With migraine as a common and debilitating condition in people with MS, it’s crucial for clinicians to differentiate between an MS relapse and a migraine aura, according to a paper by Saloua Mrabet and colleagues published in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Inflammatory brainstem lesions in MS are more likely associated with migraines, they noted, adding that MS the various symptoms of MS do not typically include headaches. However, headaches are frequently reported as comorbidities in MS, the authors continued. They explained that most common primary headache syndromes in MS are migraine, tension-type headache, and cluster headache, as well as that migraine-type headaches occur more frequently in MS than in the general population and can be associated with relapses or appear during the MS course. Mrabet and team also explained that MRI scans often show a predominance of brainstem inflammatory lesions in MS with migraines. They concluded that although the relationship between MS and migraines is still unclear, both conditions share similar demographic and psychological factors and early diagnosis and proper treatment of migraine in patients with MS are crucial for improving QOL.
