Migraine with aura is one form of migraine headache. Before the onset of pain, patients struggle with unusual symptoms such as visual disturbances, speech disorders or sensory disturbances. What distinguishes a migraine with an aura from a migraine without an aura? Find out why, in the event of a migraine aura, the patient should see a doctor immediately.

Migraine with aurais one of the two main types of migraines. The second is migraine without aura and is the most common. Migraines with aura account for an average of 15-30% of all cases.

The aura that occurs before a migraine has a very different form - patients usually experience various kinds of visual disturbances, but this migraine may also result in other ailments.

Migraine with aura: causes

It is not really known what causes a migraine aura to precede headaches in some patients and not in others. The causes of migraine with aura are most likely the same as causes of migraine without an aura.

In this case, however, it is sometimes mentioned that the aura and related ailments may appear due to various disorders of the brain's electrical activity (they are compared, among others, to an electric wave that would flow through various regions brain and result in the occurrence of, among others, various visual disorders).

In the case of migraines, it has been established a long time ago that certain factors may provoke their attacks - as such are mentioned, among others, hunger, stress or fluctuations in hormone levels in the body. It is generally believed that the factors contributing to migraine are the same for migraines without aura as for migraines with aura.

Migraine with aura: symptoms

The migraine aura most often precedes the occurrence of a migraine headache. It begins differently, but patients develop specific neurological symptoms that build up slowly over a period of 4-20 minutes. Usually the duration of the aura does not exceed an hour, but it happens exceptionally that the migraine aura lasts even for a day. Headache occurs in patients with migraine immediately after the aura or only some time after it has subsided.

The most common symptoms of migraine with aura are various visual disturbances. Patients usually complain of seeing a flickering scotoma (a shiny, moving spot in the center of the fieldvision). Other problems with the organ of sight are defects in the field of vision and noticing some zigzags or flashes among the perceived image.

Headache occurs in migraine patients immediately after the aura or only some time after it has subsided.

Visual disturbance is definitely not the only possible symptom of a migraine with an aura. They may also appear:

  • sensory disturbance (e.g. numbness of the face or limbs),
  • speech disorders (e.g. difficulty speaking),
  • paralysis and paresis (usually affecting only one half of the body),
  • hallucinations from sensory organs other than sight (e.g. auditory or olfactory hallucinations),
  • tinnitus,
  • dizziness,
  • ataxia,
  • double vision.

The patient usually develops a headache after the aura has subsided - the characteristics of this pain are essentially the same as for migraine without an aura. Interestingly, however, the pain does not always appear after the aura. Due to this, and taking into account the course of migraine with aura, there are several types of it.

Migraine with aura: types

The classification of migraine headaches is updated from time to time and one term used to describe different types of migraine is replaced by other terms. As an example, the term visual migraine can be mentioned here - in the past this term was sometimes used to describe a migraine with aura, now this name is rather used to describe another problem, which is retinal migraine.

In the currently used classification of migraine with aura, the following forms are distinguished:

  • migraine with a typical aura (otherwise a typical aura with a migraine headache),
  • typical aura with non-migraine headache, typical non-migraine aura without headache,
  • familial hemiparesis migraine (a rare form of migraine with aura, diagnosed when hemiparesis occurs during the aura and the same attacks also occur in relatives of the patient),
  • occasional semi-infectious migraine (a form similar to the family one described above, although occurring only in the patient, not found in any member of his family),
  • Basal type migraine (also a rare type of aura migraine, characterized by symptoms that suggest brainstem or cerebellar dysfunction, such as dizziness, ataxia, and tinnitus).
  • retinal migraine.

Migraine with aura: diagnosis

When a patient knows they have migraines with an aura, it is usually not necessary tovisit a doctor. However, when in a patient ailments corresponding to the aura - e.g. visual disturbances or paresis and sensory disturbances - appear suddenly and for the first time, a visit to the doctor is most appropriate.

A medical consultation is necessary because various - even life-threatening - potential causes of such symptoms must be ruled out. Examples of such include, among others, stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA) or retinal detachment, suspected, especially in the case of clearly impaired vision.

When the aura appears suddenly and for the first time, it is necessary to see a doctor in order to exclude other causes, often life-threatening.

Due to the need to exclude the above-described entities, a patient reporting to a physician with symptoms suggesting migraine with aura may have many different tests.

They are used e.g. ophthalmological examination (during which, for example, the fundus of the eye is assessed), as well as imaging tests (examples of which include computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of the head, in which - if the patient's ailments were caused by an ischemic stroke - it is possible to identify ischemic foci in the brain).

If other possible causes of the patient's symptoms are ruled out, it is usually possible to diagnose migraine with aura. There is no one specific test that would confirm such a diagnosis - it is usually made on the basis of the typical features of the aura, i.e. its duration (longer than 4, less than 60 minutes) and the occurrence of at least one symptom of migraine aura.

Migraine with aura: treatment

Although migraine with an aura has slightly different symptoms than migraine without an aura, treating both of these problems is the same. In the case of these diseases, the use of emergency medications (to alleviate the intensity of pain) and preparations for the prevention of migraine headaches are used.

One aspect is worth emphasizing here - some reliever medications can be used already during the aura, while others only after the onset of a migraine headache. For this reason, patients who experience migraines with aura should always ask their physician when exactly he or she should be taking the medications recommended for him.

Category:

Neurology