Menu

stroke

Cholesterol and Headache

, 3

Cholesterol and Headache

Can high cholesterol cause headaches?

Answer:  High cholesterol is not likely to give you a headache, even if you have some atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

However, causes of high cholesterol could also lead to headache:

  • Lack of exercise
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Poor diet

People with headache and migraine often have higher risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Migraine symptoms can mimic stroke symptoms!

Statin drugs (to lower cholesterol in high risk patients) are being studied as a migraine treatment.  However, in some patients, statin drugs actually trigger headache attacks.

Bottom Line:  When it comes to headache, worry less about high cholesterol itself and more about lifestyle and medication choices.

For more information:

Migrainous Infarction – A Stroke from Migraine?

8

Migrainous Infarction - Stroke from Migraine?

She has migraine with aura.  But this time, aura symptoms last more than an hour.  Tests (neuroimaging) show that she has had “cerebral infarction”.  This is a disturbance of blood vessels supplying the brain.  This causes a type of stroke.

The result may be a variety of stroke symptoms.

Although migraine with aura may increase your risk of stroke, migrainous infarction is much more rare, because it occurs during the aura phase of migraine.

Migrainous infarction is VERY rare.

If your aura symptoms unusually last over an hour, get to a doctor immediately!

Additional notes:  In answer to the question above – is this a stroke from migraine?  We actually don’t fully understand the connection.  Migrainous infarction is not a stroke which happens to occur during a migraine attack, or the migraine-like symptoms that may accompany a stroke.  In migrainous infarction, the aura symptom or symptoms are actually related to the infarction.  In other words, the blood vessels and part of the brain which is affected is related to the type of aura symptoms you have.

Again, it is extremely rare, and people have been mistakenly diagnosed when they actually have a different condition.

For more information:  Migrainous infarction from the International Headache Society; Clinical and MRI characteristics of acute migrainous infarction.

Thick Blood and Headaches – A Dangerous Combination

13

A rare disorder could be causing your headaches – and it could be life-threatening.

Thick blood and headaches isn’t something we talk about a lot – and to be fair it is a pretty rare condition.  But it’s another reason why any new symptoms should be taken very seriously.

Blood tests - one way to diagnose thick blood

“Thick blood” is actually a condition known as polycythemia.  There are different types of polycythemia.  A mutation in a bone marrow cell may cause problems with red blood cell production – and your body starts making too many of certain red blood cells.  Polycythemia may also come from other underlying conditions.

Why is thick blood so serious?  Because the thick blood can lead to blood clots, which can lead to stroke and heart attack.  It can also slow the flow of blood, meaning that oxygen isn’t getting distributed properly in the body.  It can even lead to other diseases, in addition to the symptoms which we’ll talk about next.

Symptoms

Thick blood headaches go together, but the pattern is usually different in polycythemia than in conditions such as migraine.

Other symptoms include dizziness, trouble breathing, numbness or tingling, weakness, and fatigue.  Your skin may get itchy (especially after a warm shower or bath), and you may feel bloated in you upper left abdomen.

Because of the lack of oxygen to the brain, thick blood may cause neurological symptoms, such as those we see in migraine.  This could include vision problems, memory problems, loss of balance, or trouble speaking or understanding language.

The difference is that in polycythemia you’ll rarely get a repeating pattern – in other words, you won’t get repeated “attacks” when the same symptoms tend to occur.

The symptoms, although they may come and go, tend to appear gradually and get progressively worse.

Polycythemia is a chronic disease.  There is no cure.

The Good News

The good news is that if you see a doctor, you should be able to get a clear diagnosis, and there is treatment.  Just what kind of treatment you get and how well it works will depend on what type of polycythemia you have.

Once again, it’s very important to see a doctor if your symptoms change, or if you have new symptoms.  If polycythemia is suspected, your doctor may refer you to a specialist.

References:

Does Migraine Change Your Brain?

9

A new meta-study confirms that – yes – migraine does seem to change your brain.

This study was making the news rounds late last month.  I didn’t comment on it right away, because in a sense it isn’t really news.  A “meta-study” is basically a review of previous studies, and we’ve shared much of the information from those studies here before.

Yes, those with migraine disease seem to have different brains – some of the differences are likely from birth, but others may come as a result of migraine itself.

It’s a little tricky to confirm cause and effect here, but this study is successfully drawing more attention to the connection and hopefully will lead to more study in the future.

Many of the statistics won’t mean a lot to the layperson, but let’s take as an example “white matter lesions”.  Migraine with aura increased the risk of white matter lesions in the brain by 68%.  Migraine without aura increased the risk by 34%.

The study authors summarize this way:

The present review suggests that migraine may be a risk factor for structural changes in the brain.

In comparison with non-migraine controls, migraineurs have more WMAs (white matter abnormalities), ILLs (infarct-like lesions), and volumetric changes in GM (grey matter) and WM (white matter) regions.

All this may sound startling, but most doctors will tell you it’s not something to worry about in most cases.  You basically could have an increased risk for something that most other people have to some extent anyway.  For example, decreased brain volume is a sign of aging.  Maybe your brain is aging slightly faster than someone else’s.  Slightly.

However, although one of these things may not be reason to worry, we are getting a bigger picture – that migraine could be doing some long term damage to the brain.  How does that impact what treatments work?  Could it increase your risk for stroke?  Should that change the medication you’re prescribed?

So we’re just confirming what we already knew.  Yes, migraine is serious.  Yes, it may do long term damage.  It’s probably not going to significantly shorten your life, but you should be treating it and not ignoring it.

And remember, there are probably other reasons why migraine is dangerous – reasons that are much more important.  The impact of pain on your body.  The disabling impact of migraine – loss of time with family, loss of income.  Comorbid disorders.

So do look for good treatment, do take migraine seriously.  But don’t let these news headlines lead you to panic.

Check out Beyond the hype – migraine and brain lesions

More on this study:

After a Migraine: Vision Problems and Stroke Risk?

2

We all know about visual auras in some migraine attacks – blinking lights, patterns, partial (or even total) blindness, for example.  But could migraine be hurting your vision even when you’re not having an attack?

Migraine and Vision Problems
Patterns are often used to test visual abnormalities

Researchers are paying more and more attention to the impact that migraine disease has even when we’re not in the middle of a so-called “attack”.  For example, migraine may increase your risk of other problems.  Take stroke for example – a recent study suggests that people with visual aura in a migraine attack have larger strokes.

Researchers also recognize that migraine patients have symptoms in-between attacks – inter-ictal symptoms.  Could vision problems be one of these?

Researchers at The University of Melbourne in Australia did some in-depth study of 43 people, 17 with migraine, to find the answer.  And the answer was – yes.  Migraine patients do have visual abnormalities in-between attacks.

This testing was more than reading letters on the wall.  Researchers measured electrical responses of the retina, and used other tools to measure visual abnormalities.  They found that there was both retinal and cortical dysfunction, although it varied from patient to patient and could change over time.

Although there does seem to be increased stroke risk in some types of migraine, there’s a lot we need to learn about the symptoms and inter-ictal symptoms of different types of migraine.  Wouldn’t it be great to walk into a doctor’s office, be diagnosed with a very specific type of migraine, and then have a profile of common symptoms and preferred treatments?

Although we’re not there yet, we do know of many types of migraine, and it’s very important to get a specific diagnosis.  Do you have migraine?  What kind?  Typical aura without headache?  Basilar-type migraine?  Hemiplegic migraine?  There are many other types, and your diagnosis will help your doctor give you a better treatment.

One of the most important things you can do is keep a migraine diary, and keep track of your symptoms.  Maybe you need to flip the page over, and start keeping track of those symptoms you experience in-between migraine, and other issues that might go along with migraine.  Do get your eyes checked regularly as well – sometimes migraine symptoms and eyesight problems can be confused – or related.

And regarding stroke and heart disease, a good summary is here: Migraine and Heart Disease: 7 Critical Things to Know Now.

Load More

Back To Top
The articles on Headache and Migraine News are © 2004-2026 J. Cottrill.
Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of each article, and to point you to further sources of information. However, this site is for informational purposes only and should never replace a visit to your doctor.