Migraine Patients More Prone to Stroke, Heart Disease and Anxiety, Doctors Warn

Migraine

is not just a debilitating and discomforting headache but is also linked to many other ailments. According to doctors, a few health conditions are more likely to affect people who also get migraines, and some of these illnesses even have symptoms that mimic those of migraines. When you have a migraine attack, there are many other conditions you may be at a higher risk for. The links may be stronger if you have aura disturbances to your senses that can come before, during, or after a migraine headache. Auras are usually visual and may include flashes of light, blind spots, or tingling in your hands or face. A few of these life-threatening conditions include:

Stroke

If you consistently suffer from migraine, you have an increased chance of stroke, and the most vulnerable ones include:

• Those who have an aura
• Women
• Those under 45 years of age.

According to doctors, symptoms of stroke, like intense headache and vomiting, can also be mistaken for those of a migraine. A few types of migraines that mimic stroke include those with aura and thunderclap migraines. Along with migraines, the three major signs of a stroke are:

• Your face droops or goes numb on one side
• One of your arms is weak or numb
• You cannot talk, or your words are not clear

Heart disease

Men with migraine are more likely to have heart disease and heart attacks. Doctors say how often you get migraines does not appear to affect your risk of having these conditions.

Hearing issues

Migraines increase the risk of sudden hearing loss. While it is a rare condition, loss of hearing can be gradual.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and cognitive difficulties due to the central nervous system's altered pain processing. It causes chronic pain, fatigue, and other symptoms, including migraine.

Depression and anxiety

Migraines are extremely common in those who have anxiety issues. According to experts, if you have both migraine and anxiety, you are also at high risk for depression. Studies say aura makes anxiety and depression more likely.

Irritable bowel syndrome

According to research, those with migraine are more than four times more likely than others also to have IBS. The reason for the connection is not clear, but researchers think it could be because both conditions involve strong comorbidity, most likely due to shared mechanisms like gut-brain axis dysfunction, neurotransmitter issues, hormonal influences, and a hypersensitive nervous system.

Stress and certain foods can trigger both conditions, and they disproportionately affect women, highlighting a complex bidirectional link rather than one directly causing the other.

Asthma

If you have asthma, you are 1.5 times more likely to develop migraine than others, according to research. One link may be inflammation, which is thought to underlie both conditions. Both conditions have shared triggers like inflammation, genetics, and environmental factors such as air pollution, with studies showing a bidirectional relationship where one condition increases the risk for the other. Both also involve inflammatory pathways, neuropeptides, and immune dysfunction and can be triggered by allergens and pollutants.