What Types of Pain Affect Those with Ehlers-Danlos (Part Two)

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PainChampions January 31, 2017 WHAT TYPES OF PAIN AFFECT THOSE WITH EHLERS-DANLOS? (PART TWO) Although headaches could fit into any, if not all, of the previously named source of pain (musculoskeletal, neuropathic, and visceral), headaches in Ehlers-Danlos syndromes warrant their own topic, as their sources are hard to determine for most of us. This month also takes a look at pain sensitization and a further examination of problems that complicate pain. HEADACHES Headaches are widely reported by those of us with Ehlers-Danlos. But headaches in EDS seem to be largely under-represented in the medical literature, even though the 1997 Sacheti study uncovered headaches in 30–40%.1 Later studies have confirmed a high rate of headaches.2,3 In general, there are four major areas of the body which are most likely to cause head pain as a result of connective tissue problems: muscular and temperomandibular joint; cervical spine; cardiovascular system; and meninges, the membranes lining the skull and vertebral channel and enclosing the brain and spinal cord. Any of these areas can cause pain, alone or in combination with others.4 Migraines with and without aura are most often reported5,6 but many other types as well: • Daily persistent headache.7 “Chronic recurrent headaches may constitute the neurologic presentation of EDS in the absence of structural, congenital, or acquired CNS lesions that correlate with their symptoms.”8 • Tension, combinations of tension and migraine, and post-traumatic headaches.8 • Dislocations and subluxations in the neck.9 • Chiari malformation.10,11 • Spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leakage.12,13,14 • Temporormandibular joint dysfunction can also trigger headaches; TMJ prob-


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What Types of Pain Affect Those with Ehlers-Danlos (Part Two) by Mark Martino - Issuu