Headache

Headaches of a new type, pattern, or severity occur commonly in ME/CFS.

Prevalence

 * Katrina Berne, PhD, reports a prevalence of 75-95% for headache, and 50% for daily headache.


 * In a 2001 Belgian study, 87.8% of patients meeting the Fukuda criteria and 92.0% of patients meeting the Holmes criteria, in a cohort of 2073 CFS patients, reported headaches.

Symptom recognition

 * In the Canadian Consensus Criteria, pain is a required criteria for diagnosis. It requires that "there is a significant degree of myalgia. Pain can be experienced in the muscles, and/or joints, and is often widespread and migratory in nature. Often there are significant headaches of new type, pattern or severity."
 * In the Fukuda criteria, the symptom of headaches of a new type, pattern, or severity can be used to help form a diagnosis.
 * In the Holmes criteria, generalized headaches (of a type, severity, or pattern that is different from headaches the patient may have had in the premorbid state) are an optional criteria for diagnosis, under the section Minor Symptom Criteria.