autoimmune disorder?

Just wondering if migraines can be part of an autoimmune disorder........I have a whole list of medical problems that can be lumped into the autoimmune category (recurring pericarditis, asthma, frozen shoulder etc...). In fact my doctor and I made a bet back in 1996 that I would eventually test positive for lupus........so far he is losing that bet. So can I put migraines in that category too? Just always looking for a medical condition that encompasses all my symptoms. But for now I call it Old Weird Harold's Disease - named it in honor of my father who also struggled with several medical problems during his life.

I've heard they can. My husband has coeliac's disease and he gets migraines. We're not sure it's related but his doctor said it's a possibility. I think IBS can be as well.

Have you been tested for Coeliac's?

I am coming to same conclusion that many diverse and bizaare aliments fall under the autoimmune umbrella.

Paradox has written her list of complaints on another thread and I can come up with a similar list of my own.

I started reading off reading about the thyroid under attack through autoimmune, but then branched out as other ailments get a mention that fit me.

The idea that once antibodies have starting attacking in one area, either gland, muscle or nurone, I think that the chances are high they are attacking somewhere else. ie not just comorbid, but a "spread" of the faulty antibodies. This idea sort of gets a mention in research papers but not really pushed.

The criteria for many autoimmune illnesses is currently very rigid. eg fibromyalgia you must have 17 pain points or you don't fit the criteria. Sjogrens syndrome, dry mouth, dry eyes and several others.

But I think many people can fit part of the criteria. eg For several years I had dry eyes to the extent of corneal ulcers. Reading about this syndrome now, I nearly fitted the criteria but not quite. I am nearly convinced though it was an attack of my antibodies in my eyes.

I am currently reading about LDH defiecency. Lactose dehydrodenase enzyme. Absolutely no idea how I got here but very interesting. The worst case senerio is MS, mildest - lactose intolerant.

The genetic fault does not allow the conversion of carbs to energy within the muscles. So anyone with arthritis type symptoms or collapsing muscles, like Paradox could be somehow connected to this.

What I think caught my eye, is that it has been linked to short sightedness - I am.

So you have a genetic fault that doesn't allow the correct breakdown for energy in muscles (haven't read research as to what else is effected)and I am wondering if this is why the antibodies attack. The weakness or incorrectness in the muscles make-up being perceived by our bodies as an antigen it should attack.

Can't find any research that connects the two however or anyone else thinking along these lines - but my children assure me brain doesn't work like anyone else's, so off I go on my merry way.

I know that several cancers are being linked to antibodies attacking where they shouldn't, so research is happening and hopefully will get there one day.

Nice bump, Marion. I had forgotten about this post.

I think it's people like you who have brains that look at a problem differently who will eventually come up with answers. LDH sounds intriguing.

On the other hand "Old Weird Harold" fits perfectly. My mother had some type if obscure autoimmune disorder (she fit quite a few criteria for Lupus. But not enough for a definitive diagnosis). The clincher for OWH disease? Her father, my grandfathers, name was Harold.

No Paradox, what brain I had disappeared in the brain fog a long time ago.

That's the longest piece I've managed to write in ages. Reading is a lot easier. I can go back and read something ten times to get it to sink in. Wish I had some sort of medical knowledge though. It would make life a lot easier. Sometimes I have ten - 20 web pages open looking up what different words mean.

I've learnt not to close them as by the time I get half way down a page I know I'll have forgotten what it meant and have to look it up again.

Marion - have you been tested for coeliacs? I know I mentioned it earlier but 'brain fog' is a known symptom, as is migraine.

Everyone was very scathing of my post on the clinical homoeopath, but oddly the last month or two I have come across several articles that back up his theories....maybe not his treatment, but, the whole virus stuck in the body thing, effecting the immune system....

I have Fibro subsequent to CFS and IBS for years. have had a fluctuating hormone, and adrenal fatigue.
I am pretty sure my migraines and head problems are symptoms of these.
Of course the medics dont agree, but I live with me.....

That is why I started my FB page, so far we have FMS/CFS/IBS/Migraine in the title, but people comment on many other illnesses that they feel are linked.

I wish we could get "them" to take more notice of us. Cant they at least listen, just suppose we have a point??

Pen

Hi All,

I would think that there could easily be an autoimmune relation/involvement in migraines and other disorders. I know that, in my case, with the severe fainting that no one can seem to diagnose aas anything other than POTS/ neurocardiogenic syncope/ dysautonomia that there has to be a better cause. Personally, I thinik mine are autoimmune or my autonomic nervous system is just really messed up. I do know there is an answer and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if some of this turns out to be autoimmune.

Pain free days,
sailingm

I posted in paradox's thread about this.

A guy I work with has a Master's in Chinese Medicine and I mentioned the head issues. Based on my pulse, he said something about kidney insufficiency but that I don't have a classic case (actually none of the standard criteria). He thought it might be that there was inflammation somewhere and to try an inflammation diet, one of the sensible ones. I looked it up and it was what I was doing when I was losing weight (didn't feel too bad so may try to go back to it). But it did get me thinking, that there really isn't anything that should be inflamed so auto-immune disease? A musing on my part but it sounds like there might be something to it.

Only one of my kidneys works. Well the right one works a teeny bit.
Congenital abnormality discovered when I had pylo-nephritis when I was 9.
It was badly inflamed and they couldnt sort it. Wanted to remove it, but my dad said no.
Eventually loads of anti bios did it.
Never really looked into it since, but hmmm

The brain/spinal cord have their own immune system that is entirely separated (via the blood brain barrier) from the immune system that tends to the rest of your body. Auto-immune diseases that effect you systemically shouldn't effect your brain. I've toyed with the idea that migraine may be an autoimmune disease of the brain's immune cells, but that is pure speculation on my part and to my knowledge there is no evidence for that. It's pretty commonly accepted that migraine is a disorder of the nervous system - my personal opinion is that in utero development is somehow screwed up (for genetic reasons or otherwise) and as such the entire nervous system becomes flawed.

I believe this is why migraine is so damn difficult to treat - it's not working on a purely cellular level (i.e., a messed up calcium channel), but has to do with mass aberrations in numerous cell types and their ability to communicate with each other. Science isn't really that far in understanding the brain and central nervous system, unfortunately.