Study finds potential causality between blood clot factors and migraine with aura

[Sly Saint]

In a new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital, researchers used a technique in genetic analysis termed Mendelian randomization to examine 12 coagulation measures, uncovering four that are associated with migraine susceptibility. Interestingly, scientists only observed these associations in individuals who experience MA and did not observe such associations among individuals who experience migraine without aura (MO). Their research suggests that these hemostatic factors could potentially have a causal role in MA. Their results are published in Neurology.

Investigators found a strong association between four coagulation factors and migraine susceptibility. They observed that genetically increased levels of three blood clotting factors: coagulation factor VIII, von Willebrand factor, and phosphorylated fibrinopeptide A, and genetically decreased levels of fibrinogen (a protein important in the late stages of the blood clotting process) were all associated, in part, with migraine susceptibility. Interestingly, scientists did not find this association among individuals who experience migraine without aura (MO), indicating a specific relationship between these hemostatic factors and MA.

Scientists note that Mendelian randomization has its limitations. In the future, researchers could examine if the causal associations implied by genetics can be observed in clinical practice.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-potential-causality-blood-clot-factors.html

 

[MeSci]

I wonder how scintillating scotoma, which is a migraine-like aura I get for about 15 minutes once a month or less, usually without headache, fits in?

 

[Keela Too]

I wonder how scintillating scotoma, which is a migraine-like aura I get for about 15 minutes once a month or less, usually without headache, fits in?

Ah! I get these too. I’d no idea they had a name. I just thought they were part and parcel of my migraines. Though I rarely get these with a headache, but instead like you do without the pain.

They usually last about 20 minutes.

 

[MeSci]

Have you always had them, or only since getting M.E.? (I've only had them in the latter stages of my M.E.)

 

[Keela Too]

Have you always had them, or only since getting M.E.? (I've only had them in the latter stages of my M.E.)

I’ve had them since my teenage years. On and off.

 

[Mithriel]

I get these scotoma without a headache too. I had to look it up in google when it kept happening!

I also get migraines that have vertigo and nausea without the binding headaches I got when I was younger. I have no idea if they have an aura or not. I looked that up in google and I am none the wiser. I think I do but everything falls into the mess of symptoms that make up ME.

In my teens, my ME was originally diagnosed as "migraine with more of the weird symptoms and less of the headaches"

 

[Kitty]

I wonder how scintillating scotoma, which is a migraine-like aura I get for about 15 minutes once a month or less, usually without headache, fits in?

If you can only see the scotoma in one eye, it may be retinal migraine. I get these, but have never suffered from the headache forms of migraine. I sometimes get the scotoma alone, but other times the vision in the affected eye is also impaired, with sharp focus impossible.

Retinal migraines are usually quite short lived, with more than an hour's duration being unusual – mine tend to last between 10 and 25 minutes. The other eye is typically unaffected.

 

[Forbin]

I wonder how scintillating scotoma, which is a migraine-like aura I get for about 15 minutes once a month or less, usually without headache, fits in?

I get this a few times year. It started years after the onset of ME, so it's hard to say if it's related. My father said he also got these, though he never had ME. It might be genetic in some cases, I suppose. Though I never had a headache with this condition, it did leave me feeling kind of "wiped out" in a weird way until the next day. Mine seemed to happen only in one eye at a time, but which eye would vary. My ophthalmologist insisted that, if the lighting conditions were right, I'd see it in both eyes, though it might be dimmer in one eye.

Somewhat more concerning to me is that, twice in my lifetime, once at age 12 and again at age 52, the upper third of my visual field was just... gone. It wasn't black, but rather a sort of gray "emptiness." Like the aura, it cleared up in about half an hour. I have some reason to think that the second event was triggered by looking at a laser price scanner while it was being cleaned. The cashier had thoughtfully removed the protective glass covering it for cleaning and it didn't immediately occur to me to look away. The vision problem started about a minute later. Since the first event occurred on a little league baseball field when I was a child, it seems unlikely that a laser was involved.

 

[MeSci]

I will try to remember to check whether it is in one eye or both next time. I may have a problem remembering because I can't speak or write sense while it is happening! Do others have this?

 

[Keela Too]

For me everything else is normal. Though yeah, it can leave me tired afterwards.

Also it indicates that I’m in a period where a migraine is more likely. (My migraines come in waves, and then there can be gaps of months and months when I get none.)

I sometimes used to get the vision thing when teaching, which was very weird. The missing bit in my vision got sort of zipped up. So I could be looking at a student and seeing them like a cyclops because one of their eyes fell on the missing part of my vision! Weird.

However, I found I could see everything I needed if I swept my eyes around a bit, so I could catch the missing bits. I couldn’t properly read anything though. But in the class room what you say goes, so I just worked around it til it all cleared.

Re driving, I could always pull in well before it was a problem. Then, I’d just take time out before driving on.

In truth the vision issue wasn’t happening very frequently, and in hindsight I was remarkably accepting of it all (still am actually). I mentioned it once to a doctor, who just said it was probably linked to my migraines and dismissed it as irrelevant.

For me it is definitely across both eyes, though it can “feel” as though it’s in my left eye. A quick check by covering the left eye makes it clear it’s not a single eye issue.

 

[Kitty]

For me it is definitely across both eyes, though it can “feel” as though it’s in my left eye. A quick check by covering the left eye makes it clear it’s not a single eye issue.

It does sound as if it's a different condition to mine. I think retinal migraines only affect one eye, usually the same eye every time. This type of migraine is thought to be caused by blood vessels constricting in response to a trigger; mine usually seem to be triggered by hot weather or blocked sinuses, although they can also happen for no obvious reason at all (e.g., I woke up with one last week).

I also developed Reynaud's in my late 50s, which, from reading about it, sounds like a similar phenomenon.

 

[Mithriel]

For me it is definitely across both eyes, though it can “feel” as though it’s in my left eye. A quick check by covering the left eye makes it clear it’s not a single eye issue.

I think that is what I get as well down to the strange feeling in the left eye. The ME affects my left side much worse than the right anyway. I am fairly sure it is both eyes as covering one doesn't help.