I woke up with a migraine this morning. This is rather unusual for me, although I come from a family of migraine sufferers who have a much worse time of it.
It wasn’t until late pregnancy that I started getting them. At first, it was just a pretty visual aura but I knew immediately what it was from my Mum’s descriptions. There was no pain with that one. The next time was shortly after giving birth, whilst recovering from the resulting surgery (lovely pregnancy, horrendous labour). The aura was back and I can’t say about the pain as I was on painkillers at the time.
Shortly after that I had an episode of double vision. It felt like one eyeball was looking up and the other down but hubby couldn’t tell and I couldn’t walk anywhere without closing one eye. At the time, it was put down to migraine after they ruled out post-surgery stroke. I wonder now if it was Optic Neuritis?
Anyway, this morning I had a slight pain in my right eye (it’s usually my left that has intermittent pains and muscle spasms, making me look like Popeye). Light sensitivity and a reluctance to face breakfast - I did eventually and felt better for having eaten. No light show this time, though I’m used to seeing pinpricks of light in my vision. I also had an exacerbation of the numbishness that seems to have settled on my left side. I was aware of it on the left side of my tongue instead of just the tip and that my left leg felt worse than usual.
Does anyone else get migraines and do you think there’s a link with MS?
before MS was even mentioned, whilst ill i had about 4 migraines for the first tme in my life, and i know how u feel. not sure if that helps you to an answer question, but that may suggest a link?
It seems to be a bit of a chicken-and-egg question. Yes, migraines can cause MS like symptoms that pass. MS can have migrainous presentations. I think good neuros must need to be part detective aswell! I don’t get physically sick or lose my speech like my mum does when bad. There are only so many neurological symptoms. My respect for neurologists increases the more I learn. It seems to be like one of those really hard repetitive jigsaw puzzles! I doubt that this persistent numbness is down to migraine though. I do hope my referral letter comes through soon!
I have had migraines off and on since I was a kid, stress is a big trigger, as can chocolate or a lot of sugar. My migraines have gotten worse, but its hard to says if that is just because I am older or its because of having MS. There is a lot of info about migraines and MS online from reliable sources, and it seems if you have previously suffered from migraines, they can get worse as MS progesses and you are more likely to suffer from frequent migraines. Migraines can cause numbness, along with a lot of other symptoms that are similar to MS. Neuros have a tough job figuring out what is what, migraines can just be migraines, or they could be a sign of something else. Just because a person gets migraines doesn’t mean they will get or have MS, and some people with MS never get migraines. Luck of the draw it seems.
Yep, I get aural migraines, but only since I started with the MS ( so about 2 years). There’s no pain, I’m may lose vision partially while it’s going on, but it comes back alright. I see lots of sparkles in my peripheral vision, then I get shapes that change colours and drift across my vision. The first time it happened I freaked out a bit ( only silently to myself) as I didn’t know what was going on
