Migraine and Epilepsy

I often wonder if migraines and epilepsy go hand in hand. Because I suffer with silent migraine and strong phantom smells are often the worst of my prodome, I wonder if I'm having partial epileptic seizures. Has anyone been sent for an EEG to rule epilepsy out or has it always been a firm diagnois of migraine?

Have had a sleep-deprived eeg and a 24 hour eeg where I triggered an episode.........I think there is a fine line between migraines and epilepsy and that line is pretty blurry. One doc early on thought I had epilepsy due to one eeg showing an abnormality - think he was wrong as had subsequent neuros that I saw. Migraines are essentially a rule-out diagnosis. Our aura symptoms are unique and you might want to consider an eeg to rule out epilepsy. L

The neuro who diagnosed my migraines first thought I had epilepsy, and he's an epilepsy specialist or something fancy like that. I had a 48 hour EEG followed by an MRI that both came back normal, and he was pretty confused because he'd been sure I had epilepsy. I would definitely talk to your neuro about maybe getting the EEG, because it will give you peace of mind if nothing else. I think we migraine sufferers like to know that we are actively fighting against our illness. So even it turns out to be nothing, it's worth it just to satisfy our inner need to "fight the incurable"

I saw my doctor this morning and even though she doesnt think it could be epilepsy she has ordered an EEG probably just to set my mind at ease. Its going to take me 2 months to get in though!

I read something by Oliver Sacks - you know that famous neurologist - who conceptualised migraine on a spectrum with epilepsy. He talked about epilepsy as an extremely fast electrical spreading activation and migraine as an extremely slow spreading deactivation (maybe too slow to be picked up by an EEG which only averages the activity coming from a region over time). When I consider that I'm on anti-epilepsy drugs and they're really helping reduce the frequency and severity of my migraines, I have to believe the two are related. Add to that the fact that strobing lights can trigger epileptic seizures and migraines - there are a lot of parallels with the neurological stuff. Not sure where the inflammatory response kicks in tho.