Because it’s important not to say that migraine is a headache.
Headache is 1* symptom* of migraine. Just as vertigo is a symptom of migraine.
Headache is not migraine and vice versa.
…I think! 
Yes, calorific (!) test put me completely ‘out of whack for days’. Couldn’t feed myself - my hand couldn’t judge where my mouth was! Did I panic - thought I’d live the rest of my life like it! The woman doing the test said I just needed to sit down afterwards for 10 mins & then I’d be fine. Liar!!
Barb
Awesome news and good find. This is long overdue! Hopefully it will filter through to local neurologists and GPs now.
I emailed my Neuro here in Zurich with this information, his response:
Dear Mr. F******
We fought a long time for this! It will make future studies better
comparable and therefore it will also have an impact on improving
therapies.
Best,
Dominik Straumann
— Begin quote from “scott”
I don’t think there’s much money thrown at migraine though – we’re still relying on drugs from decades ago!
But now that it is a recognised entity at least physicians won’t think we’re barking mad when you ask “is this migraine?”
S
— End quote
Exactly! May this snowball into better education of physicians. I’m am tired of having to define what the hell I’m talking about when the word “migraine” comes up in conversation with a physician and I get “that look” as they struggle not to roll their eyes at me for telling them I don’t get the skull splitting headaches and they look at me like I am the one that is an idiot.
Since getting this diagnosis I have described it to a few people and they’ve been FASCINATED. No one knows (neither did I) that you can have “migraine” and not have the screaming headaches that are the “definition” of migraine.
Know what I hate too? Since I don’t have the splitting headaches–my Doc says that the magical migraine meds that have come along recently (the Imitrex and such) aren’t really in my/our aresenal. Of course they aren’t…we have migraines without headaches and acute attacks with no treatment. Go figure…
Hooray!-- these criteria have validated my self-diagnosis of migraine-assoc----oops, vestibular migraine!
Calorics–got over them quick. But still.
— Begin quote from “dolfnlvr”
But let’s not go hog wild…it took doctors over 60 years to fully embrace germ theory–and even then many only did so because not doing so would cost them their license. There will be a lot of doctors who still don’t have a clue what you are talking about when you ask if your dizzies are migraine related–the good news NOW is that there will be a publication in your back pocket and/or purse to show you know what the heck you are talking about as you walk out the door in search of the next doctor 
— End quote
Interesting (the thing about germ theory) AND brilliantly funny (“…as you walk out the door in search of the next doctor”)!
Nancy
— Begin quote from “missmoss83”
P.S I find this interesting
More than 50% of
patients with vestibular migraine have comorbid psychiatric disorders [25].
— End quote
It may not be so surprising. Most people with chronic dizziness–whether due to ear problems or what have you–develop some degree of anxiety and/or panic. It’s because the vestibular system is “wired into” the autonomic nervous system, which controls the fight-or-flight response.
I know from personal experience that if I get a sudden shock of fear–such as thinking there was just an earthquake (usually it was just my dizzy brain giving me a scare!) or hear a sudden, very loud noise, or nearly get hit by a car, or something like that, within seconds I have that big rush of adrenaline and it makes me suddenly very dizzy for a minute or two.
Nancy
While this is a positive development, I didn’t feel as excited about this article as I thought I would…(oh and sorry for posting so long after the fact, but this discussion really interests me).
The main reason for my lukewarm feelings toward it is the criterion about the duration of episodes - I couldn’t relate to that at all. As Jem pointed out, it seems many of us here have chronic vestibular migraine where our “episodes” last weeks or months continuously (unfortunately). I don’t understand why they seem to have rather arbitrarily set the cut-off at 72 hours. While the authors do acknowledge that episodes are highly variable in duration and they say chronic vestibular migraine might be included in a revised classification in the future, they do say that “the core episode rarely exceeds 72 hours”. Is that really true?
RichyF raises some really interesting and important questions (like why is VM falling under the umbrella of the IHS when it is a neurological condition, and whether any of this means improved treatment). I think Scott’s answer to that latter question is right…migraine research is grossly underfunded, sadly (and from what some doctors have told me, so is dizziness-focused research). I would SO love to see treatments that are specifically targeted for VM and have no substantial side effects. I’ve been able to get some relatively good management of the head pain component in my case, but nothing medical science has offered so far (although admittedly I haven’t tried too much as I’m ridiculously side effect-sensitive) has been able to put a dent in the dizziness/vertigo. Only the passage of time does that, as I’m fortunate to get some months where I’m virtually dizzy-free…I treasure those times like nothing else 
Pardon the rambling… This discussion is simply too good and I got excited - I’m also really happy to be in an almost dizzy-free state currently Thanks for posting this article, and for all the thought-provoking comments!
P.S. Like RichyF, I also wasn’t too badly affected by the caloric test - although I wouldn’t do it again unless I had some really compelling reason to
Hi Bren
Cant add much to discussion other than my dizzy phases last months not hours although in early stages I had two phases that lasted 72 hours. The good old days.
Really pleased you are in a dizzy free state. I get those and like you cherish them. Unfortunately Im in a dizzy phase at the moment. Am interested to know what kicks them off. have you any ideas? Ive been looking for clues. Mine seem to linked to increased stress, easing off of diet and use of supplements and also use of a sleeping tablet while away from home as I sleep poorly on first night. An early warning for me is an increase in tinnitus.
Keep well.
— Begin quote from “Mavetherave”
Hi Bren
Cant add much to discussion other than my dizzy phases last months not hours although in early stages I had two phases that lasted 72 hours. The good old days.
Really pleased you are in a dizzy free state. I get those and like you cherish them. Unfortunately Im in a dizzy phase at the moment. Am interested to know what kicks them off. have you any ideas? Ive been looking for clues. Mine seem to linked to increased stress, easing off of diet and use of supplements and also use of a sleeping tablet while away from home as I sleep poorly on first night. An early warning for me is an increase in tinnitus.
Keep well.
— End quote
Hi Mave,
Thanks so much for your comment. I’m sorry to hear you’re in a dizzy phase presently and I can very much empathize. I actually have a low level of dizziness right now - fortunately though, it’s so subtle I can mostly ignore it. That’s a great question - and I really don’t know at this point in my case. I’ve been tracking my dizzy phases for the last 5 years and couldn’t come up with anything consistent in the pattern. I think long periods of being sedentary might be a factor in my case (it’s hard for me to be active - I have persistent fatigue, and related muscle de-conditioning; and I’m a student, so I’m often sitting at a desk). Although, I was once quite physically active before VM hit me, so the inactivity is probably both a consequence of VM and a factor that might perpetuate it - maybe. It’s great that you’ve identified some possible links in your case and an early warning sign. I only very rarely experience tinnitus (& just for seconds). VM seems to manifest itself in myriad ways in different people - I wish the article would have given more insight into that, but it was still a good read.
I really hope you feel better soon. Take care.
-Bren
I think we do need the ‘Chronic’ disorder diagnosis, as for alot of people myself included my day is always upset by an element of imbalance, lack of co-ordination, brain fog, function limitations, light headed, visual vertigo, in fact lots of sensations that may or may not be linked to VM, the fact that these symptoms (more so the balance side) and the onset of one sided headache/neckpain worsen greatly with stress, hormone fluctuations, excessive screen use or visual stimuli only back up the fact that the more triggers you are exposed to the worse it gets. You could call these attacks if you like but I am never symptom free before or after the event and it’s just like riding the waves of life, it gets worse and then calms down, but this for me usually takes weeks not hours or days.
The one thing I dont see in any of these medical papers is sensory sypmtoms, like picking a pen up and not realising or feeling that its your hand that’s picked it up and co-ordination problems where your brain knows how you want to move and you do it but it takes longer than usual to make it happen and you really have to concentrate, however this could be nothing to do with VM although my consultant thinks this is another sub type of migraine.
Karen I agree this thing is def chronic for me. Some days much better than others, and some downright horrible.
All of the different symptoms are either on or off each day; they’re not going away completely.
Kathleen
— Begin quote from “scott”
BTW, who here was completely wiped out after the caloric test?
I was a complete train wreck after that test back in 2003 first acutely for about 36 hours afterwards and then there was a long chronic nightmare that went on for about 3 weeks before returning to whatever baseline I had established then.
— End quote
During my first year of constant dizziness, headaches, etc., I ended up visiting 3 different neurologists. Each doctor performed the same caloric tests which had me vomiting during the test and the balance of the day until I slept it off.
Does anyone experience a cold nose and gums?
Wow… This made me teary just because it will hopefully help so many. I forwarded to my mom even. She does not generally talk about vm with me, unless I bring it up. I guess “out of sight, out of mind” theory. Anyhow, after the caloric test, I could not remember the car ride home ( was a passenger, of course) and slept for hours. I could not figure out what had happened. At least, now, I know;) this post makes me hopeful.