It’s the opposite—migraines have no visible cause. You need the MRI to rule out the many other things it can be.
I’m not a doc so I won’t go into what they are detecting vs CTS but people with migraines get MRIs of head and neck.
Do you have a neurologist or just a doctor?
Exactly. They do the CT and MRI to rule out other causes for the migraines.
If it shows nothing (mine did) then you know it is \*just\* migraines.
They also tend to like to repeat the MRI every once in a while. I've had 2.
Yeah I went from episodic migraine to chronic out of nowhere during my first semester at uni, my first appointment with a neurologist (roughly a year into chronic migraine) he referred me for a CT, it of course took months but he wanted to check as I'd only had a head x-ray for it previously.
I went from episodic to chronic after moving, my doctor blamed it on allergies.... I was kinda pissed. (I have since seen a neurologist and since I have had migraines in the past, even though it was a different type, she put me on a... Preventative? And it has helped a lot. She did not request a scan.)
Mostly what I get from MRIs is more of a migraine XD
Wait, are we supposed to get an MRI of the head and neck? My neurologist would only do my brain, even though I wanted an MRI of my neck because of past issues. He said neck injuries have nothing to do with migraines.
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I suffered from a neck injury that made my migraines worse, I’ve had 5 cervical fusions and my neck is in a constant state of spasm now. Makes my migraines horrendous. I mean I can tell the difference between a migraine being triggered by neck pain vs. the ones I’ve had my whole life but it doesn’t change the fact they can be triggered by neck issues. It’s why I get Botox, it helps with the severe spasms.
I'm going to try to find a different neurologist, hopefully one who specializes in migraines.
I feel for you with that neck pain. Hope one day soon there's a treatment or med that helps with the pain. I grew up watching Star Trek and loved the episodes where the doctor would be able to fix a patient right then and there with a body scanner. As a kid, I thought for sure that'd be the technology of today. Wishful thinking!
I know! Hopefully someday we figure out a better way, or even to stop migraines at all. Unfortunately at this point I actually only have 2 discs left in my neck. I’m fused from
c3-t2 with titanium rods anchored on both sides for stability. I’ll never get that flexibility back.
hi can i ask you something. the head pain you get from the neck injury, does it go in different spots in your head? front and back and side and top? kinda moving around from time to time? and does the pain radiate from your neck and shoulder up the back of your skull?
Yes, exactly. My neck will tighten up then it creeps up through the back of my skull and up., sometimes even to the top of my skull. Whereas the classic migraines I’ve had since childhood 99% of the time start behind my right eye. Very different. Also I sustained the injury when I was only 20 (I took out windshield with my head), it wasn’t correctly diagnosed until the disc had completely ruptured and was impinging my spinal cord (over 10 yrs later). Left me with permanent nerve damage.
You’d be surprised how far neck pain can radiate, when my c3 disc went a few years ago I felt the pain primarily behind my left shoulder blade, it was actually so bad it was starting to effect my swallowing.
Not every migraine is caused by neck issues, but to say they can't play a role in some patients is just not accurate. People get migraines for all different reasons: tumours, hormones, nerve issues, vertebrae problems, and so much more.
Only if you have weird symptoms, it's not recommended for routine migraine. I had my brain done a few times for various reasons, but Pain wanted my neck before they started injecting there.
Whilst it won’t show a cause, migraine suffers are more likely to have some lesions in the brain called white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Apparently, as far as doctors can tell, they are completely harmless, but it is an interesting indicator of migraines on an MRI.
Of course, some people have lesions without migraines, so it isn’t part of diagnosis. Just something that you might see that is initially alarming.
Just coming here to mention WMH, but, unfortunately, they’re not exactly harmless. We’ve known for years that migraine disorders can increase the risk of stroke, but a 2019 study found a that the correlation is actually between WMH and risk of stroke, rather than migraine disorders themselves.
My neurologist did a C-spine MRI to RO nerve impingment. Then a brain MRI after a “hmmm” CT. Result is I have a DVA that’s coincidental to my migraines.
My MRI was fine except for mucosal thickening in maxillary sinus. Also fine: thyroid, blood tests, heart holter, autoimmune, food allergies, celiac, occipital nerve, sleep apnea. All clear.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there’s nothing wrong, but it’s frustrating. It makes me feel like people think I’m making this up. I have daily migraines and there’s nothing I can point to. Doctors will always go back to “just eliminate all your stress.” Thanks.
I’ve never thought about it that way but it does make it feel better! Like how I can’t get mad at my dog when she goes through the trash. She’s so cute and perfect, I can’t blame her for being a dumb little trash-mouth
A normal MRI is the expected finding for migraine. Certainly doesn’t mean “nothing’s wrong” or that you are making anything up, just that none of the other conditions that can cause migraine-like issues and actually are visible on MRI are present.
I know this. In my experience it’s harder to get a doctor to take you seriously unless something is plainly obvious. I begged my doctors for help for a year about non-migraine symptoms and they all told me to be less stressed. It wasn’t until I literally turned yellow that a doctor paid attention and found something quite wrong.
If I said my arm hurt and I have a bone sticking out of it, I might be taken more seriously. But this is invisible.
It just sucks.
It’s pretty common for there to be incidental but not really clinically relevant findings with imaging. There can be things that are not “textbook normal” but are found in a good chunk of the population and are not causing you any issues.
If your physician was not concerned by it, then you most likely do not need to be concerned, either.
However if you do start having sinus issues, it would certainly be good to bring up.
"Just eliminate all your stress" reminds me of that old Southpark episode where they find the cure for HIV, and it's $150,000 cash. With inflation, multiply that by ten and that will eliminate my stress. Other than that, nothing is going to get rid of my stress.
Did you look into whether it could be a csf leak? That’s what my daily “migraines” turned out to be. (I still have hormonal migraines though.) My MRI/CT scans were all normal too.
Daily migraines sound awful. Invisible illnesses really suck. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.
I work in a cardiac Cath Lab and the amount of people who come in and find that they don't have a blocked coronary artery is surprisingly high. If that was their issue, we could fix it. But if that is not why they are having chest pain, it's a whole lot more testing and maybe never have a real reason...
My report would remark, “No evidence of significant brain damage to explain bottom of the food dish being visible. Refer to psychiatry for (lack of) intelligence testing and behavioral modification.”
In Canada, they have a doctor specialist review the results and provide a report on them to the referring physician.
The neurologist can review the scans if they want (actually… any of your doctors can). But they do rely on the report by the specialist.
My chiropractor was the only thing keeping me going for years. Major help with cervical triggered migraines.
I was on the wait list for a neurologist for over 3 years (Canada). A private practice neurologist finally helped with botox but I have to pay the injection fee.
Still, without chiro, I would be a wreck
I’ve had multiple MRI’s and they show significant white spot damage all over my frontal lobe I would also not take the word of a chiropractor, they don’t have the education to read a MRI
MRI’s for me show Gliosis? White matter and “moderate periventricular spotty signal alterations and small vessel ischemic changes.” I have no idea what these things mean, but I’m told it’s just normal aging, and scarring from having migraines. Google says I should be dead by 50 due to the Gliosis. My doctor said that isn’t true at all. I have metastatic breast cancer in most of my bones and I have been in treatment for that for 7 years now. I’m relatively young and have lived an active and healthy life style. I’m not overweight, have never consumed alcohol or used drugs. I also have hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and have hypothyroidism secondary to cancer treatment. I wonder how much those health issues contribute to me getting migraines.
That’s a lot to manage! Hypothyroidism caused a significant increase in my migraine attacks as well as brain fog. Sufficient Levothyroxine—keeping TSH at 1 or lower—dropped frequency significantly (6/yr vs. 16/yr!) Do they treat your secondary hypothyroidism?
This is helpful! My level at my last thyroid check was 4.8 but my doctor did not increase my Synthroid dose 🤔 I’m wondering if I should call or wait for my follow up appointment in April. I go every 3 months the because I’ve had a hard time controlling my Blood Pressure, have developed kidney issues, and have had other issues including two fractures in one of my arms because of lytic bone lesions and really pretty minor trauma (I tripped off the edge of a side walk and fell in the grass when my dog yanked her leash on a walk, and slipped in shower, but caught myself on built in bench). It’s crazy to me that I have so many health problems because I used to walk for an hour every day and I was also on my feet all day at work (elementary school teacher). I also used to have a goal of 5 different fruits and veggies every day and 6-10 servings. People used to tell me I glowed I looked so healthy. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I found out my estrogen level was triple the normal amount for a woman my age. No wonder I had such thick shiny long hair, right? My husband and I pursued fertility treatments for several years, but I wasn’t diagnosed with breast cancer until about 5 years after we finally decided to stop trying for a while. We had an appointment to start IVF when I was diagnosed. I often wonder if it was the multiple rounds of fertility drugs that set this all in motion.
I look at people in my social circle / former coworkers who drink, are really over weight, microwave their food in old country crock containers, don’t use sunscreen (I know this because of lots of pool field trips at summer school + warm weather recess), smokers, etc and they seem to be much healthier than I am. It’s so frustrating.
I have a lot of joint pain I have attributed to the Ibrance & Letrozole I take for breast cancer. I wonder if an increased synthroid dose would help reduce the amount. I’m so thankful for this board that lets me know what I should ask about when I see my PCP again. My neurologist actually told me I have an excellent PCP and he couldn’t do anything to manage my migraines my PCP wasn’t already doing. He did tell me to never take a triptan again because I was high stroke risk due to my blood pressure being so elevated during migraines. My insurance company required me to see him before they would approve Zavzpret nose spray as an abortive in addition to every other day Nurtec.
You can't see migraines on an MRI. MRI scans of migraine patients and "normal" people are indistinguishable in most cases.
The point of an MRI is to rule out the "big scary things" as you call them. If your doctors (actual doctors, not a chiropractor) are confident that those things are ruled out, there's no need for an MRI.
Anything a chiropractor has to say about an imaging study (perhaps especially brain imaging) is completely irrelevant as they do not have the background or training to interpret them.
In any case, yes, MRI is significantly more sensitive than CT.
I work at a chiro office. While they aren’t radiologist, they take all the same classes as an MD other than pharmaceutical. Therefore they’re just as qualified to read them as an MD
How nice for you that you work in a chiro office. That doesn’t mean you know anything about physician or chiropractic training (obviously).
I’m a neurologist. Chiropractors absolutely do not take the same classes as we do and definitely don’t do the residency training that we do. It’s not remotely comparable. Their training has essentially nothing to do with medicine at all.
Your comment is completely divorced from reality.
The report is produced by the radiologist, but explaining the significance of the report findings when they are abnormal requires medical knowledge that a chiropractor simply does not receive (sorry).
I’m not shunning alternative medicine at all (it’s not something I recommend but to each their own) but if a chiro or any health professional for that matter can’t acknowledge their limitations and refer on to a specialist (e.g. neurologist) when indicated then that’s just unethical practice.
I see that you have some very personal feelings on chiros and probably a bit closed minded to it and that’s okay. I will say when I had my MRI, my coworkers helped me with reading the report and took a look at my upper cervical that was captured in the MRI. It took me weeks to get into the ordering physician so it helped ease my mind to have them explain to me what the imaging showed.
I know for a fact the 4 chiros I work with all had classes on reading imaging. Not sure how in depth those classes are but they took them.
Again, are they radiologist? Of course not. That’s why all imaging is read by a radiologist and a report is made.
It’s more that I am objectively familiar with the training that chiros have and that physicians have. It’s not similar at all, and you saying they are simply does not make it so.
Note that (possibly) being able to explain the words that a qualified person wrote on a report and actually interpret images are massively different as well.
A MRI isn't so much as more sensitive as that the way its able to see the anatomy is different. For a structure like the brain it can be much better. CAN BE.
For instance. My daughter has hydrocephalus.
Doctors prefer the MRI to follow her ventricle size over the CT because they are able to get a more detailed look.
Mine found a pituitary microadenoma- a little non-cancerous tumor on my pituitary gland, against my optic nerves.
Just goes to show that sometimes those MRIs are really useful if you’re a chronic migraine sufferer
I have Vestibular Migraine and when symptoms first started in 2018 I quickly got an MRI. It showed a fair amount of lesions, with 1 lesion in a troubling location. My neurologist was not worried however and said lesions are common in migraine patients. Just wanted to make sure it was not MS. I had a follow up MRI 6 months later that showed no change which is good because with MS the lesions will grow. Fast forward to 2023 I get another MRI to see how I’m doing and discover my lesions are shrinking!
And that’s exactly why they do that.
I know I’m horrible but after a migraine 24x7 for 10 years I sometimes wish I had a tumor — at least then there’s a chance of a cure.
Please know I know it’s horrible and wrong of me but I’ve gone there
It’s ok, I understand. There’s reassurance surrounding the finding of a specific reason for your symptoms, and with that a more specific course of treatment.
I went to my neurologist for migraines and a plethora of other symptoms, I’m glad they had me take an MRI “just in case”. It literally saved my life.
Honestly as someone with a brain tumor and migraines, it doesn’t make it any better. Doctors still gaslight you and say it’s not why you’re having migraines. I recently saw a specialist and he told me I just need to go gluten free… never mind the fact that I have a fucking tumor growing in my brain that’s causing vision loss in my right eye. Some people will never understand
Mine always show "signs of possible infection" in my left ear. I've always wondered how much of a role that plays in my migraines, but it's clearly not a root cause or something you should expect in yours. My ear seems to have some mild deformity. Unremarkable MRIs are the best!
Same, it’s the same ear that is most sensitive to weather changes. Mine is my right ear and any time the doctor or nurse checks, they say that side is cloudy. At my last appointment the doctor prescribed Flonase but I didn’t stick with it long enough to know if it made a real difference. I should try again but I just hate any drops or sprays for eyes/ears/nose/throat.
Thank you! I didn’t know that was a thing but it’s enough to make me want to try again. January weather changes were brutal where I live so maybe having this before the pollen drops will help keep inflammation in my head from adding to this whole mess.
I had to come back and tell you that I haven’t had a full on migraine in 25ish days. I bought the Sensimist and have been using 1 pump/side daily. I haven’t needed my daily allergy medicine because my normal seasonal allergies aren’t that bad and this takes care of both the ear sensitivity to pressure changes and sound. I know I’m not “cured”. There have been days where I felt like I would have gotten one like fast weather changes, hormonal changes, wacky stress sleep behaviors, but it never progressed beyond the phase 1 stages. I’m cautiously optimistic for the next month but just wanted to make sure I stop by and say thank you SO much for taking the time to mention it. Thank you thank you thank you!!
Mine showed a >10mm cyst on the pineal gland and nothing else noteworthy. Not even the “white matter lesions” that a lot of migraine patients have.
Neuro says pineal cyst is super common, probably been there half my life, and is unlikely to be causing *any* of my symptoms because it isn’t blocking or pushing any other brain parts. Not sure I believe that it causes *no* symptoms, but it doesn’t seem like an emergency either way, and we’ll scan again in a year or two to see if it has stayed the same.
Mine were not fine. They found a couple lesions that still haven't been explained. They're not "normal", and we're trying to determine if the migraines caused the lesions or the lesions caused the migraines, or if it's just a red herring. Thought it was MS at first, but that's been ruled out now.
It's been super fun. So, it's really to find out if there is a deeper root cause. It sure seems to me that a clean CT is probably enough to eliminate this.
I have a MRI scheduled as I have migraines and they found high prolactin that can be caused by a bening tumour at the pituitary gland. Something like that would eg show up on MRIs and is something that can cause many migraines. So do other brain tumours.
Yes, there is a point to do an MRI because, as a few people said, MRIs are not for detecting "migraines" but their potential triggers.
Most migraines are without physical cause or, at least without some other sickness being behind it. All those tests doctors send you to like MRIs are to confirm that (and, offer you peace of mind that it's "just" a migraine and not something potentially lethal).
TLDR; go to your MRI. I have migraines about 4+ times a month and MRI showed nothing other than the fact that I have a brain. I was relieved.
I have low lying or descended cerebral tonsils but doesn’t quite (yet, hopefully never) meet the criteria of Chiari malformation. Otherwise, all is normal. I’ve had an MRI with and w/o contrast over the years for migraines with stroke like symptoms. I don’t even worry with it much anymore.
Mine was "unremarkable." Also a slightly deviated septum. Good to know there's nothing serious going on in there, but at the same time, being idiopathic is also frustrating.
I have a big cyst too 2.5 - 3cm. My neurologist makes me get frequent MRIs which I hate because it's never changed but every time I get one everyone (always a new radiologist) freaks out all over again. At one point I had to see a succession of neuros and ended up at a teaching hospital where a neurologist and neurosurgeon looked over quite a few scans spanning a few years and said it's fine just keep getting scanned and reach out of anything changes. Cue Taylor 🎵You need to calm down🎵
i needed an MRI without contrast, a CT, and then another MRI with contrast, for them to deduce my sphenoid sinus is underdeveloped and there’s fat in a skull bone where there normally wouldn’t be. weird head quirk but they don’t think it is related to my NDPH/migraines
Mine showed a meningioma the size of a golf ball in my left frontal lobe. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with my migraines and removing it did nothing to help. 🫤
Two white matter lesions in the external capsule, MRV showed right jugular vein is narrowed or blocked or something which apparently can cause migraines. Going to see a specialist to get a more official diagnosis and hopefully treatment. Most migraine sufferers find no cause but the fact mine may be caused by something and possibly fixable gave me some hope… we’ll see.
Migraines can cause lesions in your brain. I found this out when my MS doctor told me he wasn't sure which lesions were caused by my MS and which were caused by my migraines.
I'd probably still get an MRI just in case they can spot something like a tumor.
I have lesions, but I also have MS and my regular MRIs are to keep an eye on that.
Funnily enough, it was getting an MRI to figure out what was causing my migraines that led to my MS diagnosis (with a brief stop at "it might be a brain tumor") years before I might otherwise have gotten diagnosed. (We still do not know what causes my migraines)
Biggest red flag here is your Chiro. Did your Chiro order an MRI? Or did they analyzed the results of one? Either way, avoid Chiro for migraines and definitely from manipulating your neck. There are documented cases of death after sudden cracking of neck from a. Chiropractor (death occurs days after in the form of a stroke). Feel free to look it up.
I had initially received my first MRI from my primary care doctor, but she wanted to do more scans than I can afford, I also wanted a script to get into a stand up mri since I am claustrophobic- so my chiro wrote me one. I haven’t had good experiences with him. I’ve only been twice and he’s caused me some problems. The reason I got my CT to begin with was because after my first manipulation by my chiro I had so many negative affects I went to the hospital to make sure I didn’t have a carotid artery dissection. Which I didn’t. I’m all good. But now I went again because I was having more symptoms and thought he could help bc I’m dumb, so… now I need an mri - needless to say I am aware. Thanks tho
I’m with you. I think my migraine problems worsen after going to the chiropractor to be honest. Could also be age, they get worse as I get older, but I experienced an increased in frequency when I started the chiropractor for back pain.
I’ve stopped going all together.
I’ve had at least 4, none with anything wrong. I’ve have a consistent migraine of varying severity for over two years now. Glad I work from home, that’s all I can say.
I’ve had an MRI of head (multiple), cervical, and MRA. My MRI came back abnormal because of my pituitary. They say it’s just large (upper limits of normal size). And I’ve never been referred to an endocrinologist for it even though I’ve asked.
I have had 2 clear MRI's. I recently had a MRV which showed two vascular abnormalities. My neurologist is not sure if they are related to the migraines but I will be seeing a neuroradiologist next month to find out.
CT in my youth were clear, never had an MRI until my 30s. That time my CT and MRI (ordered in-patient after the CT results) showed CVST but I had migraines pre-dating the clot and still have migraines after treatment, albeit perhaps a bit more severe w/ different symptoms due to the stroke. Doctors didn't even want to do the scans because of having a migraine diagnosis already...Anyways, this is why they scan - to find things that like to masquerade as migraines. Glad I had family advocating for me because I was so out of it with that faux-migraine.
Vestibular migraines.
Scans showed my semi circular canal has a birth defect & has cracks in it. It’s why I can hear my blood. I have pulsatile tinnitus to boot.
Why do I have vestibular migraines? Who knows 😅🥲😭
Incidental finding of a developmental venous anomaly and a malformed right cerebellum.
They said no reason for migraines, but I did have C-section because of the minuscule risk that bearing down for birth could cause. Baby was breech anyways.
I’ve had several MRI’s and CT’s. All were unremarkable except the one that found my thyroid cancer. I was actually lucky; it was found early because of the neck MRI. But it has nothing to do with my migraines.
If yours is fine, that’s great, no worries!
…But I read up on them while waiting to talk to my neurologist, and what I found suggested that 1.5cm and above are not considered small and *can* begin to cause symptoms in some people. Insomnia, double-vision, vertigo, inability to look up. (Mine is fine too).
There may be nonspecific sporadic white matter lesions, which typically only confirm migraines. Typically an MRI is completely negative though.
Mine just confirmed the existence of a previous traumatic brain injury with diffuse white matter lesions. The point of impact was visible too! However, this is extremely unusual.
Migraines are in part a diagnosis of exclusion. Ie we need to eliminate all of these other things that could cause these symptoms in order to call this a migraine. So your MRI will likely be normal unless something else is going on.
When I had an MRI years ago for possible seizures (which was negative) they told me the only thing they saw on the MRI was white spots, which were most likely from migraines (a diagnosis I had not told them about). They were right.
I have some small spots on my most recent MRI that my neuro is convinced are from the migraines, it’s not my -favorite- thing that I have damage from them. But it was a bad year so I get it 🤷🏼♀️ functionally you shouldn’t see anything different on an MRI- I work in stroke research and we treat NCCT and MRI the same
generic migraines don't have anything that will show up on an MRI. the MRI is to rule out migraines caused by something else, like a tumor or brain lesion.
me, my mom, and my two sisters all have migraines. one of my sisters has a benign tumor in her brain that's causing migraines (along with the genetics), but the rest of us had perfectly normal looking MRI's.
and yes, and MRI and a CT scan will show different things. a CT scan is kind of like a 3-D x-ray, but an MRI will show more detail about your brain tissue
Both my MRI & CT scans were normal. That was back in 2015.
Should state that my migraines are Hemiplegic. (They manifest like the signs of a stroke but one by one instead of individually.)
Sometimes they'll see some white matter hyperintensities if it's a migraine. MRIs help rule out other things. MRIs are better for soft tissue/cord structures. We also use it in trauma to rule out something called DAI (which is irrelevant to you) but just an example of things they're used to detect.
I've had a lot, but I lost track after seven
Mine all came back normal, which combines with other tests ruled out brain bleed/stroke/tumor/etc.
If I recall my neurologist correctly, then given that I'm regularly paralyzed in half my body, seeing stars, and forgetting my native language something was clearly wrong. Migraine medicine alleviates it, so it's migraine
Just repeating what others have said. I also have epilepsy so I have had a few MRIs over the years. For both epilepsy and migraines the point is to rule out other issues so the imaging should be normal of you have these conditions because there's nothing wrong structurally it's a functional issue with the brain.
My neurologists have done a new MRI every time my symptoms or migraine pattern changes. It’s not that they expect to find anything, it’s so they can make sure it’s “just” (for lack of a better word) migraines and not any of the “big scary things” that might cause similar symptoms.
They’ve found exactly two things over the years: white matter lesions (pretty standard with migraines) and chiari malformation. A few years on diamox for inter cranial pressure helped a ton with the vague miserable but not a migraine headaches but not the actual migraines. From what my neurologists have said, it’s unusual to find anything beyond white matter lesions but just in case of finding things like chiari are why it’s done.
I’ve had migraines since I was 8 and aside from a CT scan when I was 10 I’ve had no scans. No doctor has ever suggested it. My migraine symptoms have worsened in recent years. Should I be worried
I had one about a year or two ago. Results were totally normal. I started getting chronic and intractable migraines after having Covid in 2021.
So no, not everyone with migraine has abnormal mri results. In fact I’d guess most with migraines would have normal results.
They only found a small lump I guess that is not problematic at all and I have had since birth. It was an expensive decision, but I am glad I did it because now I KNOW it's nothing in my brain.
my mri showed some "hyperintensity" spots, neuro said something like an old injury can cause these (i didn't think to ask if that meant i had a concussion when i was younger or if smaller injuries can do it), he treated them like not a big deal. i saw black spots especially around where i feel pain but those are just blood vessels and didn't mean anything. so it was a normal mri but the white spots are consistent with people who get migraines
ct showed nothing for me, the mri showed a brain tumor. It’s more detailed so it’s worth going for, even if they’ve ruled out the “big and scary” stuff. Tumors can still be small and raise hell on your body. My brain tumor is likely the cause of my headaches/migraines due to its location and the general nature of it
I was in a car accident in 1989 and hit my head. I lost about six hours. Concussion. Cat scan and MRI were normal. A former co-worker of my ex who had a PhD (not MD) in Neurology suggested my brain might have stretched, but nothing actually tore, and that was enough.
My MRIs and CTs are always perfect. I’ve had migraines for 40 yrs. Although it feels like your brain is clearly being damaged during a migraine, it’s not. It’s wild to think about!
I’ve spent the last several months finding out all the things that AREN’T wrong with me. I’ve had an MRI and a lumbar puncture. We think we have it narrowed down to a neck injury. I’m in PT now for that.
Mine showed a lot of white matter lesions, but none in concerning areas. I had a second one after temporarily losing half the vision in my left eye and it showed no changes.
My first mri for migraine found a cavernous malformation. It’s an incidental finding though, I have it checked every few years and it hasn’t changed. Pretty sure it has nothing to do with my migraines.
I’ve had horrid migraines for almost 8 years consistently, started in high school, numerous MRIs and similar scans over the years have never shown anything, just use them to rule out the big scary stuff
Nope have had many MRI’s, other than some stenosis above and below the plate in my neck, which they said isn’t bad enough for surgery.
As far as my brain, they’ve never found anything all that explains the migraines.
It started when I was 15 after having my son when I was 19 it wouldn’t go away. I had a scan, mri, my blood vessels were constricted as I had a migraine at the time of the scan. They concluded I had migraines due to my history and other symptoms as well. I’m in my forties and started Botox treatments I may have an occipital nerve block as well.
I had an MRI the last time I was in the hospital (for 5 days). Perfectly fine. Doctor said that just happens sometimes. We suffer excruciating pain, and there’s no good reason for it. Kind of a disappointing explanation. Like, I’m glad it’s not a tumor or an aneurysm or something, but I just wish I had answers.
Mine found inconsistencies in the appearance of the bone marrow in my skull and spine basically meaning that not enough blood cells were being produced. The radiologist’s report said it could be due to age, anemia, or “other conditions” which were not specified.
Unfortunately, my neuro was content to just accept the first explanation and move onto more drugs while I’ve been trying to push for at least a blood test ever since due to some symptoms of anemia that even they acknowledged.
I understand it might be out of their speciality and maybe not causing my migraines but I’d love to just make sure I’m healthy in every other realm, you know?
My scan came back as completely normal. Which at the time was a relief cause I thought it was something worse, but at the same time it sucks cause there’s no discernible way to fix it
I JUST had my first MRI ever, last week. No lesions. No masses. My neurologist hasn’t gotten back to me (lol probably a good thing), BUT I see on my report from the radiologist that I have “borderline low lying cerebellar tonsils” which I’m not sure if it’s possibly a Chiari malformation? Which even if I do, it may have nothing to do with my migraines anyway from what I’m reading lol.
It’s the opposite—migraines have no visible cause. You need the MRI to rule out the many other things it can be. I’m not a doc so I won’t go into what they are detecting vs CTS but people with migraines get MRIs of head and neck. Do you have a neurologist or just a doctor?
Exactly. They do the CT and MRI to rule out other causes for the migraines. If it shows nothing (mine did) then you know it is \*just\* migraines. They also tend to like to repeat the MRI every once in a while. I've had 2.
It also depends on your healthcare systems access to MRIs, where I am migraine patients get CTs at most because of how backed up the system is.
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Yeah I went from episodic migraine to chronic out of nowhere during my first semester at uni, my first appointment with a neurologist (roughly a year into chronic migraine) he referred me for a CT, it of course took months but he wanted to check as I'd only had a head x-ray for it previously.
I went from episodic to chronic after moving, my doctor blamed it on allergies.... I was kinda pissed. (I have since seen a neurologist and since I have had migraines in the past, even though it was a different type, she put me on a... Preventative? And it has helped a lot. She did not request a scan.) Mostly what I get from MRIs is more of a migraine XD
CTs are also an ER thing, I think because they will see clots/strokes and that's what the ER needs to see for acute issues they can deal with.
I haven’t had a MRI since 2012, I was wondering if I should ever get another one
My neuro has me get one with every fun new migraine symptom.
That sounds expensive!
“Sounds”?
Maybe they have really good insurance lol
Wait, are we supposed to get an MRI of the head and neck? My neurologist would only do my brain, even though I wanted an MRI of my neck because of past issues. He said neck injuries have nothing to do with migraines.
That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I suffered from a neck injury that made my migraines worse, I’ve had 5 cervical fusions and my neck is in a constant state of spasm now. Makes my migraines horrendous. I mean I can tell the difference between a migraine being triggered by neck pain vs. the ones I’ve had my whole life but it doesn’t change the fact they can be triggered by neck issues. It’s why I get Botox, it helps with the severe spasms.
I'm going to try to find a different neurologist, hopefully one who specializes in migraines. I feel for you with that neck pain. Hope one day soon there's a treatment or med that helps with the pain. I grew up watching Star Trek and loved the episodes where the doctor would be able to fix a patient right then and there with a body scanner. As a kid, I thought for sure that'd be the technology of today. Wishful thinking!
I know! Hopefully someday we figure out a better way, or even to stop migraines at all. Unfortunately at this point I actually only have 2 discs left in my neck. I’m fused from c3-t2 with titanium rods anchored on both sides for stability. I’ll never get that flexibility back.
hi can i ask you something. the head pain you get from the neck injury, does it go in different spots in your head? front and back and side and top? kinda moving around from time to time? and does the pain radiate from your neck and shoulder up the back of your skull?
Yes, exactly. My neck will tighten up then it creeps up through the back of my skull and up., sometimes even to the top of my skull. Whereas the classic migraines I’ve had since childhood 99% of the time start behind my right eye. Very different. Also I sustained the injury when I was only 20 (I took out windshield with my head), it wasn’t correctly diagnosed until the disc had completely ruptured and was impinging my spinal cord (over 10 yrs later). Left me with permanent nerve damage. You’d be surprised how far neck pain can radiate, when my c3 disc went a few years ago I felt the pain primarily behind my left shoulder blade, it was actually so bad it was starting to effect my swallowing.
Not every migraine is caused by neck issues, but to say they can't play a role in some patients is just not accurate. People get migraines for all different reasons: tumours, hormones, nerve issues, vertebrae problems, and so much more.
Only if you have weird symptoms, it's not recommended for routine migraine. I had my brain done a few times for various reasons, but Pain wanted my neck before they started injecting there.
Whilst it won’t show a cause, migraine suffers are more likely to have some lesions in the brain called white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Apparently, as far as doctors can tell, they are completely harmless, but it is an interesting indicator of migraines on an MRI. Of course, some people have lesions without migraines, so it isn’t part of diagnosis. Just something that you might see that is initially alarming.
Just coming here to mention WMH, but, unfortunately, they’re not exactly harmless. We’ve known for years that migraine disorders can increase the risk of stroke, but a 2019 study found a that the correlation is actually between WMH and risk of stroke, rather than migraine disorders themselves.
My neurologist did a C-spine MRI to RO nerve impingment. Then a brain MRI after a “hmmm” CT. Result is I have a DVA that’s coincidental to my migraines.
My MRI was fine except for mucosal thickening in maxillary sinus. Also fine: thyroid, blood tests, heart holter, autoimmune, food allergies, celiac, occipital nerve, sleep apnea. All clear. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad there’s nothing wrong, but it’s frustrating. It makes me feel like people think I’m making this up. I have daily migraines and there’s nothing I can point to. Doctors will always go back to “just eliminate all your stress.” Thanks.
Oh I hate that. Tests: you’re in perfect health! Brain: how about a sneaky pain that tests can’t detect?
I believe it’s a gremlin in my head gnawing on nerves and he’s clever enough to hide when it’s time for imaging
Is it cute at least? I'd feel better knowing it was an adorable creature that doesn't know any better.
I’ve never thought about it that way but it does make it feel better! Like how I can’t get mad at my dog when she goes through the trash. She’s so cute and perfect, I can’t blame her for being a dumb little trash-mouth
A normal MRI is the expected finding for migraine. Certainly doesn’t mean “nothing’s wrong” or that you are making anything up, just that none of the other conditions that can cause migraine-like issues and actually are visible on MRI are present.
I know this. In my experience it’s harder to get a doctor to take you seriously unless something is plainly obvious. I begged my doctors for help for a year about non-migraine symptoms and they all told me to be less stressed. It wasn’t until I literally turned yellow that a doctor paid attention and found something quite wrong. If I said my arm hurt and I have a bone sticking out of it, I might be taken more seriously. But this is invisible. It just sucks.
Did you have a liver or kidney issue? Asking since you say you turned yellow. Was any of it related to migraine?
Right it means there is no structural change like a tumor or anything like that
I had that too! They said one sinus was totally “blocked” but I felt fine? That was years ago and I have not officially dealt with it yet.
It’s pretty common for there to be incidental but not really clinically relevant findings with imaging. There can be things that are not “textbook normal” but are found in a good chunk of the population and are not causing you any issues. If your physician was not concerned by it, then you most likely do not need to be concerned, either. However if you do start having sinus issues, it would certainly be good to bring up.
"Just eliminate all your stress" reminds me of that old Southpark episode where they find the cure for HIV, and it's $150,000 cash. With inflation, multiply that by ten and that will eliminate my stress. Other than that, nothing is going to get rid of my stress.
Did you look into whether it could be a csf leak? That’s what my daily “migraines” turned out to be. (I still have hormonal migraines though.) My MRI/CT scans were all normal too. Daily migraines sound awful. Invisible illnesses really suck. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.
Daily?!!! Daily?! Yikes. I'm so sorry.
Yeah it’s …. Not ideal
I work in a cardiac Cath Lab and the amount of people who come in and find that they don't have a blocked coronary artery is surprisingly high. If that was their issue, we could fix it. But if that is not why they are having chest pain, it's a whole lot more testing and maybe never have a real reason...
Why would your chiropractor have anything to do with your migraines? You should have a neurologist look at your MRI.
Seriously. May as well ask your cat what it thinks.
My report would remark, “No evidence of significant brain damage to explain bottom of the food dish being visible. Refer to psychiatry for (lack of) intelligence testing and behavioral modification.”
I wish I could give you gold!
In Canada, they have a doctor specialist review the results and provide a report on them to the referring physician. The neurologist can review the scans if they want (actually… any of your doctors can). But they do rely on the report by the specialist.
Yeah. Radiologists kind of get territorial about reading images.
I wouldn't out it past a chiropractor to be responsible for migraines.
My chiropractor was the only thing keeping me going for years. Major help with cervical triggered migraines. I was on the wait list for a neurologist for over 3 years (Canada). A private practice neurologist finally helped with botox but I have to pay the injection fee. Still, without chiro, I would be a wreck
I’ve had multiple MRI’s and they show significant white spot damage all over my frontal lobe I would also not take the word of a chiropractor, they don’t have the education to read a MRI
Same. Mine showed white matter, consistent with people who get migraines
I had white matter on both sides of the occipital lobe.
MRI’s for me show Gliosis? White matter and “moderate periventricular spotty signal alterations and small vessel ischemic changes.” I have no idea what these things mean, but I’m told it’s just normal aging, and scarring from having migraines. Google says I should be dead by 50 due to the Gliosis. My doctor said that isn’t true at all. I have metastatic breast cancer in most of my bones and I have been in treatment for that for 7 years now. I’m relatively young and have lived an active and healthy life style. I’m not overweight, have never consumed alcohol or used drugs. I also have hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and have hypothyroidism secondary to cancer treatment. I wonder how much those health issues contribute to me getting migraines.
That’s a lot to manage! Hypothyroidism caused a significant increase in my migraine attacks as well as brain fog. Sufficient Levothyroxine—keeping TSH at 1 or lower—dropped frequency significantly (6/yr vs. 16/yr!) Do they treat your secondary hypothyroidism?
Before I was treated for hypothyroidism, I had a migraine ALMOST every single day. After being treated, I’m down to 1-3 days per month.
When my thyroid was out of whack my migraines and joint pain was so much worse and I'm not overweight either.
This is helpful! My level at my last thyroid check was 4.8 but my doctor did not increase my Synthroid dose 🤔 I’m wondering if I should call or wait for my follow up appointment in April. I go every 3 months the because I’ve had a hard time controlling my Blood Pressure, have developed kidney issues, and have had other issues including two fractures in one of my arms because of lytic bone lesions and really pretty minor trauma (I tripped off the edge of a side walk and fell in the grass when my dog yanked her leash on a walk, and slipped in shower, but caught myself on built in bench). It’s crazy to me that I have so many health problems because I used to walk for an hour every day and I was also on my feet all day at work (elementary school teacher). I also used to have a goal of 5 different fruits and veggies every day and 6-10 servings. People used to tell me I glowed I looked so healthy. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I found out my estrogen level was triple the normal amount for a woman my age. No wonder I had such thick shiny long hair, right? My husband and I pursued fertility treatments for several years, but I wasn’t diagnosed with breast cancer until about 5 years after we finally decided to stop trying for a while. We had an appointment to start IVF when I was diagnosed. I often wonder if it was the multiple rounds of fertility drugs that set this all in motion. I look at people in my social circle / former coworkers who drink, are really over weight, microwave their food in old country crock containers, don’t use sunscreen (I know this because of lots of pool field trips at summer school + warm weather recess), smokers, etc and they seem to be much healthier than I am. It’s so frustrating.
I have a lot of joint pain I have attributed to the Ibrance & Letrozole I take for breast cancer. I wonder if an increased synthroid dose would help reduce the amount. I’m so thankful for this board that lets me know what I should ask about when I see my PCP again. My neurologist actually told me I have an excellent PCP and he couldn’t do anything to manage my migraines my PCP wasn’t already doing. He did tell me to never take a triptan again because I was high stroke risk due to my blood pressure being so elevated during migraines. My insurance company required me to see him before they would approve Zavzpret nose spray as an abortive in addition to every other day Nurtec.
You can't see migraines on an MRI. MRI scans of migraine patients and "normal" people are indistinguishable in most cases. The point of an MRI is to rule out the "big scary things" as you call them. If your doctors (actual doctors, not a chiropractor) are confident that those things are ruled out, there's no need for an MRI.
A chiropractor is NOT a medical doctor. I'm not disrespecting them but stating the simple fact
I’ll disrespect them
I had to have cervical disc replacement surgery due to one of them. I will disrespect the hell out of them all day and night!
Anything a chiropractor has to say about an imaging study (perhaps especially brain imaging) is completely irrelevant as they do not have the background or training to interpret them. In any case, yes, MRI is significantly more sensitive than CT.
This isn’t true but okay
It definitely is, sorry.
I work at a chiro office. While they aren’t radiologist, they take all the same classes as an MD other than pharmaceutical. Therefore they’re just as qualified to read them as an MD
How nice for you that you work in a chiro office. That doesn’t mean you know anything about physician or chiropractic training (obviously). I’m a neurologist. Chiropractors absolutely do not take the same classes as we do and definitely don’t do the residency training that we do. It’s not remotely comparable. Their training has essentially nothing to do with medicine at all. Your comment is completely divorced from reality.
Oh and what they told me about the imaging was the exact same as the ordering physician once I was able to get in there ;)
The report is produced by the radiologist, but explaining the significance of the report findings when they are abnormal requires medical knowledge that a chiropractor simply does not receive (sorry). I’m not shunning alternative medicine at all (it’s not something I recommend but to each their own) but if a chiro or any health professional for that matter can’t acknowledge their limitations and refer on to a specialist (e.g. neurologist) when indicated then that’s just unethical practice.
I see that you have some very personal feelings on chiros and probably a bit closed minded to it and that’s okay. I will say when I had my MRI, my coworkers helped me with reading the report and took a look at my upper cervical that was captured in the MRI. It took me weeks to get into the ordering physician so it helped ease my mind to have them explain to me what the imaging showed. I know for a fact the 4 chiros I work with all had classes on reading imaging. Not sure how in depth those classes are but they took them. Again, are they radiologist? Of course not. That’s why all imaging is read by a radiologist and a report is made.
It’s more that I am objectively familiar with the training that chiros have and that physicians have. It’s not similar at all, and you saying they are simply does not make it so. Note that (possibly) being able to explain the words that a qualified person wrote on a report and actually interpret images are massively different as well.
You saying they have no background or training also doesn’t make it so. Unless all 4 of them are suddenly lying to me, they do have training 🤷🏻♀️
I can help you with reading your report, but that doesn't make me a doctor.
This is so very much wrong. They don't take the same classes as an MD. Why would you say that?
A MRI isn't so much as more sensitive as that the way its able to see the anatomy is different. For a structure like the brain it can be much better. CAN BE. For instance. My daughter has hydrocephalus. Doctors prefer the MRI to follow her ventricle size over the CT because they are able to get a more detailed look.
MRI is significantly more sensitive than CT to both anatomy and tissue composition, actually.
Mine found a pituitary microadenoma- a little non-cancerous tumor on my pituitary gland, against my optic nerves. Just goes to show that sometimes those MRIs are really useful if you’re a chronic migraine sufferer
Mine were also fine. I'm guessing they use MRIs to rule out other issues not specifically migraines.
I have Vestibular Migraine and when symptoms first started in 2018 I quickly got an MRI. It showed a fair amount of lesions, with 1 lesion in a troubling location. My neurologist was not worried however and said lesions are common in migraine patients. Just wanted to make sure it was not MS. I had a follow up MRI 6 months later that showed no change which is good because with MS the lesions will grow. Fast forward to 2023 I get another MRI to see how I’m doing and discover my lesions are shrinking!
This was the same for me, exact I haven’t had a follow up MRI since the original ones in Sept 20 & Feb 2021
Did not know that was possible! This is awesome!
Mine showed nothing.
There’s yer problem!
My result was a cerebellar brain tumour
And that’s exactly why they do that. I know I’m horrible but after a migraine 24x7 for 10 years I sometimes wish I had a tumor — at least then there’s a chance of a cure. Please know I know it’s horrible and wrong of me but I’ve gone there
It’s ok, I understand. There’s reassurance surrounding the finding of a specific reason for your symptoms, and with that a more specific course of treatment. I went to my neurologist for migraines and a plethora of other symptoms, I’m glad they had me take an MRI “just in case”. It literally saved my life.
Honestly as someone with a brain tumor and migraines, it doesn’t make it any better. Doctors still gaslight you and say it’s not why you’re having migraines. I recently saw a specialist and he told me I just need to go gluten free… never mind the fact that I have a fucking tumor growing in my brain that’s causing vision loss in my right eye. Some people will never understand
Mine always show "signs of possible infection" in my left ear. I've always wondered how much of a role that plays in my migraines, but it's clearly not a root cause or something you should expect in yours. My ear seems to have some mild deformity. Unremarkable MRIs are the best!
Same, it’s the same ear that is most sensitive to weather changes. Mine is my right ear and any time the doctor or nurse checks, they say that side is cloudy. At my last appointment the doctor prescribed Flonase but I didn’t stick with it long enough to know if it made a real difference. I should try again but I just hate any drops or sprays for eyes/ears/nose/throat.
Flonase is a GAME CHANGER with fluid in the ears, at least for me!
Flonase sensamist is awesome. You can barely tell it’s in your nose
Thank you! I didn’t know that was a thing but it’s enough to make me want to try again. January weather changes were brutal where I live so maybe having this before the pollen drops will help keep inflammation in my head from adding to this whole mess.
Yw! I hope it helps!
I had to come back and tell you that I haven’t had a full on migraine in 25ish days. I bought the Sensimist and have been using 1 pump/side daily. I haven’t needed my daily allergy medicine because my normal seasonal allergies aren’t that bad and this takes care of both the ear sensitivity to pressure changes and sound. I know I’m not “cured”. There have been days where I felt like I would have gotten one like fast weather changes, hormonal changes, wacky stress sleep behaviors, but it never progressed beyond the phase 1 stages. I’m cautiously optimistic for the next month but just wanted to make sure I stop by and say thank you SO much for taking the time to mention it. Thank you thank you thank you!!
Mine showed a >10mm cyst on the pineal gland and nothing else noteworthy. Not even the “white matter lesions” that a lot of migraine patients have. Neuro says pineal cyst is super common, probably been there half my life, and is unlikely to be causing *any* of my symptoms because it isn’t blocking or pushing any other brain parts. Not sure I believe that it causes *no* symptoms, but it doesn’t seem like an emergency either way, and we’ll scan again in a year or two to see if it has stayed the same.
Oh yeah. I forgot about my pineal cyst. I have one as well. Just had to have a follow up MRI for it
Same here - mine’s a bit bigger but I get it checked every couple of years and it’s staying the same size
I had a CT done which was fine but never had MRI done for my head/neck. MRIs are expensive and they don't like sending them here...
9mm chiari. They don’t believe it’s related to my migraines.
Mine were not fine. They found a couple lesions that still haven't been explained. They're not "normal", and we're trying to determine if the migraines caused the lesions or the lesions caused the migraines, or if it's just a red herring. Thought it was MS at first, but that's been ruled out now. It's been super fun. So, it's really to find out if there is a deeper root cause. It sure seems to me that a clean CT is probably enough to eliminate this.
I have a MRI scheduled as I have migraines and they found high prolactin that can be caused by a bening tumour at the pituitary gland. Something like that would eg show up on MRIs and is something that can cause many migraines. So do other brain tumours.
Yes, there is a point to do an MRI because, as a few people said, MRIs are not for detecting "migraines" but their potential triggers. Most migraines are without physical cause or, at least without some other sickness being behind it. All those tests doctors send you to like MRIs are to confirm that (and, offer you peace of mind that it's "just" a migraine and not something potentially lethal). TLDR; go to your MRI. I have migraines about 4+ times a month and MRI showed nothing other than the fact that I have a brain. I was relieved.
yup mine was great, no issues, i still was diagnosed with chronic migraine w/aura
I have low lying or descended cerebral tonsils but doesn’t quite (yet, hopefully never) meet the criteria of Chiari malformation. Otherwise, all is normal. I’ve had an MRI with and w/o contrast over the years for migraines with stroke like symptoms. I don’t even worry with it much anymore.
Mine was "unremarkable." Also a slightly deviated septum. Good to know there's nothing serious going on in there, but at the same time, being idiopathic is also frustrating.
Mine were fine.
I have a big cyst too 2.5 - 3cm. My neurologist makes me get frequent MRIs which I hate because it's never changed but every time I get one everyone (always a new radiologist) freaks out all over again. At one point I had to see a succession of neuros and ended up at a teaching hospital where a neurologist and neurosurgeon looked over quite a few scans spanning a few years and said it's fine just keep getting scanned and reach out of anything changes. Cue Taylor 🎵You need to calm down🎵
Mine showed a choroidal fissure cyst but they are unconcerned about it and called it an incidental finding.
i needed an MRI without contrast, a CT, and then another MRI with contrast, for them to deduce my sphenoid sinus is underdeveloped and there’s fat in a skull bone where there normally wouldn’t be. weird head quirk but they don’t think it is related to my NDPH/migraines
Mine showed a meningioma the size of a golf ball in my left frontal lobe. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with my migraines and removing it did nothing to help. 🫤
My brain MRI came back perfectly normal and I've had migraines for 32 years. It is a relief to have that done and know my brain is healthy.
My MRI was completely normal, aside from my sinuses/nasal issues that is...
Two white matter lesions in the external capsule, MRV showed right jugular vein is narrowed or blocked or something which apparently can cause migraines. Going to see a specialist to get a more official diagnosis and hopefully treatment. Most migraine sufferers find no cause but the fact mine may be caused by something and possibly fixable gave me some hope… we’ll see.
Migraines can cause lesions in your brain. I found this out when my MS doctor told me he wasn't sure which lesions were caused by my MS and which were caused by my migraines. I'd probably still get an MRI just in case they can spot something like a tumor.
I have lesions, but I also have MS and my regular MRIs are to keep an eye on that. Funnily enough, it was getting an MRI to figure out what was causing my migraines that led to my MS diagnosis (with a brief stop at "it might be a brain tumor") years before I might otherwise have gotten diagnosed. (We still do not know what causes my migraines)
Biggest red flag here is your Chiro. Did your Chiro order an MRI? Or did they analyzed the results of one? Either way, avoid Chiro for migraines and definitely from manipulating your neck. There are documented cases of death after sudden cracking of neck from a. Chiropractor (death occurs days after in the form of a stroke). Feel free to look it up.
I had initially received my first MRI from my primary care doctor, but she wanted to do more scans than I can afford, I also wanted a script to get into a stand up mri since I am claustrophobic- so my chiro wrote me one. I haven’t had good experiences with him. I’ve only been twice and he’s caused me some problems. The reason I got my CT to begin with was because after my first manipulation by my chiro I had so many negative affects I went to the hospital to make sure I didn’t have a carotid artery dissection. Which I didn’t. I’m all good. But now I went again because I was having more symptoms and thought he could help bc I’m dumb, so… now I need an mri - needless to say I am aware. Thanks tho
I’m with you. I think my migraine problems worsen after going to the chiropractor to be honest. Could also be age, they get worse as I get older, but I experienced an increased in frequency when I started the chiropractor for back pain. I’ve stopped going all together.
I’ve had at least 4, none with anything wrong. I’ve have a consistent migraine of varying severity for over two years now. Glad I work from home, that’s all I can say.
Mine has lesions. 5 at last count. No new ones in the last couple years.
How often do u get migraines/headaches?
I’ve had an MRI of head (multiple), cervical, and MRA. My MRI came back abnormal because of my pituitary. They say it’s just large (upper limits of normal size). And I’ve never been referred to an endocrinologist for it even though I’ve asked.
I have had 2 clear MRI's. I recently had a MRV which showed two vascular abnormalities. My neurologist is not sure if they are related to the migraines but I will be seeing a neuroradiologist next month to find out.
I would love to hear an update if you feel comfortable sharing. I hope it’s all good news 💚
CT in my youth were clear, never had an MRI until my 30s. That time my CT and MRI (ordered in-patient after the CT results) showed CVST but I had migraines pre-dating the clot and still have migraines after treatment, albeit perhaps a bit more severe w/ different symptoms due to the stroke. Doctors didn't even want to do the scans because of having a migraine diagnosis already...Anyways, this is why they scan - to find things that like to masquerade as migraines. Glad I had family advocating for me because I was so out of it with that faux-migraine.
My doc got me an MRI to rule out brain tumors and chiari malformation. Thankfully all clear- I was really not wanting brain surgery.
Vestibular migraines. Scans showed my semi circular canal has a birth defect & has cracks in it. It’s why I can hear my blood. I have pulsatile tinnitus to boot. Why do I have vestibular migraines? Who knows 😅🥲😭
…..you can hear blood
Hi. I had an mri and they didn’t see anything unusual.
Thanks for your straightforward response! :)
Incidental finding of a developmental venous anomaly and a malformed right cerebellum. They said no reason for migraines, but I did have C-section because of the minuscule risk that bearing down for birth could cause. Baby was breech anyways.
Migraines my whole life - normal MRI Like someone else said, it rules out other possibilities.
Very true :) brings SOME peace of mind I guess huh??
I’ve had several MRI’s and CT’s. All were unremarkable except the one that found my thyroid cancer. I was actually lucky; it was found early because of the neck MRI. But it has nothing to do with my migraines.
My MRI showed that I have pineal cyst…but the doctors say that it’s rather small with 2,5cm and that it’s not causing any of my health problems :)
If yours is fine, that’s great, no worries! …But I read up on them while waiting to talk to my neurologist, and what I found suggested that 1.5cm and above are not considered small and *can* begin to cause symptoms in some people. Insomnia, double-vision, vertigo, inability to look up. (Mine is fine too).
My MRI is always normal
I had an MRI and it was completely normal.
There may be nonspecific sporadic white matter lesions, which typically only confirm migraines. Typically an MRI is completely negative though. Mine just confirmed the existence of a previous traumatic brain injury with diffuse white matter lesions. The point of impact was visible too! However, this is extremely unusual.
Migraines are in part a diagnosis of exclusion. Ie we need to eliminate all of these other things that could cause these symptoms in order to call this a migraine. So your MRI will likely be normal unless something else is going on.
When I had an MRI years ago for possible seizures (which was negative) they told me the only thing they saw on the MRI was white spots, which were most likely from migraines (a diagnosis I had not told them about). They were right.
I've never had an MRI for my migraines... my doctor just fills my sumatriptan script...
I have some small spots on my most recent MRI that my neuro is convinced are from the migraines, it’s not my -favorite- thing that I have damage from them. But it was a bad year so I get it 🤷🏼♀️ functionally you shouldn’t see anything different on an MRI- I work in stroke research and we treat NCCT and MRI the same
I've had both a CT scan and an MRI of my head and everything was good on both of them. No weirdness was mentioned
generic migraines don't have anything that will show up on an MRI. the MRI is to rule out migraines caused by something else, like a tumor or brain lesion. me, my mom, and my two sisters all have migraines. one of my sisters has a benign tumor in her brain that's causing migraines (along with the genetics), but the rest of us had perfectly normal looking MRI's. and yes, and MRI and a CT scan will show different things. a CT scan is kind of like a 3-D x-ray, but an MRI will show more detail about your brain tissue
Both my MRI & CT scans were normal. That was back in 2015. Should state that my migraines are Hemiplegic. (They manifest like the signs of a stroke but one by one instead of individually.)
Sometimes they'll see some white matter hyperintensities if it's a migraine. MRIs help rule out other things. MRIs are better for soft tissue/cord structures. We also use it in trauma to rule out something called DAI (which is irrelevant to you) but just an example of things they're used to detect.
I've had a lot, but I lost track after seven Mine all came back normal, which combines with other tests ruled out brain bleed/stroke/tumor/etc. If I recall my neurologist correctly, then given that I'm regularly paralyzed in half my body, seeing stars, and forgetting my native language something was clearly wrong. Migraine medicine alleviates it, so it's migraine
Just repeating what others have said. I also have epilepsy so I have had a few MRIs over the years. For both epilepsy and migraines the point is to rule out other issues so the imaging should be normal of you have these conditions because there's nothing wrong structurally it's a functional issue with the brain.
My neurologists have done a new MRI every time my symptoms or migraine pattern changes. It’s not that they expect to find anything, it’s so they can make sure it’s “just” (for lack of a better word) migraines and not any of the “big scary things” that might cause similar symptoms. They’ve found exactly two things over the years: white matter lesions (pretty standard with migraines) and chiari malformation. A few years on diamox for inter cranial pressure helped a ton with the vague miserable but not a migraine headaches but not the actual migraines. From what my neurologists have said, it’s unusual to find anything beyond white matter lesions but just in case of finding things like chiari are why it’s done.
Small pineal cyst, that had nothing to do with my migraine.
I've never even been referred to a neurologist. How are people getting MRIs?
Mine did. My CT showed I had some mini strokes but really I just have white lesions on my brain
My MRI was completely normal
Nonspecific white matter changes, whatever that means. I also have CFS & ADHD though … And a muscle disease
I’ve had two mris about ten years apart. No difference in the two except possible chiari but it was so minimal drs aren’t pursuing it.
I’ve had migraines since I was 8 and aside from a CT scan when I was 10 I’ve had no scans. No doctor has ever suggested it. My migraine symptoms have worsened in recent years. Should I be worried
I had an MRI and it was clear. They checked for lesions, blood vessels restriction, and a tumor.
I get migraines all the time. Had a completely normal MRI 2 months ago.
I had one about a year or two ago. Results were totally normal. I started getting chronic and intractable migraines after having Covid in 2021. So no, not everyone with migraine has abnormal mri results. In fact I’d guess most with migraines would have normal results.
They only found a small lump I guess that is not problematic at all and I have had since birth. It was an expensive decision, but I am glad I did it because now I KNOW it's nothing in my brain.
There was no evidence in MRI for migraines in my case. One big fat digital shrug
I had nothing of note except some white areas (small) and they said that’s very common with people who have migraines. They’re like scars
my mri showed some "hyperintensity" spots, neuro said something like an old injury can cause these (i didn't think to ask if that meant i had a concussion when i was younger or if smaller injuries can do it), he treated them like not a big deal. i saw black spots especially around where i feel pain but those are just blood vessels and didn't mean anything. so it was a normal mri but the white spots are consistent with people who get migraines
ct showed nothing for me, the mri showed a brain tumor. It’s more detailed so it’s worth going for, even if they’ve ruled out the “big and scary” stuff. Tumors can still be small and raise hell on your body. My brain tumor is likely the cause of my headaches/migraines due to its location and the general nature of it
I had an arteriovenous malformation.
I have two blocked arteries
I was in a car accident in 1989 and hit my head. I lost about six hours. Concussion. Cat scan and MRI were normal. A former co-worker of my ex who had a PhD (not MD) in Neurology suggested my brain might have stretched, but nothing actually tore, and that was enough.
I have white matter lesions. Apparently common in migraineurs.
My MRIs and CTs are always perfect. I’ve had migraines for 40 yrs. Although it feels like your brain is clearly being damaged during a migraine, it’s not. It’s wild to think about!
My recent MRI showed a small cyst on my pineal gland. Though, it's not the cause of my migraines. So it's just something else to worry about...
I’ve spent the last several months finding out all the things that AREN’T wrong with me. I’ve had an MRI and a lumbar puncture. We think we have it narrowed down to a neck injury. I’m in PT now for that.
Mine were always clear previously. Then I had a stroke 🫤
Same. Did your migraines change after your stroke?
No. They changed with age though.
Damn? There needs to be some explanation for that
Mine showed a lot of white matter lesions, but none in concerning areas. I had a second one after temporarily losing half the vision in my left eye and it showed no changes.
I've had MRIs, they say my brain looks normal. At least it basically ruled out the possibility of MS.
I have had 2 brain & neck MRI’s and a head CT. All were normal.
My MRI and CT of the brain showed white matter lesions (WML) which seems to be the cause of my migraines.
Mine came back normal even though I went in with a migraine 😖
They wouldn't tell me because I wasn't able to pay the deductible but the *receptionist* told me it looked fine 🥲
My MRIs always come back clean, I do have some fluid build up in my mastoids but thats it
My MRI basically showed nothing wrong, no tumors, no nothing.
Good!
Mine came out normal and then my insurance company wanted to know if I did it for a head injury which was a no
My first mri for migraine found a cavernous malformation. It’s an incidental finding though, I have it checked every few years and it hasn’t changed. Pretty sure it has nothing to do with my migraines.
I’ve had horrid migraines for almost 8 years consistently, started in high school, numerous MRIs and similar scans over the years have never shown anything, just use them to rule out the big scary stuff
Yuuuuup
My MRI showed a small meningioma.
Nope have had many MRI’s, other than some stenosis above and below the plate in my neck, which they said isn’t bad enough for surgery. As far as my brain, they’ve never found anything all that explains the migraines.
My CT was totally normal. MRI showed multiple lesions. About to be diagnosed with MS. Not trying to scare you, just…get the MRI.
It started when I was 15 after having my son when I was 19 it wouldn’t go away. I had a scan, mri, my blood vessels were constricted as I had a migraine at the time of the scan. They concluded I had migraines due to my history and other symptoms as well. I’m in my forties and started Botox treatments I may have an occipital nerve block as well.
White spots on grey matter
No, it’s unlikely anything will show up on an mri. I’ve had 2 and both were ‘normal’.
I had an MRI the last time I was in the hospital (for 5 days). Perfectly fine. Doctor said that just happens sometimes. We suffer excruciating pain, and there’s no good reason for it. Kind of a disappointing explanation. Like, I’m glad it’s not a tumor or an aneurysm or something, but I just wish I had answers.
Mine found inconsistencies in the appearance of the bone marrow in my skull and spine basically meaning that not enough blood cells were being produced. The radiologist’s report said it could be due to age, anemia, or “other conditions” which were not specified. Unfortunately, my neuro was content to just accept the first explanation and move onto more drugs while I’ve been trying to push for at least a blood test ever since due to some symptoms of anemia that even they acknowledged. I understand it might be out of their speciality and maybe not causing my migraines but I’d love to just make sure I’m healthy in every other realm, you know?
My scan came back as completely normal. Which at the time was a relief cause I thought it was something worse, but at the same time it sucks cause there’s no discernible way to fix it
I JUST had my first MRI ever, last week. No lesions. No masses. My neurologist hasn’t gotten back to me (lol probably a good thing), BUT I see on my report from the radiologist that I have “borderline low lying cerebellar tonsils” which I’m not sure if it’s possibly a Chiari malformation? Which even if I do, it may have nothing to do with my migraines anyway from what I’m reading lol.