Hemiplegic Migraine - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

A migraine headache is a form of vascular headache. Migraine headache is caused by a combination of vasodilatation (enlargement of blood vessels) and the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around the blood vessels. During a migraine attack, the temporal artery enlarges. (The temporal artery is an artery that lies on the outside of the skull just under the skin of the temple.) Enlargement of the temporal artery stretches the nerves that coil around the artery and causes the nerves to release chemicals.

Headache and hemiplegic migraine sometimes go together, and sometimes don't. Hemiplegia is simply paralysis on one side of the body. Someone with hemiplegic migraine has, as one of their symptoms or perhaps their only symptom, trouble moving one side of their body. Since this is a common stroke symptom, it can be frightening. The symptoms usually occur during the migraine attack and sometimes for a while afterwards.

Hemiplegic migraine is actually a vary rare kind of migraine and it is also supposed to be a very serious kind of migraine, and after multiple attacks, the results could make the patient become extremely weak and thus he or she must be closely observed. Among the symptoms of hemiplegic migraine, you can include the tiniest of head injuries, paralysis that affects any single part of the body in which there are sensations of needles and pins as too numbness. In addition, the headaches may disappear once the person becomes paralyzed, and there is also weakness on one part of the body including the leg, arms and even face. Finally, there is another symptom of hemiplegic migraine and that is that it causes you to experience difficulty while speaking.

Causes of Hemiplegic Migraine

Hemiplegic migraines are often caused by an inherited gene, but they occur in people with no family history of migraines. Hemiplegic migraine may be autosomal dominant. In about 50% of these families, a chromosome defect may be found on chromosome 19 or on chromosome 1 and involves abnormal calcium channels.

Symptoms

Symptoms of hemiplegic migraine are as follows:

Can be brought by a slight head injuryParalysis of one body part followed by needles or pins sensation and numbness.

Headaches which usually disappear on the onset of paralysis.

FHM signs overlap significantly with those of migraine with aura. In short, FHM is typified by migraine with aura associated with hemiparesis and, in FHM1, cerebellar degeneration. This cerebellar degeneration can result in episodic or progressive ataxia. FHM can also present with the same signs as benign familial infantile convulsions (BFIC) and alternating hemiplegia of childhood. Other symptoms are altered consciousness (in fact, some cases seem related to head trauma), gaze-evoked nystagmus and coma.

Treatment

Abortive and Pain Relief: Migraine-specific abortives, the triptans and ergotamines, are currently contraindicated in the treatment of Hemiplegic Migraine because of their vasoconstrictive properties and concerns about stroke. One small study was conducted, safely using triptans with patients with Hemiplegic Migraine, but more trials are needed before they're considered a safe option.2 Since the triptans and ergotamines aren't options, other treatments such as NSAID's, antiemetics, and narcotic analgesics are generally used for relief of Hemiplegic Migraine.

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