During a Migraine attack, various part of a patient's body can succumb to many different symptoms. These symptoms I experience are head and cervical spine pain, stomach distress, eye strain, numbness in my face and more. In addition to Migraines disease, I have a few other health issues I've been "blessed" with that I don't often discuss. My blood work says I have antibodies for the following conditions: Sjögren's Syndrome, mixed connective tissue disease and lupus. But do I have a real diagnosis? Will anyone come out and say, "Yup, you got xyz..." Half the time I'm not sure what pain is coming from which condition. How would I possibly know? But here's the thing - I'd like to start connecting the dots if I can because I cannot believe these issues exist in a vacuum. Join me on my journey, won't you?
Besides having "proof" in my blood work, I am also symptomatic. Let's talk about just a few of these symptoms and how they relate to my Migraines and Sjögren's Syndrome - because let's face it; if I talked about all my other "issues" we'd be here all day. Sjögren's Syndrome is a chronic potentially progressive autoimmune disease that affects the moisture generating glands in our bodies. Basically, white blood cells called lymphocytes creep into our exocrine glands (salivary gland, mucous producing glands, and sweat glands and more) and create excessive dryness in these glands. Sjögren's may affect our entire system, can stand alone (called primary) or is secondary, occurring with other autoimmune conditions. So, what are these symptoms, and how do they relate to my Migraines and headache disorders?
Well, let's be real. How could they not be related? Excessively dry eyes means my eyes are gritty, irritated and more sensitive to light, which for me, is a Migraine trigger. Excessively dry mouth makes my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, where my tongue feels like it is glued there, and the applied pressure makes my cheeks and teeth clench, again triggering a Migraine. Gastric stasis (the delayed empting of the stomach) can be seen in people Sjögren's and Migraine disease. I know I certainly have it from time to time. A study conducted in 2006 by Dr. Sheena Aurora, et al concluded that:
"nausea is caused by a central process as a part of changes occurring in the brainstem as a part of the acute migraine rather than due to gastric stasis, as the stasis is present even outside an attack and none of these patients were nauseous outside an attack."5
So, dry eyes, dry mouth, and stomach upset seem to occur, for me, in Migraine disease and Sjögren's Syndrome. There are other examples of central nervous examples, one such below:
"It is possible for headache to occur in Sjögren's Syndrome (SSp). Dr. Gibson of London conducted a study and looked at thirty-five patients with SSp in his Sjögren's syndrome clinic. Forty-six percent complied with The International Headache Society's International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition, (ICHD-II) for Migraine. It may be that the headaches are a manifestation of Sjögren's syndrome. In the study, the word Migraine was not used, rather, the phrases like frequency, any warning before the headache, and vomiting or nausea, was your headache one-sided and so on were used as not to lead the participants in one direction or the other."2
Clearly there is enough evidence to say that there is a higher prevalence of Sjögren's Syndrome among Migraineurs. I'm living proof. And now I've found the evidence to back it up. Isn't that what everyone is talking about today? Evidence based medicine and transparency? So I am off to manage my evidence and transparent conditions... how about you?
