Migraine often starts in childhood, teenage years, or early adulthood. Migraine can progress up to four stages, including prodrome, aura, migraine attack and postdrome.
Prodrome stage:
One or two days before migraine you might notice slight changes unrelated to migraine, i.e.:
- constipation
- depression
- increased appetite
- increased body activity
- increased mental excitability
- stiff neck
- uncontrolled yawning
- aura
Aura can occur before or during migraine attack. Aura is a symptom of nervous system which usually manifest as vision disorders, e.g. flashes of light. Sometimes aura can also manifest as sensation (sensory), motion (motor), or speech (verbal) disorders. For many people, migraine attacks take place without aura. Each of these symptoms usually start gradually and grow stronger over the course of several minutes, overall taking about 20-60 minutes.
Most common aura manifestations:
- Vision disorders, e.g. visible bright spots of various shapes or flickering lights.
- Short-term loss of vision.
- Needle-like pinching (tingling) in arms or legs.
- Speech and language disorders (aphasia).
- In some rare cases, aura can lead to limb (hands or legs) weakness (hemiplegic migraine).
Migraine clinical description:
Untreated migraine takes about 4-72 hours, but the frequency of symptoms can vary from person to person. One might suffer from migraine attacks several time per month or significantly less frequent. The following symptoms may be experienced during a migraine attack:
- pain affecting one or both sides of the head,
- pulsating pain,
- sensitivity to light, noise and sometimes smell,
- nausea and vomiting,
- blurry vision,
- lightheadedness which might lead to fainting.
Postdrome stage:
The postdrome stage takes place after the migraine attack. At this stage, one can increasingly yawn and feel sleepy, although others often feel euphoria (uplifted spirits).
When to see a doctor?
Migraine-caused headache is often left undetected and undiagnosed. If you often suffer from headache or migraine-like symptoms, write down the type of pain, frequency, localization and your efforts to prevent this. Your observations (anamnesis) will help us to give you a proper diagnosis and decide on the course of treatment.
Our specialists will consult, examine and treat you!
