Multiple Sclerosis and migraines
I’ve suffered from migraines for over 15 of my 21 years of having MS. I remember when I got the first one. I was driving home from a meeting that was close to one of the NY airports and I was in major traffic. Probably a little stressed because I had to pick up my daughter at school. It started as an Aura, one that I’d get to know very well over the years, but this was the first time. It was like looking through a gas line. Everything had that warped wavy appearance. I kept rubbing my eye thinking I got something on my eyelashes. It was only in one eye. Since I had optic neuritis once and that was like a sun spot blocking my view I thought, could this be that starting again? It lasted maybe 20 minutes and went away. The headache came about 20 minutes later. I remember thinking that i caused the headache from trying to compensate for the blurry vision. I was just so thankful it wasn’t optic neuritis again. Who knew that that day would be the beginning of migraines for me. My family didn’t have them but they didn’t have MS either.
I was told that my migraines were probably caused by my large lesion in my brain from my very first MS attack in 1998. Today I read an article about MS and migraines on healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/ms-and-migraines?slot_pos=article_3&utm_source=Sailthru%20Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=multiplesclerosis&utm_content=2018-12-18
While migraines are fairly common, multiple sclerosis is not. About 12 percent of U.S. people get migraines, while it’s estimated that between 400,000 to 1 million people in the United States are living with MS. That’s less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.
Many people with migraines don’t have MS, while people with MS may or may not experience migraines.
However, a relationship does exist. An MS lesion in the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) — an area of gray matter found in the midbrain — can cause migraines in some people.
The article talks about medicines and foods being a migraine trigger for people as well. I was hoping it would have said more about the MS lesion and migraines but it was left at that one sentence. My doctor explained it was the swelling of that lesion or the blood capillaries around it that causes my migraines. I get Auras still to this day. I take topiramate at 100mg for them. Do you get migraines?
