http://www.mhni.com/faqs_headaches_and_memory.aspxAre there any studies that look at the impact of pain on thinking?
Yes. A study to measure cognitive efficiency during migraine compared headache patients at baseline (when they did not have a headache) and then during a migraine. The results showed a significant drop in a patient's ability to perform on neurocognitive tests when they had a migraine. Other studies indicated similar results.
A study underway at MHNI indicates that headache sufferers have problems with thinking when they have a headache, and concentration and problem-solving can actually lead to an increase in headache pain.
I am thinking of sending this to the neuropsychologist that tested my son in one all day test even though he complained of fatigue and headache. There was a big difference in testing results from when my son was tested at age seven with no headache and at 11 with fatigue and headache, even though he still tested high on verbal with the headache. I told the neuropsychologist that the headaches affected others in our family in a similar way and she didn't seem to believe me.
I always made mathematical errors during migraines that I never made without the headaches. Errors like copying something wrong when the problem involved a lot of writing and I don't have dysgraphia like my son does. I have been working algebra problems during headaches to try to better understand what my son is dealing with. It is very frustrating to try to work through the pain. Most of the time I let him do something other than math when he has the headaches, but last week we had a lot of weather changes and we both had headaches almost every day so sometimes this is really hard to work around. His back pain also distracts him sometimes but it isn't as bad as the headaches. He can get up and move around to relieve that pain.
