What is a migraine AURA ???

[tfreitas71 (Tami)]

If someone would kindly help me out on this question, it would be greatly appreciated !!  Thanks !!

[AlisBaby (Lauren)]

Happy to assist:

Most auras are visual and are described as bright shimmering lights around objects or at the edges of the field of vision (called scintillating scotomas) or zigzag lines, wavy images, or hallucinations. Others experience temporary vision loss.

Nonvisual auras include motor weakness, speech or language abnormalities, dizziness, vertigo, and tingling or numbness (parasthesia) of the face, tongue, or extremities.

Description courtesy of Neurologychannel.com

[tfreitas71 (Tami)]

Thank you so much for clearing that up for me.  I have been having migraines for over 14 years now and in the past few weeks they have been VERY bad.  I DO experience some of the symptoms you mentioned such as the vision loss or seeing the lights.  I have never experienced the weakness though.  I am just so sick and tired of having a headache almost every day of my life ya know?

Thank you so much for the information !!!

Tami

[AlisBaby (Lauren)]

You're welcome, Tami.  I've been suffering with them for over 20 years myself -- and they've changed over time... and no two are exactly alike either!  There's always a new twist!!

I hope that you've been evaluated by a neurologist.  Folks who suffer from migraines with aura are more prone to stroke and TIAs!

[tfreitas71 (Tami)]

I actually JUST went to a neurologist last week.  I had a MRI done 3 years ago and he said that it looked great.  I am now on Toprol XL and Midrin for the pain.  I have to wait 6-8 weeks to see if the Toprol is going to work or not.  It is horrible !!!

[AlisBaby (Lauren)]

I actually stopped all of my meds -- I used to take Midrin too, but ended up with rebound headaches all of the time. I tried acupuncture and it helped, but it got too expensive. I also reverted to plain old aspirin and alternating heat and cold on my forehead and the back of my neck. While it didn't completely resolve the headache, it made it bearable. The one thing I simply cannot deal with though is the nausea. When that sets in, I just have to go to bed and pull the covers over my head. Of course, with me being on Celebrex now for joint pain, I can't take the aspirin any more. :-(

Over the course of the past six months, mine have begun to increase in frequency once again. I think it's time to pay my neuro another visit.

Hope the Toprol works for you!

[ColitisFriend (Vicki)]

LaurenB said...

You're welcome, Tami.  I've been suffering with them for over 20 years myself -- and they've changed over time... and no two are exactly alike either!  There's always a new twist!!

I hope that you've been evaluated by a neurologist.  Folks who suffer from migraines with aura are more prone to stroke and TIAs!

Bold mine.  Lauren, had no idea about that.  I have been getting Aura migraines for almost 10 years now.  I get the wavy, shiny half circle image, I lose my vision in whichever eye I am having the aura and sometimes I'll get nauseous.  When I started getting them more frequently, I did go to my doc.  He never had me see a nueurologist, but did have me do an MRI and see an opthomologist. 

BTW, what is a TIA?  I never heard of that.  I am not on anything for the migraines.  My doc did prescribe something, but with all the meds I take for UC, I hate having to take more.  My aura's usually last 20 minutes if that and I'm back to normal for the most part if I take tylenol extra strength.  I will have to look into the stroke thing and whatever TIA is.