Migraine

I am new to the forums and have just moved from Multiple Sclerosis Forums. For the last 2 years I have seen a neurologist and had MRI's, assuming I had MS but with no lesions showing.

I have many neurological problems, tremor, balance problems, limpy walk, tingly fingertips and face, to name a few. But my most recent symptom caused my neurologist to suspect Migraine. For the last month, each morning, I have visual trails...it's the only way I can describe it. Like when you see someone on tv who's taken drugs is spacing out on their hand.

My neurologist says this is a migraine aura. The only thing I wonder about is, why am I having this every morning, even when I wake from naps? And it's only noticeable in dim light. My headaches aren't that bad, I do get moderate headaches every day and a migraine about once a month. The daily headaches are subsiding since she told me to stop the Excedrin.

I have been focusing so much on this being MS that I didn't realize this could be migraines, even though I've had them for 20 years. I guess, basically I'd like to know if anyone else here suffers from neurological problems due to migraines? And is my aura unusual? Sorry so long but I thought all this was MS, I can deal with Migraines I just want to learn more.

Hello Solaire, and welcome to the forums!

Migraines ARE a neurological disorder, not just headaches. The headache phase is only one in a string of potential phases throughout the migraine experience, and what many of us suffer from, despite the pain, are a whole range of neurological symptoms! There are many, many myths about migraine, and MMC works hard to dispel them.

I have persistent migraine aura, migraine associated vertigo, speech problems, and numbness/tingling with my migraines often, along with confusion. These things make most days difficult, if not impossible.

Medication overuse headache (MOH or rebound) can make headaches and migraines more difficult to treat. For information on MOH and OTC medications for headache, see here: MOH: When the Remedy Backfires

You can also see this article, too: Stopping Medication Overuse Can Halt Transformed Migraines

It's good to halt the use of the OTCs...I've struggled with them for years.

Persistent aura can be very difficult to deal with. I wake up with daily aura like you describe, only mine shimmer and sparkle. If you do not see a migraine or headache specialist, it would be advisable to seek on out to get a professional opinion on the aura, and maybe see a neuro-opthamalogist to rule out any pressure problems in the eyes.

Migraine with aura has been associated with a slight increase in stroke risk, which is why it is important to get treatment for your migraines as soon as possible to prevent them.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi, Solaire, and welcome to the forum!

Please take a few minutes to visit our Start Here Folder, where you'll find info on our forum policies and guidelines.

I've had some "trails" and "fuzzy edge" after image kind of stuff with migraine now and again. Most of it's in my peripheral vision for the most part, and it's fair game at any stage of the migraine process for me. I'm one of the "lucky" few that won the extended aura lotto, and will sometimes have aura throughout and past the entire migraine event. I know it could be aura for me, but it could just be some kind of migraine-related neuro fluff, too, like my sound sensitivity and numbness in my face. For me this is usually a very short-lived thing, and happens for a few seconds when I blink. I don't get it all the time.

Wayyyy back when, when I was severely hyperthyroid, with thyroid hormone-related mood swings, they thought Serzone would calm the mood swings down as we worked to get the thryoid stuff under control. That's when I really started noticing I was catching these trails and things like that with migraine. It intensified them. But, the Serzone also caused visual hallucinations, too, like haloing and this translucent "spaghetti" that whipped around in my field of vision. It was really trippy. Since it did nothing at all to calm the thyroid stuff, and caused all the bad other stuff, I parted ways with Serzone not too long after trying it (I think it was about two or three months I took it).

Aura can manifest in so many ways I don't think yours sounds unusual at all. I've seen it do some trippy stuff, that's for certain. Only about 20-25% of us have aura, and everyone's got different stories.

Hello Solaire! I just wanted to stop by and say WELCOME to the forum! It's great to have you here. You've come to the right place for accurate information and loads of caring support. You may want to also take a look at this article:

Learning About Migraines – Where to Start

Welcome again! I look forward to seeing you around the forum

Thank you so much for your help. I have alot of reading to do today about migraines. Apparently, there's alot more information than the last time I tried to learn about my migraines. The aura was distressing to me (although somewhat cool) because I had never experienced anything like it before then all of sudden I'm having it daily. But, now I feel a little more at ease with it. I realized last night that I'm getting it not only when I wake, but just in dim lights so this is going to make night driving impossble.

Expect to see me here alot

I think there are quite a few of us around here that don't care for driving at night. I've had some mild night blindness ever since the thyroid and migraine stuff surfaced. Just enough to be annoying.

Add me to the pile of folks who have problems driving at night. And, if it's raining at night, I always have my DH drive.

Oh, yeah! Raining at night is scary driving for me, because it's a TON harder to see the lines on the road for all the reflection off the water.

I live in Portland, Oregon...needless to say, I don't get out much at night unless it's absolutely necessary. And now with the trails, I will only go out if it's an emergency. Seems to rain almost every day here, except in the summer. I am so homesick for southern California and clear skies.

Just wanted to know if you are on any type of preventative. I had that but found it was caused by topamax. Once I changed the medicine the trails stopped also.

I have been taking Topamax for almost a year now, the dose was increased in January to 50mg twice a day. The trails started in late March. I'm actually thankful for the trails right now, I won't feel the same soon I'm sure. But, I've been sick for so long with doctors thinking I had FMS or maybe MS or just having no idea...maybe it was the cyst in the brain? They couldn't tell me and it was a long and frustrating road. But once I told my neurologist about my new symptom she said only 2 types of people get trails, people on drugs and people with classic migraines. I felt great relief finally having an answer. And now that I'm off the Excedrin, my daily headaches have significantly decreased, so she won't have to admit me for DHE treatment. And I'm making great effort to avoid my known trigger foods. I want to feel even better!

I know exactly what you mean. I have and am still going down that road. Doctors believed I had MS for many years and kept checking the original lesions they found on my brain. I would have to guess that the trails are from Topamax. When the trails get worse or you can't tolerate them anymore you will probably have to change medicine. I had some real good results from Zonagran for awhile. I believe this is in the same family as topamax. Good luck.

Hi!

I'm not sure if I've welcomed you somewhere else or not, so welcome!

I have read before that for some reason, MS suffers are at a higher rate to have Migraine. I don't know how else to word this. Maybe because of the neurological issues that come with MS can also be similar to those in Migraine in some cases?

The good thing is, MS is often treated with some of the same medications used as preventives for Migraine, such as Prozac, etc.

As far as the aura thing goes - it's possible to have an aura and not have a Migraine. I get Aura every day, and some days, the good ones!, no Migraine. Mine seem to be more like what Leeloo described. Mine are mostly sparkles or little shooting stars of light. Sometimes I get the zig zag kind, but this one is rare for me.

Forgive me, but I am just trying to understand your situation. You were diagnosed with MS, but now they don't think it's MS at all, they think it's Migraine? I just want to understand where you are coming from and what you are dealing with, to make sure I'm on the same page with you.

Welcome to the forum family!!

I know it's confusing, heck I still don't think the doctors are sure what's exactly wrong with me. I guess they can't really say "we think it's this..." and have it turn out to be something else. I do not have a diagnosis of MS. I have the symptoms but no lesions. I had 2 sets of MRIs and what they originally thought was a lesion turned out to be a cyst in my right temporal lobe.

But, I think despite all my symptoms with a lack of clear diagnosis, we were all relieved to at least have a possible answer to some of my symptoms. I suspect MS may still be a possibility, which is my neurologist wants to see me again in 3 months with the MS specialist again.

I want to thank everyone for their answers and questions, its helping me understand this strange aura better, and now I realize the wiggly lights I see in daylight might be an aura too? I've had that a long time.

I've had MRIs looking for MS three times now. I described it to a "T", have all kinds of suggestive symptoms, but no lesions. The first MRI turned up a "probable lesion", but my neuro evaluated it as an artifact instead, and it didn't show up on either of the other MRIs. So, we play the waiting game, in case more definitive things show up down the road. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one day I get a diagnosis of MS. I know it likes to play with other auto-immune diseases, like the Graves' I already deal with.