Dizziness or Vertigo: How do I know if it’s migraine related?

If you are having a migraine attack with a headache, and you experience vertigo or dizziness around the same time – easy. It seems likely that the two are related somehow.

But that’s not always the case. For example, what if you haven’t had a migraine attack for years, but you are still dizzy? What if you’re often dizzy in between migraine attacks? Could issues with another trigger, such as motion sickness, still be related to migraine?

We don’t have the answers to all those questions – partly because it quite simply depends on the person. But that’s the question – how can you find the answer?

An article in Neurology Today is a little dated – it’s from 2003 – but it does point to some of the emerging research at the time which continues to be confirmed. Here’s a summary:

• Often, migraine is related to vertigo, dizziness, motion sickness, and motion sensitivity, even if
  • You don’t experience headache with your dizziness
  • You’ve never had a migraine headache
  • You don’t experience the two at the same time
• Your doctor needs to know your medical history, and understand as much as possible about your dizziness et cetera from standard clinical tests, especially eye movement related tests.
• Migraine medications may help with the vertigo and so on, especially if you have a history of migraine attacks.
• It’s possible that the symptoms may be a “migraine attack”, even if there is no headache, or at least they may be biologically related.

So if you have had migraine, even if you don’t now, it’s important to tell your doctor. You may have migraine attacks for years, and then start experiencing vertigo – the two still may be related.

Children may experience motion sickness, or paroxysmal vertigo (that sudden spinning sensation), even if they don’t get headaches. Then they may get headaches later in life.

You might ask – why is this important? Don’t I still need to treat the dizziness?

Yes, and of course your doctor will need to rule out some possible causes. But the fact is that a lot of migraine medication can successfully treat dizziness, motion sensitivity, and so on, possibly because of the link between the two, or even because the symptoms are migraine without headache. Yes, you can have migraine attacks without headache.

And even, as the article says, “‘low level’ problems” that “exist for weeks” may be related and may be treatable with migraine medications.

The article mentions some medications that have been successful. Remember, the article is quite old, so we have some newer options. But if possible consider a migraine specialist, who can recommend something based on your medical history.

For more details, check out Some Forms of Migraine Might Be Vertigo from Neurology Today.