How long can migraine aura last?

[Invida]

Hello to everyone in this community. I hope everyone is feeling well. I have a question about migraine auras and if anyone could read this and share any information or experiences with me, I would appreciate it so much. Thank you.

How long can migraine auras last? Can they be a nearly constant thing that occurs for over five months? Do migraines present with various types of pain that includes the whole head or travels around throughout the day?

I have been having a lot of severe symptoms that came on suddenly. Some of these symptoms are visual disturbances, such as blurriness, whiting out, flashing, visual snow, persistent afterimages, can't see at all in the dark any longer. A lot of the time the flashing looks like a strobe light going off and it scares me a lot. On a trip to the ER, I told the nurses about my symptoms and they tried to convince me that I'm just having migraines. I have a lot of severe pain in my head, face and neck, but none of this pain feels like migraine pain that I've ever experienced, even though I've only had four or five migraines in my life. I also don't have much of a history with headaches. I am also getting a lot of sudden, intense pain in my head that comes on quickly.

Some of my other symptoms have to do with ringing and popping in my ears, strange sensations in my scalp that often feel like spasms, popping in my head that I don't tell doctors about in case they'll think I'm insane, tingling, numbness, weakness, hot pins and needles stabbing me all over, vertigo and/or dizziness. There are some others, but I don't want to overwhelm anybody in case I'm already writing too much.

I've been through some testing like having MRI and MRA. I've seen a neuro ophthalmologist. He found my optic nerves are a little swollen, but wasn't able to give me any answers. It was found that I have herniated discs in my cervical spine that are pressing into my spinal cord, but the neuro surgeon told me he doesn't think that's what's causing my symptoms. I was confused by that because I thought it would explain at least some of them.

Does anybody with a history of migraines have these things happen as well? I don't think what I have is migraines, but it would help me so much to know if anyone else out there has some information.

[Invida]

Hi. :) Thank you for your replies. I'm sorry I'm just now writing back. I didn't have internet and I'm getting back on today.

The neuro ophthalmologist told me that since my pressures were normal that he can't give me any answers and that's probably just how my nerves are. That seems wrong to me, but both he and his staff didn't leave good impressions. They never gave me the results for my LP. The neurologist's office contacted them three times to get the results and no one has sent anything to either of us. I'm thinking maybe something was done wrong with my LP and that the pressure reading might not have been accurate, but I don't know how to convince a doctor about that.

The neurologist says my EMGs came out fine and can't tell me why I'm having the sensations I'm having.

There were some new things prior to all of this. There was a field mouse in our house and I sometimes wonder if I might have been bitten by a tick. I got Swine Flu in December and I found that my room had a bad infestation of mold. I don't know if these things could be the cause.

[jacjoemax]

Also, in my next to last post I mentioned the swollen optic nerves you spoke about. That may be indicative of increased intercranial pressure, but from what? That may be the key to everything, and cannot be ignored. This also could be two separate things, herniation of the cervical discs may cause the pins and needles pain and popping sounds, whereas the visual disturbances and headache pain may be caused by whatever is elevating your intercranial pressure. LP pressure can go up and down but the optic nerve swelling is an indicator that your spinal fluid pressure has been up. I hope you find answers soon, but try and not focus on something because you may miss what is actually going on, take care

[jacjoemax]

Invida, the doctors need all of the symptoms you experience in order to make an accurate diagnoses. Popping sounds do not equal insanity. Also, neuro docs are headache specialists. Some treat other ailments as well but you may need to find a neurologist that specializes in migraines as well as other types of headaches. As the other poster said, the fact that you do not have any mass/tumor is a good sign. If I could make a suggestion, keep a journal of the symptoms, pain, what you did just before and after may also help with a diagnosis. The symptoms appear to be migraine or cluster in nature which can present with many seemingly strange symptoms. If they feel it is one of those, now the real work begins in an attempt to find relief for you. Migraines and or headaches can also be a reaction to weather, hormones, foods, etc. Have you introduced any new things in your life prior to the headaches coming on? Also have you had extensive blood work recently? That may give your doctor a bigger picture. You also said you had a lumbar puncture, was the fluid analyzed for bacteria/white blood cells, etc. Hoping to give you some starting points, sometimes we are our own best advocates! good luck again

[Invida]

Thank you both for replying. I appreciate it. The neurologist wants me to see a headache specialist. I keep hearing and feeling strange popping sensations in my head. It's very scary, but I don't tell the doctors about it. It's even happened from pressing on my head. I can't find anything to explain this.

[Ball123]

I think I have had a migraine aura for the last ten years.. It's unusual but not unheard of.

With the MRI and MRA coming back normal and the LP too I think you can rule out any disease from your head basically, except migraine.

For sure you don't have a tumor or similar.

Migraines can be serious too though.

[jacjoemax]

Hi Invida, migraine aura should not be constant, I have not heard of anyone having the visual disturbances for long periods of time, and yet people present with migraines differently. Your swollen optic nerves may be the reason for the auras, my concern would be why are they swollen?

[Invida]

Has anyone had auras that lasted for a very long time?

[Invida]

Hi. :) Thank you for replying. I've read a little about those, but I'll do some more looking.

I've also had an LP and my pressures were normal and my blood pressure is always normal whenever it's taken.

My visual disturbances are pretty much constant, they haven't gone away since they started several months ago, so I don't know if they could be migraine aura or not.

[jacjoemax]

Read up on cluster headaches, some of the symptoms you described may be consistent with that. I have migraines and find the visual disturbances are more tunnel like and double vision and last for about 1/2 hour. I have that 1/2 hour to take ibuprofen (I know, I've been told I'm lucky) or the pain will rain down on me like a jackhammer! What about increased spinal fluid? I was diagnosed with that and that can cause weird head pain too. Also flashing snow like visuals someone mentioned they were high blood pressure related, not sure if that's true. I'm hoping that it will give you avenues to go down so you can get a proper diagnoses. Good luck to you. Make sure you have a great neuro doc, head pain is tricky.