Headache and H. pylori

The headache and lightning pain didn't seem to improve for the next couple of weeks. From experience and research, we knew that it takes quite a while for Flunarizine to be effective and so we just had to be patient.

Meanwhile, we met Dr Yew regarding colonoscopy and got that done. They also discovered that mum was infected with H. pylori and so she was prescribed medication for it. After a few days, her headache was much better and so she suspected that it was caused by the infection. At first I dismissed it becaused I was similarly infected decades ago and I don't recall headache as a symptom. However, to my surprise, a search on the internet told me that there is a link between the H. pylori and migraine headache but causation is not certain. There is research that showed that eradication of the bacteria resulted "clinical attacks of headache completely disappeared in 17% of patients. Moreover, intensity, duration, and frequency of headache attacks were reduced in 69% of the remaining subjects."

Two weeks of medication completely cured mum of the "lightning pain" and severely reduced the intensity and duration of the headache (now occurs only in the morning for a couple of hours). She could then resume significant amount of exercise. She feels more energetic and takes shorter nap in the afternoon.

I encouraged mum to inform the doctor at the Neurology department about this infection at the next appointment, in case they want to adjust back down the Flunarizine dosage.