Is it a Sjogren's Thing?

I brought this home as a souvenir from my urgent care visit the other day. Check out our clinic's version of a barf bag. 

Ooooo. And you can measure the barf and everything! As a nurse I think this is pretty spiff. As the one with it crammed into my face? Not so much...

Yesterday's migraine post elicited this comment by Annie:

.....I've recently been prescribed TOPOMAX for migraines, and I'm slowly increasing the dose as prescribed by my neurologist. I was having strange symptoms of near fainting and constant pain in the back of my head and neck. It could occur with some odors, sunlight or glare(fluorescent lights in doctors' offices) and I did not connect the dots until the doctor diagnosed me.
Is this a sjogren's thing?

"Is this a sjogren's thing?"

Ah. A question that I've been asking myself more and more these days as various strange physical ailments keep finding me.

About two years ago, I wrote a post entitled Sjogren's Syndrome and Headaches, and thought that a re-post of this entry was a good idea in answer to Annie's excellent question.

Check out the first paragraph in which I blithely comment that a recurrent headache "hasn't been a recurring issue.."for me.

Oh, brother.

It turns out that for some, yes, migraines ARE a Sjogren's thing. Here's the less-silly segments of my earlier post:

I was browsing some of the posts over at the Sjogren's World forums today, and noticed an interesting question. One of the readers had commented that she had frequent headaches and wondered if they could be related to Sjogren's syndrome or autoimmune disease. There were several responses by other sjoggies who agreed that frequent headaches were a problem for them. I hadn't considered this symptom in Sjogren's before since luckily for me, it hasn't been a recurring issue.

I did a literature search and was surprised to see that yes, indeed - headache in Sjogren's syndrome is a common symptom confirmed by several studies that looked at prevalence of headaches specifically related to Sjogren's syndrome. Headache is discussed in this very thorough article outlining neurological aspects of Sjogren's syndrome by by Stewart J. Tepper M.D.: "Headache can occur in Sjögren's, and in a study by Dr. Gibson in London, who looked at thirty-five patients with primary Sjögren's in his Sjögren's clinic, about forty-six percent (46%) met the International Headache Society classification criteria for migraine. It may be that the headaches are a manifestation of the Sjogren's."

Although several studies confirm the increased incidence of headache and migraines in Ss, it appears that the cause of the headaches can be varied. This study speculates that "The high prevalence of migraine in pSS patients might be explained by a vascular headache triggered by immuno-mediated disease activity without an obvious clinic or laboratory marker."

Another study, published in the Annal of Rheumatic Diseases, also showed a significant increase in prevalence of migraine and headache in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome. The authors comment that causes could include stress and emotional upheavals that accompany the disease but also may be due to underlying disease processes similar to the headaches commonly associated with Lupus and other connective tissue disorders.

Other sources suggest that some headaches associated with Sjogren's syndrome may be the result of frequent sinus infections due to increased viscosity of mucous secretions.

Treatment of these headaches depend on underlying causes and severity of the pain, so talk to your doctor about treatment options for your headache.