Scots BBC Morning Live doctor on why you may be getting more headaches recently

Dr Punam Krishan, a familiar face on BBC Morning Live, has sounded the alarm for those battling headaches. On her Instagram, she revealed an uptick in such cases, assuring followers: "It's not you going crazy."
She queried her audience: "Have you been experiencing more headaches or more migraines recently? Because I have certainly seen a lot more patients coming in with headaches or asking for their headache and migraines medications."
The Glasgow GP comforted those concerned, stating: "No, you're not imagining it. Spring headaches are usually caused by three big seasonal triggers."
Identifying the first culprit, she pointed to allergy season reports the Mirror, saying: "When pollen levels rise, your body detects the allergen, pollen, but it also releases, in response to a chemical called histamine to fight it off."
She continued, explaining the impact of histamine: "But histamine doesn't just cause sneezing and itchy eyes. It also causes inflammation, especially in your sinuses, which causes them to swell, become all congested and blocked, and that causes pressure in the head, resulting in that awful tension, headache."
For her second explanation regarding the surge in headaches and migraines, Dr Krishan remarked: "Next is barometric pressure changes. Spring weather can be so unpredictable - especially if you live here in Scotland - one minute it's cold and the next minute we're having a mini heat wave."
Dr Punam, who appeared in Strictly Come Dancing, has shed light on the whims of British weather, explaining that the ever-fluctuating air pressure can have a tangible effect on our bodies. They detailed: "But this does mean the pressure in our air is constantly changing. When the air pressure drops suddenly, it creates a pressure and balance between the air and the environment and the air-filled spaces in your body like your sinuses.
"Research shows that this barometric pressure can cause your blood vessels in your brain to constrict - or narrow - or expand and dilate which can trigger a headaches and migraines in people who are prone to those".
"Therefore, if you begin to feel a headache before rainfall, it's not just in your head—this could be due to a heightened sensitivity to atmospheric pressure changes."
The doctor then touched on "the most common cause of all": dehydration, emphasizing the increased risk as temperatures rise, which is currently happening in the UK. "As the weather warms up, which is happening in the UK at the moment, you will sweat more - even if you don't notice it."
They noted that even mild dehydration "can cause your brain to contract slightly, which can lead to a headache." With a nod to health and seasonal enjoyment, people were encouraged "to be aware and be prepared if you are prone to spring time headaches."
Top BBC news
In order to prevent such discomforts, the GP encourages monitoring weather apps for signs of pressure change and staying hydrated. "If you know that your body reacts to the shifts then you can plan ahead - especially with hydration.
"Keep a consistent routine because even things like sudden changes and sleep or stress or caffeine can make your body more vulnerable to triggers."
She also recommended that individuals monitor their triggers to potentially avoid them and to ensure they have medication on hand.
According to NHS advice, you should consult a GP if you're experiencing recurrent headaches, if pain relief doesn't help and your headache intensifies, or if you suffer from severe throbbing pain at the front or side of your head; experience nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light or noise, and/or if you frequently get headaches around your menstrual cycle.
Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Scottish Sun

an hour ago

• Scottish Sun

David ‘Syd' Lawrence dead at 61: First British-born black cricketer to represent England dies after MND battle

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ENGLAND cricket legend David "Syd" Lawrence has died aged 61 following a battle with motor neurone disease. The ex-Gloucestershire star was the first British-born black cricketer to play for England. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 David 'Syd' Lawrence has died aged 61 Credit: PA 3 Lawrence was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year Credit: Getty The former fast bowler left an amazing legacy on the sport and was recently awarded an MBE in the King's birthday honours list. Lawrence, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year, was incredibly proud to be honoured. He said last week: "It is not something I ever thought would sit after my name. "I am absolutely delighted that it will do so for however long I am here and will be a part of my legacy when I am gone." Following Lawrence's sad passing, a family statement said: "'Syd' was an inspirational figure on and off the cricket field and no more so than to his family who were with him when he passed." The ECB have paid tribute to Lawrence, calling him a "pioneering" player who left an "indelible mark" on the sport in this country. ECB chair Richard Thompson said: "David 'Syd' Lawrence was a true trailblazer of English cricket and a man of immense courage, character, and compassion. "His impact on the game extended far beyond the boundary ropes. As a fast bowler, he thrilled crowds with his pace and passion. As a leader and advocate, he broke barriers and inspired change, becoming a powerful voice for inclusion and representation in our sport. 3 England stars including Ben Stokes paid tribute to Lawrence Credit: Sky Sports "Even in the face of his illness, David showed extraordinary strength and dignity, continuing to uplift others with his resilience and spirit. He leaves behind a legacy that will endure in the hearts of all who love cricket. "Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire cricketing community at this time." Lawrence played five test matches for England, only for his international career to be brutally cut short by a serious knee injury in 1992. He left an incredible mark on Gloucestershire, playing 280 matches for them over a 16-year span. Lawrence later returned to the club as president in 2022. Paying tribute to their legendary former fast bowler and executive, Gloucestershire wrote: "Gloucestershire Cricket is devastated to learn of the passing of former player and Club President, David 'Syd' Lawrence MBE, aged 61. "Everyone at Gloucestershire Cricket would like to send their best wishes to David's family during this terribly sad time." England star paid tribute to Lawrence ahead of today's match-up with India at Headingley. Stars including Ben Stokes took part in a minute's applause in honour of the cricket icon.

The Guardian

an hour ago

• The Guardian

I was diagnosed with PCOS – and was soon drowning in misinformation

I suspected I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) long before it was confirmed. The signs were there: the acne scars that littered my back, the irregular periods, the hair in places on my body that I didn't see on many of my friends. I suspected it from the moment that one of my best friends, who as a girl taught me about bleaching my body hair and waxing my legs, was diagnosed with it as a teenager. Admitting all this publicly feels like an unburdening, but also an invitation to more shame. But I write this because my experience is far from unique. As many as one in 10 women have PCOS, a condition associated with hormonal disturbances that can range from weight gain, 'unwanted' body hair and hair loss, to irregular periods and struggles to conceive children (including an increased risk of miscarriage). It can leave women more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. It is not clear what causes PCOS, but it is known to be passed down generational lines and can be influenced by lifestyle. I was finally diagnosed with PCOS last year, at 30, and have been on a journey to understand what that means ever since. The thing that leaped out at me early on (and has since been uncovered by the BBC) is just how much information, and misinformation, exists around the condition. My Instagram feed is filled with medically unqualified influencers. Sorting through all that to figure out which nutritionists and health professionals to pay attention to, in the absence of adequate support from the doctors and nurses who gave me that initial assessment and diagnosis, has been a battle. I've been encouraged to adopt unrealistic diets (so-called 'PCOS nutritionists' often suggest cutting out gluten, dairy and carbohydrates, despite a lack of evidence to show this is sustainable or useful for the condition); take unregulated supplements that can have significant side-effects; and sign up to expensive health plans and apps. I've been told to stop doing cardio and focus instead on weights and walking, because of the misguided idea that high-intensity exercise will cause my cortisol levels to rise to the degree that it will worsen my symptoms. In reality, all types of exercise can be beneficial. Medical misogyny has been well documented, and women's healthcare is rarely taken seriously. I first asked my GP about symptoms during the pandemic, when, after a blood test, I was told that my hormone levels were normal and I didn't have the condition. Later, having an ultrasound for an unrelated matter, I was unceremoniously told that I had lots of follicles on my ovaries and probably had PCOS. When I mentioned the earlier blood test, the sonographer told me that this is not a good way to diagnose the condition, especially if you are using hormonal birth control. Confusingly, PCOS does not cause cysts on the ovaries. 'They're not actual true cysts,' says Helena Teede, an Australian endocrinologist and expert in PCOS at Monash University in Melbourne. 'They're follicles or eggs that are just developing along a pathway, but they stop developing normally because they don't like the hormones that they're floating around in.' There has long been chatter about renaming PCOS to something that is more representative of the breadth of symptoms it causes. The current name, Teede says, 'completely misses the fact that this is a hormonal condition; that it has long-term impacts; that it is psychological, dermatological, metabolic, reproductive and, beyond fertility, it goes into many other reproductive features. And it really has an impact on quality of life.' She says it's likely that the process to give it a new name will be completed this year – her organisation has opened a survey for anyone who wants to contribute. Another myth is that women with the condition have a significant 'excess' of testosterone. And PCOS does open up some interesting questions about gender. But, says Teede, the idea that testosterone is an exclusively male hormone is false. Plus, women with PCOS do not typically have elevated levels of testosterone; it's more that our bodies are not very good at dealing with it. We have much less of the hormone than most men. After my diagnosis at the ultrasound, I had a follow-up call with a nurse practitioner, where I was told simply that I should put up with my symptoms but come back when I wanted to get pregnant; because, of course, that is the only thing that young women aspire to. When I pushed, I was offered a drug named metformin, which is used to treat insulin resistance and diabetes. It wasn't explained to me how this drug works and why it would be useful for my specific case. But, I have since learned, insulin resistance – when your body struggles to regulate your blood sugar levels – is one of the hallmark symptoms of PCOS and triggers a lot of the other issues that people with the condition face. Teede, however, points out that 'every woman has a different problem and a different life stage that's most important to them, and it's about their interpretation'. Doctors should think holistically about treatment plans for women with PCOS and listen to their concerns. My own contrasting experience, though, is much more common, says Rachel Morman, the chair of the UK PCOS charity Verity: 'After 20 years of doing this work, I'm like: 'Why is this still happening?'' She had a similar conversation with doctors after she was diagnosed in the early 00s, with the added shock of being told that she wouldn't be able to have children at all. While it is true that about 70% of women with PCOS experience fertility struggles, after intervention that number drops significantly; the vast majority of women with the condition are able to get pregnant. Morman has three children now. It's also important for women to know that a lot of the risks associated with PCOS in pregnancy (such as miscarriage, gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia) are preventable. Before they start trying for a baby, women with the condition should have a full diabetes test and get their blood pressure checked, as well as aim for a healthy diet and active lifestyle. But when doctors tell us that PCOS is something we should be concerned about only if we want to get pregnant, that is extremely frustrating, considering the wide range of effects it has on our bodies. Morman says that while there is a lot more information available now than when she was diagnosed, some treatment options have become worse: hair removal treatments used to be offered on the NHS for women diagnosed with PCOS, but not any more. As Teede acknowledges: 'One of the reasons why people go to alternative sources of information is because they're not satisfied with what they get from the health practitioners.' Misinformation about PCOS abounds, and much of it is repeated by medical professionals. To help counteract this, Teede helped to develop the extensively researched international evidence-based guidelines for PCOS in 2023, which I now regard as the holy grail of information about the condition. Her team has also created an app called AskPCOS, which can help women to find the right treatment pathways. It doesn't cover everything, but it is thorough, uses up-to-date research and doesn't make bold claims about 'curing' PCOS, as some people do on social media. 'There are a whole lot of individual practitioners, most of whom are not actually practitioners, who are there for financial gain,' says Teede. 'The biggest challenge I have is the misinformation, and then associated with that, the harm that's done by denigrating actual evidence-based strategies. Which, in the end, does a disservice for women with the condition.' She is not wholly against what she terms 'complementary therapies' (ie supplements and diets), as long as women undertake them clear-eyed and unswayed by false claims. But she does not believe people will stop looking to these types of practitioners for support until there are more trustworthy medical repositories, alongside legal liability for people who provide misinformation. Having researched PCOS over the past year (though there's still much to learn), here's what I've tried: in terms of monitoring the metabolic symptoms, I've checked my blood pressure and had screenings for diabetes and high cholesterol. My levels were fine. I've come off my birth control (some types of pill can help with the symptoms of PCOS; this one didn't) and started taking a well-researched supplement called myo-inositol, which may help with insulin resistance. But I've since come off it because it made me dizzy, a known side-effect for some people. I get periods most months, though I did so before I was put on the pill in my teens, so this may not have affected my ovulation. In terms of cosmetic treatments, I have moved away from laser hair removal, which can cause women with PCOS to experience paradoxical hypertrichosis – the regrowth of darker hairs, seemingly stimulated by the laser. Instead, I have begun electrolysis, the only way to permanently remove hairs. I'm on a break from it as the treatment has been slow and moderately painful, causing breakouts that take weeks to heal. Thankfully, the acne on my face has never been severe, but I have got topical treatment for it from an online dermatologist and benzoyl peroxide from my GP. My body acne has taken longer to get under control; I had a private online consultation with a dermatologist, which cost me £100, and have found reasonably priced skincare products that mostly work for me (shout out to Cerave). The reason I am sharing this is not so that others with PCOS can attempt to mirror my journey. Everyone is different. For example, some women are comfortable with having visible facial hair. It is not inherently shameful and I hate that it is considered to be so. Instead, I am sharing because it shows how much time and energy I have had to put into dealing with PCOS. As it stands, all women with the condition need to go on a journey of evidence-based self-education, because it is unlikely that their primary care doctors will be able to adequately direct them, and there are very few accessible specialists. We have to test out treatments and cosmetic procedures – many unregulated – for ourselves, working through trial and error. Perhaps one of the biggest learnings I've taken from this year has been around mental expenditure. While we undoubtedly have to demand better treatment from our doctors, and ask them to seek out research, those of us with chronic conditions have personal choices to make. Even in an ideal system, where I could be supported on and off medication with all the necessary tests, I would still have to make a judgment call about how much time and energy to invest in 'managing' my PCOS. It is lifelong and incurable, and, for me at least, learning to live with it has become just as important as tackling some of the issues that it causes. That is not to say people with PCOS should give up – learn to embrace their facial hair or uncomfortable acne, or the more serious difficulties related to heart health or diabetes – but it does move it in my mind from a space of hopelessness to one of pragmatism. And it has allowed me to give myself a mental break. 'You do need to have at least four periods a year, because otherwise it's a higher risk of getting cancer of the womb, for example,' says Teede. She says that people with PCOS must go for an annual checkup, including blood pressure tests. 'But you don't need to carry that around permanently,' she adds. The other brilliant news is that, in the background, things are changing. A new study shows that awareness of the syndrome has grown massively in the past eight years. In the UK, there is collaborative work happening to make sure that the syndrome becomes a research priority, including an all-party parliamentary group. 'We'll actually have proper pathways for PCOS treatment, so hopefully that should improve standard of care,' says Morman. For me, I had my foray into the land of misinformation and I battled my way out of it. I have sought out community with other women who have the condition, and I'm taking steps to mitigate its potential effect on my fertility in the future. Most of all, I feel incredibly thankful that I have been diagnosed in an era where there are women like Teede and Morman who are fighting for the recognition and evidence-based treatment of PCOS. We are not at a loss. We are at the bright beginning.

Powys County Times

4 hours ago

• Powys County Times

Former England bowler David Lawrence dies aged 61 after MND battle

David 'Syd' Lawrence, the first British-born black cricketer to play for England, has died at the age of 61. It was revealed almost exactly a year ago that Lawrence, who took 18 wickets in five Tests for England between 1988 and 1992, was the latest sportsperson to be diagnosed with motor neurone disease. The announcement was in the same month ex-England and Leeds rugby league great Rob Burrow died after a long battle with the incurable illness, which progressively damages parts of the nervous system. A statement from Lawrence's family given to the PA news agency said: 'It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dave Lawrence MBE following his brave battle with motor neurone disease. ''Syd' was an inspirational figure on and off the cricket field and no more so than to his family who were with him when he passed. 'A proud Gloucestershire man, Syd took on every challenge with everything he could and his final contest with MND was no different. His willingness to encourage and think of others right up to the end was typical of the man he was.' As well as his six outings for England – having played a lone ODI against the West Indies at Lord's in 1991, collecting four for 67 – Lawrence bagged 625 wickets in 280 matches for Gloucestershire. A strapping fast bowler who was renowned for being one of the quickest on the county circuit, Lawrence began to establish himself in Tests and a five-for against the West Indies in 1991 helped England seal a series-levelling win at the Oval, with Desmond Haynes and Viv Richards among his haul. Gloucestershire Cricket is devastated to learn of the passing of former player and Club President, David 'Syd' Lawrence MBE, aged 61. Everyone at Gloucestershire Cricket would like to send their best wishes to David's family during this terribly sad time. — Gloucestershire Cricket 🏆 (@Gloscricket) June 22, 2025 But Lawrence's career all but ended the following year as he badly fractured his kneecap after falling awkwardly when running into bowl on the final day of a Test against New Zealand in Wellington. His England days were immediately over aged 28 but he made a brief county comeback in 1997, playing four first-class games for Gloucestershire before hanging up his boots – 16 years after he first played professionally. Lawrence became a competitive bodybuilder following his retirement and he was also a nightclub owner in Bristol. After Lawrence detailed his experiences of racism during his playing career, Gloucestershire issued an unreserved apology in September 2021 and six months later he became the county's first black president. The county side posted on X: 'Gloucestershire are devastated to learn of the passing of former player and club president, David 'Syd' Lawrence MBE, aged 61. 'Everyone at Gloucestershire would like to send their best wishes to David's family during this terribly sad time.' Following his MND diagnosis, there were emotional scenes when Gloucestershire went all the way in the T20 Blast last year, with captain James Bracey presenting the trophy to Lawrence at Edgbaston. Lawrence's family statement added: 'As president of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Syd took on the role with incredible pride and passion and loved every minute of it. 'Syd's wife Gaynor and son Buster thank everyone for the kindness and support that has been shown to them and the family so far and would ask that they are now given some time and space to grieve in private.' Only last week, Lawrence received an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours for his outstanding services to cricket, while he had been working to raise money and awareness of his condition. He said: 'It is an incredibly proud moment. It is not something that I ever thought would sit after my name, but I am absolutely delighted that it will do so for however long I am here and will be a part of my legacy when I am gone.' Lawrence's MND diagnosis hastened his autobiography as he worried he would lose the ability to speak. Titled 'In Syd's Voice', written with the help of Dean Wilson, the book was published this month. England and Wales Cricket Board chair Richard Thompson said on the governing body's website: 'David 'Syd' Lawrence was a true trailblazer of English cricket and a man of immense courage, character, and compassion. Everyone at the ECB is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of David 'Syd' Lawrence MBE. All of our thoughts are with David's family and friends during this difficult time. — England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 22, 2025 'His impact on the game extended far beyond the boundary ropes. As a fast bowler, he thrilled crowds with his pace and passion. As a leader and advocate, he broke barriers and inspired change, becoming a powerful voice for inclusion and representation in our sport. 'Even in the face of his illness, David showed extraordinary strength and dignity, continuing to uplift others with his resilience and spirit. He leaves behind a legacy that will endure in the hearts of all who love cricket. 'Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire cricketing community at this time.'