Can Sex Help With Migraine?

Does sex help migraines? And more specifically, do orgasms help migraines? Researchers have done many studies regarding the connection between migraine relief and sex, though the topic still requires significant research. Ultimately, using sex to find migraine relief depends on you and your migraine. Understanding your migraine pain and its causes can help you determine the best treatment. 

Learn more about helping migraines with sex, what orgasms can do for migraines and how to determine if migraine sex could work for you.

How sex can help relieve migraine (and other headaches)

While there are still many unknowns about the relationship between migraine and sex, some research suggests that sex may help relieve migraine and other headaches like cluster headaches in some people. An observational study asked migraine and cluster headache patients about their experience with sex and migraine and what impact, if any, sexual activity has on their headache attack intensity. 

Of the 400 respondents, 60% of the migraine patients reported improvements, and 37% of the cluster headache patients reported improvements — most of whom experienced moderate to complete relief. Many of these patients considered sex to be a reliable method of relieving headache attack pain. So, how does sex help with migraines?

Researchers believe migraine and other headache attacks are related to the body’s neurochemistry. Orgasms stimulate endorphin production, a neurochemical that acts like a natural pain killer. It’s thought that sex can help relieve migraine pain because of the endorphins in areas of the brain where migraine occurs.

Migraine and libido

Depending on your migraine attacks, you may experience decreased or increased libido. Libido refers to your sex drive or level of sexual desire. Painful migraine episodes and symptoms like dizziness, nausea, muscle stiffness and fatigue are more likely to decrease libido because of the physical discomfort associated with them. Often, the anticipation and onset of a migraine can be enough to decrease your sex drive. 

With a decreased sex drive, you may be less likely to orgasm during migraine sex and experience relief. Sexual dysfunction during migraine attacks is also possible. Painful attacks can negatively affect your ability to function sexually. This is also commonly associated with preventive migraine medications.

However, other studies have found that recurrent migraine may be connected to stronger sexual desire. Researchers suggest the increased libido in people with recurrent migraine may be because of a need to replenish serotonin in the brain. You’re more likely to have lower serotonin levels with recurrent migraine attacks, and sex can help release positive feelings associated with serotonin. Researchers believe increased libido during a migraine may be an attempt to boost serotonin levels.

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Can sex trigger a migraine?

While sex has proven to provide some migraine relief for certain people, unfortunately, it can also trigger a migraine for others. Since migraine causes can vary significantly from person to person, researchers don’t fully understand sex migraine triggers yet. The Association of Migraine Disorders indicates two potential explanations for sex migraine attacks:

• Physical activity associated with sex: Sex can strain back and neck muscles, which are commonly associated with migraine.
• Relationship between mood, stress and excitability: These factors differ significantly between people, especially regarding sex and migraine, making it difficult to determine how they interact during migraine sex.

These concepts require much more research, which means you may have to carefully explore whether sex could be a migraine trigger or treatment for you.

Trigger or treatment

Whether sex triggers a migraine or relieves it may depend on whether your headache attack was established before engaging in sexual activity. If you already had a migraine or headache attack when engaging in sex, you may be more likely to experience pain relief due to sex and orgasms. If you start with a migraine and experience any pain reduction, sex could be a potential form of migraine treatment.

However, if you begin to experience migraine symptoms during or shortly after sex, it’s likely a trigger. You should also be aware that sexual activity can trigger sex headaches, which may or may not develop into migraines. Sex headache pain can happen just before or as you orgasm. They typically begin and end relatively quickly, but may last a few minutes or develop into a migraine.

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Figuring out what works for you

Sex may or may not be a good solution for migraine pain — ultimately, this varies from person to person, and you should determine what works for you. For example, you may not necessarily need sex with another person to find relief — self-pleasure may work better for your migraine. Or migraine sex might not work for you at all. It’s best to talk to your doctor about what the best migraine treatment option could be for you. If you’re looking for other potential relief options, here are a few more ideas to try:

• Hot and cold therapy: Hot and cold compresses placed on the back of your neck or your forehead may provide some migraine relief. Hot compresses may loosen tense muscles, while cold compresses may help with inflammation and numb pain.
• Ginger: Ginger has been found to have similar effectiveness to sumatriptan, a common migraine drug, in relieving migraine severity and symptoms like nausea. Ginger can easily be mixed into drinks like a supplement.
• Caffeine: If you take common pain relievers for your migraine, consider drinking some caffeine, as it may help enhance the medicine’s effects.
• CEFALY: CEFALY targets the trigeminal nerve, a known migraine pathway, through external nerve stimulation. Over time, the electrical impulses produced through CEFALY desensitize this nerve to help relieve and reduce migraine pain. As the first migraine device of its kind to be clinically proven and FDA-cleared, CEFALY can help you achieve more control over your migraine treatment.

Try CEFALY today

At CEFALY, we understand the pain and inconvenience migraine can cause. Many migraine medications can have severe side effects, especially if you take more than one. CEFALY is a drug-free, non-invasive device that can treat migraine and help prevent migraine frequency with repeated use. If you’re looking for a new way to treat your migraine, try CEFALY today. CEFALY Connected is even Bluetooth-enabled, allowing you to monitor and track your treatments for increased optimization.

Our team understands the difficulty of finding an effective migraine treatment. Contact us for more information or help getting started.