Biology Forums - Study Force

Is there a connection between serotonin level and headaches, but regular ones, not migraines. I can only find migraine references online. Drugs that increase serotonin likely to increase normal headaches? I think SSRIs might have a side effect of increasing headaches, while a migraine medicine like immitrex which I think also increases serotonin will reduce migraines anyway. What happens?

Migraines and headaches are two different things physiologically speaking. A headache is simply caused either by muscle tension, sinus congestion, or dehydration, leading to blood vessel dilation in the head, while migraines are a whole other story. I did a quick forum search and found this post very informative on migraines (https://biology-forums.com/index.php?topic=66635.0), where it states: "The classic migraine headache begins with the aura stage and the patient may experience a premonition the day prior to the attack. This stage is characterized by sensory manifestations: visual disturbances such as spots, flashes, and zigzagging in the visual field; lasts from 5-60 minutes and involves the initial physiological change of vasoconstriction, including numbness and tingling of the face or hand, and feelings of being nervous or other mood changes. The headache stage is characterized by vasodilation with serotonin levels declining, nausea and vomiting, and hypersensitivity of the sensory organs. The final stage is the post-headache phase with the headache area being sensitive to touch and deep aching present. The patient feels exhausted." Thus, in terms of migraines, serotonin levels may increase, though I couldn't find a correlation to headaches (possibly because they occur for a variety of reasons and cannot be "premonished", so to be studied effectively).

Interesting.