In an MS relapse in which there are visual problems, those symptoms can include things like double vision, blurry vision in one eye, loss of color vision in one eye, or loss of vision in one eye, says Yacoub. “That means things appearing in their vision rather than a loss of vision, which is less common.” Visual symptoms in migraine are characterized mostly by positive visual phenomenon, says Yacoub. “Patients who have migraine with aura can sometimes have visual symptoms like flashes of light in the central area in their vision where it looks like there are bright shiny lights or bright zigzags,” she says. About 25 to 30 percent of people with migraine experience aura, which is described as a series of sensory changes that that occur shortly before an attack, according to the American Migraine Foundation. Optic neuritis is swelling of the eye’s optic nerve, which carries light signals from the retina to the brain.īecause this is a possibility, if you have both conditions and develop a lot of pain behind your eyes, don’t automatically assume that this is related to migraine or headache, she says: “Make sure you discuss it with your neurologist to make sure it’s not optic neuritis.” MS Relapses and Migraine Attacks Can Both Have Visual Symptomsīoth an MS relapse and migraine with aura can come with changes in vision, but there typically are key differences, says Yacoub. Pain behind the eye that can mimic migraine symptoms may be caused by a condition called optic neuritis, which can occur with an MS relapse, says Yacoub. In that case, there can be a worsened headache,” she says. “There’s not a known association between worsening MS disease activity and worsened headaches, except in individuals where the specific parts of the brain stem that are involved with their MS are part of the systems that are involved in migraine pain. It can happen, depending on the area of the brain that’s affected, but it’s not very common, says Yacoub. Headache Isn’t Typically a Symptom of an MS Relapse “For practical purposes of patient care, MS and migraine are treated as separate entities,” she says. “There are different theories, but right now there isn’t a known underlying shared pathology between migraine and MS.” Underlying pathology means any disease process or what is happening in the body to cause a particular condition.ĭoes having one of the conditions increase the risk of developing the other? Right now, there is no known link to suggest that, says Felix. That’s what is currently known about MS and migraine, Yacoub says. It’s polygenic, so there’s lots of different genes involved.” “However, it’s not a genetic condition where there is only one gene involved and you can test for it and know if you’re going to get it or not. It’s very commonly seen in families,” Yacoub says. When a person has MS, the body’s own immune system attacks protective tissue in the central nervous system of the brain and spinal cord and causes inflammation and damage.įor migraine, “There are clear genetic predispositions. “Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune condition, and there are both genetic and environmental risk factors for the development of MS,” says Dr. MS and Migraine Don’t Appear to Have the Same Underlying Causesīoth MS and migraine are neurological disorders, meaning they affect the central or peripheral nervous system, but scientists don’t know the specific cause of either. In a relapsing-remitting condition, relapsing is when symptoms are worse for a period of time, and remitting is a period of remission when the symptoms get better or even go away completely.Ībout 85 percent of people diagnosed with MS have relapsing-remitting MS, according to the National MS Society, with a smaller number diagnosed with primary-progressive MS, in which symptoms steadily worsen, with no periods of relapse or remission. “Both are relapsing-remitting conditions, and they both tend to preferentially affect young women,” she says. Both MS and Migraine Are Relapsing-Remitting Conditionsįrom a distance, MS and migraine can look similar, says Anne Damian Yacoub, MD, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Headache Center in Baltimore who specializes in both multiple sclerosis and headache.
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