Logo image
Migraine and motion sickness: what is the link?
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Migraine and motion sickness: what is the link?

A. Cuomo-Granston and P.D. Drummond
Progress in Neurobiology, Vol.91(4), pp.300-312
2010
pdf
Cuomo-Granston_and_Drummond_2010.pdfDownloadView
Author’s Version Open Access
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

The brainstem is a structurally complex region, containing numerous ascending and descending fibres that converge on centres that regulate bodily functions essential to life. Afferent input from the cranial tissues and the special senses is processed, in part, in brainstem nuclei. In addition, brainstem centres modulate the flow of pain messages and other forms of sensory information to higher regions of the brain, and influence the general excitability of these cortical regions. Thus, disruptions in brainstem processing might evoke a complex range of unpleasant symptoms, vegetative changes and neurovascular disturbances and that, together, form attacks of migraine. Migraine is linked with various co-morbid conditions, the most prominent being motion sickness. Symptoms such as nausea, dizziness and headache are common to motion sickness and migraine; moreover, migraine sufferers have a heightened vulnerability to motion sickness. As both maladies involve reflexes that relay in the brainstem, symptoms may share the same neural circuitry. In consequence, subclinical interictal persistence of disturbances in these brainstem pathways could not only increase vulnerability to recurrent attacks of migraine but also increase susceptibility to motion sickness. Mechanisms that mediate symptoms of motion sickness and migraine are explored in this paper. The physiology of motion sickness and migraine is discussed, and neurotransmitters that may be involved in the manifestation of symptoms are reviewed. Recent findings have shed light on the relationship between migraine and motion sickness, and provide insights into the generation of migraine attacks.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

Source: InCites

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics
1 Clinical & Life Sciences
1.247 Migraines & Headaches
1.247.461 Migraine Mechanisms
Web Of Science research areas
Neurosciences
ESI research areas
Neuroscience & Behavior
Logo image