Migraine auras are a fantastical part of a migraine. Gifting us with sights unseen by others. And then Bam pain. So they are also a great warning of impending DOOM. There are some auras that are just the most spectacular thing you have ever seen. Amazing what the brain produces as that flux of brain activities presses the wrong buttons. Not to mention the weird sensation. All of a sudden half your face is numb or tingling or both. Or your hearing goes all muffled and all you can hear is the damn tinnitus ringing in it.
It is the type of migraine I was diagnosed with when I was 20 and have had since, although I am chronic now and do also get vestibular migraine. I also have persistent migraine aura, but that is another post.
Here is the criteria for Migraine with Aura:
Description:
Diagnostic criteria:
3. each symptom lasts ≥5 and
Yes, it is true that 25-30% of people with migraine experience the aura phase of a migraine. And if you have Migraine with aura not every migraine will in fact have an aura. Apparently only 20% of the time on average do they have an aura with their attack. Mine seem to have them more than that, but then there are a lot of auras we are talking about here for the brain to choose from. It certainly is a myth that every migraine comes with an aura. Heard that recently. No. There are types of migraine that do not have aura, such as migraine without aura.
If you think you have auras that last longer than 1 hour remember the phases of a migraine are flexible in duration. You can have an aura last into the headache stage for example. However, this question was in fact studied.
“Background According to ICHD-II, and as proposed for ICHD-III, non-hemiplegic migraine aura (NHMA) symptoms last between five and 60 minutes whereas hemiplegic migraine aura can be longer. In ICHD-III it is proposed to label aura longer than an hour and less than a week as probable migraine with aura. We tested whether this was appropriate based on the available literature.
Methods We performed a systematic literature search identifying articles pertaining to a typical or prolonged duration of NHMA. We also performed a comprehensive literature search in order to identify all population-based studies or case series in which clinical features of NHMA, including but not restricted to aura duration, were reported, in order to gain a complete coverage of the available scientific data on aura duration.
Results We did not find any article exclusively focusing on the prevalence of a prolonged aura or more generally on typical NHMA duration. We found 10 articles that investigated NHMA features, including the aura duration. Five articles recorded the proportion of patients in whom whole NHMA lasted for more than one hour, which was the case in 12%–37% of patients. Six articles reported some information on the duration of single NHMA symptoms: visual aura disturbances lasting for more than one hour occurred in 6%–10% of patients, sensory aura in 14%–27% of patients and aphasic aura in 17%–60% of patients.
Conclusions The data indicate the duration of NHMA may be longer than one hour in a significant proportion of migraineurs. This seems to be especially true for non-visual aura symptoms. The term probable seems inappropriate in ICHD-III so we propose reinstating the category of prolonged aura for patients with symptoms longer than an hour and less than one week” http://cep.sagepub.com/content/33/7/483.abstract
So 12%-37% had auras last longer than an hour. visual aura disturbances lasting for more than one hour occurred in 6%–10% of patients, sensory aura in 14%–27% of patients and aphasic aura in 17%–60% of patients.
Most people are under the impression that auras are visual. And the majority are. And can include such things as:
- scotoma: a patch of decreased or lost vision;
- phosphenes: brief flashes of light across the visual field
- blurry vision
- wavy lines: Like looking through heat. Warping lines.
- And many more manifestations.
Now other non-visual and sensory auras some of which can include:
- aphasia: the loss of the power to use or comprehend language; both words and numbers
- allodynia; hypersensitivity to feel and touch (often felt on the scalp and people will say their hair hurts)
- dizziness: and vertigo
- confusion:
- Tingling: hands, feet, face… tingling anywhere.
- Hiccups
- Numbness
- olfactory hallucinations
- decrease in hearing
- Auditory hallucinations
Interesting, the first part about auras was pretty much how my epilepsy first manifested.
When I had migraines as a teenager, mine were more like a sudden bolt of lightning. I’d just freeze on the spot wherever I was. Definitely horrible kind of pain, my heart goes out to you 😦 xxx
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The aura is such a fascinating thing really. I’ve always been intrigued by it. Just hate what follows.
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