I agree, Racash. My first neurologist was a migraine specialist and she seemed to think the two things went hand-in-hand. It’s very hot and sunny here in Edinburgh today and before I’d even walked to the bus stop ten minutes from my house I had the starts of a migraine, and that’s with a huge Ascot-style straw hat and a pair of dark glasses! I like the sun but I’ve come to have a bit of a dread of the incipient headache I know always comes with it.
Possible links of interest
http://cep.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/04/07/0333102416644436.abstract
I have been suffering with ATN for about 10 years now on my right side, and I have suffered with Migraines on the same side for many years, yes they have increased after I started having problems with my TN, right now I have these terrible TN attacks on my right side especially in my eye and temple it feels like I get stabbed continuously in my eye and it can last up to half an hour or more at a time, so now I have migraines almost constantly it’s worse in my eye, and yes it is awful. I also had Gallstones years ago and had my Gallbladder removed. My cholesterol is a bit high but don’t take medication for it yet. I did not know that migraines are a disorder of the Trigeminal nerve.
I have had migraine for 50 years. Developed ATN on daily basis about a year ago, plus have migraines in addition that are mainly stiff neck. I wonder if TN is actually migraine, feels about the same, pain one one-side of face, eye, forehead…What do you think?
Those are very interesting links, Aiculsamoth - thanks. That first one is especially riveting. I’ve never heard of migraine-tic. I seem to have migraine/TN on both sides of the family. My mother had a migraine for so long (effectively months) that she eventually had to be scanned in hospital for it and this was in the 70s when they didn’t have modern sophisticated brain scanning. I remember once it reduced her to tears; the only time I ever saw my mother cry. Not that my mother would ever have called it a migraine or admitted she had them! I also had a cousin on the other side who suffered from such bad ‘headaches’ she committed suicide. I suspect her headaches were actually TN.
That’s really interesting, Flower. When I had my 6 week long migraine on Lamotrigine that’s how they used to start, with a stiff neck. By the time they were in full flight my neck used to be so painful I couldn’t turn my head to the right. I used to get the cluster pain slowly boring through my right eyebrow and a stiff sore neck. The cluster would grow and grow till it had spread right across that side of my head and, like I say, my neck was so stiff I couldn’t turn my head to the right. I always remember coming home from seeing the neurologist about them and being very, very nauseous and in a great deal of pain on the bus. I wasn’t able to look out the window because I couldn’t move my head!
Hi SN1, I find it uncanny that people have so many cross-over illnesses. Apart from the fact that I have TN1, not ATN my history could be yours! I sometimes think doctors miss a lot of this because they specialise in one subject and have no knowledge of others (a bit like docs and nutrition, if they’re not taught it they miss things!). It makes it really hard for docs to put 2 and 2 together properly and leaves us wandering around in limbo with what I think are related conditions.
Tried to find this link yesterday
Also, haven’t read it (need to pay) but possibly circa 100 yrs old, if I have the right end of the stick
Thanks for the links Moth. No doubt that mine are connected and it is sometimes difficult to tell which symptoms belong to which. I have talked with lots of other TNers that also suffer from migraines and did suffer with them for years before developing TN. Both also run in my family as do a few other neurological disorders
More good links, thank you, Moth. The Victorian one appears to be arguing that “supraorbital neuralgia” and migraine are related/one and the same thing. I’m not sure though if he is connecting TN1 and migraine (like you, I’m not paying!). Thar said, I have them both and so do others apparently, so there is obviously some connection there. Don’t you think though there is tremendous potential in this? Migraine is better understood than TN, certainly more researched, so there could be valuable things we could all learn from looking at migraine research and treatment. I’ve always thought there is a connection between epilepsy and TN - after all they do use the same meds - and ketogenic diets are used to successfully treat epilepsy (at least in children). As ketogenic diets also treat metabolic syndrome I feel it brings it full circle to the possibility that TN could be part of metabolic syndrome, as could migraines for that matter. As an interesting aside (I think I might put a post up on this out of curiosity) I recently discovered that coffee makes my TN worse. I don’t drink coffee (or tea) because I can’t handle caffeine, but for reasons too long-winded to explain I was drinking it for 2-3 days (just one cup a day) and found I was getting little mild nerve shocks in my teeth again. It really scared the bejesus out of me, since I thought my TN was coming back, and maybe it is, but as soon as I dropped the coffee it died back down. Coffee is a nerve stimulant and a recognised migraine trigger. Surely not a coincidence?
I have had migraines since I was 8 years old and have a small arsenal of meds for it, Before I was diagnosed, I recognized that my sumitriptan drug seemed to help more than hydrocodone. I am not a big fan of sumitriptan (aka Imitrex) but can’t deny the fact it helped. I am writing this all because just 2 days ago, I mentioned to my neurologist that the sumitriptan drugs seemed to help, and she seemed greatly surprised. I thought it made since considering the “way” that they work is to relieve pressure so I didn’t understand why she seemed surprised by this. Hmmmm…
I have been diagnosed with both ATN and Migraines. I have had both since a very young age (like 7). I seem to remember the migraines first. I started with just the TN shocks later and couldn’t get anyone to take me seriously. But what I wanted to say is that I am reading that ppl say they are connected and I do believe that, but my migraines only hit on my right side and the TN on the left. Thats how I can tell which is which and if I can take a pain med to try to fix it. Lucky for me. So does this mean I am likely to get the ATN on the other side as well??
Hi Jess, poor you, having TN/migraines since 7 years old - that seriously is unfair. I don’t think it’s likely though that you will necessarily develop ATN on the other side; I don’t think it works that way. I think we all have TN/migraines because of a genetic predisposition for vascular/nerve or collagen problems. Lifestyle & environment (stress, what we eat) probably then triggers the gene and bingo! we have the condition/s. I don’t think it’s a forgone conclusion that you will get the conditions or that you will have them forever. I think the tricky thing though is to try and work out what we might be doing to trigger the conditions and/or make them worse. This is where more and better research could help us all out!