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Migraine aura

(24 Posts)
Mazgg Fri 17-Jul-26 19:17:58

My GP referred me to the TIA assessment clinic at my local hospital after a third episode of distorted vision and feeling unwell. I was thoroughly examined and had a head scan. Thankfully all was normal and migraine is assumed to be the cause. I didn't have a particularly bad headache.
Has anyone experienced this?
Any advice on avoidance strategies appreciated

petra Fri 17-Jul-26 19:26:37

I have several a week. Have done for years.
I just wait until they go.

Granaeeh Fri 17-Jul-26 19:27:47

Hi. I’m a longtime lurker on the site but thought I would post as I have suffered with migraine aura for many years. I find that if, as soon as the sight distortions begin, I close my eyes and sit quietly for about twenty minutes, they go away and I don’t get the headache.

A few months ago I was in the middle of cooking dinner and ignored the zigzag lines etc, which I had three times in succession, and ended up with dreadful head pain and vomiting and was taken to A and E. I had a CT head which was normal, and they put it down to migraine. I had not had the headache for over 30 years. Now I am very careful to take my own advice and sit quietly! I hope this helps.

foxie48 Fri 17-Jul-26 19:28:56

Yes, I get auras but don't get a bad headache. tbh If a get an aura I take a painkiller and lie down in a darkened room and generally I feel better within an hour. They don't seem to be connected with anything I do and I can go for years without having one.

Fallingstar Fri 17-Jul-26 19:53:13

I get the aura but don’t feel ok once it goes, I get a really bad headache, bad stomach, and foggy brain for several days, on occasion I have vomited.
The hot oppressive weather has brought on a couple in the past 2 weeks.

MayBee70 Fri 17-Jul-26 19:56:51

Used to get them. Was terrified the first time it happened but then got used to them. Thankfully never got one when I was driving; something that worried me.

ixion Fri 17-Jul-26 19:58:03

Like Granaeeh, I too go off and sit for 20 minutes with my eyes closed til the distortions go.
No accompanying headache for many years now.

ixion Fri 17-Jul-26 20:04:15

PS.
I seem to be very vulnerable to glare, and to things like over-bright or smudgy phone /tablet screens which can distort the vision.

NorthowramGran Fri 17-Jul-26 20:05:12

I’m 72 and had auras since I was 14 years old. Until about 10 years ago they were roughly monthly and followed by a typical migraine headache - migraleve used to help with these. I still get the auras but the migraine headaches are very rare now although the auras sometimes leave me very drowsy. I could set a timer by how long the auras last always 30 minutes from start to finish never changes!

M0nica Fri 17-Jul-26 20:27:54

Used to get them regularly, and they were real stonkers. Since my mid 60s, they have been totally random. I will have a month of mild migraines every few days, then I can go several years without migraine and then have one that lays me out for days. I have had vestibular migraine (mainly balance disturbance) and several other types I have not had before.

I have had migraine since I was about 5

dotpocka Fri 17-Jul-26 20:27:55

silence migarine i can make away a iuprefen and put a plastic waterbottle to freeze whn the hedache come add to the med wrap frozen wrap it in a soft cloth base of you skull

about 10 minutes keep your eyes closed regular ones are harder but it can help too

Maremia Fri 17-Jul-26 20:30:38

I call them 'jazz eyes'.
No pain, just a heavy feeling, and can't read properly for 40 mins.
Sun dazzle or stuffy heat can bring them on.

Maremia Fri 17-Jul-26 20:32:08

You sound as if you are experiencing classic full migraine, and not the aura type, MOnica. Dreadful.

Maremia Fri 17-Jul-26 20:35:17

Fallingstar, the same. So awful.

Maremia Fri 17-Jul-26 20:37:32

Cold at the base of skull. Thanks dotpocka.

Mazgg Fri 17-Jul-26 22:38:34

Thank you all for your kind assurances. I had no idea so many people suffered with this

M0nica Sat 18-Jul-26 08:20:29

10 million people in the UK suffer from migraine, Roughly 20% of all women and roughly 10% of men. It is confirmed in children as young as 5. I certainly had abdominal migraine (the most common form in very young children) from around the age of 5. It became migraine headaches around the age of 8.

Bassoues Sat 18-Jul-26 08:40:02

I've had just the visual migraines for about 15 years now. Bit difficult reading while that's going on and a bit of a foggy head...but i get plenty of that without the visuals! Just slightly of colour...
More of a nuisance than anything else.

Fallingstar Sat 18-Jul-26 09:28:00

M0nica

10 million people in the UK suffer from migraine, Roughly 20% of all women and roughly 10% of men. It is confirmed in children as young as 5. I certainly had abdominal migraine (the most common form in very young children) from around the age of 5. It became migraine headaches around the age of 8.

That’s tough. I only started getting migraines during my last pregnancy and have had them ever since, some years I get very few other years I get clusters, I suppose could be stress related but usually bright lights or sunshine can spark one or strangely heavy oppressive weather. Have had clusters during the heatwave.

Ladyleftfieldlover Sat 18-Jul-26 09:38:41

I have suffered from migraines since I was at Primary School. Over the years they have gone from excruciatingly painful with numbness down one side plus aura to just aura occasionally now. I am now 73 and until my 40s managed with darkened rooms and panadol. Then triptans came along and saved my life

Oreo Sat 18-Jul-26 09:38:48

Same here, going from a darker room into bright sunlight or from bright sunlight into a darker room brings one on.But not every time, can be once in six months or even longer.
Sitting with closed eyes for 20 minutes helps it go away.

HelterSkelter1 Sat 18-Jul-26 12:09:49

Yes me too. I get frequent visual auras/ocular migraines. I like the term jazz eyes. They last with a small bright white zig zag in one eye getting bigger and then disappearing off to the left or right after about 20 minutes.
I take a couple of paracetamol but I don't think that is really necessary and I try to just sit and close my eyes.

Only once so far did I get one while about to drive home. Again was able to sit and rest and then carry on 30 mins later.

No medic has been the slightest bit concerned about them. Obviously they are very very common. But frightening the first time.
I dont get any pain with these although I used to get painful migraines years ago.

MissAdventure Sat 18-Jul-26 12:23:36

I suffered with horrendous migraines from age four.
Every time I was looking forward to something (and perhaps nervous about it) I'd get one.

I'd have one sided numbness, sickness, and the most terrible, terrible headaches.

They fizzled out as I got to my twenties, but I still occasionally get the aura, and the disturbed vision.

I think the worst part of it is that awful worry that it'll turn into a full blown migraine.

dogsmother Sat 18-Jul-26 12:33:01

Ladyleftfieldlover

I have suffered from migraines since I was at Primary School. Over the years they have gone from excruciatingly painful with numbness down one side plus aura to just aura occasionally now. I am now 73 and until my 40s managed with darkened rooms and panadol. Then triptans came along and saved my life

I concur, Triptans! The first and only time I called the doctors surgery and asked for a message to be relayed to my gp. A huge thank you for prescribing my first. I have also suffered since childhood and they were a revelation.