Migraine

Hi yall!
I was reading a small article out of my local newspaper. It was about whether left handed people are more prone to migraines and immune disorders than right handed people.

The prelimenary research showed that lefties did have more migraines, however in larger more extensive research study showed it didnt necessarly make a factor for migraines. The immune study however is still inconclusive.

I found this interesting as my lil man TJ is a lefty who has both migraines as well as immune issues.

So I thought I would take a poll just for fun! Are you a leftie or a rightie?

I will start: I am right handed, well ambidextrous with many things. though I write right handed I do many things left handed and some things particularly sports either hand. and as I previously stated, TJ is left handed.


Tawsha

I was ambidextrous, but my kindergarten forced me to choose a hand.
I write & draw mostly with my left hand, eat the European way, knit/crochet w/my right, do most other things about equally. When I was a kid, I did kickball with my right foot & bowling w/my right. Since I had lots of weakness episodes on my right side, I found bowling very difficult.

I'm a lefty or aka South Paw

I'm a total righty. I can't think of anything I do w/ my left hand.

And to add to it, my older sister is a lefty and has never had a migraine in her life (lucky stiff!) and doesn't have any immune issues.

My younger sister is a righty and gets migraines occasionally, but doesn't have any immune system issues.

I'll be really interested to see how this turns out

I'm a righty all the way! DH is a lefty and has diabetes. Interesting topic, thanks Tawsha!

Interesting topic!

During my first office visit with my migraine speck, he asked me if I was right-handed or left handed. I was so put off by that point (he had already said at least ten times by that point, "You don't know who I am, do you??") that I didn't know whether he meant "orientation" or handed skill!

I'm both-handed including being able to write with both hands, but I write mostly with my right hand. I kept my journal with my left hand for 9 months when I was in high school. I consider myself right-handed.

Totally right handed here. My son and mother are lefties and NEVER get migraines. My other son and daughter get migraines and they are both righties. Go figure.

Right handed.

I write with my right hand, but can do many things with both hands - shave, brush my hair and teeth, etc. I eat the European way as well (I don't switch the knife and fork after I cut - I keep the fork in my left hand throughout the meal). My mom and sister are also both migraineurs. My mom is like me, writes with her right hand but otherwise mostly ambidextrous. My sister, however, is the most right-handed person you've ever seen.

On the new patient information sheets I have to fill out for my new doctor, this is one of the questions I have to answer. I can't remember ever answering this one before for another doctor.

Right handed.

Valerie

I am right handed. My sister, who also has migraines, is left handed. My daughter, who is 13, who I suspect may have migraines, although not diagnosed as of yet, is left handed as well. Interesting article!

I'm right handed. But I have done some tests to determine whether I'm more strongly left or right brained, and I'm very balanced that way. Right brained would be left handed, generally more creative/intuitive; left brained is right handed, generally more analytical/intellectual. I'm interested in how many so far said they are ambidextrous - sounds like a lot of balanced brains!

- Megs

Split dominant.

Write with left hand, use fork with left hand. Use knife with right hand. Stir with either hand. Iron with either hand. Shave with either hand (very convenient and fewer scrapes on the leg and ankle). Write on a blackboard with either hand. Otherwise, write with left hand. Sometimes draw with right hand. Scissors with right hand.

Use a rotary cutter to cut fabric with either hand. Drives my mom nuts to see me do it.

Most things with right hand or right foot. Crochet with right hand.

No immune disorders.

Brother, who is right handed, uses scissors with his left. No immune disorders. RH brother has diabetes. RH mother (age 77) had one migraine in her 40s. Other than that, with 5 brothers and sisters, no migraines. Another brother has osteoporosis in his ankle in his 40s. Don't know whether that's autoimmune or not.

Nephew, age 13, is left handed. No migraines.

Interesting thread. It'd be a good topic for a dissertation.

Gretchen in sunny Mississippi

forgot to add that I use scissors & knives in my right hand.

The only thing that was mentioned about the handedness is that my neuropsychologist mentioned that:

1) It may mean that my brain is not configured typically... for example, the area that is predominately for language which is normally in the left hemi might be on the right side

2)There was a question about a possible seizure focus w/ left temporal more than right temporal & but something with the right radiata... depending on what cognitive/body funtioning that area controls may affect symptoms (based on working on a brain injury unit

3) Your (cognitive) strengths can still be in an area that is damaged

4) Fun fact: if you are ambidextrous, you probably can mirror write & mirror read pretty well. It's a fun party trick.

5) "Left brained" & "Right brained" terms are neurologically innacurate based on professional experience. I don't remember all the details, but I'm sure there are resources that go into detail what the diff areas of the brain MIGHT control.

6) I wouldn't call my self "balanced". My issue is that my left side doesn't communicate with my right. This makes it very hard for me to do structured dancing, play music & do things that require good balance. If you tickle me on the left side, only my left side responds. When I get goose bumps, it's unilateral. When I get muscle aches when I wake up, unilateral. My left side of the body is bigger, but until I've had all these weakness episodes & had an injury to my right hand, my right side was much, much stronger.

Ambidextrous. However, not knowing that dominant eye makes a difference to a child, my mom put everything into my right hand as a baby so I can write faster right handed.

As more was learned about dyslexia and dominant sides of the brain and eye, I should have been a lefty. You guessed it: mild dyslexia which I overcame in the fourth grade when I had to stay in bed for 3 months and learned to read really well. Still have a few problems importing words into sentences which suddenly make no sense and calculators are a godsend.

Tracie