Lifelong migraineur, chronic for the last eight years. Last week, I had an aura come on hard and fast then lost about two minutes of time. Very unsettling to say the least, but thankfully my partner was there to witness it.

My neuro set me up with an awake/drowsy EEG at the end of the month. They put "behavioral arrest epileptic seizure" on the order. Depending on how it goes, I may need to go to an epilepsy monitoring unit for further testing.

So for those who have both migraine and epilepsy, especially if migraine was diagnosed first, what was it like getting diagnosed?

Caution: some of the pages have illustrations of visual auras. I linked to the first page that didn't.

There's some medical jargon throughout, usually at the beginning before the experiences are shared. Here's a link to a medical glossary that may be helpful.

The intro page "Transitory migraine aura symptoms" has an illustration of a scintillating scotoma, so I'm going to share it below:

Transitory migraine aura symptoms

An attack of migraine is divided into four distinct stages. This section of the website is primarily devoted to the aura phase, i.e. one of two stages that may be present before the actual headache starts.

The aura is the complex of neurological or neuropsychological symptoms, for example

Visual symptoms, i.e., visual loss, visual hallucinations, visual illusions
Motor symptoms, e.g. weakness or palsy
Somatosensory symptoms, e.g. numbness, prickling sensations, etc.
Body image disturbances, e.g. macro- and microsomatognosia (feeling larger or smaller), out-of-body experiences and felt presences
Near-death experiences
Depersonalization and derealization
Auditory symptoms, e.g. tinnitus (buzzing sounds)
Gustatory symptoms
Olfactory symptoms, e.g. hallucinations of odours and smells not actually present
Speech symptoms
Language symptoms
Paramnesias (déjà vu and jamais vu)
Forced reminiscence
Time perception disturbances
Synaesthesia
Disturbances of dreaming
Other disturbances of higher cortical functions

The typical symptoms of migraine aura are sensory phenomena that usually occur before the headache phase and propagate in sensory space. Visual auras for example, may propagate through the visual field. This feature is important for an understanding of the pathomechanisms of the migraine aura, the study of which may result in a new classification of visual disturbances (see the sections of the website edited by Markus Dahlem).

Frances Wilkinson (2004) argues that the visual aura has a potential value as a window on brain function, and she quotes W.R. Gowers who stressed - already in 1895 - the importance of ascertaining trustworthy facts about the aura: "The difficulty of ascertaining the facts depends on their subjectivity. That which is to be discerned can only be seen through the vision of another. Moreover, this is the sight of the unreal; it is the sight of that which is not. Yet, though unreal to the subject it is, as a sensation, a profound reality which confuses the mind and may make even recollection painful. Hence the opportunities for ascertaining trustworthy facts a very rare, and when they come it is important that they should be made the most of."

References

Gowers WR. Subjective visual sensations. Trans Ophthalmol Soc UK 1895; 15: 1-38.
Grossinger R. Migraine Auras: When the Visual World Fails. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley California 2006.
Wilkinson F. Auras and other hallucinations: windows on the visual brain. Prog Brain Res 2004; 144: 305-320.

The online Migraine World Summit is free to watch during the live event. Each day four interviews are released and are available for 24 hours before the next day's interviews are released.

Starts March 11, 2026 at 3:00 pm EST (08:00 pm UTC)

A systematic review of medical research published in May of [2024] found a growing trend of more frequent and worse migraine attacks. While the review found that migraines in the U.S. are as common as they were three decades ago, the severity and level of impairment from migraine attacks nearly doubled between 2005 and 2018. And while women tend to be more prone to migraine attacks than men, men are increasingly affected by the neurologic condition.

One of the leading theories behind this mysterious rise is that climate change may be playing a role.

“Climate change appears to be contributing to more frequent and severe migraine flare-ups by amplifying environmental conditions that are already known triggers such as higher temperatures, wider temperature swings, worsening air quality, and changes in barometric pressure,” says Danielle Wilhour, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

So far, most of the evidence for this link is correlational. It’s difficult to prove climate change is directly causing more migraines partly because “we cannot ethically conduct randomized controlled trials that expose people to environmental risks,” Wilhour says.

But the growing number of correlational studies is adding weight to the theory that climate change is amplifying migraine triggers.

TikTok’s newest wellness trend is the McMigraine order—a Coke and McDonald’s fries that allegedly hold the miracle cure for migraines. We dug into these claims, finding that once again, an online trend is no replacement for a doctor.

Do you take migraine medications like gepants, triptans, or monoclonal antibodies? How well do they work for you? Here's why migraine meds don't work for everyone, and what progress science still needs to make.

If you're migraining and can't read too good, this video summarizes the info: New Migraine Prevention Goals by the IHS (2025)

The International Headache Society says no more to a blanket 50% reduction in migraines counting as "successfully treated." Instead, treatment success should be measured by migraine days per month, with more than 6 days considered "insufficient control."

Excerpts from the "Setting goals of migraine burden while on treatment" section:

Migraine Freedom. This is defined as the complete elimination of days with migraine or moderate-to-severe headache, ideally over a period of three months.

Optimal Control. This is defined as less than four days with migraine or moderate-to-severe headache per month for three months, with a satisfactory response to acute treatment, defined as pain-freedom within two hours from the intake.

Modest Control. This is defined as four to six days with migraine or moderate-to-severe headache per month. In this case, disability may persist, but this level of control may represent a meaningful improvement especially for those with high frequency episodic migraine (10–14 headache days per month) or CM (>14 headache days per month) before treatment.

Insufficient Control. This is defined as more than six days with migraine or moderate-to-severe headache per month. At this level, migraine imposes a substantial burden and may require frequent use of acute medications.

As the title says. For me it's always the same: at first, my boss is understanding, but when I miss work because of a migraine for the 15th time, that compassion kind of dulls away... At some point, they start complaining that I am unreliable and they always seem to be waiting for when I get better, as if there is a cure for this chronic condition.

I always feel like somehow it is my fault for being sick and I feel like I let my team down even though I know it's the last thing I want.

How do you guys cope with it? What do you tell your boss? How do coworkers view you? Any tips and tricks are always welcome!

I have heard some wacky migraine treatment techniques, and thought if anyone is on here, it could be a potentially interesting light-hearted thing to discuss.

Reddit swore by McDonald's fries (salt intake?), but what prompted me to think to post this was my new DIY "heat treatment" for retinal migraines.

I like warm or cold things on the pain, and cooling strips etc are sold as migaine treatments. So one day I figured blasting my eye pain with a hair-dryer was worth a punt because why not?

Instantly pain free! I swear by it, it is temporary relief like I have never had before! The internet says heat possibly tricks pain receptors, I say dumb method works! I thought this was funny enough to share.

With this tale out the way, what are Lemmy's wacky migraine superstitions or unorthodox migraine strategies?

Edit: blasting one's face with a hair dryer is not medical advice! I am just a moron on the internet, and this is purely anecdotal

Hello folks, I haven’t seen anything new in this community in quite a while, but perhaps someone might see this…

I’ve been taking Nurtec for migraine for the past 4 months now and I’m very curious about other’s experiences with this medication. I’ve had fairly decent results with it (actually, it works better than anything I’ve tried in the past), but I also think I experience some pretty unfortunate side effects as well and I’d like to see if anyone else has noticed anything negative?

Thanks!

We know that migraines, which are recurrent and sometimes debilitating headaches, have some genetic basis, but the link with our DNA isn't entirely clear. Newly identified genetic variants could help in developing treatments, according to recent study.

Rare variants with large effects provide functional insights into the pathology of migraine subtypes, with and without aura.

Journal reference:

Nature Genetics DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01538-0

After going through hell the last 7 days I finally feel better! Yay! No more excruciating pain for at least a couple of days!

But one of the worst parts has only just begun. Worse not because I feel any more shitty than during the pain, but because no one who hasn't experienced it first hand understands it.

Everyone's like "Oh you're not in pain anymore? Then you can go back to work, right?" And some part of me, the blissfully ignorant past-me probably, thinks the same. It blames me for being lazy and work-shy.

But I can't go back just yet. I'm physically not able to. I'm glad I even got out of bed today, not letting the depression and anxiety devour me. I may be not in pain anymore, but I don't feel any less shitty. Not yet.

I need some rest.

It only lasts for 12 months out of the year.

I was trying to ask my partner for a pbj sandwich. I accidentally asked for a beef sandwich, then tried to describe the sandwich as boneless and without the meat.

I eventually reached apricot marmalade, which was close enough for my partner to understand the request.

Hi there y'all,

Anyone here have a favorite backlight/home office light setup? My migraines have been getting progressively worse, and I would really like to finish my dissertation.

Hey guys, we're defederated! Woohoo! I don't know if posts made during this episode gate posted, so I post again:

Yesterday my neurologist and I agreed on trying cgrp injections to tackle my chronic migraine. Now I need to decide which one to try. But looking at the facts and numbers the differences are marginal. So I'm looking for some first hand experiences! TIA!

I’m a graphic designer who works from home and I have an ancient monitor with a 60 hz refresh rate. I’m pretty sure that’s not helping my migraines so I’m looking to get something with a higher refresh rate to help with the flicker. I don’t think an EyeCare monitor is a great pick for me because of my job, but ideally I’d love the ability to set custom brightness profiles so I can toggle between “working at vampire light levels” and “checking color fidelity”. My current monitor lets you set one custom profile.

From what I’m seeing online getting at least a 70 hz refresh rate can help with migraines. Are there any other specs I should pay attention to as I shop?

I was officially diagnosed with migraines about 18 months ago. I keep a journal of my symptoms and migraines to take note of triggers, symptoms, things that help, etc.

I have a possibly odd question for all of you. Have you noticed any connections between constipation, finally going #2, and getting a little relief from your symptoms?

It doesn’t happen every time, but sometimes my postdrome symptoms improve very soon after I’m no longer constipated.

I can’t figure out why my gut would affect my head like that. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but I’m curious to hear if anyone else has noticed this sort of thing.

I've been logging my headaches since I started taking Eletriptan in 2020.

I've had an average of 10 days per month with headaches, and 4 days per month with migraines.

So far I've identified stress and insufficient sleep as contributing factors.