The Moment is Medical

After this week’s functional neurology appointment (see previous post, I’ve Been This Way I Want to Change), I left with a few unexpected insights. The most significant? Many of my symptoms may be rooted in migraine activity.

I’ve had regular headaches for years, but only experience full-blown, debilitating migraines every few months. I didn’t realize that migraines could be an ongoing, underlying diagnosis—something that shapes my daily experience even when the pain isn’t acute. It runs in my family: my mother, brother, aunt, and cousins all have migraine histories. My ear MRI shows signs that align with this, and I’ve been searching for a connection to the chronic cerebral ischemia finding.

That led me to dig deeper into migraine subtypes. Three stood out: **vestibular migraine**, **silent migraine**, and **status migrainosus**.

This post focuses on **vestibular migraine**.

Vestibular Migraine

A vestibular migraine is a neurological condition that blends migraine symptoms with disturbances in balance and spatial orientation. Unlike typical migraines, it may or may not involve head pain. Here’s a breakdown:

A Vestibular Migraine –

Affects the vestibular system which controls balance and spatial awareness.
Causes episodes of vertigo, dizziness, and unsteadiness—sometimes without a headache.
Often linked to a history of migraines, even if they occurred years ago.

Common Symptoms include vertigo, dizziness, balance issues, motion sensitivity, nausea, sensory issues especially to light, sound or smell, visual aura or blurry vision, ringing of the ears, ear pressure and fullness without hearing loss.

Causes and Triggers are not fully understood but likely involve overlapping brain pathways for pain and balance. Triggers include: stress, sleep disruption, hormonal changes; certain foods (aged cheese, chocolate, red wine); weather changes or barometric pressure shifts, motion (e.g., car rides)

Traditional treatment options usually consist of combination of nsaids for acute relief, preventative meds such as beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, antidepressants, antiseizure meds and lifestyle changes including regular sleep and meals , avoiding known triggers, stress management, vestibular rehabilitation therapy.

Vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) is part of functional neurological treatment consists of exercises to retrain the brain’s response to motion and balance, includes gaze stabilization, habituation drills, and postural retraining. After a functional assessment of cognition, balance, eye movements, reflexes, and coordination, and vestibular rehabilitation, other functional neurology treatments for vestibular migraine include vision therapy and manual therapy involving chiropractic treatments.

After a functional assessment of cognition, balance, eye movements, reflexes, and coordination, additional functional neurology treatments may include vision therapy and manual therapy (such as chiropractic care).

Takeaway

It’s a lot to take in. But my biggest takeaway is this: there are ways to treat the **root causes** of certain migraine types—not just the symptoms. That’s a major shift for anyone who’s been told medication and lifestyle tweaks are the only options.

I experience many of these symptoms daily. Am I certain this is part of my central nervous system dysfunction? Not yet. The tests are still pending. But it’s a possibility worth exploring.

What would change if we treated migraines not just as pain, but as a signal from the nervous system asking for recalibration?

Gratitude for Today

To think outside the parentheses, I always leave a scripture, meme, and/or music clip that inspired the title and content. Because:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

— John 1:5

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.“
Romans 8:18 (ESV)

As we undergo chronic pain and illness that is either diagnosed or not yet defined, which is an unavoidable part of life in this fallen world, we can be comforted that in knowing that for those that follow Jesus, this earth is not our permanent home. Life-transforming hope is found in Jesus.