A 30-year-old influencer dies after terrible migraines. Can you die from a migraine?

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

Her latest harrowing videos show her in hospital, unable to get up, crying, facing intense migraines. Jehan Thomas, 30 years old and star of Tik Tok across the Channel died last Saturday, in the neurology department where she had gone to treat her ailments. The young woman had long suffered from optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve, and migraines, the crises of which she shared with her subscribers on her networks for several weeks. Many media that echoed his death now indicate that it is due to his migraines. But is it possible?

What are the characteristics of migraine?

According to Inserm, migraine affects 15% of the world’s population, and 20% of women. It is characterized by repeated crises manifesting essentially by painful headaches (headaches) linked to abnormal neuronal excitability. There are two main types of migraine attacks: migraine attacks without aura, and migraine attacks with aura, that is to say, accompanied or preceded by transient neurological disorders.

Migraine attacks known as “without aura” are manifested by a moderate to severe headache that lasts from 4 to 72 hours, associated with nausea, even vomiting, and/or hypersensitivity to light and sound and at least two of the following four characteristics:

• They appear only on one side of the skull;
• The pain is throbbing, the patient has the impression of feeling the beating of the heart in the head;
• The intensity of the pain hinders the patient in these activities and may require him to lie down;
• The pain is aggravated by movement.

In 20 to 30% of migraine sufferers, the headache is preceded or accompanied by an aura, a fully reversible transient neurological disorder. Typical auras include visual, sensory, language and/or speech disturbances, or even motor disturbances.

In its article on the subject, Inserm also discusses the long-term consequences of these migraine attacks, which are sometimes unbearable.

“Work has shown that very frequent migraine attacks are associated with neural changes, particularly in pain control centers. But to date, the origin, the level of reversibility and the consequences of these changes remain unknown. Small abnormalities of the cerebral white matter (nonspecific hyperintensities on MRI) are also observed at a higher frequency in patients who have headaches. However, these UFOs (for “unidentified white objects”) have no known functional consequences for the patients.”

“We don’t die of migraine, but of something else that looks like a migraine”

For Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo, the death of the young woman is not linked to a migraine attack: “You cannot “die” from a migraine. On the other hand, you can die of something else that looks like a migraine.”

Among the violent headaches that should be worrying, three vital prognoses are to be eliminated:

• Meningitis : which results in violent headaches, fear of light, jet vomiting and fever, which is called a febrile meningeal syndrome, and whose diagnosis is made by a lumbar puncture. When it is bacterial, it is treated with antibiotics;
• Rupture of aneurysm: which is “a clap of thunder in a serene sky”. The person is not in pain and suddenly feels very violent, localized headaches, which can be accompanied by neurological disorders, paralysis, etc. The diagnosis is made by a scanner, a lumbar puncture and requires surgical treatment;
• cerebral thrombophlebitis, or the obstruction of a vein around the brain by a clot. It is in this case a migraine rocking from one side then the other. It is most often linked to the combination of taking the pill and smoking.

People with “simple” migraines can be reassured: although they can affect the quality of life, they do not represent a vital risk.