Togetherness of Epilepsy and Migraine
Although migraine and epilepsy are perceived as separate illnesses, they have so many similarities. In fact, those with epilepsy and migraine have so much in common. Initial findings such as aura is very similar. Following the aura, headache can occur in a migraine attack and fainting in epileptic seizure. The fact that children who faint during infancy may start to have migraine attacks in later ages also show the connection.
Migraine attacks which start and continue with fainting spells are rarely seen. However, fainting spells of my patient since his childhood was associated with migraine attacks. It wasn’t even considered to be migraine as fainting spells weren’t followed by headaches. Despite his middle age, fainting spells followed by migraine attacks with severe throbbing headache continued to occur 4-5 times a year.
The relationship between epilepsy and migraine is very clear in migraine with aura. Epilepsy is the transient overturning of brain functions by stimuli resulting from the problematic areas -bioelectrical irregularities- in the brain. It is a kind of brain storm. Migraine is a kind of brain storm as well. It is the transient overturning of the autonomic nervous system with the effect of problematic areas in the body. External factors such as hunger, lack of sleep, stress and intense exposure to stimulants can be a trigger factor for both diseases.
The common feature is the sensitivity of the nervous system genetically. The sensitivity is the cause of storms to break out in central nervous system in epilepsy and in autonomic nervous system in migraine.
This sensitivity is also a privilege. Many scientists, thinkers, artists have migraine or epilepsy or sometimes even both. The differentness in the nervous system of those with these diseases affect their production positively.
Some artists are mentioned as migraineurs in some resources, while in others they are said to be epileptic. Vincent Van Gogh is stated to have Meniere’s disease as well. The artist probably had vertiginous migraine with aura. His picture ‘Starry Night’ also gives a feeling of complete aura. Pain causing him to go crazy and cut his ear off can be sign of migraine. In vertiginous migraine, there can be some pain in the ear and it can lead to hearing symptoms like hearing noises in your ears which can make you go crazy and dizziness.
Dostoyevski, the father of the psychological novel, also claimed that epileptic seizures, which he described as an incredible emotional enthusiasm and lapse of time had positive effects on the quality of his creativity.
Scientists and Thinkers with Migraine: Charles Darwin, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud…
Leaders: Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Thomas Jefferson…
Artists: Vincent van Gogh (he had both epilepsy and Meniere’s disease), Pablo Picasso, George Seurat, Claude Monet, Lewis Carroll, Cervantes, Virginia Woolf, Stephen King… Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor, James Cromwell, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson…
The Artists with Epilepsy: Socrates, Herakleitos, Aristo, Julius Caesar, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Alfred Nobel, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Blaise Pascal, Newton, Stephen Hawking, Lenin, Molière, Lord Byron, Dante, Dostoyevsky, Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, Niccolo Paganini…