Q. I wrote you back in November, 1997 as a non BP regarding my mother, who I believe has BPD. Your answer was extremely helpful to me. To give you a little information about myself–I am a pediatric dentist, and have had some training throughout my residency with mental health issues of children.
Since your reply, I have compiled a maternal family history, which I found very interesting, and would like to share with you. There is a rampant history of domestic violence and alcoholism/ substance abuse (from great grandparents forward) on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. There is no preference of gender. The other common thread to this is that almost all members exhibiting the domestic violence and substance abuse have migraines. Could the violence be auras prior to the migraines? Is there any documentation in medical and or psychiatric literature to suggest this link?
A. Could the violence be migraine auras? Interesting question, but I doubt it. I would be more inclined to believe limbic and temporal lobe epilepsy are more likely to blame.
I’m not aware of any link in the literature. I do have a link, however. Virtually every borderline experiences chronic anger. This anger triggers clenching teeth and TMJ which triggers migraines. Since migraines are triggered by anything affecting the trigeminal ganglion, it would make sense that any and all anger would trigger migraines – something I’ve seen a great deal of.
In other words, the anger and it’s resultant violence can cause the migraines and they continue as a cycle.