CONSTIPATION AND HEADACHE RELATIONSHIP: A NARRATIVE REVIEW ON PERSIAN MEDICINE TEXTS AND MODERN LITERATURE

Objective: Headache is a common cause of visits to health care centers. According to World Health Organization Forum, migraine alone is the seventh cause of disability among all diseases. This article attempts to highlight the importance of normal bowel movement in management of headache symptoms. Methods: This study was carried out with searching through traditional books using keywords ‘Sodaa' (headache) and ‘Yobusat' (constipation) in Noor software, while search in modern medicine literature was performed using Medline(PubMed) and Scopus databases and Persian medical databases such as SID, with keywords “headache”, “migraine”, “constipation”, “gastrointestinal” and “autonomic”. Insufficient attention to underlining factor of headache was limitation in mentioned studies. Finally, studies evaluating the comorbidity of these two disorders were selected. Results: According to Persian medicine texts, constipation is considered one of the important factors for onset or exacerbation of headache. As well, the results obtained from studies in modern medicine, relatively confirmed this relationship and demonstrated a close association between constipation and headache (especially non migraine headache). Conclusion: In Persian medicine, constipation is one of the most important predisposing factors for headaches and the results achieved from modern literature in this study, suggested that constipation might be considered as a contributing factor; however, more researches are needed to clarify the relationship between headache and constipation. Therefore, considering the importance of treating constipation, use of medicines with no constipation as a side effect or use of traditional medicine laxatives along with the conventional treatment might be suggested. Keywords: Headache, Constipation, Persian Medicine, Modern Medicine.