那種藉口。
為什麼呢？Wake Forest大學研究人員Timothy T. Houle博士與同事表示，偏頭痛患者比只罹患一般緊張性頭痛者的性慾望更為強烈。
Houle表示，相較於未罹患偏頭痛者，偏頭痛患者較容易沮喪，並且較常發生睡眠反常情形；而且現在，你能將性慾加入與偏頭痛一起發生症狀的名單之一。
Houle和同事研究了表示患有頭痛的37個女性和31個男性，他們的平均年齡是24歲，90%是未婚的人；檢驗顯示，這項研究的參加者中有23個人罹患偏頭痛，有36的人只有緊張性頭痛。
【偏頭痛和緊張性頭痛的比較】
每個人填寫一個標準化的問卷來評估性慾望，他們也評等相較於一般人，自己的性慾是多還是少。
Houle表示，我們發現偏頭痛的受試者比緊張性頭痛的配對者表示有較高的慾望，似乎偏頭痛的受試者已經知道這點，當要求評估自己的性慾望程度時，他們認為自己的慾望超過其他人。
整體而言，不論罹患的頭痛類型為何，男性比女性的性慾望多了24%，但是相較於未罹患偏頭痛的人，患有偏頭痛的男性與女性性慾望多了20%。
Houle表示，那種差異在各性別中維持著，這會造成女性偏頭痛患者的性慾望相當於一般正常男性。
【性高潮：一種治療偏頭痛的方法？】
這還不是第一次科學家認為性與偏頭痛頭痛之間的有反直覺的關連，James R. Couch醫學博士表示，神經學之父，17世紀的Thomas Willis，他描述了在他看診過的頭痛病人Catherine女士身上有強烈的性慾。
Couch是俄克拉荷馬大學神經學系健康科學中心主席，他因同儕所謂的治療偏頭痛「Couch治療法」而聞名；Couch發現了某些人在性高潮之後，偏頭痛會消失。
Couch向WebMD表示，他招募了一些偏頭痛的病人參與一項藥物實驗，當時他遇到一個在伊利諾州擔任中級經理，且相當卓著的40歲女性。
Couch指出，她表示，如果我能有剛剛好的、激烈的性高潮，那能停止我的偏頭痛，但是我的丈夫剛剛與我離婚了，我需要的不是一顆藥丸，而是一個電話號碼。
這樣的接觸讓Couch想到詢問其他82位女性，她們是否曾經在偏頭痛期間有性行為－並且，如果有的話，那對她們的頭痛有何影響。
他表示，似乎對於一小群--也許20%--遭受偏頭痛所苦的人來說－一個生理的過程－性高潮－將會轉離另一個生理的過程－偏頭痛；Couch後續追蹤幾年，總是提出相同的事物：偶然某些病人的偏頭痛會在性高潮之後消失。
Couch也發現另一種性可能與偏頭痛有關的方式；許多偏頭痛患者經歷氣味－時常被描述為閃爍的光影視覺經驗；Couch表示，然而，有時候偏頭痛前的氣味被經歷如一種心情，對於這些人的大部分來說，它是一種易怒的心情，但對某些人來說，它是一種愉快的或高度精力旺盛的心情。
Couch表示，我有一位病人表示，我的丈夫超愛我頭痛的前一天，因為我的性能力激增。
【性與偏頭痛有關：新的治療線索？】
Houle表示，Couch的研究使他思考性和偏頭痛之間關連；最近的研究顯示，偏頭痛與腦部化學訊號血清素的濃度低有關。
患有臨床上憂鬱症的人們也有低度的血清素，某些抗抑鬱劑，像是Prozac，會使這種腦部化學物質濃度增加，但是會引起性慾望的減少，以及性功能障礙；偏頭痛的最新藥物，triptans，也會影響血清素。
Houle表示，偏頭痛患者性慾望的增加，會加強血清素濃度與偏頭痛間的關連。
他表示，有關偏頭痛經驗的每一項資訊，都有助於我們瞭解偏頭痛在腦部與身體中的實際情形，我們期望這會導致治療方式和管理的改善，除此之外，它確實是相當有趣的。
Houle和同事在六月發行的頭痛期刊中發表了他們的研究發現。
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以下是原文:
Migraine Sufferers: Are They Sexier?
A headache has long been the classic excuse to say "no" to sex. But if your partner suffers from migraines, you may hear that excuse less often.
Why? Migraine sufferers have stronger sexual desire than people who get only normal tension headaches, report Wake Forest University researcher Timothy T. Houle, PhD, and colleagues.
"Migraine is a cluster of quirks that occur together," Houle says. "Migraine sufferers are more susceptible to being depressed, and suffer more sleep abnormalities, than people who don't get migraines. And now, you can add sexual desire to this list of symptoms that may co-occur with migraines."
Houle and colleagues studied 37 women and 31 men who reported having had headaches. Their average age was 24; 90% were unmarried. Examination showed that 23 of the study participants suffered migraines, while 36 had nothing worse than tension headaches.
Migraines vs. Tension Headaches
Each person filled out a standardized questionnaire that evaluates sexual desire. They also rated themselves on how much more or less sexual desire they had than an average person.
"We discovered that migraine subjects reported higher levels of desire than tension-type headache counterparts," Houle says. "It seems as if the migraine subjects knew this already. When asked to rate their level of sex desire, they thought they had more than other people."
Overall, the men had 24% more sexual desire than the women, regardless of headache type.
But both men and women with migraines had 20% more sexual desire than those without.
"That difference was maintained across gender," Houle says. "This results in female migraine sufferers being quite like normal males in sexual desire."
Orgasm: A Migraine Cure?
This is far from the first time scientists have made the counterintuitive link between sex and migraine headaches. The father of neurology, 17th century doctor Thomas Willis, described a robust sexual appetite in his historical headache patient, Lady Catherine, says James R. Couch, MD, PhD.
Couch, chairman of the neurology department at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has famously described what his peers call "the Couch treatment" for migraine. Couch has found that some people's migraine headaches go away when they have an orgasm.
Couch tells WebMD he was recruiting migraine patients for a drug study when he met a distinguished 40-year-old woman who worked as a midlevel manager for the state of Illinois.
"She said, 'If I can just have a good, banging orgasm, it can stop my migraine cold. But my husband just divorced me. I don't need a pill; I just need a phone number,'" Couch recalls.
This encounter led Couch to ask 82 other female patients if they ever had sex during a migraine -- and, if they did, what happened to their headache.
"It appears that for a small group of people who suffer migraines -- perhaps 20% -- one physiologic process -- orgasm -- will turn off another physiological process -- migraine," he says. "I followed up with this for some years. I always came up with the same thing: The occasional patient's migraine would go away after orgasm."
Couch also found another way sex was linked to migraine. Many migraine sufferers experience aura -- often described as a visual experience of sparkling light. But sometimes, Couch says, premigraine aura is experienced as a mood. For most of these people, it's an irritable mood. But for some, it's a euphoric or hyperenergetic mood.
"One of my patients says, 'My husband loves it the day before my headache. My sex drive goes through the roof,'" Couch says.
Sex-Migraine Link: New Treatment Clue?
Houle says Couch's work made him wonder about the link between sex and migraines. Recent studies, he says, show migraine headaches are linked to low levels in the brain of the chemical signal serotonin.
People with clinical depression also have low serotonin levels. Some antidepressant drugs, such as Prozac, raise levels of this brain chemical, but can cause loss of sexual desire and sexual dysfunction. The newest class of migraine drugs, triptans, also affect serotonin levels.
The finding that migraine sufferers have increased sexual desire strengthens the link between serotonin levels and migraine, Houle says.
"Every piece of information about the migraine experience helps us understand what the migraine is like in the brain and in the body," he says. "This, we hope, will lead to improved treatment and management. And besides, it is just plain interesting."
Houle and colleagues report their findings in the June issue of the journal Headache.
SOURCES: Houle, T.T. Headache, June 2006; vol: 46 pp 983-990. Timothy T. Houle, PhD, research assistant professor, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, N.C. James R. Couch, MD, PhD, professor and chair of neurology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
WebMD Medical News
by Miranda Hitti
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