Migraine Headache

Aura refers to an array of psychologic or neurologic disturbances that occur shortly before migraine onset. As compared to migraine without aura, migraine with aura is the less common type, but it is perhaps more medically intriguing, and for patients who get them, more unsettling.

To know more about Aura Migraines, read Types Of Migraines: Migraine With Aura And Without Aura. Migraine with aura is also known as Classical Migraine (aura migraines) and migraine without aura is also known as Common Migraine.

Classic migraines- a type of migraine that involves the appearance of neurological symptoms, causes an aura 10 to 30 minutes before an attack. Other classic migraine symptoms are:

* Difficulty with speech
* Weakness of an arm or leg
* Tingling of the face or hands
* Confusion

Common migraine- a type of migraine that is generally not preceded by an aura, although there may be a variety of symptoms prior to its onset. These may include the following:

* Mental "fuzziness"
* Mood changes
* Fatigue
* Unusual retention of fluids
* Nausea and vomiting

Most auras consist of visual disturbances such as partial vision loss, the appearance of special effects and distortion of objects. Sometimes, the visual effects can be dramatic, complex color patterns and shapes (e.g., triangles and dots), and floaters (the perception that some tiny foreign object is floating across the eye).

An individual might also see shimmering or zigzag lines in the peripheral vision and blurriness in central vision. Children who develop auras prior to migraines may experience visual distortions.

For migraine headache relief, the patient needs to see the headache specialist to understand the real cause which can be done by maintaining a headache diary and recognizing personal migraine triggers and taking migraine medications accordingly. The headache medicine should be taken when natural headache relief methods fail and headache rack becomes unbearable.