Diabetes and Migraine

[hanadr]

I suffered with severe migraines between ages 20 and 50. After menopause, they stopped. Recently, i have been getting the classic wisual disturbances,(jazzy edges to my vision.) But today for the first time in about 11 years, I have the nausea too. I've checked BG: 4.7, not probably the cause. Am I going to start getting these horrible headaches again?
Are there any other migraine sufferers out there? How does BS affect you?

 

[Siobhan]

I get migraines, sometimes that don't effect my sugars, other times they come on after haning a hypo, if I get a pain in my arm with it I know my sugar is high.

 

[gillyh]

I have suffered from migraines for last 37 years. Since being diagnosed with T2 they aren't as bad or as often. I have noticed that when my BS is high I get them more. So I avoid sweet sugary things that I have eaten occassionally with T2 in the past.

 

[hanadr]

Thanks Siobhan and gillyh. Interesting that this sems to be a female problem

 

[gillyh]

Anytime handar. When I was diagnosed the doctor told me mine were hormone related. So maybe it is worse for women? :cry:

 

[hanadr]

I think the majority of women who suffer from migraine can plot it in advance on the calendar. I do know some people who get it when their BS is low or they're hungry. these are non-diabetics

 

[totsy]

hya,
i too have migraines every month just before my period and my sugars go high,not sure if this is the migraine or period,it must be a lady thing lol

 

[Siobhan]

It can be your period my sugars sometimes are slightly higher around that time of the month.

 

[hanadr]

I remember, when my daughter ( now 29 and a mother herself) was small, her health visitor, sugesting I take yeast extract in the pre-menstrual week to prevent sugar cravings and migraine. It worked as I remember

 

[DiabeticGeek]

I am afraid that there isn't going to be a simple scientific answer to this, because the physiology of migraines is very poorly understood. It is fairly well established that there is a major involvement of serotonin (a hormone that passes messages between nerve cells in the brain) in migraines, and most of the effective anti-migraine drugs work by inhibiting this in one way or another. There is some tenuous evidence that serotonin also either plays a role, or is affected by the regulation of blood glucose - so an association between migraines and diabetes is quite possible. Serotonin is also influenced by the female sex hormones, so it is also quite likely that any association between diabetes and migraines is different in men and women.

I am afraid that this is so vague as to be virtually useless, but the endocrine systems are often like that. There are lots of complex networks and chains of interactions, but they are extremely hard to study and hence often not fully understood (and that is putting it mildly!). However, it doesn't surprise me that diabetes and migraines are associated and it doesn't surprise me that this is a female thing!

 

[angeladalton]

I have been a diabeteic for six years and last night was the first time I had a migraine whichincluded the usual symptoms -headache vomiting avoidance of light and noise. Today still feel weak and nauseous - is this normal and is it related to diabetes or my age - I am 46 female

 

[Ardbeg]

I very rarely, if ever, have had a headache so severe that it could be described as a migrine.

However, I do get headache extremely frequently and have done now for well over a year. When I was drinking alcohol regularly; ie a few drinks (sometimes much more) every day, it was a convenient culprit to blame for my "fuzziness". But, having been teetotal now for exactly a month and having found it so suprisingly easy (this time around) that I will stay teetotal at least until my next visit to the nurse; I no longer have the booze as a convenient cause to blame.

It's hard to put my headache symptoms into words. As said above, I generally feel a "fuzziness" in my head virtually all the time and when it escalates I feel like the top of my head could explode or blow off. :shock:

At other times it feels like someone has crept up behind me and whacked the back of my skull with a piece of 4 by 2 (that's a plank of wood ladies :wink: ).

Any suggestions or remedies for this wimp of a man would be appreciated.

 

[sugarless sue]

Have you had your eyes tested ? Changes in eye sight can cause violent headaches because of eye strain.

 

[Ardbeg]

Hi Sue,

Funnily enough I've just had a letter from the local eye clinic to arrange my first test as a diabetic.