Migraine

Hey there JayDoc,

My migraine spec is a research and teaching doc with a part-time practice. He's done some work on auras. I'll ask him for his thoughts about steroids and aura when I see him in June. Medrol dosepak has never helped me much, sadly.

I wish anything would help me at all.

I've been putting off calling my Dr. Breathakingly Arrogant. I've got several things I should speak with him or someone about. He isn't someone you speak with, though. His secretary will tell you there is no way to even leave a message to speak with his nurse. What kind of practice is that, I ask you?

I don't feel like I can fire his sorry butt as Teri would say especially since I'm still in the middle of this disability thing. But, OPM has approved their part, just waiting to hear from Social Security...

MedievalWriter--that sounds exhausting! How tired you must be to be trapped with a doctor like that. I just got an appt with a new neuro after so much needed encouragement that I really needed to get the motivation to do it. I hope your disability comes through speedily (I know that probably requires a miracle, right!) so you can fire him and get someone who you can leave messages for!

I have a question about auras actually... I didn't think I got anything like these... but then my eye doctor was saying I did. I don't get anything that light, or dark, or flashing. What I do get is fuzzy... like if you were to take a floater that you get every once in a while and then you take 20 more of them, stick them all in the upper left quadrant of my vision and then they all decide to jiggle in unison... my optometrist told me this was called a scintillating scotoma, which was a form of aura??

I also get something else, which I'll ask about here because I think if it fits anywhere at all it would be here... I also get areas of not blurriness really, but lack of sharpness. I won't be able to see detail there. It doesn't seem to be an eye problem, because I have 20/20 vision... but the neuro didn't know what it was (he's not that good though) lol. Anyone else?

Absolutely allergies are commonly comorbid with migraine disease. Two articles I have from ACHE Foundation are "Sinus, Allergy, and Headache" by David R. Marks and"Allergies, Asthma, and Migraine: More Than a Casual Connection?" by Roger Cady.

If an overly sensitive centeral nervous system is in part responsible for the mechanisms of migraine, then also allergies and asthma, like migraine, are the over-reactions of the body to the stimulus from the environment, causing the release of histamine and other irritants (which migraine may also do) and causing misery.

I've suffered massive allergies my entire life, and asthma that has gotten progressively worse. I can't take shot therapy to produce an immune response to ward off the allergens because I have the opposite reaction to them--I get only more sensitive until my system reacts and begins to go into anaphylaxis. My allergists told me shots had changed since I'd been little, but even as an adult I still reacted the same way, even with the slow titteration up.

I've been on prednisolone, but what seems to really work for me are kenalog shots, both for allergies and for breaking a migraine cycle. Of course, you can't get those all the time but they do last quite a while for me when my Dr. OKs them....Up to 6 months of relief at a time, if I'm lucky. But being a steroid means I can't have it all the time.

But I firmly believe in a connection between the three diseases, if even it's only a connection that a highly responsive, overly sensitive CNS contributes to.

quote:

Originally posted by Miriam36:
I wonder if a lot of us migraineurs have allergic responses to a lot of things. I absolutely do. How about the rest of you? I get hives for no reason a lot of the time. I have developed alleries to lots of meds since I was about 20 and ever since. I take plenty of benadryl I wonder if benadryl helps with the mast cell inflammatory response also? hmmmmmm.....

quote:

Originally posted by JayDocTC:
Fascinating - thanks for all the great info! I have never had aura (knock wood), so it is really interesting to hear from those of you who have. I can certainly imagine how aura would make dealing with migraine that much more, um, "challenging."
I was talking to a friend and fellow student last night who does laboratory research on migraines; he was telling me that some recent research suggests that part of the pathogenesis of migraine is related to mast cell activity in the dura. Mast cells are a type of white blood cells and are well-known for their involvement in inflammation, most notably in allergic reactions and asthma. Apparently there is evidence that the mast cells release small proteins as part of the inflammatory response. These proteins then act as neurotransmitters and appear to play a role in aura, facial and scalp pain and other migraine symptoms as they travel through nerves associated with the dura (one of the membranes that covers the brain and spinal cord). I discussed this with my neurologist this morning (she was aware of this research already, of course) and she prescribed some prednisone to take along with the abortives and/or rescue meds. It will be interesting to see if that helps. I've seen a number of folks on the boards here who are also taking steroids, but for those of you who haven't tried it yet it might be worth discussing with your physicians.
If anyone has tried prednisone (or other steroids) I'd be interested to hear what your experiences were...

I have a weird thing call atopy. It's when a person has asthma, eczema, and migraine all together. Can't find much about it these days. In the ICD/9 codes all I found really was this:

691.8 Other atopic dermatitis and related conditions

It may be an old diagnosis that's gone out of style. Basically, atopy is allergic-type reactions with no accompanying mast cell involvement. No true allergic reaction, in other words. Just asthma, eczema, and migraine in the same person. So what triggers the asthma and eczema? Who knows. When those asthma attacks hit, every mucus membrane in my entire body suddenly begins to churn out mucus like there was no tomorrow, heavy thick mucus that I can't cough up to save my life. Some part of my skin has eczema at all times. And of course I have horrific migraine attacks. Steroid inhalers don't help prevent them at all but my albuterol inhaler solves them every time.

I get a whopper of a long-lived migraine attack every March I've found best responds to antihistamines even though I don't really have any actual genuine hayfever. Who can understand this? I surely don't. My allergy doctor has drawn blood and tested it. All I'm allergic to is penicillin, aspirin, and contrast dye. But I stay in some kind of allergic-type reaction nearly all the time. Atopy. Weird condition.

Anyone else have it?

Candace, scintillating scotoma is one type of visual aura. Aura can take a number of visual and non-visual forms. Have you seen these articles?

Migraine With Aura – The Basics

Anatomy of a Migraine

Wow, those videos are great. The first one is exactly how my mother describes her auras. Mine aren't quite like that and seem to include a lot more than just visual symptoms and they seem to have a progression.

Sometimes (but not always) before the pain hits, everything gets shimmery and wavy, like each object is putting out those shimmery heat waves. Then the pain begins. As it worsens, my left arm and leg and the left side of my face start to tingle and then they get numb and hard to move... if it's a real humdinger of a migraine, I lose vision in one eye as well. (and this comes with the full package deal of nausea, sound and light sensitivity, etc.)

My neuro has told me that the numbness and tingling is not aura and can't happen, (i.e. I must be making it up) however, it's listed in a lot of migraine literature as a type of aura.

I haven't found anything that gets rid of the aura. It just has to run its course, unfortunately.

I just had a weird aura for me. It came on suddenly. At first I thought it might just be one of those times when a light flashes in your eye and then it fades away. But nope, when I closed my eyes and put my hands over them, I could see a bright yellow squarish-oval with a hot pink zig-zaggy circle around it--flashing.

It lasted for about 20 minutes. Now it's gone. But pain is slowly coming on now. I'm at work. I was talking to my supervisor when the aura hit me. She knows about my migraines, but was suprised to see how it manifested. Of course, I was planning on taking the afternoon off to work on our house. I hope this is just an aura migraine without too much pain.

On the subject of allergies and migraines, I discovered by accident that if I take a sinus pill along with ibuprofen, it helps my migraine pain better. And if I have been taking alot of ibuprofen and can't get rid of the pain, when I take a sudafed, it will almost relieve it. I just thought it was a fluke, but I've tried it several times and it helps.

Oh, yep, here comes the pain. Ugh!

I had to laugh when you said you closed your eyes and put your hands over them, because my husband always see's me doing strange stuff like that and then asks if I'm getting a migraine. I'm always looking out one eye or have a strange look on my face because I trying to figure out what's happening in my visual field. We must look strange to other people who don't have a clue what's going on with us!

quote:

Originally posted by Ursula:
I just had a weird aura for me. It came on suddenly. At first I thought it might just be one of those times when a light flashes in your eye and then it fades away. But nope, when I closed my eyes and put my hands over them, I could see a bright yellow squarish-oval with a hot pink zig-zaggy circle around it--flashing.

It lasted for about 20 minutes. Now it's gone. But pain is slowly coming on now. I'm at work. I was talking to my supervisor when the aura hit me. She knows about my migraines, but was suprised to see how it manifested. Of course, I was planning on taking the afternoon off to work on our house. I hope this is just an aura migraine without too much pain.

On the subject of allergies and migraines, I discovered by accident that if I take a sinus pill along with ibuprofen, it helps my migraine pain better. And if I have been taking alot of ibuprofen and can't get rid of the pain, when I take a sudafed, it will almost relieve it. I just thought it was a fluke, but I've tried it several times and it helps.

Oh, yep, here comes the pain. Ugh!

I don't know if this link will work, for sometimes youtube and I don't get along, but I found this one:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_xPHr4qSeLU and it makes me wonder, is aura like this for any of you?

I have some "shooting stars" and some "floaters" but nothing like a disco ball in my eye!

My aura seems very subtle compared to some of the videos I've found. I want to find mine! LOL Now I'm wondering....do I really have aura??? I have had my periferal vision go before too, but only like twice during a migraine, and that was a long time ago.

JayDoc - I've found that since I've been on Amitriptyline, my aura is less intense then it was prior to starting the drug. I've heard some other memebers say they don't get aura at all being on certain preventives too....

Ohhh, that's cool!

My aura is black and white and more zig-zag than in blocks.

This is cool though because it is so hard to explain to people what an aura is like if they have never had one. I always say it looks like TV fuzz across my eyes. It can also make people understand me when I say "I literally can't see."

I don't know who mentioned, but no, there is no aborting an aura. Sometimes mine are quick, about 5-10 minutes, and sometimes they last 30min-2 hours. I have also read it lasts up to 30 minutes.

Of course, I have also read that stress ISN'T a trigger. (tell that to my nervous system!!!

I have to say, I almost like having an aura because the second I get those flashies I know I'm getting a migraine (and usually a really bad one) so I KNOW I have to take a triptan. With a lot of my other pre-mig symptoms it can be a little more iffy....

Hi there, Kat!

Although you've had no luck aborting during the aura phase, it DOES work for some of us. In fact, if I grab a triptan quickly enough when I notice the aura, the triptan sometimes aborts the Migraine during the aura, and I don't even get the headache phase. YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). It doesn't work for everyone, but it does work for some. Very individualized.

As for stress being a trigger, there's still some controversy, but I hate to see anyone accept that stress is a trigger without at least trying to see if they encounter triggers during stressful times that they either don't encounter at other times or they're only triggers when the body is stressed. The International Headache Society has removed stress from their list of Migraine triggers and put it on their list of exacerbating factors -- things that make us more susceptible to our triggers. I'd have sworn stress was a trigger for me until I kept a very detailed diary for a few months. More in [b][i] • Is Stress a Migraine Trigger?

quote:

Originally posted by Katinthecorner:
Ohhh, that's cool!

My aura is black and white and more zig-zag than in blocks.

This is cool though because it is so hard to explain to people what an aura is like if they have never had one. I always say it looks like TV fuzz across my eyes. It can also make people understand me when I say "I literally can't see."

I don't know who mentioned, but no, there is no aborting an aura. Sometimes mine are quick, about 5-10 minutes, and sometimes they last 30min-2 hours. I have also read it lasts up to 30 minutes.

Of course, I have also read that stress ISN'T a trigger. (tell that to my nervous system!!!

I have to say, I almost like having an aura because the second I get those flashies I know I'm getting a migraine (and usually a really bad one) so I KNOW I have to take a triptan. With a lot of my other pre-mig symptoms it can be a little more iffy....

The stars! The stars! That's what my auras are like now! I don't have the kalediscope thing in the background, but I do have the stars. I used to have the fortress like bands of color that cascade (kind of like in the first video), but that doesn't happen anymore. I used to get big black spots that occluded my vision too, but that has stopped (thank goodness!). My aura has changed over time, just like the migraines themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by EileenHOST:
I don't know if this link will work, for sometimes youtube and I don't get along, but I found this one:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_xPHr4qSeLU and it makes me wonder, is aura like this for any of you?

I have some "shooting stars" and some "floaters" but nothing like a disco ball in my eye!

My aura seems very subtle compared to some of the videos I've found. I want to find mine! LOL Now I'm wondering....do I really have aura??? I have had my periferal vision go before too, but only like twice during a migraine, and that was a long time ago.

JayDoc - I've found that since I've been on Amitriptyline, my aura is less intense then it was prior to starting the drug. I've heard some other memebers say they don't get aura at all being on certain preventives too....

Thanks Nutcracker.. I'd read those articles before, but the terms are so technical they don't really get through to me. I never thought of any of the things I experienced as being auras before the eye doctor mentioned it to me. Especially since they didn't precipitate anything horribly severe, but rather exist within this constant thing I've got going on.

I've experienced what he explained as scintillating scotoma less than I have the odd "detail-less" spots, which I guess would be classified within the aura-sector as well, although I haven't ever heard anyone describe similar symptoms before. I also experience just weird light and darkness that move around in fast moving circular patterns, but it always seems so mild in comparison to what people describe, I've never thought anything of it! Some of what you guys are saying has made me think I should reconsider...

Candace, you may also find this website helpful, since it has some illustrations along with the technical terms. And a lot of information about non-visual auras as well.

http://www.migraine-aura.org