How often do astronauts suffer headaches, migraines, etc. in microgravity?

Question

This is a follow-up on a few similar questions of mine regarding effects of the loss of intracranial pressure gradient of astronauts that work in microgravity for extended periods of time, and how does that translate in their cardiovascular and ocular health, like for example How do astronauts battle loss in blood volume in microgravity and Has dependent one-carbon metabolic pathway been successfully linked to ocular health of astronauts.

In essence, I was wondering if there are any studies, or merely reports of change in frequency of intracranial pain, like plain headaches, migraines, inflammation of the paranasal sinuses, or throbbing, aching, or stabbing sensation in the eyes by astronauts? Do these complaints in general increase, or decrease in frequency when astronauts are exposed to microgravity environment for longer times, compared to the pre- and post-flight occurrence rate, when astronauts are presumably under similar, equivalent dietary regimen? If change in occurrence rate has been detected, what cause is it most attributed to?

Answer 1

Since you have no answer so far, here is the contribution of a non expert. This may not be of great help. It should be a comment, but more space is required.

Documentation relating to your interests:

• A summary of health monitoring in space from NASA. Page 10 is titled "Medical Complaints in Space" and include some information.

• Headaches may be caused by the carbon-dioxyd aboard ISS.

• Microgravity-Induced Fluid Shift and Ophthalmic Changes.

• Head Down Tilt Bed Rest experiments to simulate microgravity, like this one.

• NASA Astronauts Brain Scans Reveal Tissue and Eye Damage After Space Flight.

• The Longitudinal Study of Astronaut Health - LSAH. Access to data.

• Committee on Space Biology and Medicine (CSBM) (also at Google Scholar -- link not allowed on SE).

Also The Headache of High Altitude and Microgravity—Similarities with Clinical Syndromes of Cerebral Venous Hypertension (Mark H. Wilson, Christopher H.E. Imray and Alan R. Hargens)

In this study:

There have been a number of reports recently of astronauts suffering headache and loss of peripheral vision.

The study also refers to:

Watenpaugh DE and Hargens AR. (1996). The Cardiovascular System in Microgravity. In Handbook of Physiology: Section4, Environmental Physiology. Fregly MJ, Blatteis CM, eds. Oxford University Press, New York. pp. 631–674.

Hu Z, Zhao G, Xiao Z, Chen X, Zhong C, and Yang J. (1999). Different responses of cerebral vessels to - 30 degrees headdown tilt in humans. Aviat Space Environ Med 70:674–680.

Iwase S and Mano T. (2000). [Microgravity and autonomic nervous system]. Nippon Rinsho 58:1604–1612.