I was wondering about the connection between autonomic dysfunction and MAV. Myself, I clearly have some blood flow issues: If I bend forward I feel like a ton of blood is crushing my poor brains, if I stand up I almost faint, if I shake my head I can feel the blood shaking around in there. I also have some other signs like very low pulse and that my heart rate increases very much when I stand up. The theory behind this would be that my blood vessels are too open so the blood doesn’t stay where it should when I change position.
I have not done a tilt table test but I don’t think it would show anything else than “borderline” of everything. Vertigo and dizziness are also signs of dysatonomia.
Are MAV and autonomic dysfunction related? Are they two sides of the same coin? Are they completely separated diseases?
Hi yes migraine and autonomic dysfunction are related. Migraine is thought to be a primary headache disorder characterised by central sensitisation and various combination of neurological sytemic and autonomic features.
Since having developed worsening migraine I have had 2x superventricular tachycardias which can also be related to autonomic malfunction. I have put this to a dcotor that they are some way related but as usual they don’t see the bigger picture and only see there own little remit. I have only suffered from this since having worsening migraine and have never experienced SVT before. A lot of people have problems with there stomach or develop a red watery eye during migraine etc…
Oliver Sacks book covers this really well and he talks about migraine variants like fainting (vasovagal syncope/neurocardiogenic syncope) which kind of fits POTS as well (postural orthostatic hypotension) feeling faint when you stand and stuff. I wonder sometimes if dysautonomia which a lot of people are diagnosed with isn’t just migraine in disguise like they say fibromyalgia is also just migraine in disguise. I reckon they are two sides of the same coin. Like the way raynauds is linked with migraine and irritable bowel is it just another migraine variant?
I definitely have POTS symptoms. When i go from sitting to standing my pulse increases with 20 to 30 beats per minute, in normal people it should just increase with 10, but i think this is due to the same thing as my headaches. So, either my migraine is caused by pots or pots is caused by the migraine. Or it is two sides of the same coin. They definitely feel connected though. Strange blood flow going on!
I’ve got both. I went through extensive testing for POTS. My primary diagnosis ended up being chronic migraine, including vestibular migraine, with secondary conditions of POTS and chronic subjective dizziness. My doctors believe that if I can get the migraine under control, the POTS symptoms should improve as well. It’s a little tricky because some medications can set off one condition or the other. For example, Nortriptyline made my heart rate shoot up and my blood pressure drop, but was helpful with the migraines. I’m working up to a full dosage of Effexor right now, and it appears to be helping the migraines and dizziness without making my heart rate and blood pressure worse.
I agree with the two comments above. They all seem to fit together in a puzzle, even if all migraine sufferers don’t have autonomic dysfunction.
Sarah