# Migraine without the headache?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migraine-without-the-headache/500289>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 19, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migraine-without-the-headache/500289 "2009-06-19T12:34:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Stathol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@Stathol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stathol)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migraine-without-the-headache/500289/21 "2009-06-19T22:44:59Z")

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Just chiming in as the _n_-th person to say that I’ve also had opthalmic/ocular migraines. I used to get them pretty frequently in my teens and early twenties – perhaps every couple of months but sometimes more frequently. Typically they would just occur spontaneously with no obvious trigger, but I’ve also noticed that if I ever get extremely out-of-breath, it will trigger one of these almost instantly. That makes sense, though, as there seems to be a tenuous link between migraines and blood flow to the brain (or probably more accurately, oxygen supply).

Now nearing 30, this thread just made realize that I haven’t had one of these in a long time. It’s probably been 5 years since I’ve had one occur spontaneously, and I’ve probably only seen a couple in the last 2 years that were triggered aerobically, so to speak.

I count myself lucky that they’ve never been accompanied by headaches. I’ve heard they’re about as pleasant as a grand mal seizure.

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**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/migraine-without-the-headache/500289/22 "2009-06-20T02:13:23Z")

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> [@Daylate](#):
>
> Some years ago I had one of these. Not knowing what it was, and suspecting all sorts of nasty things, I was in to the doctor like a shot. After about 30 seconds of description he grinned and said “You’ve just had a migraine aura”. Then he explained that a migraine has three manifestations; Headache, nausea, and optical (the aura). And it’s possible to have all three at once, any two, or only one. Luckily the only one I’ve had is the aura.
> 
> Mine didn’t look anything like the animation. It instead was like a series of connected jagged lines, starting at the center of vision and gradually expanding outward in a roughly circular pattern - and as it expanded outwards, the vision in the center cleared up. When it reached the edge of vision, after about ten or fifteen minutes, it just kept going and then disappeared.
> 
> It looked sort of like a plan of a medieval fortification, with borders of flashing colored light. In fact, one of the names for this is “Fortress Aura”. Quite pretty, actually, as long as you realize what it is.

Great description!

That aura is just like the ones I used to get back in my teens, except that mine usually started off to one side. Those migraines were bad; I couldn’t do anything except lie in a dark room and hope to die. Luckily I realized eventually, like **Stathol** , that I hadn’t had the headache in ages, but I still get the aura once in a while.

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