SJOGREN'S and MIGRAINE

sjogren's and migraines

Headache can occur in Sjögren's, and in a study by Dr. Gibson in London, who looked at thirty-five patients with primary Sjögren's in his Sjögren's clinic, about forty-six percent (46%) met the International Headache Society classification criteria for migraine. ~ Professor Stewart J. Tepper.

Sjogren’s can cause changes in the body that can act as Migraine triggers. Additionally, the medicines patients must take can also often act as triggers. Sjogren’s antibodies themselves can affect the brain and central nervous system.

A Migraine attack and the medicines used to treat it cause stress on the body that can often trigger an autoimmune flare. This can often be like a snowball down a hill when the autoimmune flare then triggers another Migraine, which triggers further autoimmune action against the body, and on and on and on.

If Migraineurs have to change their lives to try and minimize triggers and subsequent Migraine attacks, the Sjogren’s patient has to work that much harder to minimize triggers for both their conditions. Additionally, just as non-specialists are often not well versed on Migraine Disease, non specialists are also not well versed on Sjogren’s. These patients often find themselves traumatized by their diseases, but also by the health care system at whom they’re looking to for help. From Migraine.com by Health Union, LLC


What do I, and countless others who get migraines want?

We want simple easy to understand information told to us by someone we trust... someone who has done the research and found out what can help relieve our migraines symptoms. We want this information told to us by a person because this is the best way we can process information... hearing it from the lips of another person. 

If that cannot happen then we would like it written in simple to understand language, preferably in large font. That's why I am so pleased to present the information from The Migraine Trust. 

For over 50 years The Migraine Trust has been championing migraine research and supporting everyone affected by the condition. 

They have wonderful, helpful and thorough resources including:

  • Seeking medical advice: From diagnosis, to follow-up GP appointments and being referred to a specialist
  • Treatments: There are numerous migraine treatment options available from conventional medicines to supplements, herbs and other options.
  • Coping and managing: Information on coping and managing with migraine.
Best of all you can listen to expert doctors telling you ways to manage your migraines here 
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In this population-based case-control study of 72 969 patients, the odds of having dry eye disease with a diagnosis of migraine headaches was at least 20% higher than that of individuals without a diagnosis of migraine headaches.  Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren syndrome (all 3 of which were accounted for in this study) are also associated with DED dry eye disease. 

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For those who have ongoing and persistant migraines you may be interested in showing your specialists this article:

A severe and persistent migrainous headache in a patient with primary Sjøgren's syndrome unresponsive to treatment with immunosuppressive drugs, triptans, opioids, and NSAIDs, responded successfully to intrathecal B‐cell depletion with rituximab. 
In conclusion, intrathecal rituximab injections may represent a treatment option for severe headache in patients with autoimmune diseases such as pSS and possibly SLE. The mechanism is unknown but possibly involves depletion of brain resident autoreactive B cells that have survived systemic immunosuppressive therapy.
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The migraine protocol I am following:
Back in May I was having migraines that went for days. Migraine with aura. Migraine with pain. Migraine with nausea. I was scared due to severe pain and increased visual symptoms. 

Living in a darkened, quiet room did not help. Lying down actually increased the aura. 

I then discovered 3 vitamin/minerals that help migraines. I am not sure why we are not told about this but they have really helped me and have not had a migraine for 2 months. I was having migraines weekly. You can read the full article about these vitamins at Fibro Files where I write about fibromyalgia. I explain the protocol and the evidence supporting it. 

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We did a survey in May 2021on our Sjogren's blog page on Facebook, asking Do you get headaches and migraines and have sjogren's syndrome? It required a yes or no response. The responses were 7 said no and over 60 said yes.

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