Mental Illness and Migraines
Jun 23 2009 | Comments 2
This weekend I was asked by some people how mental illness fits into my life nowadays, and I had a realization that was both reassuring and depressing: migraines are a bigger factor in my everyday existence now than bipolar disorder is. I’m glad to be so recovered (despite not exercising and eating poorly — take that, health gurus!) but fuck! These migraines are miserable and constant and not responding to daily dosages of Topomax or Imitrex or Zomig. They have become like alien possessors. I hate them.
This guy knows my pain, and articulates it well: Go here to hear author Andrew Levy talk about said migraines on Radio Times. The book sounds fascinating.
liz | 3:55 PM | bipolar disorder
Migraines are so often comorbid with bipolar type II, that intractable migraine is actually one factor considered in diagnosing bipolar II. Not that you cannot have them if you have type I, but it is more common in people suffering from type II.
Anyway, I have at times felt like the migraines were ruining my life, until they are finally back under control. But then my bipolar illness (Bipolar, NOS), particularly mixed episodes, suddenly re-appears back on the scene. So maybe migraines are protective against episodes, the way seizures are protective against depression? I learned that little neurological tidbit from my husband who has epilepsy’s Neurosurgeon. And it is true: the better his seizure control, the more depressed he gets.
Sorry to speculate, my dad is an Emeritus professor of neuropsychiatry and psychopharmacology at Pitt, and this stuff is riveting to me.
I have had two minor migraines since starting anti-depressants two years ago as opposed to, on average, one a month. I know… it’s not much but three days in bed with the fourth day set aside for recuperating makes one working week out of a month.
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