# I never believed they were migraines, but I just had an aura **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550 "2016-11-03T18:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/1 "2016-11-03T18:47:54Z")
I’ve gotten bad headaches in my neck/back of my head since I was a teenager. They’re hormonally triggered. Ibuprofen takes them away, especially if I take it early enough. Years ago I mentioned them to a couple of doctors, who both decided they were migraine headaches. I didn’t believe it. If a couple ibuprofen knock them back enough that I can work, then calling them “migraines” takes away from the people who throw up and have to stay in a darkened bedroom. Right? In the last year I’ve been on a new birth control pill, and they’ve been getting worse. They last 3-4 days, twice per cycle. Ibuprofen doesn’t completely take them away anymore. Last month I was temporarily off the pill, and lo–zero migraines. So I am going to try a different pill. In the meantime … this morning, I had an aura before the onset of the mid-cycle headache, and WOW, it was everything I’d hoped an aura would be! As an undergraduate I spent a happy rainy Saturday in the psychology library, reading Oliver Sacks’ masters thesis about migraines, and Saint Hildegard’s visions being auras, and people with migraines so severe the plates of their skulls moved apart. Heady stuff. My aura began with having a hard time reading the computer screen. It was like having a bright light shining in my eyes, so I couldn’t quite focus on the words I was reading. Then I began to see blue-white diagonal hashmarks near the top of my visual field (very St. Hildegard). Finally, my hands started to tingle and I got lightheaded. That was when I pulled the curtains and crawled into bed. Twenty minutes later, onset of headache. So anyway. I guess they really are migraines. New BCP time for me … ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/2 "2016-11-03T19:27:33Z")
BCP ? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/3 "2016-11-03T19:30:04Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > BCP ? Baby countering procedure. ETA: I’m one of the lucky (?) folks who get ocular migraines, albeit rarely. All of the light show, none of the headache. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/4 "2016-11-03T19:34:16Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > BCP ? Birth control pill. See also OCP: Oral contraceptive pill. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/5 "2016-11-03T19:47:00Z")
After surviving many years of horrible banging-head-against-the-wall migraines, I now get pain-free auras instead. And mine are 3D and spectacular … they seem like extremely complex geodesic spheres with thousands of shimmering facets, in gold, black and pale green. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/6 "2016-11-03T21:20:04Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > After surviving many years of horrible banging-head-against-the-wall migraines, I now get pain-free auras instead. And mine are 3D and spectacular … they seem like extremely complex geodesic spheres with thousands of shimmering facets, in gold, black and pale green. So jealous, I still get the vomit and head banging type migraines. _Sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/7 "2016-11-03T22:26:37Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Baby countering procedure. > > ETA: I’m one of the lucky (?) folks who get ocular migraines, albeit rarely. All of the light show, none of the headache. Same here, but I typically don’t get to enjoy them as for me they’re brought on by a lack of sleep, dehydration and stress and rarely when I don’t need to see right then. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/8 "2016-11-04T00:17:17Z")
Yeah. I get ocular migraines, too. Sometimes they trigger a small headache, but not a particularly intense one; a couple of aspirin and I’m fine. Scared me when I first got one. I though my eyes were going bad. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/9 "2016-11-05T15:51:55Z")
My mom gets auras and she describes them like seeing a kaleidoscope in black and white only. She says she’d love watching them if she didn’t know she has less than half an hour to get herself medicated and into the dark to avoid the actual headache part. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/10 "2016-11-05T16:10:16Z")
I get migraines exactly like the OP described, with the occasional visual migraine. Recently I had an otic migraine. My ears wouldn’t stop buzzing, I felt uneasy and dizzy, and needed to sleep. > **[Vestibular Migraine](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/vestibular-migraine)** > > Vestibular migraine can cause vestibular or balance symptoms with or without an actual headache. Vestibular migraine isn’t fully understood, but seems to result from overlapping pathways that modulate pain and vestibular inputs into the brain. Many... ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/11 "2016-11-05T19:40:17Z")
Now that you know they are migraines, you might also talk to your doctor about getting a migraine medication to use when you feel a headache starting. They should help more than the Advil. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/12 "2016-11-06T03:59:52Z")
A previous recent thread here was [I’m having an occular migraine](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=797166). I’ve had a few but never a headache. They’re kind of fun if you know what it is and if there’s no headache. Regular migraines like a, um , pain. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/13 "2016-11-07T14:02:24Z")
I had the geometric shapes for years. Just assumed something was pushing on my optic nerve. The word “aura” sounds soft and ghostly and glowing, so I never even suspected, until one day last year I googled “migraine aura” and there was my exact “pointy polygonal” shape in black and gold. The precise shape I’d been seeing floating in front of me for decades! I was so relieved, and I kept repeating (in Arnold’s accent) “It’s not a tumor!” ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/14 "2016-11-07T16:00:51Z")
10-15 years ago, I’d get blazing blinding agonizing vomiting crippling full-on classic migraines, complete with prodrome and aura, and then postdrome. I guess I was getting the full value of the Migraine Experience. Now? I get the optic (“[amigrainous](http://www.familysymptoms.com/diseases/amigrainous-migraine.html)” migraines), but I still get the [postdrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine#Postdrome) – exhaustion, enervation, aches, depression. I guess it’s an improvement over all of that plus the blazing blinding agonizing crippling headache in the middle. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/15 "2016-11-07T16:08:21Z")
The diagonal-hatches part of my aura was [like this](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RKf9sBpOnCI/maxresdefault.jpg), exactly. Yesterday morning I saw a few phosphenes. The headache didn’t develop until later that day, though, so I wouldn’t call them part of an aura. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/16 "2016-11-09T04:18:09Z")
I used to get migraines when I was a young teenager (related to puberty, maybe), severe enough that all I could do was lie in a dark room with a cold cloth over my eyes and hope I would die. I always got an aura much like **Sattua** ’s, but shimmering and sparkling with many brilliant colours. It would start as a small spot, then expand into a rough circle. Luckily the headaches stopped by the time I was twenty or so, but I continued with the auras for quite a while. I recall a (dream?) image, probably early on, in which I had a third-party view of myself being menaced by a witch entirely outlined in that style. I can only suppose that I had seen the aura before and personalized it in my sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/17 "2016-11-10T15:57:08Z")
Oh, boy. Having another one. It’s a semicircle of hatchmarks at the top of my vision again, but this time it’s multicolored. [More like this](https://www.axonoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Screen-Shot-2015-11-03-at-11.25.35-AM.png). Two full-on auras and one episode of phosphenes in a week, and I’d NEVER had an aura before at all. A little freaked out. Saw my doctor on Tuesday. He didn’t seem concerned, but was happy to switch me to another birth control pill. We’ll see … This one comes with a weird unsteady feeling that’s making me a little queasy. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/18 "2016-11-10T16:47:34Z")
I get 'em, too. Just the aura and a mild state of funk afterward; unpleasant, but not debilitating. I’ve described a couple in the thread John Galt linked to. Even though I don’t get the terrible headache, I hate getting them. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/19 "2016-11-14T00:11:06Z")
#3. Started with generalized sun-blindness type feeling like the others. That coalesced in my right field. For a while I couldn’t see anyone’s left eyes. That turned into a rippling, swimming effect concentrated in my right field. It’s fading now. There isn’t something else these could be, is there? Brain tumor or something? Definitely migraine auras? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550/20 "2016-11-14T00:22:58Z")
Talk to your doctor. Ask for a referral to a migraine neurologist. Proceed from there. If you don’t need the referral, look for some in your area and make your own appointment. Everything you are describing is consistent with migraines, but you should speak with neurologist and rule everything out. You should also make sure you have the right medications and are making the right lifestyles adjustments. I hope you get this managed soon. Take care. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-believed-they-were-migraines-but-i-just-had-an-aura/770550.md?page=2)