Nausea in my shoulders

February 19, 2008 10:05 AM

I experienced what I believe was a very odd migraine yesterday, and I'm trying to understand it.

I've had migraines for years, and I'm pretty good at recognizing them when they occur. This felt like a migraine and seemed to respond to sumatriptan, but now that it's over and I'm thinking about it clearly, it doesn't fit any of the categories I've ever heard of.

The main, and weirdest symptom was that my shoulders felt nauseous. Yes, I know that makes absolutely no sense--it was even more bizarre to experience. If the sensation of nausea is normally transmitted from nerves in the stomach region, I suppose it's possible for nerves in other parts of the body to transmit it as well. But I've never heard of anyone experiencing anything like this.

There was no headache. I felt the kind of fuzzy thinking that I often get with migraine, but no pain. That would make it sound like acephalic migraine, except that there were no optical symptoms. I have aura symptoms occasionally, but not this time. I rarely experience light sensitivity.

I also considered abdominal migraine, but the sensation of nausea wasn't centered in my abdomen.

I took a 100mg sumatriptan and a nap, and when I woke up, I was feeling somewhat better, but still drained--which is normal if I've been lucky enough to sleep off a migraine.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? Was this migraine? How the heck do shoulders feel nauseous?

posted by happyturtle to health & fitness (10 comments total)

Have not experienced your precise symptoms (weird, though, congrats!). I personally experience what my doctors have termed "optical migraines" in which I have no or a very very mild headache, but during which I experience the same tunnel-then-total loss of vision normally associated with severe migraines in other folks.

So may that helps corroborate that it wasn't purely in your imagination?
posted by kalessin at 10:16 AM on February 19, 2008

"my shoulders felt nauseous" - that's such a good description of exactly what I get in the middle of a bad 'un. A pill and a nap in a dark room are good for me too.
posted by ceri richard at 10:33 AM on February 19, 2008

My migraines always include a feeling of tenseness/weirdness in my shoulders, although they are accompanied by the head pain and whatnot as well.
posted by stefnet at 11:04 AM on February 19, 2008

My migraines tend to be concentrated in the head and shoulders region, but are you sure that you didn't have a very minor headache to accompany the rest of your symptoms that you didn't notice because it was so slight? That might make sense.

As for the shoulder nausea, that sounds like my normal migraines to me, though I too have major head pain.
posted by Carillon at 11:10 AM on February 19, 2008

im not really clear exactly what your question is, but...

if you are asking if it is common to experience nausea from a migraine, my answer is yes. i have had complicated neck and back issues that have evolved over the years, and oftentimes, i will have nausea that is very cleary (to me, being inside my own body, that is) associated with muscle tension - neck, shoulders, arms, chest, back.

by nasuea in the shoulders i assume you mean that you have nausea in your stomach, and it feels like it comes from the tension in your shoulders?

anyway, for me it is a really common thing.
posted by gcat at 11:22 AM on February 19, 2008

I'm getting nausea in my shoulders just reading this. I know what you're talking about -- to me it's more like restless legs, only it's restless shoulders. It's a crawly, queasy feeling, and yes, I associate it with migraines.
posted by lleachie at 11:31 AM on February 19, 2008

by nasuea in the shoulders i assume you mean that you have nausea in your stomach, and it feels like it comes from the tension in your shoulders?

No, my stomach felt totally normal. The nausea sensation came from my shoulders. As if my stomach was actually in my shoulders.

It sounds like I'm not the only one, and that it is just an oddball migraine.
posted by happyturtle at 12:50 PM on February 19, 2008

Me too! I actually get this sensation most strongly when taking Maxalt (rizatriptan) for an acute migraine. It lasts about 30 minutes and is often more uncomfortable than the headache. I always describe it as though my shoulders are trying to swallow my head. It's awful! After this affect wears off, my headache is usually gone and I feel fine. I blame it on the medication.
posted by jrichards at 1:04 PM on February 19, 2008

Huh. I had this exact thing a month or so ago, but I didn't equate it with my migraines. It was from my shoulders down my arms. I get the optical migraines just like kalessin, with little to no headache.
posted by sarcasticah at 1:15 PM on February 19, 2008

OMG... I know PRECISELY what you're talking about and I'm so grateful to you for posting about it.

I've occasionally gotten the "intensely queasy shoulder discomfort" effect all my life and I hadn't imagined there could be a medicine for it or other people who experience it.

I've just started to have some more traditional migraine effects (optical shimmer effects, thankfully no pain). Now I see my shoulder thing (which I've had for years, to my great puzzlement) could be related. I see I have a lot to learn about migraines.
posted by sparrows at 8:24 PM on February 20, 2008