Headache and Epilepsy

Abstract

clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that both migraine and epilepsy have a genetic predisposition and share common pathophysiological mechanisms. In addition, headache is commonly observed as a preictal, ictal, and postictal symptom in epilepsy patients, and there are several interesting reports describing patients who experienced headache as the sole manifestation of epileptic seizure. Although it is not conclusive, migraine and epilepsy are often described as common comorbid conditions and several antiseizure medications are used for patients with migraine as well as epilepsy. In this review, I discuss the connection between headache and epilepsy from various perspectives, including classification, clinical features, epidemiology, genetics, pathophysiology, and treatment.