Migraine has links to more than 30 other chronic conditions. As research is better able to explain the flawed human biology causing these conditions, it will be more possible to explain the connections between these observations. Click the links below for a full explanation of the current understanding of the links between these diseases with migraine.
Motion intolerance
Almost half of all people with migraine have a history of motion sickness as a child. Most people discover that they have motion sickness when they feel nauseated when reading a book in the back seat of a car or riding an amusement ride.
Rhinosinusitis (“midfacial headache”)
Currently the concept that migraine may be the cause of a patient’s complaints of acute, recurring and chronic rhinosinusitis is not widely accepted. The location of pain and pressure over the cheeks, eyes and forehead, combined with a runny nose and nasal congestion convinces patients that they are suffering from a “sinus” infection. The most common features associated with sinus headache include nasal congestion and runny nose – the same as when infection or inflammation affects the nose and sinuses.
Vulvodynia
Vulvodynia is a chronic unexplained pain in the area around the vaginal opening. The symptoms, such as pain with first tampon insertion, vulvar burning, or burning with urination make prolonged sitting or sex uncomfortable. Compared to women without vulvodynia, those with vulvodynia are two to three times more likely to have one or more other chronic comorbid pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, temporomandibular pain, and irritable bowel syndrome. Vulvodynia has several potential etiologies. A link of this condition to central neural pathology has been proposed.
Colic
Colic, the pain and crying which affects about 10% of babies, may be a childhood form of episodic migraine. It appears that colic occurred three times more than expected among children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years with migraine.
Mal de Debarquement syndrome
Chronic rocking dizziness, often described as the feeling of being on a boat, is known as Mal de Debarquement syndrome (MDS). More than 40% of patients with MDS develop headaches.
Restless Legs Syndrome
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a condition where a person has leg pain and/or an urge to move his or her legs. People with migraine have approximately a one in ten risk of this phenomenon during their lives - three times the frequency of those without a history of migraine.
Odd smells
When people smell an unpleasant odor, usually a burning smell, that others do not, it is called a phantosmia. This phenomenon occurs in less than 1% of people with migraine. The typical hallucination lasted 5–60 minutes, occurred shortly before or simultaneous with the onset of head pain. In most people, the unpleasant smell goes away with treatment of headaches. Unlike visual, sensory, language, brainstem, and motor symptoms, the International Classification of Headache Disorders currently does not recognize phantosmia as a symptom of migraine.
Sleep disturbances
Sleep disturbance is a common complaint among patients with migraine. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder among people with migraine but may also include obstructive sleep apnea, periodic limb movement disorder, circadian rhythm disorder and hypersomnia.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a condition that causes widespread pain, sleep problems, fatigue, and psychological distress. People with FM may also have other symptoms, such as morning stiffness, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, headaches (including migraines), and overlaps with other migraine comorbities, including irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disturbances, cognitive problems with thinking and memory, painful menstrual periods and other pain syndromes.
The increased appearance of FM with increased age and high occurrence among women parallels the behavior of migraine disease. FM is more common among people with migraine than in the general population. FM was present in 35% among people with chronic migraine.
Gastroparesis and Functional Dyspepsia
Gastroparesis (GP) is a chronic disease of either the muscles of the stomach or the nerves controlling the muscles that causes delayed emptying of solids and liquids without evidence of mechanical obstruction. Patient with gastroparesis have a range of uncomfortable feelings after eating, including unusual fullness, nausea, loss of appetite, heartburn, regurgitation of food or acid, and belching. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is defined as a difficulty digesting food and has the same presenting symptoms. Importantly, however, delayed gastric emptying is present in 30% of patients with FD.
While there are many causes of these two closely related conditions, they share malfunctions of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in the nervous system of the intestinal tract.
Pregnancy Complications
Women with a history of migraine disease are at increased risk of hypertension, pre-eclampsia, premature birth and placental abruption. The association of migraine with problems with the lining of blood vessels may explain these interrelated complications of pregnancy.
Interstitial cystitis
Interstitial cystitis, also known as painful bladder syndrome, bladder pain syndrome and chronic pelvic pain, is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder. It usually consists of recurring pressure or discomfort in the bladder and pelvic region, sometimes with urinary frequency and urgency. Hypersensitivity or inflammation of pelvic nerves is one of several potential triggers. Migraine headache is common in women with chronic pelvic pain (67%).
