Why Can’t I Type or Speak? Scary Symptoms that Can Accompany Migraine with Aura

The first time I had a migraine, not aware that it was a migraine, it was accompanied by aphasia (again, not aware of what it was). I was 19 yrs old and had a 3 day old baby. I was on the phone with my sister and she was telling me about "Marcellous", her boyfriend of 16 months, and the whole time she was speaking I was searching for who he was. I knew the name felt familiar. I knew I should know who this was, but I couldn't place it. When she mentioned "our cousin Joey", I had the drew the same blank. I thought it was due to lack of sleep and just having a baby. A few months later, I experienced the aura. I thought I was going blind. I lost sight of everything on my left. I made an appointment to see the optometrist. He examined me and asked a few questions. His diagnosis/treatment? "You're having a severe classic migraine. Go to Wendy's down the street and have a large Coke. You should feel better." He was right. Since then, now 24 years later, I recognize the signs and medicate with caffeine. Even so, I still worry whenever the aura rears it's ugly head, and I panic if/when aphasia hits. I can remember crying as I searched for the word "caffeine" when an episode hit me quicker than normal and without the tell tale precursor warnings.

Now, I fear ailments and diseases which cause problems with memory and thinking. I am terrified of Alzheimers and other forms of dementia. I sympathize with those afflicted with these diseases. I no longer give presentations at work, since I tried to give one during a migraine 6 months ago and couldn't remember the name of my co-presenter, and have limited myself to a 'desk' job so that any migraines with aphasia are easily detected - thereby lessening my feeling of panic. I try to challenge myself in other ways to keep my brain sharp and empowered.

Anyone else have to make life changes like this due to migraines, auras and aphasia?

I had never had a migraine before, but they run in my family, so I was aware of some of the symptoms. I woke up one morning with a severe headache on one side of my head, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound, so I was pretty sure that it was a migraine. The problem was that it wouldn't go away. On the second day, I woke up and realized that I was having memory problems. I couldn't remember when my kids were supposed to be at school. By the third day, I couldn't remember how to write my name, half my face was drooping and I couldn't follow what people around me were saying.

I remember being at the hospital and having my head scanned. The next month is a blur. They tried all the migraine meds and nothing touched it. My mom stayed with us because I was totally incapacitated. I developed a myoclonic jerk in my left shoulder (my headaches are on the right) which is still with me when I'm tired.

My headache went on for months without cease. Thankfully, not with the full intensity of those first few weeks, but still with cognitive difficulty.

Eventually, it was discovered that my estrogen/Progesterone levels were off and I started taking Progesterone cream. The headache stopped immediately and hopefully I can put that chapter behind me!

I had my first incident with aphasia when I was 14 (in school, I suddenly lost my peripheral vision in one eye and almost completely lost it in the other and what i could see was like looking through a waterfall, i had an intense headache, a sense of being 'disconnected' -when i looked down at my own hands, it's like they weren't mine- and an inability to understand any form of language be it writing (i've read what I tried to write, it's quite funny reading it back), reading, understanding other peoples speech or speaking myself and the scariest was not being able to form worded thoughts- as in when you panic and you do the whole mental 'don't panic, everythings okay'). The first thought of my teacher was that I was having a stroke but when I got to hospital and had recovered enough, they told me it was an aura migraine but only explained the visual symptoms and disregarded the language side (Which had really freaked me out). It's a comfort to find out that it is in fact aphasia and that it's not as dangerous and scary as it seems.

I have had opthalmic or ocular migraines with the aphasia on and off for 15 years. I don't get much of a headache but just a throbbing up the back of my neck up into my head. They started when I was in my mid 30's at a stressful time in my life and I was teaching. I started seeing spots and white and black spots and squiggly lines and couldn't say the word "Australia" or link simple sentences. It progressed when I went in the teachers' lounge and I went to the dr. right away, (and I am not one to leave my students). My blood pressure was sky high, not sure if it was cause or effect but I have been on low dose BP meds ever since. I have had some recurrences ever since but lately they have been coming in consecutive days. I'm 49. I am thinking it could be due to peri-menopause or excess caffeine. If they happen when I am at school, I take Ibuprofen right away. It takes time to take effect and I couldn't remember a name of a student yesterday. But, I have talked to my students about them. However, I prefer the meditation mentioned at the beginning of the thread. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated as I am having one now and can barely type properly anymore.

I've been having mild to strong migraines for a few years now (52 yr.-old) and occasionally have some aphasia. The migraines almost always start with aura. Often I'll get tiny migraines where there is a just a sudden shift in my visual perception followed by a sparkle. Sometimes the sparkle disappears pretty quickly and I get a slight headache and other times it grows and develops into a full visual aura. I've gradually learned my triggers, what medication to take that works for me (ibuprofen), and what to do when an aura starts and looks like it is going to keep developing.

My main "medication" when an aura starts in earnest is meditation (no pills at all). If I can be in a quiet place and sit, I will do so for one hour to one and a half hours until it feels like the pain-development stage is over. Often doing this will completely derail the pain part of the headache so that I'm back to normal activities within 90 minutes. If I don't do the meditation and don't take any ibuprofen — I take ibuprofen when I can't sit quietly — I will have pain. Sometimes the pain will just be annoying and depressing other times debilitating, though I haven't had debilitating for quite a while due knowing how to manage the episodes. Ibuprofen seems to reduce the pain to manageable levels but not eliminate it.

Anyways, the main reason I'm writing this is to let other migraine sufferers know the meditation procedure I use when a migraine starts.
1) Sit quietly and relaxed. Sitting is important. No matter what you do if you lie down you'll have a stronger migraine.
2) Close your eyes.
3) Start to focus on your breathing. The focus of your attention should be deep in your body and the sensations the in- and out-breath produce low in your belly. The idea is to take the focus off your head.
4) As you breath in relax and experience the breathing sensations. As you breath out relax your upper body while maintaining a good posture: shoulders, neck, chest, face, everything. This relaxation will be a gradual process of releasing more tension as you go deeper.
5) If pain or discomfort arises relax and go back to the breathing sensation low in your body. There might be twinges of pain or sensations in your head but don't react, they pass. Part of the problem we experience when we have migraines is to dramatize them and panic: "I hate my life!" "This is terrible!". This creates tension and helps the migraine to develop, rather than recede. In the migraine context negative thoughts, no matter how justified they may seem, just make matters worse.
6) Don't worry about being bored for 60-90 minutes - it's better than having a migraine! And if you do this right you well feel way better than if you hadn't done it. At the very least you will have a weaker migraine and have saved yourself from having to take medicine.

If you can meditate every day to become used to it you will be prepared when a migraine does come, and in the mean time you'll help yourself be a happier person.

I have suffered aura migraines since I was 12. I am now 40. I've had two migraines that have scared the hell out of me. One, I could not remember my husband or daughters names. I was told that I may have had a stroke. Never did see the doctor, cause everything came back. Today, I have experienced another scary one. With the aura, of course I lost vision in my peripheral vision, I also could not recognize where I was. I relied on memory. I could not tell my daughters what I was experiencing because I did not want them to be scared too.

I just had a strange experience that might have been an aura. I gave someone my address, and it came out with two mistakes. I have lived there for seven years! About ten minutes later I felt a migraine coming on.

Hi I have never had migraines before. Yesterday was the first time, as soon as I got home suddenlyI couldn't see half of my hand as if there were circles, then i sat on the computer to check some things but couldnt read at all, i tried really hard and taught i was loosing it. It was very scary then i went to bed i had 2 panadols had a pizza but it did not get away then suddenly i got a numbness in my right hand. I havent gone to the doctor yet i slept all night from 5pm to 7 am.

My migraines are usually the aura if I don't get my tablets in time then it gets to the next stage where I can't put a sentence together last Wednesday was the most recent one and I couldn't even tell my husband that it was a migraine I had to touch my head as I couldn't say the word
I was trying to say it but couldn't
I then tried to tell him I wanted rice for dinner and I couldn't say rice I had to open the cupboard and get the bag of rice out of he cupboard
It took 8 hrs to recover from that migraine
My meds and a can of boost oxygen helped
It was the scariest attack I've had in a long time and I've felt a bit strange all week