Migraine with aura

[cate1611]

With medical research advances, what is the latest information regarding the causes of migraine with aura.  Are sufferers more likely to suffer from a stroke.  The symptoms of a migraine are very similar to stroke symptoms - visual disturbances, facial numbness, pins and needles in fingers and hands, speech impediment?

[mia0301]

I dont know exactly what the updates are for something like that, but alot of what you wrote about I actually had a few years back and they actually thought it was a stroke, but ruled it out because of my age (24 at the time). I remember having the WORST migraine ever and then the left side of my face went completely numb and my left eye just blacked out -SCARY. Went to my family doctor and she looked into my eyes and sent me for CT scans, MRI's and to see a neurologist. Turns out I had way too much spinal fluid surrounding my head and it was pushing against my optic nerves and my brain and that's why the slurred speech, facial nerve problem, and visual disturbance. So, if you have some of these symptoms I would definitely see your dr and ask her to check in your eyes to see if there are any signs of pressure on your optic nerve, and/or ask to be referred to a neurologist just to be safe. My condition isn't life-threatening (it's called Pseudotumor Cerebri), but I am very glad to have gotten treatment and got rid of those awful kind of migraines!  Hope this helped some, good luck :)

[mooksmom]

I have these migraines with the same aura...and the headache is less severe and shorter duration than when I get the migraine with severe pain & vomiting. I've also experienced what is called "complicated migraine" with very freightening 'stroke-like' symptoms and HIGH BP. If you are not being followed by a medical doctor you might want to do so, so that she/he knows you and your baseline migraine. There are lots of new meds for migraines now, which I didn't have the luxury of having for 30 yrs.