The informational post
Wikipedia is my friend. It's helping me remember some of the stuff I went through:
EEG
CT (CAT) scan
MRI
Ultrasound
Carotid artery
Pituitary gland
Migraine
Further migraine info...bolded text is what I experienced.
Some migraine types don't have pain or may manifest symptoms in parts of the body other than the head. ... Three quarters of adult migraine patients are female, although pre-pubertal migraine affects approximately equal numbers of boys and girls. This reveals the strong correlation to hormonal cycling and hormonal-related causes or triggers.
The signs and symptoms of migraine vary among patients. Therefore, what a patient experiences before, during and after an attack cannot be defined exactly. The four phases of a migraine attack listed below are common among patients but are not necessarily experienced by all migraine sufferers. Additionally, the phases experienced and the symptoms experienced during them can vary from one migraine attack to another in the same migraineur:
1. The prodrome, which occurs hours or days before the headache.
2. The aura, which immediately precedes the headache.
3. The pain phase, aka headache phase.
4. The postdrome.
Aura phase
For the 20-30%[6][7] of migraineurs who suffer migraine with aura, the migraine aura is comprised of focal neurological phenomena that precede or accompany the attack. They appear gradually over 5 to 20 minutes and generally last less than 60 minutes. The headache phase of the migraine attack usually begins within 60 minutes of the end of the aura phase, but it is sometimes delayed up to several hours, and it can be missing entirely. Symptoms of migraine aura can be visual, sensory, or motor in nature.[8]
Visual aura is the most common of the neurological events. There is a disturbance of vision consisting usually of unformed flashes of white or rarely of multicolored lights (photopsia) or formations of dazzling zigzag lines (scintillating scotoma; often arranged like the battlements of a castle, hence the alternative terms "fortification spectra" or "teichopsia"). Some patients complain of blurred or shimmering or cloudy vision, as though they were looking through thick or smoked glass, or, in some cases, tunnel vision. The somatosensory aura of migraine consists of digitolingual or cheiro-oral paresthesias, a feeling of pins-and-needles experienced in the hand and arm as well as in the ipsilateral nose-mouth area. Paresthesia migrate up the arm and then extend to involve the face, lips and tongue.
Other symptoms of the aura phase can include auditory or olfactory hallucinations, aphasia, vertigo, tingling or numbness of the face and extremities, and hypersensitivity to touch.
The diagnosis of migraine without aura, according to the International Headache Society, can be made according to the following criteria - 5 or more attacks, 4 hours to 3 days in duration 2 or more of - unilateral location, pulsating quality, moderate to severe pain, aggravation by or avoidance of routine physical activity and 1 or more accompanying symptoms - nausea and/or vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia ("5, 4, 3, 2, 1 criteria"). For migraine with aura, only two attacks are required to justify the diagnosis.
Acephalgic migraine
Acephalgic migraine is a neurological syndrome. It is a variant of migraine in which the patient may experience aura symptoms such as scintillating scotoma, nausea, photophobia, hemiparesis and other migraine symptoms but does not experience headache. Acephalgic migraine is also referred to as amigrainous migraine, ocular migraine, or optical migraine.
Sufferers of acephalgic migraine are more likely than the general population to develop classical migraine with headache.
The prevention and treatment of acephalgic migraine is broadly the same as for classical migraine. However, because of the absence of "headache", diagnosis of acephalgic migraine is apt to be significantly delayed and the risk of misdiagnosis significantly increased.
Visual snow might be a form of acephalgic migraine.
If symptoms are primarily visual, it may be necessary to consult an ophthalmologist to rule out potential eye disease before considering this diagnosis.
I will say that some of the stuff that came up in discussion has happened to family members. My great aunt had a stroke about a decade ago. One second cousin has MS, while another has epilepsy. Both are close in age to me. My mother has thyroid issues, and she wonders if perhaps she's had pituitary gland problems as well; hers just wasn't diagnosed. With the exception of my mother, though, none of those family members are close enough to me to really warrant worry, I guess you could say. Of course, I'll probably have to watch my thyroid as the years go on.
I'm still glad everything ended up being okay. I sort of wish I'd known more about migraines, though, because then maybe I wouldn't have panicked. As for triggers, well, sometimes hormones trigger them, and sometimes migraines precede girl stuff...let's just say I'm definitely not pregnant. This just gets more and more embarrassing. Can I just say this has been my weirdest case of PMS EVER? :) And it's early, just like last month, and typical stuff that happens didn't. I will say that stress does affect...things, so (dammit) mom's probably right in some sense. I didn't have a panic attack, per se, but stress got to me in a way it never has. Oy.
So, um, what's been going on with you guys this week?
EEG
CT (CAT) scan
MRI
Ultrasound
Carotid artery
Pituitary gland
Migraine
Further migraine info...bolded text is what I experienced.
Some migraine types don't have pain or may manifest symptoms in parts of the body other than the head. ... Three quarters of adult migraine patients are female, although pre-pubertal migraine affects approximately equal numbers of boys and girls. This reveals the strong correlation to hormonal cycling and hormonal-related causes or triggers.
The signs and symptoms of migraine vary among patients. Therefore, what a patient experiences before, during and after an attack cannot be defined exactly. The four phases of a migraine attack listed below are common among patients but are not necessarily experienced by all migraine sufferers. Additionally, the phases experienced and the symptoms experienced during them can vary from one migraine attack to another in the same migraineur:
1. The prodrome, which occurs hours or days before the headache.
2. The aura, which immediately precedes the headache.
3. The pain phase, aka headache phase.
4. The postdrome.
Aura phase
For the 20-30%[6][7] of migraineurs who suffer migraine with aura, the migraine aura is comprised of focal neurological phenomena that precede or accompany the attack. They appear gradually over 5 to 20 minutes and generally last less than 60 minutes. The headache phase of the migraine attack usually begins within 60 minutes of the end of the aura phase, but it is sometimes delayed up to several hours, and it can be missing entirely. Symptoms of migraine aura can be visual, sensory, or motor in nature.[8]
Visual aura is the most common of the neurological events. There is a disturbance of vision consisting usually of unformed flashes of white or rarely of multicolored lights (photopsia) or formations of dazzling zigzag lines (scintillating scotoma; often arranged like the battlements of a castle, hence the alternative terms "fortification spectra" or "teichopsia"). Some patients complain of blurred or shimmering or cloudy vision, as though they were looking through thick or smoked glass, or, in some cases, tunnel vision. The somatosensory aura of migraine consists of digitolingual or cheiro-oral paresthesias, a feeling of pins-and-needles experienced in the hand and arm as well as in the ipsilateral nose-mouth area. Paresthesia migrate up the arm and then extend to involve the face, lips and tongue.
Other symptoms of the aura phase can include auditory or olfactory hallucinations, aphasia, vertigo, tingling or numbness of the face and extremities, and hypersensitivity to touch.
The diagnosis of migraine without aura, according to the International Headache Society, can be made according to the following criteria - 5 or more attacks, 4 hours to 3 days in duration 2 or more of - unilateral location, pulsating quality, moderate to severe pain, aggravation by or avoidance of routine physical activity and 1 or more accompanying symptoms - nausea and/or vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia ("5, 4, 3, 2, 1 criteria"). For migraine with aura, only two attacks are required to justify the diagnosis.
Acephalgic migraine
Acephalgic migraine is a neurological syndrome. It is a variant of migraine in which the patient may experience aura symptoms such as scintillating scotoma, nausea, photophobia, hemiparesis and other migraine symptoms but does not experience headache. Acephalgic migraine is also referred to as amigrainous migraine, ocular migraine, or optical migraine.
Sufferers of acephalgic migraine are more likely than the general population to develop classical migraine with headache.
The prevention and treatment of acephalgic migraine is broadly the same as for classical migraine. However, because of the absence of "headache", diagnosis of acephalgic migraine is apt to be significantly delayed and the risk of misdiagnosis significantly increased.
Visual snow might be a form of acephalgic migraine.
If symptoms are primarily visual, it may be necessary to consult an ophthalmologist to rule out potential eye disease before considering this diagnosis.
I will say that some of the stuff that came up in discussion has happened to family members. My great aunt had a stroke about a decade ago. One second cousin has MS, while another has epilepsy. Both are close in age to me. My mother has thyroid issues, and she wonders if perhaps she's had pituitary gland problems as well; hers just wasn't diagnosed. With the exception of my mother, though, none of those family members are close enough to me to really warrant worry, I guess you could say. Of course, I'll probably have to watch my thyroid as the years go on.
I'm still glad everything ended up being okay. I sort of wish I'd known more about migraines, though, because then maybe I wouldn't have panicked. As for triggers, well, sometimes hormones trigger them, and sometimes migraines precede girl stuff...let's just say I'm definitely not pregnant. This just gets more and more embarrassing. Can I just say this has been my weirdest case of PMS EVER? :) And it's early, just like last month, and typical stuff that happens didn't. I will say that stress does affect...things, so (dammit) mom's probably right in some sense. I didn't have a panic attack, per se, but stress got to me in a way it never has. Oy.
So, um, what's been going on with you guys this week?