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 functionsThe 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)
https://migraineworldsummit.com/summit/2026-summit/Open linkView original on slrpnk.netA 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.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/health/article/migraines-climate-change-weather-heat-pressureOpen linkView original on slrpnk.netTikTok’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.
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-student-contributors-health-and-nutrition/can-mcdonalds-cure-your-migraine-debunking-viral-mcmigraine-trendOpen linkView original on slrpnk.netDo 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.
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
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2399865-migraines-linked-to-rare-genetic-variants-that-could-boost-treatments/?_ptid={kpdx}AAAAsp-yUkvwowoKcmJhNGYxWmNwZRIQbG85ZjBvbXNjN3VtNXRmdRoMRVg0T1lJVExZRUU2IiUxODIza2FnMDdnLTAwMDAzMnJrMmxwNnJzMWxsdHZyajFhOW40KhpzaG93VGVtcGxhdGVSN0I5REdGRE1PR0E2NzABOgxPVENPMkM2VzY0SEZSEnYtbG85ZXZoMHVtcmFuN2E5MFoOMTAzLjE4My45MS4xMTliA21hZmj8gvepBnAYeAQOpen linkView original on literature.cafe
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?
