Aura migraine and TMJ

[Elaine21]

I just want to know if Aura migraine and TMJ are linked with each other.

[marileew]

Hi loopy951,

Stress doesn't mean "emotional stress" or "mental stress" when I use it to talk about a migraine trigger. When I say stress, I mean any sort of stress on the body. This can be any sort of physical stress, emotional stress or mental stress. This can be: a hormonal change (for women, changes during their cycle... or for men, hormonal changes because of medications), it can be physical stresses because of exercise, or it could be not enough sleep or too much sleep. What I mean by stress is the medical physiological definition of stress, which is "a specific response by the body to a stimulus".

It is well documented that most people have triggers for their migraines, and it is also well documented that changes in physical chemistry can trigger a migraine... so, yes, stress is very related to migraines.

But, just because your husband may not have noticed any triggers what so ever does not mean that he is not suffering from migraines. I myself have gone on many elimination diets and have had no success in controlling my migraines through trigger avoidance... so, I know how that is. And, migraines are not anyone's fault nor should someone ever feel as if they are causing their migraines because of something they are doing... that is not what I am implying at all. I sometimes feel that people are accusing me of causing my migraines when they say things like that, so I want to make it perfectly clear that is not what I am saying at all... migraine is a genetic neurological disease that someone is born with and it is out of someone's control if they have the disease or not.

Also, some people will get migraines without outside triggers at all. So, your husband doesn't have to experience any noticeable outside trigger (like light, exercise, caffeine, chocolate, cheese, lack of sleep, change in medication, illness, etc.) to experience a migraine.

What physically happens during a migraine is pretty much the same for everyone... cortical spreading depression or sub-cortical spreading depression, temporary dysfunction in the brain stem, and due to these processes, subsequent blood vessels constriction and dilatation... but what leaves someone susceptible or what triggers these things is unknown other than genetics, but the individual attacks that someone who has the genetic neurological disease migraine has, well, all of the possible triggers are currently unknown except that individual people can track and sometimes identify triggers... and it is these triggers which are "stresses to the body" ... such as exercise, bright light, hormonal changes, getting ill, medication over-use, food sensitivities, natural chemicals in some foods such as tyramine (what's in cheese and nuts and chocolate that may trigger migraines) ...

So.... anyway... I hope that clears up what I mean by stress. Because I do NOT mean "emotional or mental" stress. Because emotional and mental stress CAN be migraine triggers too... migraine is NOT an anxiety disorder or anything like that... it is a genetic NEUROLOGICAL disease that has to do with chemical processes and temporary dysfunction in the brain stem that result in pain and the other symptoms associated with migraine. I don't ever want anyone to get confused about that... migraine is not a "stress disorder" or anything like that!!! That's not what I mean by it when I use the word stress... stress doesn't mean emotional stuff, it means "a specific response by the body to a stimulus", that is the medical physiological definition, and that is what I mean when I say it. And, so yes, migraines are often triggered by things and that is "a specific response by the body to a stimulus" ... because the stimulus is the trigger and the specific response by the body is the cortical spreading depression and/or sub-cortical spreading depression, the temporary dysfunction in the brain stem, and the following blood vessels constriction and dilatation due to these chemical processes that take place.  

Hope that clears everything up regarding the use of the word stress! So... again, stress just means "a specific response by the body to a stimulus".

[loopy951]

Hi marileew,
I have just posted on here in regards to my husband's Migraines?
Question because I am not sure if this is really what they are, or if his sinuses are causing the migraines.
My husband has no stress so therefore am also wondering if stress is even related to migraines.
Just a thought.
loopy951

[marileew]

Hi there,

Migraine is a neurological disease that someone is born with that is usually genetic. During a migraine, stuff happens in the brain such as cortical spreading depression (hyper excitability of the neurons in the visual area of the brain followed by the neurons being.. well.. tired i guess.. not so excitable) and dysfunction in a specific area of the brain stem.

But, many things can trigger a migraine. It isn't known exactly everything that can trigger a migraine or why some things trigger a migraine for some people and why they don't for others.

So... as for the temporomandibular joint... if you mean disorders of the temporomandibular joint... well, it is known that any sort of stress on the body can be a trigger for migraines, so I guess it could follow that a disorder of the temporomandibular joint could very well be a trigger for a migraine.

Also, many disorders of the temporomandibular joint can be very painful... and pain can trigger more pain... pain can lead to cycles of pain... and the temporomandibular joint is in the area of the trigeminal nerve. So, although the following is total speculation on my part... it makes sense to me that pain in the temporomandibular joint could refer to pain in the trigeminal nerve, since the areas are so near to each other (referred pain is something that can happen, that is a phenomenon that exists).

The trigeminal nerve is the nerve that is irritated during a migraine, because of the cortical spreading depression or possible dysfunction is the brain stem (they don't know for sure which of the two is the root cause of the pain in the trigeminal nerve system, although both cortical spreading depression and dysfunction of the brain stem plays a major role in the physiology of a migraine) which releases chemicals that irritate the trigeminal nerve. Anyway. I am not sure if this could have a sort of "backwards" effect or not... like, the trigeminal nerve is irritated FIRST and then that could trigger a migraine which would than trigger more pain in the trigeminal nerve area... like a chain reaction... I do not know if this is possible or not, but, that is how a connect to TMJ dysfunction would make sense to me. But that is just wild conjecture on my part.

OR it is just simply a case of migraines loving stress, any sort of stress, including physical stress and physical changes, and they feed off of it. So, TMJ dysfunction is a physical stress on the body and could therefor trigger a migraine.