migrane as a first symptom of ms

scorpion · Post by **scorpion** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:47 pm

I never heard of this before but there seems to be a correlation between migraines and developing ms. How many people on here were diagnosed with migraines prior to their MS diagnosis? Just curious.

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Absentee · Post by **Absentee** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:30 pm

no diagnosis of migraines, but have had them for years. classic migraine with the visual aura and then nasty one-sided headache. I always put those in the same annoying bucket as MS.

Absentee · Post by **Absentee** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:31 pm

and doesn't that lean toward the vascular angle!

Lyon · Post by **Lyon** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:58 pm

scorpion · Post by **scorpion** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:43 pm

So much of what we know about MS seems like the chicken or the egg. Which came first, the MS or the migraine? Vitamin D deficiency or MS? CCSVI or MS? I agree Bob, i believe that MS onset and MS diagnosis are in most cases years apart. I look back and see many "signs" of MS starting at around age 20 (I am 39 now and I was diagnosed 2 years ago) but really were the "signs" related to MS or was it something completely unrelated. For me it was all these little signs throughout the years and then one day bam. MS, what a fun disease.

twistymirrors · Post by **twistymirrors** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:38 pm

ive suffered with headaches since i was a teenager(i am now almost 28)...did seek help for them until i moved back from edmonton to regina...i wouldnt call them migraines...i've had a few migraines before but the dr says my headaches are tension headaches...i notice when i have a migraine i cant stand sound or light but with my regular everyday headache i dont have the sensitivity...but they hurt like hell....beeen thru many perscriptions to control them(topamax, nortryptline(sp), and 2 other scripts before nadolol)...the nadolol helps most the time now...but still have them once in a while. If i do get my diagnosis this would have been my first symptom.

Quest56 · Post by **Quest56** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:57 pm

I had my first migraine at age 15, it occurred along with an optical aura and numbing of my lips and fingers on one hand. My first episode of optic neuritis occurred 10 years later, at age 25. I was diagnosed with MS 7 years later, at age 32. The frequency of migraines began to increase a few years ago, and I have been taking verapamil daily as a preventative ever since. I no longer get them, unless I forget to take my daily dose of verapamil (480mg), which rarely happens these days (as the pain is unbearable).

--Tracy

Lyon · Post by **Lyon** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:00 pm

LR1234 · Post by **LR1234** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:52 am

I got diagnosed with aura migraines (no pain) just loss of vision.
I found/find that making the blood run to my head got rid of it pretty quick. (I had to sit ther for 20mins/30mins with no vision for months until I worked that out) I knew then I had a blood flow issue. I also got attacks of hypoglycemia pre-MS

Filmmaker · Post by **Filmmaker** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:08 am

I got my first unbearable migraine at age 24, ad 5 years later I got my diagnosis of MS with even worse headache! Doctors first told me it was a tension headache, i kenw it was more serious than that...
I treat then MS with the antibiotics as Cpn has been linked to MS so to me the it is all the same...

Post by **jimmylegs** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:22 am

i had no dx of migraines but i am sure i have had two - one in the early 80s and one in the mid to late 90s. the 80s one came on in typing class - yes, typewriters hehe - and the 90s one at a temp placement in an office.

the big change in my life for that 90s one, was that i was drinking and eating caffeine (black coffee and it was a placement at cadbury's) for the first time in years.

do caffeine and chocolate make sense as the triggers? i don't know. possibly only the *change* from no choc and coffee to some (which means up to 2 cups coffee per day and probably more sugar - you know 'fuzzy peach' 'orchard pear' and all those things - than actual chocolate in terms of snacking). by comparison i think i have a lower chocolate intake now and possibly higher tea and coffee intake. no migraines or even headaches. it was weird though, i was okay in a daylit office with the lights out, instant migraine under the fluorescents. i could literally step in and out of a doorway and go instantly from no migraine to a migraine complete with lightning creeping across my field of vision.

i hear high copper can be a culprit for migraines.. i was largely in vegan mode back then, could have been copper overload.. but then why did i only get that one migraine, and not many?

Johnson · Post by **Johnson** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:26 am

My mother always had migraines (until menopause), and I had vicious headaches for a few years before I got my first optical neuritis (genetic angle?). I used to go through a large bottle of aspirin a month (120) - before I discovered acupuncture/pressure. I never sought treatment for the headaches.

I wandered into this link Migraine Tied to Raised Multiple Sclerosis Risk But overall odds are still low and headache sufferers shouldn't worry, researcher says

Dahlia · Post by **Dahlia** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:37 am

I used to get migraines in my 20s, complete with vomiting, light and smell sensitivity . Then 1 day they just stopped - never diagnosed. I think my first MS symptom was at age 33 - diagnosed with MS age 38. No more migraines for now .........

Algis · Post by **Algis** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:52 am

FWIW: I never had a 'strong' or 'persistent' headache. Sometimes my head feels "heavy" when /or/ as when catching a cold, that's all. But very light....

poppet · Post by **poppet** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 7:15 pm

I've suffered migraines for 30 years. They became unbearable. I have used imitrex (a vasoconstrictor) to treat them.