Question
I was diagnosed with benign positional vertigo. Is vertigo, sometimes accompanied by nausea, a common precursor to migraines? My migraines don't usually have debilitating headaches; the vertigo is the worst symptom.
Answer
Vertigo and nausea can be due to a migraine and may occur without headache (called vestibular migraine), or the headache may be of mild intensity.
When these symptoms are related to migraine, they should respond to measures used for migraine management, such as avoiding triggers and prophylactic medications that provide benefit by preventing migraines from occurring.
However, benign positional vertigo is a very common cause of vertigo, which is also often accompanied by nausea.
Differentiating between these two causes of vertigo is important since they are managed differently; the distinction can often (but not always) be made from a detailed history and physical examination.