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• SYMPTOMS OF MIGRAINE AURA SKIN

Eventually that clears.”įor most people suffering from migraine auras, says Dr Weatherall, “all they need to do is rest and let them pass”. The overactivity causes the flashing lights or the zigzags, and after that you get a period of underactivity, and that’s where you get the blind spots. “As that wave spreads across the surface of the brain, each bit of the visual part of the brain is hit. These happen spontaneously, predominantly in the visual part of the brain, and are not harmful, he says. Dr Mark Weatherall, a consultant neurologist at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire and the chair of the British Association for the Study of Headache, compares it to “a little tsunami, a wave of overactivity followed by a trough of underactivity”. Migraine auras are caused by something known as cortical spreading depression: a wave of electrical activity that moves across the cortex of the brain. “I was struggling with depression at one stage.” “It just takes its toll, not being able to leave the house or do anything,” she says. (An MRI has ruled out other causes.) They’ve also meant she has had to pull out of friends’ birthday parties at the last minute and miss out on important family events. Zoe, who is a court administrator and lives in Leeds, has had problems at work because of the amount of time she has to take off, as she has up to 20 migraine auras a month. “I get buzzing sounds like there are bees or wasps flying around my head.” “I also get pins and needles, trouble speaking, loss of feeling in my hands and my legs … Sometimes it’s so bad, I’ve got no ability to even walk.” She also suffers from tinnitus during these attacks. It’s the same colours every time – very intense blues, pinks, yellows and black.” Each aura will last for two to four hours, with the intense headaches starting as they subside. Zoe, 27, has been experiencing migraine auras since she was nine. I get pins and needles, trouble speaking, loss of feeling … Sometimes it’s so bad, I’ve got no ability to even walk Zoe Flashing lights can also be a symptom of a retinal detachment, although this is relatively rare more information can be found via the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

SYMPTOMS OF MIGRAINE AURA SKIN

However, the symptoms of a migraine aura tend to be “positive” (such as flashing lights and skin tingling) and develop quite slowly, while those of a TIA are likely to be “negative” (losing the sensation in your hands or your vision in one eye, for example) and come on suddenly. Many sufferers worry that they are experiencing a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), also known as a mini-stroke. Confusingly for anyone who equates migraines with pain, sometime auras will appear without a headache these are known as “silent migraines”.Īuras can be visual – normally coming in the form of flashing lights, zigzag patterns or blind spots – but they can also include other symptoms such as ringing in your ears, pins and needles, imaginary smells or aphasia, where a person temporarily loses the ability to speak or to understand others speaking. One in three of those people will experience auras. Migraines affect about 10% of the population in the UK, according to the National Migraine Centre. A few months later, he went to see his GP, who told him that these were migraine auras.