1. Pay Attention to Visual Disturbances
Vision problems are the most common symptom of aura migraines. As the aura begins, you may perceive flashing lights, swirling or shaking objects or a slowly spreading blind spot. The aura may even cause a temporary loss of sight, which is especially terrifying if you're experiencing it for the first time. Migraineurs describe being stuck in a bizarre special effects show, where blurriness, color distortion and strobing lights make everyday activities nearly impossible. You may begin to recognize a looming migraine when the world consists of a color kaleidoscope, complete with strobing or pulsing lights. On a positive note, many artists and authors have credited their creativity to aura migraine delusions. Author Lewis Carroll, who suffered from severe migraines, penned the dreamlike Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
While many migraine sufferers are symptomatic in both eyes, don't be surprised if you only observe warning signs on one side. It's fairly common for aura symptoms to present unilaterally -- on the side of the body where migraine pain will later occur.
2. Take Note of Sensory Function
Sensory difficulties are the second most reported symptom of aura migraines. If you begin to have tingling, numbness or prickly sensations on one or both sides of your lips, face or body, take the warning seriously. As sensory symptoms progress, they may also cause limb or body weakness, which can affect balance or walking. You may feel as if your arm has fallen asleep or, in severe cases, as if you are separated from your body. These symptoms may even induce nausea and vomiting prior to the onset of the next migraine stage -- unbearable head pain.
3. Don't Discount Auditory and Olfactory Short Circuits
Migraine symptoms are not restricted to visual and tactile experiences. A few migraine sufferers face unrelenting ear ringing, sound distortion or even a temporary loss of hearing before their headache attacks. Other migraineurs may have an altered sense of smell, believing that they have overpowering body odor or that their food is rotting. If you're in doubt about whether your hearing and auditory symptoms are real, ask those around you to interpret the noises and smells they're sensing in order to compare their perceptions with yours.
4. Be Aware of Fleeting Aphasia
Language disability, or aphasia, is unusual for people with aura migraines. Some patients will, however, briefly lose their power to speak or comprehend written or spoken words. If your thoughts feel jumbled, you can't form sentences, you temporarily lose the ability to understand others or you are unable to read a paragraph or jot a note, you may be experiencing aura-related aphasia. When overwhelmed with aura symptoms, some patients may feel as if they are in a dream state, in which they fail to realize that they're not speaking clearly or understanding others properly. In these cases, a friend or family member may notice the aphasia before the patient does.
5. Time Your Symptom Length
Aura migraine symptoms usually last from 5 to 60 minutes before the headache stage begins. Some patients claim that their auras last for hours, or even days, but this is very rare. If you've been experiencing aura symptoms for several hours or more, consult with your physician to rule out serious medical conditions. In rare cases, migraine aura symptoms are actually indicators of a stroke, brain aneurysm or brain tumor.
Keeping a migraine diary is a helpful way to stay on top of your aura signs and their normal duration. Over time, you'll begin to notice patterns indicating how long you can expect your aura symptoms to last -- and you may even be able to use prescribed medication to abort the migraine before it begins.
