Migraine With and Without Aura

Migraines are headaches that cause pulsing and throbbing head pain that lasts for hours or days. Migraines also come with other symptoms, which can include:

• Sensitivity to light and sound
• Nausea and vomiting
• Worsening pain with physical activity

Some patients get a visual, auditory, sensory or speech warning signs that a migraine is about to happen. This is referred to as aura. Auras can last for several minutes up to an hour. Their symptoms include:

• Visual aura can occur in one of both eyes as an area of brightness or blindness that expands into flashes of light, zigzags, stars of shapes.
• Auditory aura includes hearing sounds that are not there or a buzzing in the ears.
• Sensory aura includes a burning sensation, numbness or a pins-and-needles feeling.
• Speech and language aura happens when a patient cannot recall words, cannot understand language and has problems reading and writing.

Treatments for a migraine include medicines to reduce pain and prevent nausea, medicine to prevent migraines from happening and stress management techniques.