THURSDAY,
June 26, 2014 (HealthDay News) — When a spouse, partner or parent has
chronic migraines, the whole family suffers, a new study found.

The
research discovered that most chronic migraine sufferers report that
their severe headaches have a big impact on family relationships,
activities and sexual intimacy.

The
results were not surprising to lead study author Dawn Buse, a clinical
psychologist and director of behavioral medicine at Montefiore Headache
Center in New York City. “I hear firsthand about the tragic effect that
chronic migraine has on every aspect of people’s lives, including work
and home life.”

Still, Buse wanted to quantify the degree to which families were affected.

People
who don’t experience migraines or have family members with the
condition don’t understand how it can affect the entire family, Buse
said. “It’s very important to bring this data to light, to show that
chronic migraines are burdensome and difficult, not only for the people
who live with it but also for the people they love.”

Chronic
migraine is defined as having migraine headache 15 or more days a
month, according to the researchers. A migraine is a recurrent
throbbing headache that typically affects one side of the head and is
often accompanied by nausea and disturbed vision. About 38 million
people in the United States have migraines, and between 3 and 7 million
have chronic migraine, Buse noted.

For
the study, the researchers partnered with survey company Research Now
to find study participants with migraine. The study included nearly
1,000 people, including 812 women, who met the criteria for chronic
headache. Those people and their spouses and children answered web-based
questionnaires.

People
with chronic migraines said they often feel worried, guilty and sad
about how their condition affects those they love, Buse said.

Almost
75 percent of chronic migraine sufferers in the study said they thought
they would be better spouses if they didn’t have chronic migraines. And
almost 60 percent said they felt they would be better parents without
the illness.

What’s
more, most people with migraines said they feel guilty because their
headaches make them more easily annoyed or angered. Chronic migraines
also made people opt out of activities on a family vacation, or even
cancel or miss a vacation.

Overall,
people with chronic migraines missed family activities and had reduced
quality time with their spouse almost seven days a month, according to
the study.

One
result raised new questions. The researchers found that women reported
lower rates of absenteeism due to chronic migraine than did men.

Buse
said women may be less impaired by migraine attacks than are men. Or,
it could be that women take on more family responsibility that can’t be
delegated. “Mothers and wives may simply feel that they cannot miss a
family event or drop a responsibility and so they soldier on despite
debilitating pain and associated symptoms,” she explained.

The
research was scheduled for presentation Wednesday at the American
Headache Society in Los Angeles. Because the study hasn’t been published
in a peer-reviewed journal, it should be viewed as preliminary.

Dr.
Elizabeth Loder, chief of the division of headache and pain at Brigham
and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said that a weakness of the study was
that people who are willing to participate in a web survey may not be
representative of the total population of migraine sufferers. Loder was
not associated with the study.

But
Loder said the research nonetheless makes an important contribution
toward better understanding the impact of chronic migraine. “This
quantifies the burden, and now we’re able to attach numbers to things
people say happen.”

Being
able to better define the impact of the condition may make it easier to
get the funding, attention and respect that migraines deserve, she
added.

Buse
hopes the study helps people better understand migraines. “I think the
results may surprise some who hold the view that migraine is ‘just a
headache’ and hopefully shed light on the far-reaching effects of this
debilitating condition.”

The
study was funded by Allergan Inc., of Irvine, Calif., which sells Botox
(also called onabotulinumtoxinA), a treatment for migraines.