Conditions that Overlap
Some families experience health conditions that seem different on the surface but share similar patterns of regulatory sensitivity.
In our family we noticed several conditions appearing across different family members. Over time, migraine became the gateway condition that helped us recognise these patterns.
Migraine involves many of the same systems that appear in other overlapping conditions we dealt with, including the nervous system, sensory processing, pain signalling, immune responses, and energy regulation. It is now known that not everyone with migraine experiences head pain. Some of us do, some of us don’t.
Recognising Shared Patterns
As we explored these overlaps, we began to notice that many symptoms seemed to involve the same underlying regulatory systems in the body.
Instead of focusing only on individual diagnoses, we began asking a different question:
Which body systems are struggling to regulate?
This perspective eventually led us to describe these patterns using a simple framework we call ALPIMS.
The ALPIMS Framework
ALPIMS describes six regulatory domains that often interact in people with sensitive nervous systems.
A — Autonomic
nervous system regulation, fatigue, dizziness
L — Laxity
connective tissue differences and joint hypermobility
P — Pain
migraine and chronic pain conditions
I — Immune
allergy, inflammation and immune responses
M — Mood
stress regulation and emotional wellbeing
S — Sensory
light, sound, smell and sensory processing
When several of these domains are sensitive at the same time, people may experience overlapping symptoms across multiple conditions.
Learn about
Includes an ALPIMS lens
- Migraine Spectrum
- ME/CFS (chronic fatigue)
- Fibromyalgia spectrum
- hypermobility spectrum differences
- POTS and other autonomic symptoms such as dizziness or fatigue
- autism and sensory differences
- allergy and asthma
