Research present a powerful affiliation between migraine and fibromyalgia.
“These situations share overlapping mechanisms that contain how the mind processes ache,” says Daniel Arkfeld, MD, a rheumatologist at Keck College Medication of USC in Los Angeles. “There’s a rising physique of analysis suggesting that each situations stem from central sensitization — a heightened response of the nervous system to ache alerts.”
Does One Trigger the Different?
Whereas there’s no definitive proof that migraine causes fibromyalgia or vice versa, researchers consider that they could share widespread pathways that improve vulnerability to continual ache.
“One idea is that repeated migraine assaults may change how the nervous system responds to ache over time, doubtlessly triggering fibromyalgia in people who find themselves already predisposed,” says Daybreak Buse, PhD, a medical professor of neurology at Albert Einstein School of Medication in New York Metropolis. “On the flip aspect, early fibromyalgia signs — resembling ache and stiffness within the neck and shoulders — may activate nerve pathways and contribute to the onset of migraine.”
Additional research are wanted to totally perceive the bidirectional relationship, however the physiological overlap — particularly involving neurotransmitters like serotonin — suggests a shared organic foundation.