Migraines and prolactin

marson

Hi all,

I am doing some research into prolactin secretion induced by a specific type of migraine. Elevated prolactin levels may be a risk factor for male breast cancer. Note that I have NOT found a clear link between these conditions. So please do not read too much into this enquiry. If you have migraines and you have had BC then the two are very probably unrelated (excluding prolactinoma). I am looking for a very specific and possibly rare migraine condition that few, if any of you, will have.

Despite this rather discouraging introduction, I would like you all to have a read through the following questions:

1) How many of you have had any tests for prolactin levels and other hormones? Have these been repeated? Were there any anomalies?

2) Has anyone had a history of migraines and especially non-"classical" migraines? By this I mean the following set of mental symptoms: a) a feeling of dreaminess, which may feel like being drunk or stoned, or may just be an inability to concentrate/day-dreaming? b) This may develop into a confused mental state possibly accompanied by panic, repetitive thinking and visual disturbances. The disturbances may include: tunnel vision, visual snow, feeling cross-eyed (especially when looking into the distance), numerous small fast moving bright flecks of light across centre of visual field, vision appearing too bright (like when you turn up the contrast on a TV). You may also find it hard to look at other people's faces while talking with them. Sometimes there may be much stronger visual effects eg walls appearing to lean towards you. c) The final stage is a sleepy, or possibly hungover feeling. Sometimes this is extreme.

-> This migraine is not necessarily accompanied by a severe frontal one-sided headache. There is the possibility of neck pain.

-> The symptoms of part (b) may be misdiagnosed as being due to hyperventilation during a panic attack. Were you actually hyperventilating before the visual symptoms?

-> Not all the stages may be strongly present. Some days you may just feel like you cannot concentrate no matter how hard you try and are just constantly day-dreaming. Other days you may not notice the dreamy part but you get the mental confusion.

-> The length of the total attack may be hours, days or sometimes weeks. In extreme cases it may cycle through repeatedly. You may experience being dazed, then panicked/depressed and then exhausted over and over again. You will have insomnia.

-> It may be spontaneous, or triggered by stress, lack of sleep, physical exhaustion, or over-heating (night time especially).

-> stage b) may be accompanied by: a burning or tingling sensation on the cheeks and mouth and possibly a crawling sensation on the scalp and neck; a slight loss of balance; increased tinnitus; and hypersensitivity to sounds and smells. There may be a slight numbness to the face or other parts of the body.

-> you may have nausea, or may just not feel like eating.

-> because of the visual problems reading (and studying) may become very difficult.

-> you may have pressure in the ears, around the forehead and behind the jaw.

3) Do you, a brother, a sister or parent ever get attacks of Migraine Associated Vertigo or Meniere's disease. How about unexplained feelings of dizzyness, dropping sensations or suddenly just feeling a bit light-headed, especially in brightly lit environments. Is there unexplained senso-neural hearing loss (especially low-frequency) in your family, eg a relative going deaf at a young age?

4) Before your cancer diagnosis did you have problems with anxiety, depression or attention deficit disorder? Did your brothers or sisters ever have these disorders? How about autism and sensory integration disorders?

5) Have you ever had an extremely (months) protracted "withdrawal" from benzo-diazapines, anti-depressants, or other drugs that are used for treatment of anxiety, depression or migraine conditions? Over this "withdrawal" period the symptoms would vary significantly and possibly show a repeating cycle. Do the list of symptoms in (2) seem familiar from this period?

6) Are you light-sensitive? This may present as strong episodic photophobia or an aversion to flickering/fluorescent lights. It may just feel like an odd/uneasy (possibly off-balance) feeling when you are in a brightly lit room, especially when under fluorescent lights, eg the "China shop syndrome" => when you are in a brightly lit shop with narrow aisles and you constantly feel as if you will fall into the displays?

7) I don't expect you to comment on this, but you may have had periods of very low sex drive. This will be especially noticable during the periods of the attack but may last for a long time afterwards. At other times your sex drive returns to what you would consider normal.

8) Have you been diagnosed with a prolactinoma? What were the mental/neurological symptoms that accompanied this? How long had you had the mental/neuro symptoms before your diagnosis with prolactinoma?

I realise that this is a very broad spectrum of symptoms and that these will cover numerous medical conditions. So to whittle it down, if before having BC you never had any significant and recurring stress or anxiety problems, or never had any repeat attacks of some peculiar mental/neurologic problem, then you probably don't have this condition and you probably don't need to reply. If you feel a strong affinity to the list of conditions above, please let me know.

Also, there is likely to be a spectrum of mental disturbances associated with this migraine condition. So, if you feel like your neurologic/mental health status was significantly impaired BEFORE having BC then let me know. Give me an objective assessment of how it felt, how it progressed and how you dealt with it? Try not to fall into the trap of brushing it aside as a recurring "panic attack" or "Generalised Anxiety Disorder". Think clearly about your symptoms. If you thought you were having problems with vision/balance/smell/taste/hearing/touch then tell me know. Don't just assume that these were due to hyperventilation or adrenalin.

Thanks for you help on this. If it comes to anything significant I will let you all know.

Mark (Scientist, BC at age 34)