| A migraine may feel like one long pain but the | | | | 'sees'. Some find it very disturbing and |
| attack falls into five distinct stages, including the | | | | disorientating, while other find it an intensely |
| interval between one migraine and the next. | | | | creative time. |
| Those stages are: | | | | Some migraine auras can be hallucinatory, with |
| - Prodomal phase (may last 1-2 days) | | | | sufferers describing a range of 'visions'. These |
| - Aura phase (may last around 1 hour) | | | | have included: |
| - Headache (may last from 4 hours to 3 days) | | | | - Animals |
| - Resolution of migraine and recovery period (1-2 | | | | - Humans or human-type beings |
| days) | | | | - Psychic experiences |
| - Migraine interval (time between end of resolution | | | | - Mystical experiences |
| and next prodomal phase) | | | | - Magical experiences |
| Here, we are going to look at the aura phase. | | | | Some very famous people have suffered from |
| What does migraine with aura mean? | | | | migraines. Some of them may well have been |
| About a 25% of sufferers get a warning that a | | | | affected by migraine aura, intensifying their |
| migraine attack is coming. The aura symptoms | | | | creativity. You may be surprised at the list: |
| usually develop over a 5-20 minute period and | | | | - Elvis Presley - recently revealed as a sufferer. |
| then can last for an hour or less. | | | | Puts a new slant on his problem with medications. |
| What is an aura like? | | | | - Whoopi Goldberg |
| The sufferer might start yawning or feel unusually | | | | - Princess Margaret, late sister of Queen Elizabeth |
| hungry and thirsty. They may also start to smell | | | | II |
| a distinctive odor, in just the same way that | | | | - Lewis Carroll - creator of the classic Alice in |
| epileptics do just prior to a seizure. The most | | | | Wonderland |
| frequent type of aura is a visual one. Other forms | | | | - Virginia Woolf |
| of aura can be to do with a distorted sense of | | | | - Miguel de Cervantes |
| touch, movement or difficulties in finding words. | | | | - Emily Dickinson |
| But of those people who suffer from aura, most | | | | - Sigmund Freud |
| will have experienced visual distortion. This can be | | | | - Friedrich Nietzsche |
| in the form of dazzling or flashing lights. Or | | | | Some say that Vincent Van Gogh, Georges |
| objects and people may start to look as if their | | | | Seurat and Pablo Picasso all suffered from |
| edges are jagged or they are splitting. Their vision | | | | migraines although this is a guess based on their |
| can also become dotted with black spots, form | | | | styles of painting. |
| into a herringbone shape or become blurred. | | | | What treatment is there for the aura? |
| People describe it as looking through snow, a | | | | Treatment is aimed at minimizing or preventing |
| distorting glass mosaic, or like seeing the static on | | | | the migraine itself. |
| a TV in their normal vision. Many people who | | | | Rest in a dark, quiet room and take painkillers. |
| experience auras, say that they see the same | | | | Soluble ones work faster. |
| things each time, although some see different | | | | Medications containing buclizine may help to calm |
| things too. | | | | down any sickness. |
| Is it scary? | | | | If over the counter drugs don't help, quickly see |
| Opinions differ depending on what the sufferer | | | | your doctor. |