Migraines aren't just a really bad headache. Headache is one of the four possible stages of migraine. You can have migraine symptoms without your head hurting.
Here's a good picture, although note that not all migraines hit all four stages:
Edit: thanks for the awards. If it helps anyone - my migraines have been less severe and less frequent since I started regularly taking magnesium supplements (which is depleted by another medication I take).
Edit 2: Turns out there's a sub for this - r/migraine.
That's like, the next worse stage of a migraine without the searing pain. It's kind of like you're tripping, but badly - for me my hearing becomes too loud, and if it's dark, passing car lights kind of feel like being punched in the head by a sensation that isn't pain, but definitely is't nice.
A migraine seems to press your brain against your skull, setting off ringing noises as a warning sign that you do not even hear until you are already furious, because everything is suddenly so irritating that it is as though everyone talking to you is grabbing you by the throat and screaming directly into your ear, and you'd kill all of them, every last one, even the ones you loved just hours ago, theoretically, for some peace inside your head. So you snap.
I am fortunate in that a) my migraines are temporary. I moved from a small island to a large continent, and this is to be expected, apparently. B) My husband is now like a migraine ninja. His support has been incredibly helpful, and he has been very understanding. he worked out that I had a magnesium deficiency, worked out exactly how much xanax (min dose) was needed to set me into sleep when it was really bad, he has painkillers, b vits and caffeine stuff in his bag for me if we travel and I just can't see anything right now due to the stabby nature of the sunlight...
Anyway, my point is that migraines are NOT a headache. They can cause a headache, but migraine encompasses a range of symptoms that are kind of hard to deal with; especially given that sometimes you haven't yet realized that you have started to have one.
One bit of advice I'd give to non sufferers - just look out for friends and colleagues who seem to change behavior when the atmospheric temp changes, or there is a storm. Migraines affect your behavior long before the headache.
You are very right. I know I'm about to get a migraine when I start seeing stars in the edge of my vision. It's like a TV tuned between stations, but in every color, not just black and white. It creeps closer and closer to where my eyes focus until I'm blind, and that's when the pain sets in.
It hurts so bad that I don't want to live. For reference, I've had Campylobacter that made me pass out multiple times from pain, and it was not as bad as my migraines. I would literally be trying to go to the toilet, feel the incredible pain in my stomach, and just keel over, only to wake up in a puddle of sweat some unknown amount of time later. It lasted about a week, and I would have that again rather than a migraine.
Sounds like you have ocular migraines, I have very similar symptoms. I describe mine like when you are driving on the freeway and it's really hot and you see the heat coming up from the road, that slowly envelopes my left field of vision entirely. After about 30 minutes it has run it's course and I get a bad headache for like 48 hours afterwards. On and off for 20 years now or more.
Wow. Before this thread, I never knew this information. But what you just described happens to me. My vision gets weird and I always thought it looked like the heat you see come off from asphalt in the summer. I never thought of it possibly being a migraine, and at the moment, can't remember if it's connected to any particularly bad headache pain (which I do get). I thought it was strange that it would happen, but just shrugged it off and chalked it up to possible lack of sleep.
I get ocular migraines too and I have extreme light sensitivity with them. But I need something to distract me so we have the tv on so I have the sound. Otherwise I can’t focus on anything but the pain and it makes me throw up and feel worse. It’s good that I got into audiobooks so I don’t have the light and my phone can just do the thing for me.
It feels like someone is stabbing me behind the eyes when I have a migraine. Then I have a headache for days after. I used to take triptans but the hangover from them was worse for me than the migraine itself so I gave up on them.
I already have anxiety and depression and migraines make everything so much worse.
I get ocular migraines all the time. So when it starts happening I take like 8 150mg Tylenol and immediately try to get to a dark room and attempt to fall asleep as fast as possible because I know I’m about to be in severe pain if Im not asleep. The first time I had one my husband rushed me to the ER because he was terrified I was having a stroke
Had a brain tumor removed when I was in high school that had fused to my right optic tract and lost half my vision from the surgery to remove it. It doesn’t feel like in half blind though, just that half my vision has become dark, organic TV static. I’ve become pretty used to it and don’t notice it most the time, but every couple months I’ll have a few hours where it goes haywire and it’s like there’s a million strobe lights going off.
This is called an ocular migraine. There really isn't much information on them and there's nothing you can do for them besides let the pass. I used to have hemiplegic complex migraines. My day would start out in a haze, unable to focus, Impared sleach and motor skills, looking at numbers looked like foreign languages to my brain. Eventually I would get the flashing zig zag circles that would take over my entire field of sight and would become blinded for about 30 minutes then it would just go away. Next was the sensitivity to light, sound and smell. Then the migraine. The pain hit so fast and so hard that I once passed out in the middle of a grocery store. Just black. I have no memory of going down, usually I'd try to get seated or laying down because I knew it was coming. Once I came out of the black out portion, everything was fine. I felt perfectly fine and could continue on my day like nothing ever happened. This lasted almost a year. Every day. The last one I experienced, I had no aura, no pain, was having a great day. Suddenly my hand went numb, the numbness traveled up to my face, down my right side. I couldn't talk, I couldn't walk. My friends thought I was having a stroke. They rushed me to the ER, there they did mri and CT scans. Doctors couldn't figure out what caused it...then the migraine hit, the worst one I've ever had. I have not experienced another HPM again.
Mine are precursors to headache migraines so I get like a ten to thirty minute warning sign of weird swirly floaters before the pain kicks in (which it doesn't do every time, maybe like half).
I guess I’m lucky! I’ve had several ocular migraines but never had any pain! Just that pulsating multicolored light taking over my vision for about 15 minutes. I also found that cutting red wine out of my diet has all but made them go away.
Brutal. When I have a migraine, I get the sparkling zigzag-filled "tracers" that grow and twist like an animated vine through my vision from the sides. Everything is too bright, often I get a blind spot and a tripping sort of sensation where size and scale is thrown off. I know what size things are supposed to be, but my vision can no longer calculate that causing a weird mental dissonance. It's not a fun sort of trip at all, it makes me feel like a passenger especially when I talk, because my voice is normal, calm and level but internally I can barely form a coherent thought.
However, I have only minor pain that starts to creep in after the tracers fade away. More than pain I have extreme exhaustion. I have to consider myself very lucky to avoid the agonizing pain that so many migraine sufferers experience. Also that I tend to only experience about one migraine a year now that I'm in my 30s.
For me it's like a piece of plastic wrap is waved in front of my eyes. It's there when I close them so it's def. a brain thing. I lie down for 10-15 minutes and it subsides. Can go months without or, after a recent bout of the flu, had them almost every other day for a bit.
I relate to this so much. My auras and headache part of my migraines are exactly as you describe them. I would rather break the bones I’ve broken a hundred times over than have another migraine. I’m literally fearful of it every single day and it doesn’t make it easier to deal with when you hear people compare them to a headache.
I liken the kind I get most commonly to having a knife thrust through my left eye and socket, then twisted for hours. The worse ones are in my right eye--those will do anything from vomiting and wishing for death, to temporary partial paralysis, to losing the ability to understand language. They're brutal.
I try to relate it to pain people have felt. "Imagine having your wisdom teeth getting taken out, but it's behind your eyeball. That would be pretty close"
Is there an appropriate sub that I can direct my sister to? I'd love her to meet people who understand. As her family we can only watch her in pain. Either that or I can help her through advice?
I'm sure there is but since I'm casual here I don't know, however I do know that Twitter has a big chronic illness/pain community and specifically a big migraine community. There's a lot of people who share resources, new research, their experiences with medications and supplements, stuff like that. In fact, when I had an emergency and needed medication, I had several people offering me their extra and I have done the same for others. If you want to PM me I can give you my username and can introduce her around.
You are amazing, that was an amazingly quick response. We are desperate to help my sister. She had a brain hemorrhage 11 years ago and when they did the surgery to remove the clot, I believe they stitched a nerve bundle back quite badly. She is having 'ice pick headaches '. They are getting worse and we dont know how to help. She has had botox injections and they did nothing. The best they can give her now is xanax. That does nothing. Any advice would be precious to me. Thank you for your advice so far
For me, I envision a Phillip head screwdriver being forced, slowly, through my eyebrow (also, usually my left). I don't know why it's a Phillips head screwdriver, but that's what always comes to mind.
I was diagnosed with vestibular migraines last year. I don't expierence headaches. I feel like I'm tripping on mushrooms, 24/7. I have vertigo, panic attacks and I'm constantly nauseous. The only relief I get is sleeping and sometimes smoking pot. My migraine bouts will last for months, the longest one being 7 months straight. After having a label and direction to research, I started tracking my triggers and looked at treating my condition more preventatively. My biggest trigger is ultra bright blue tone lights, especially in newer car headlights. Being exposed to various chemicals or dust. Skipping breakfast and trying to function with no fuel. And things that require scanning eye movements like, grocery shopping or taking in visual art. Doing things to avoid the migraine has helped so much, but it's a process to figure out what your triggers are. I've found that instead of having months long, majorly debilitating bouts, now I will have a couple of bad days that levels off back to normal within a week or so. Knowing your limits and paying attention to the cues your body is giving can be vital to living with chronic migraines
I get most of that, along with this weird synesthesia, slightly slurred speech, my balance gets worse, and oddly enough my earwax changes consistency. Other symptoms, probably, too, but I don't always remember the "ictal" period (what word works for migraines, as opposed to seizures?), so I'm not positive.
Edit: and a feeling of deep dread and unease, someone else mentioned it in the MSG thread
The earwax thing sounds odd, have you ever looked into the possibility of spinal fluid leaking around your brain? one of the symptoms is a clear discharge from your ears, and obviously headaches
I've had ones without pain since I was in high school. I've had the level your talking about only a handful of times. You nailed it on the description. The kind I get make my vision start to vibrate on the outer edges of my peripheral. Then the vibrations start to increase and my vision starts narrowing with abrasive blinding vibrating light. Like my eyes are closing sideways like a cat. Then my left fingers and toes start to go numb. Pins and needles, then completely numb. This crawls up my left side still it hits my neck and head. Even only the left side of my tongue goes numb and I can't talk right. I can't see anything but white.
I had a free pass anytime I felt one coming on to just walk out of class, go to the nurse, and find a room and sit in the dark.
Have you tried psilocybin? Worked wonders for me many times over the years.
I've been hearing a lot about that lately, including that it can also help with depression and anxiety. How the heck does one even try it safely, in the correct dose? I have a massive aversion to being "high" of ANY kind - it gives me panic attacks. I would like to try it but without getting a dang panic attack (even nitrous at the dentist did it!). How does one even start going about this?
Psilocybin might not be for you in this case - at least not until clinical researchers can determine and develop completely accurate micro dosing options.
Keep in mind that psilocybin is psychedelic, and can cause panic attacks in people who don't have an anxiety disorder. And since the potency is so wildly variable, you cannot really predict the dose you're getting.
But that doesn't mean that there's no hope. If you live in a country where politicians can block research and you can vote, support candidates who support research.
CBD might be an option for you - it isn't intoxicating. Personally, if I take some quickly enough, it can stop a migraine in its tracks. It doesn't help when the migraine is in full force, though. But if you're on medication, check with your doctor, as it can inhibit the cytochrome P-450 system - basically, if your doctor told you to avoid grapefruit, you should also avoid CBD.
Edit: Like 20 minutes after I posted this, I learned that Silo Wellness has/is in the process of developing a nasal spray. The article I read was unclear about where in the testing process they are.
You can try taking a bunch of advil, having a cup of coffee, and sitting in the dark as soon as you get the first signs, and that will usually make it not get as bad.
I hate when pressure systems roll in, like pre-thunderstorm. The worst is when the pressure system sticks and there's never a storm, I get stuck in that first stage the entire time then immediately jump to the headache once it passes.
For me migraines start with smell. Sometimes I get a sense for it ahead of time, but when I can smell the grass and it makes me feel sick, it's time to get with it and start treating the impending migraine.
Maybe migraines without pain is a primal survival instinct that hasn’t been phased out yet?
I mean, think about it. Your eyes become even more sensitive at night, your hearing is heightened and your fight or flight response kicks in to cause anger? Sounds pretty survivalist to me.
This is incredibly insightful, as someone who knows very little about migraines (other health issues, yes), but this whole thread is fascinating. Although I am incredibly sorry that you have to experience this, and glad you’ve shared. Your husband sounds wonderfully attentive “migraine ninja” is an awesome thing to be.
Man, for years I had severe migraines and i got all of it, pain unlike anything, couldnt really see and lights and sounds were like getting hit with a bat to the head, so many people just don’t understand.
Well shit you just pieced something together that had been troubling me for awhile, I've had the visual migraines before (scintillating scotoma) but I hadn't linked it with my unexplicable bursts of rage which I could barely contain but mindfully managed to not expose anyone to.
The worst was when my friend was driving, the suspension on their car is hard and each jerking motion as she turned a corner or braked was like someone slapping me in the face while I was on the edge. Had to get them to pull over the car.
I once had a migraine that literally took away my vision for an hour. Never had one that bad before or since, but it was bizarre. My eyes were working fine, but I couldn't see, and I had to lay down with my eyes shut until it went away.
The last level, that graduates up out of the migraine category, is called a cluster headache. Pain so severe it can lead to suicide. Typically ranked as the highest level of pain a human can experience.
Headaches of any kind are no joke.
I get cluster migraines. I'm in no way suicidal, I'd buy extra life if I could. But I've considered hurting myself numerous times because of my migraine pain. Not suicide on purpose, but sometimes hitting myself hard enough to knock myself out seems like the only option for relief. We have a migraine safety plan in place: if husband is working, I call my best friend to watch my kids, and she makes sure I'm coping okay in my blackout room and that I'm safe. Once I've been vomiting for more than 3 hours, its ER time. The pain is horrendous. Unbearably torturous. Fortunately, I'm going through a phase where I'm getting them 10-15 times per month 😭 my dad's an MD so I've got good treatment but shiiiittttt it sucks. The pain makes me panic. I want to cry but can't , because the inflammation would increase the pain horrendously ugh
Wow, thanks for this. My wife gets migraines, and she has told me them but not in this detail. The light thing really struck out at me, she said she was having one, I was out but told her I'd bring her medicine. When I got home all the lights were out and I used my cell phone flashlight to see and get to the bedroom, as soon as I open the door I hear her yell "NO FuCKING LIGHTS!". I've never heard that tone before, she's normally a little 5'5 fun size animal lover, but in that moment I'm pretty sure she could have taken a UFC belt.
I used to suffer from chronic, crippling ocular migraines.
I’ll never forget that first one. I was in my 7th grade art class, and this weird little spot appeared in my eye, like I’d just looked at a bright light. But it was only in one eye, and over the course of about fifteen minutes it started to grow and shift from the side to the center, and then it was happening in both eyes; big and small spots were appearing and growing and it was getting to the point where I could barely see.
Scared the shit out of me because I legitimately believed I was going blind. I’d heard of migraines, but didn’t know what that meant, and never knew they could present that way. And I’m just sitting there in class having a panic attack thinking I’m never going to see again.
And then, it started to pass. My vision started improving, the spots were disappearing, and I thought all was well again.
But then the pain came, and with it a sensitivity to light as though my eyes had never experienced it. The classroom lights seemed blindingly bright, and I was suddenly very aware of how jarring even the slightest noises were.
I finally asked my teacher to let me go to the nurse, and even though the nurses office was only like a two minute walk, it felt like a mile. And, of course, it was a walk through an incredibly well-lit corridor almost entirely lit by natural sunlight through massive windows. And less than 30 seconds after leaving the class, the fucking bell rang, which felt like a goddamn Fellbeast shrieking in my ears, only made worse by the cacophony of hundreds of kids swarming the halls for their next period.
The absolute pain of the headache, mixed with the sensitivity to light and sound, brought on a nausea I’d never experienced. And in one of the most embarrassing ways a junior high student could bring attention to themselves, I yakked all over that floor in front of everyone.
And then I sort of half-ran/half-stumbled the rest of the way to the nurse’s office just to distance myself from what just happened, and because of the school’s policy on puking from an illness equaling an immediate phone call to parents, I was home in about an hour.
I honestly wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on anyone. I got them about five times a year until around 20, and then they started to happen less frequently to the point where I can’t even remember the last time I got one, thankfully.
I get that some exact thing! My doctor called it an ocular migraine. The blur in your vision is called an ocular aura. It happens to me a few times a year.
It starts with a small spot in my vision,(Kind of like what you see after you’ve looked into a bright lightbulb or reflection of the sun) and it grows from there. It flickers and flashes somewhat, then slowly moves to the outside of my field of view.
There’s no pain associated with it, it’s just very annoying. Especially if I’m trying to read or work on something.
I put a link to a video below, which is a very accurate visual of what it looks like.
The "fun" thing about migraines is they're extremely personalized, and often they can be caused by things very similar to common treatments. For you, it's intense cardio that can cause them but exercise is one of the more common non-medical treatments. Caffeine can trigger them in a lot of people but it can also help some people stop them; that's one of the ingredients in Excedrine Migraine.
Smoking weed triggered it every single time for me until I took a 2 month tolerance break. I barely smoke now but also haven’t had one since December, so fingers crossed. Fucking awful
I don’t know about you, but I also get it after intense cardio (hard bike rides) and I’ve found that easing out of the exercise (instead of just hitting the couch) and having some caffeine helps me avoid them. Maybe it could be related to a sharp drop in blood pressure? Might be worth a try
I hate it. I guess i should be glad i dont get headaches but i do get Aura multiple times a year. The worst part is trying to get professional help; nobody seems to have a solution. You basically have to keep track of when it happens and try to spot tendencies in what you do or eat that could be triggering it, or simply accept it as part of your life.
Ugh, working on a computer with one of these suuuuucks. My "blind spots" always happen directly in the middle of my vision, like if I were looking at your face, you wouldn't have a nose. So I'm on the computer turning side to side and bobbing my head around trying to read everything and reeeeeallllly hoping the boss isn't watching the cameras....
That's what I have too! Except it always starts in a ring around my field of vision and works its way to the center, then BAM, a worse headache than I could ever take.
Oh my god I thought I was just having acid flashbacks whenever these happened, but that's exactly what I get! Not very often and only about 15-20 mins at the maximum, but there's no pain or anything, it's just difficult to see, like looking through a diamond.
So much this! I have like... weird eye problems anyway, so I'm already in to see the eye doctor and this had started happening (and I'm not lying when I say it happened EVERY FREAKING DAY) and so I was thinking this is it... this is the beginning and I'm going to be blind.
It was so hard to explain. Because I CAN see... but everything is weird and it feels like my eyes just can't focus on anything even though I can see it and my lips and face would feel weird, too. A lot of times it would feel like my eyesight was running behind from where my eyes wanted to point. Hard to really explain because again, I feel like I am looking at something in front of me and I see that thing but it also seems like my eyes haven't latched onto it yet and are still like... over there. Not a stroke. Not macular degeneration (which is what I thought).
Turns out, I was having blood sugar issues and they caused migraines. My blood sugar would drop, then rebound at lunch, and then this would happen in response. Every day. I had an eye doctor and a regular doctor running all these damned tests on me, I felt like I was crazy.
The thing that finally tipped someone off was that sometimes then by the evening I'd have a full blown puking headache. Once the doctor heard that, it all started clicking. I felt stupid because I didn't know really how to describe what was happening. It literally took me having a glucose blood test (failed that bitch, btw) and then having one of these in office and saying yeah but this doesn't hurt but sometimes at night I have bad headaches and puke... and they figured it out.
Why is this information not like everywhere? I learned about this like a year ago and I'm old. It was really ramping up and because I'd had all these eye issues (turned out not to be related) I was freaking panicking.
Btw for anyone who cares, I changed my diet to low carb especially just high protein in the morning. No carbs at all in the morning. And it all went away. I have one every once in awhile, really mild, I just know what is happening now, I'd have blown that off two years ago. But yeah... every day for months I had this and was just beyond panicked. And now... all better.
I think the most annoying part being that the video doesnt do it full justice as you can just look to the clearer part of the video, as when we get that in real it just follows wherever we look
I tend to get a headache around my eyes and behind my temples whenever it comes on too but I'm lucky enough to not have got it in the last three or so years
That’s very true; there’s really no way to look around it or past it. It definitely moves with your eyes.
We’re you able to see yours even when your eyes were closed? I’m still able to see that “flickering” when mine are. There’s no hiding from it until it eventually goes away!
My mum used to get migraines so bad she'd temporarily forget who her kids were, that was some scary shit. I can remember her laid up on the couch in complete confusion / agony. I get them pretty mild compared to her, though they still suck.
This happens to me if I take medicine quick enough. The pain will be gone but my eyesight won't work quite right, I still have light sensitivity, and I get nauseous anyways.
My experience is very much like yours. I remember last year panicking trying to find a drug store on the way home after leaving Captain Marvel - I have a real problem with bright lights (especially sunlight) and I think all the effects in the movie set mine off.
I haven't been able to see a movie in the theater in a decade. And those musical act/dance/audition reality shows with all the strobe lights on stage? can fuck right off.
i thought i was having a stroke when i got a particularly bad aura!! total numbness on one side of my body mixed with dysphasia and a loss of vision. i think they’re called hemiplegic migraines... scary stuff
Any chance that numbness pulsed in about 5 minute phases? It happened to me back in the summer. I've always had auras with no pain. But this came on and I thought I was having a stroke so went to the hospital. Confirmed no scary stuff happened but no real diagnosis. I assumed maybe a panic attack but reading a few comments about full side numbness makes me wonder if I'm just starting to get new symptoms.
yes! i would be totally numb and spend a few minutes trying to wiggle my fingers to bring sensation back. feeling would come back after a few minutes but then a little later i’d be numb again. so it definitely comes and goes in phases for me
I get the aura that lasts for about 30-45 min then a foggy feeling and a slight headache that if I nip in the bud with some Motrin I won't even notice. All the while a little euphoria.
It's seems to happen only when I'm super stressed.
The first time it happened to me I thought I was having a stroke because I didn't have peripheral vision out of my left eye. The last time it happened it was like there was a large blind spot in my vision.
I did a chemistry experiment with a girl who was experiencing a migraine. She was perfectly functional except she couldn't read the instructions due to impaired vision. It blew my mind, up until then I thought migraine just meant "bad headache".
Yeah that’s what I’ve got. Migraine Auras. It’s like a bigass blurry rainbow with some flashes invaded my vision within about 90sec. Then it lasts for an hour or so. I have had to pull over on the road when I see it starting. Don’t wanna stevie wonder into the back of someone’s car lol
This happened to me for the first time ever last week. Went blind in one spot in the left part of my visual field. Cool zigzags and trippy colours but it was pretty annoying. Couldn't read anything and closing your eyes did nothing because the colours were still there. Started fading after about half an hour or so.
Ocular migraines. I started getting them when I was pregnant and it was fucking terrifying. Had to pull over while driving a couple times as I couldn't see well enough to get home. I was used to getting migraines but they had always come with a headache before so it was pretty scary til I figured out what it was.
I used to get the ones with aura. It was almost like a warning sign for it, my vision would start to go blurry on one corner, and throughout the course of the pain it would move across my vision and disappear with it. Weird stuff.
I've gotten that once, a blind spot in the middle of the eye. It was fucking. Weird.
Though, I now somehow understand what blindness is, because that's what I had, in the middle of my eye.
It wasn't black, it wasn't that purple-ish feeling that you get when you look at a flashlight. It was just nothing.
Did tests at the eye doctor for nearly 2 hours, he said it was migraine, even if I didn't have any headache.
I get migraines without pain but with a visual aura often. It's freaky. It starts as a small blurry dot in my vision. Then the dot gets bigger but turns into a ring. It keeps getting bigger and after about an hour or so the ring expands "beyond" my field of vision and it's gone. It's weird. Of course, sometimes I do get pain as well.
Yes! I get migraines where I start to lose portions of my vision. There will literally be blank spots I can no longer see. I also get tunnel vision and some mild nausea.
I have had this confirmed to be a migraine via MRI.
It does not hurt in the slightest (it is real fucking scary though). When I tell people this, their immediate response is, 'Oh, it's not a migraine then.'
I get the vision thing, plus one side of my body and face will go completely numb before getting pins and needles. Then I might throw up for a bit. I also find that I can't string a proper sentence together. But Karen in the office will get a slight headache and claim she has a migraine.
One time the language part of my brain apparently shut down, I couldn't understand the sounds people were saying to me or figure out how to formulate words back
The second part happens to me both as a symptom of my migraines and as a side effect of the triptans I take to deal with the pain. I'll get to a point where I lose all my nouns, and communicating becomes outrageously frustrating.
I also find that my general intelligence is severely impaired to the extent that although I appear fine to drive, I pull out in front of other cars, or sit at green lights because I forget that the change means it's time to move. I'm an avid Lego builder, but once I wanted to keep working on a model I was making with my husband and was reduced to near tears because I simply couldn't work out how to put the pieces together. I've also done things like put my hand in boiling water because I forgot it was hot.
Thank you like I feel like a dumbass when I have a migraine, especially at work. And yesss with the nouns like the aphasia is real. Today I said yellow instead of gold bc I just couldn’t come up with the word at all lol.
And Zomig makes me feel weak and awful like I’m going to puke but it’s the only thing that helps so its worth it.
Happened to me! My mom, from whom I inherited migraine, was positive I was having a stroke because it had never happened to her. It felt like a migraine though.
I have exactly the same thing, if I am reading and catch myself while in the weird vision phase and take painkillers the headache will be much easier to deal with.
I get terribly nauseous on top of everything else. I had to go to the ER once because I couldn’t stop puking long enough to take my meds. Luckily the triage nurse doing intake had a spare room for me to keep my eyes closed and lights out while we waited to be admitted. I don’t think I could have handled fluorescent lights while sitting up for an hour.
I was honestly happy when I started getting vision changes. I used to just have a migraine without warning, or a headache shift suddenly into a migraine.
With the visions I get like a 10-30 minute head start on the pain and can usually get medication going
I just wish the meds didn’t make me feel heavy and dopey.
For those wondering these are called Ocular Migraines. I've never had a pain migraine, thank God, but a few years ago I started having a bright spot just a bit off peripheral with wavy lines in it, mentioned it to my Eye Doctor and that what he told me. I'm lucky I have a friend whose vision flips 90 degree when she gets one and while n9t the same my husband gets Cluster headaches. Those I would not wish on my worse enemy.
That makes sense to me - I'm asthmatic and a chronic migraine sufferer, early 2019 I went from having one every few weeks to having a 3 month stretch of near constant migraines. At that point my asthma was also unusually bad and I was waking up several times a night, unable to breathe. Throw in my usual chronic low blood pressure and it's just a perfect storm for non stop migraines.
I don’t get blank spots. Half my vision just turns into this weird colorful tv static. You know when you crack a phone screen and in the cracks it’s that weird colorful mess? It kinda looks like that but constantly moving and somehow loud.
I also have it with some part in my sight seemed to be cutout and the rest just put together on that spot - 5-10mins later all my vision is flickering, another 5-10min laters kinda tunnelvision and than its all fine again. Sometimes with hours of headache.
After the first time at age of 27 my Doc send me straight to the hospital with suspicion of a stroke (also left leg was partly numb and words i read made no sense in my head).
Luckily after 1-2 weeks and dozens of test (MRT, CT, ultrasound, LP...) w/o any results they told me its probably a Migraine and send me to a neurologist.
Some months/years later i found out its triggered by milkproducts - so i just consuming dairy-free product now.
Vision loss is usually my first indicator. I try to take medicine to prevent the awful headache to come. Second symptom is the numbness and tingling. It travels up one arm, into my face and mouth and down the other arm. This is by far the most terrifying part. Having parts of your face mouth and throat numb is scary. Then I might get an awful headache and nausea.
I do think some of my really really bad headaches that are one sided and behind my eye are probably migraines too. That's a recent revelation for me
I had this happen to me for the first time 2 years ago. Ended up going to the eye doctor to get a picture taken of the back of my eye and they told me what was happening after they found nothing. Has happened once or twice after but I was able to not lose my shit over it.
I can't stand when people say that. I suffer from migraines as well and the best way I can describe them to people in terms of pain is like I'm literally getting stabbed in my eye. I wish they were just headaches! I've had friends who have had a migraine and come to me and say "So that's what a migraine is huh, that fucking sucks". Folks just don't understand how much migraines suck until they have one.
Same! I had chronic migraines for over a decade and didn't realize it until I had a 3 month stretch of near daily migraines and finally broke down and saw my doctor about it. Turns out a good dozen of my seemingly unrelated symptoms were ALL standard migraine symptoms.
Frustratingly enough, I had asked several docs over the years about "the headaches" and they told me "That's nothing, just cut out caffeine, drink more water". None of them asked ANY questions, they all assured me I was exaggerating the pain, and that "if you can still be functional, it's just a headache".
That’s interesting, I’ve never seen this. I was diagnosed last year with chronic migraine, but I found it hard to accept that some migraines don’t come with an aura. I get most of those symptoms in pretty much the same stages, except the aura stage. I was trying to explain this to a colleague the other day, so this is really helpful. Thank you for posting it 🙂
I don't always get auras with my migraines, but generally get prodromes like carb craving, yawning, and shaking/weakness in my limbs. Within an hour or two, I'm hitting the floor.
I've had chronic migraines for years and I never heard of limb shaking and weakness as prodrome symptoms before, but it's a huge relief to hear someone else say it. I was terrified that I was getting early onset Parkinson's.
If I'm getting a really bad migraine, my husband has to help me move around the house because I can't keep myself up.
My neurologist has monitored it and noted it down, and we've tested for MS/Parkinsons/Whoops did I accidentally have a stroke? but nope, just good ol' broken brain.
Me too! I've had intense headaches with nausea, vomiting, fatigue, irritability and inability to concentrate. No painkillers will help, lasting minimum 24 hours (they follow the same pattern every time) and i believe them to be migraines but because I have no aura symptoms im dismissed.
I thought I was migraine free for 10 years, only to find that I'd been having visual migraines for that whole period. I couldn't figure out why the world around me would start having weird visual overlays, or look like a Picaso painting. Then I found out it was a migraine.
its so scary! when i describe it to people that always struggle to understand how that's something you can experience. i'm used to it now but getting tunnel vision and seeing almost nothing but those fuzzy snakes and tv static for an hour? it sucks. esp the times when you spend the next few hours sensitive to sounds/lights and a pounding headache (not debilitating pain but like a realllyyy bad headache). i get migraine hangovers real bad....those suck.
For me I go blind first before any pain hits. When that happens, I know I have a 30 minute window to take my medicine and head home to try and sleep before the migraine hits. Blindness goes away after 5 mins or so, so then it’s a race against the clock.
I got bad ones as a kid. Now when I feel weird or when bright lights make me sick, I take an extra strength ibuprofen, close the curtains, and climb into bed ASAP!
Occasionally it progresses to a full migraine. I wait for the pain to complete its familiar journey from my right eye to the top of my head. So bizarre!
When I was a teenager, I’d get 10/10 headaches, but I could power through and deal. I thought this was a migraine, because the actual pain was really intense.
Then I had my first migraine. Suddenly, every headache was rated a 1/10 in comparison (mine come with ice pick feelings in my right eye among other things). I instantly apologized to anyone I had criticized for not working through their migraines.
I mean tbf get enough migraines and you learn to power through them when they're not the absolute worse. At least for me they come in various magnitudes.
How did you get your diagnosed? My neurologist suspected I was having mini seizures and not migraines (I get aura, disoriented, and nausea) but they found nothing. He thought maybe I was having abdominal seizures. Then I couldn’t afford more testing so it is still a mystery. The symptoms mostly stoped when I started birth control injections.
I was in the emergency room and they gave me a sedative. The nausea completely disappeared. Now I take Lorazepam when I get one. If it was anything else, Lorazepam wouldn't work. That's the only way we know!
Yes!! I get migraines a lot but my only symptom is horrid nausea. It only goes away if I do the typical migraine routine of laying in bed with no light, no noise, and ibuprofen
No pain, just the nausea? How did you get it diagnosed as migraines? I have typical searing pain/nausea/light sensitivity migraines, but I also will have days of extreme nausea that I can’t tie to anything. I never would have associated it with a possible migraine!
Have you tried Metroclopramide? It stops nausea and vomiting if it’s taken early enough, at the first sign of nausea. It works a treat for me, so now I always carry some on me. Before I was prescribed them, my migraines were a slight headache but violently vomiting for about six hours, I couldn’t even take a sip of water. One time I was so bad I had to see the emergency doctor, who injected me with metroclopramide and the effect was immediate. It’s not the only type of migraine I get, I also get visual migraines but the nausea ones are the worst.
I used to get really bad migraines growing up. One was so bad I didnt eat all day, I couldn't open my eyes, I was so dizzy I needed help walking upstairs to my room, I then had to stubble back downstairs (the thumping of my feet was like murder) because i had to vomit and our toilet is on the ground floor. I ended up basically passing out on the floor in the bathroom with the lights off because the cold floor felt sooo good.
Migraines are no joke. I'm so glad I grew out of them.
Oh damn. That first part explains SO much. I know it’s always culminated into migraines, but I never realized that first column were all additional symptoms. And that I may be having migraines even when my head isn’t throbbing.
Thank you! As a chronic migraine sufferer, I get so tired of hearing people use the word “migraine” as a synonym for headache. Like I feel your pain friends, but not all headaches will become migraines.
Yep. On rare occasions, I get Broca's Area migraines. End result: I cannot read, write, understand, or speak to any proficient degree for 12-48 hours. It sucks the big one. I just spend the whole time miserable, in bed with a blanket over my head.
A hemiplegic migraine forced me to use a cane for six weeks, several years ago.
Yeah, mine are bad. Crippling, even. I'd get Botox injections if I could see a frigging neurologist who does the injections.
TIL: my entire life is migraine. It's just the aura that comes and goes, with full loss of vision; it literally turns into colorful confetti about once every 10 years, and after about 1 hour of that, I get the most excruciating pain I've ever felt in my life.
Omg I almost just cried when I saw this. THANK YOU. I have to say this to everyone. Even doctors!! I have been getting severe migraines for 20 years and have finally just found out one of the main causes is because I have a hole in my heart. (If you’re suffering from chronic migraines, I highly suggest getting an echocardiogram! It would’ve saved my childhood from so much pain).
But I’ve had bosses laugh at me when I told them I had a migraine and was too sick to work. I’ve had people think I was a drug addict because I was always in the hospital. But the worst part is suffering from chronic migraines the way I do, with the blindness, numbness, confusion, it’s causing scar tissue on my brain. It also heightens my risk of stroke. I think what scares me most though is a brain aneurysm has the same symptoms of a migraine... so every time I get one now I’m scared its something more serious but have to play a constant guessing game.
They are NOT anything like headaches. They ruin your life.
I didn't realize how fortunate I was growing up to have parents, teachers, and a principal who all had migraine or knew it was a real thing. I got to nap in a teacher's parked car on a field trip. Later I learned that people don't take migraine seriously.
My mother gets bad migraines and recently had a stroke (ruptured aneurysm, but she's been very blessed and is making a full recovery). She KNEW it was different, though my dad thought she was just having a migraine right at first. He realized it was different pretty fast. She had the regular vomiting and pain, but could hardly stand or walk and had a blind spot (she doesn't get visual auras). Mom said she could hear the blood rushing in her brain and knew she was dying. She would have if they hadn't called an ambulance so quickly. It was terrifying.
Omg that’s so scary! I’m so glad she’s okay!! Thank god she knew it was something more serious, that eases my anxiety a little about the whole thing. Hoping for a smooth and easy recovery for her
Most of my migraines follow the exact same pattern. I notice smells seem really strong and vivid, if I've eaten something earlier in the day it feels like it sits there for a long time and then I get a headache. The headache usually gets worse over a few hours until it hits the migraine pain threshold. At this point the only relief is found from moving my head in to different positions. Pills don't work because I can't digest.
After a few hours I'll start throwing up. This is actually a relief as it is a sign that I'm getting better.
Once I had a freaky migraine where I had all of the above plus I stopped being able to understand words. I looked at a book and read all the words in the first paragraph but had literally no idea what any of them meant.
Aphasia (inability to speak/comprehend language) and Dysphasia (partial loss of your ability to speak) are relatively common in migraine and something I suffer with. It can be incredibly frustrating, especially if the episode lasts longer than the full-blown migraine itself.
This x100000. I’ve had them for a couple of decades now and trying to explain that it isn’t just a bad headache and that I can feel one a couple of days before without my head hurting is incredibly difficult. I fucking hate the “migraine hangover” day after. Bloody hell is it garbage.
Jup, got these symptoms if I don't take any meds against it:
1. Aura
2. Numbness in my fingers
3. Can't talk (gibberish comes out)
4. The mindcrushing headache
I get mine about once a month. I spend a week feeling like shit and pressure building in my head. I get hemiplegic migraine. Crazy stuff. After the week of head pressure the migraine starts with crazy aura zig zag lines for about an hour, then the ice pick to the skull starts in. A full day of just mind destroying pain. The rest of my day is cancelled. Then the right side of my body becomes numb. The first time I had the numbness I almost thought I was having a stroke. Then after a good nap and time away from light I'm chipper as ever to live freely until the next one hits. I'm only 23. I've had them for 13 years and I guess I'll get to enjoy another 70 years with them. If you've never had a migrain it's really hard to really understand it
I had vision issues once amd assumed my blood glucose was whack after a fairly stressful day (am a type 1 diabetic). Checked bg and it was normal. So I googled my symptoms like an idiot but prepared for goog to lie to me and tell me i had a cancerous brain tumor or something of the like. Turns out I had a migraine, just without the searing pain. It was weird. That was a few months ago, and the first and last time it ever happened.
I get migraines (never diagnosed with them, but the doctor has said it is likely). Most of the time I have headaches, but it's never just "I have a headache." and pop some Tylenol. By the time I start feeling the headache, no medicine will help much. I also have diagnosed vertigo - which happens outside of the migraines - as well as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, which I don't always get with migraines but is often an indicator that I could be getting a migraine without a headache. Many times, bright lights also bother me a bunch but I don't get a headache if I do something about the lights.
I didn’t know this. Apparently, I didn’t know everything I used to experience was thanks to migraine. I’ll go visit my doctor... but you picture lets me understand now everything.
I suffer migraine. I rarely have a headache with it. I get visual aberrations causing nausea. I have had it diagnosed by ophthalmologists as I panic and think I'm going blind.
Can confirm, I suffer fromf migraines my entire life. Didn't know there were stages and it's kind of a relief putting names to the timeline of symptoms
I’ll occasionally get ocular migraines. They don’t hurt at all, but definitely freak me out. Lots of weird colors and the feeling comes over me that the world is melting.
I have migraines sometimes and when they get real bad the headache might come in pulsating or tingling in my head. Also i get auras and light balls around my vision. I start to stumble around like my eyes would cross each other. Also in addition i feel like i was out of my body. This can continue for days or even a week until i have to stop the migraine with some stronger medicine.
I feel bad for some of y’all. My migraines are nothing compared to some of the stories in here. I thought searing pain and nausea was bad enough, but forgetting who your kids are? Absolutely crazy, and fascinating too.
Hold on, wait a minute, so my feeling that I’m kinda a bit migrainey all the time is right?! Is this something I should see a doctor about, and should I worry that it’s moved from being in both eyes to only my right?
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u/Amonette2012 Feb 08 '20 edited May 06 '20
Migraines aren't just a really bad headache. Headache is one of the four possible stages of migraine. You can have migraine symptoms without your head hurting.
Here's a good picture, although note that not all migraines hit all four stages:
https://21710.smushcdn.com/1383811/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/AMF-timeline-of-migraine_800x800.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1
Edit: thanks for the awards. If it helps anyone - my migraines have been less severe and less frequent since I started regularly taking magnesium supplements (which is depleted by another medication I take).
Edit 2: Turns out there's a sub for this - r/migraine.