Site Meter Dealing With Headaches » Blog Archive » All About Auras

All About Auras

by

Some people see lightning flashes in their eyes before a migrainePerhaps “auras” is a misleading name. When most people hear the word “auras”, they think of various halo-like colors around the head or body, maybe even the images from Kirlian photography. But if you have migraines, “auras” take on a whole new meaning.

What Are They?

Auras usually are a visual hallucination of some sort. This warns the migrane sufferer that a migraine is on the way. The most common auras are flashes or huge wiggly shining shapes. When I had my first aura, it looked as if the lower half of my left eyeball was under water. I had no idea what was going on, until my first migraine hit full force. Then, the aura was gone, but I had a lot more to worry about.

Some people don’t get shining shapes or the illusion that they are partially under water. Some people’s vision blacks out or clouds substantiably. Whatever form it takes, the migraine aura is impossible to ignore.

The aura itself usually isn’t painful — it’s just very strange and even disorienting. It can happen about ten to fifteen minutes before the migraine pain first collides into your consciousness. You can use the aura as a warning that a migraine is coming and can either take preventative medicine or dive for cover.

Very rarely, the aura isn’t visual. It manifests as a loud sudden ringing in the ears. It can also effect your sense of balance, making you very dizzy, even if you don’t have any ringing ears or hallucinations. Some people even have a sudden difficulty speaking or even experience partial facial paralysis (parasthesia).

Why Do Auras Happen?

Auras only happen to about 15% of migraine sufferers. And they do not occur for every migraine of your life. You can have auras before migraines for years, and then they’ll just suddenly stop. You could spend all of the migraines in your life completely aura-free.

It is not known for sure why auras happen. Although it is thought that the eyes are only sometimes effected by chemical changes in the brain going on that fires the brain into migraine pain, why it happens only some of the time is unclear.

One of the theories is that migraine auras are caused by slow wave elctrical impulses that creep across the brain, causing general mayhem in the senses. Then, after being barrages by these impulses, the brain areas then go through a long period of being unusually still. It is thought that the back of the brain controls our vision, so any electrical impulse waves going across the back of the brain will screw up your eyesight. Could the flashing or blurry hallucinations actually be of an electrical impulse? Who knows?

Hope this helps.


7 Responses to “All About Auras”

  1. Dealing With Headaches » Blog Archive » Migranes Without Headaches? Says:

    [...] without headache is when you have an aura, but then never actually get the head pain. Auras are dicussed in detail here in a previous post. The technical name for heache-free migraines are acephalgic migraine or silent migraines and [...]

  2. www.headachediary.info » All About Auras Says:

    [...] Rena Sherwood wrote a fantastic post today on “All About Auras”Here’s ONLY a quick extractThis warns the migrane sufferer that a migraine is on the way. The most common auras are flashes or huge wiggly shining shapes. When I had my first aura, it looked as if the lower half of my left eyeball was under water. … [...]

  3. Dealing With Headaches » Blog Archive » Heart Holes And Migraines Says:

    [...] However, a new study at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center finds a link between closing a patent foramen ovale (PFO) and migraine relief. A PFO is a genetic (but usually not too serious) heart defect which is, techinically, a tiny hole in your heart. The migraines relieved were usually migraines with auras. [...]

  4. Dealing With Headaches » Blog Archive » ProEthic Pharmaceuticals Hopes To Release Migraine Drug In 2008 Says:

    [...] Pro-513 has been kicking around in clinical trials for quite some time (long before I was hired to write this blog, anyway!) It showed some very promising results in January, 2007 and June of 2007. It is designed to be fast-acting as well as migraine-numbing. This is to be be for migraine attacks that have already begun, with or without auras. [...]

  5. Dealing With Headaches » Blog Archive » What The Heck Is A Hemiplegic Migraine? Says:

    [...] Auras that last days or weeks [...]

  6. Seeing Things That Aren’t There - Found in Says:

    [...] snakes wriggling through space, chances are you’re not going crazy.  You are having an aura.  These are warning signs that in about fifteen minutes, you are going to have a [...]

  7. gilles Says:

    I live in company with a body, a silent companion, exacting and eternal.

Leave a Reply


About Dealing With Headaches

This site is about dealing with headaches. It discusses natural treatments, medicines, and support sites to resource.

Dealing With Headaches Author(s)

Science & Health Channel Posts

  • What The Heck Is Treatment Resistant Depression?
    This is a dreadfully named type of chronic depression. Please, someone in the medical community rename this thing. When you're depressed, you're always convinced that you cannot be cured or helped. [...]
  • Victoria's Secret? She's a Vegan!
    Victoria's Secret is no longer hiding in closet. The lingerie and beauty product brand is getting loud and proud about veganism. Pink Body is a new line of Victoria's Secret cosmetics - including [...]
  • I binged
    Yes. I am not all perfect and cured. I totally had a binge last night. It was my own fault. I had junk food lying around the house for the "future" and needless to say, I pounced on the food last [...]
  • Is Volumetrics for you?
    [caption id="attachment_756" align="alignnone" width="339" caption="Volumetrics "][/caption]"Free foods" are those that help you get more bang for your buck because they contain a lot of water, [...]
  • Psoriasis and Earache
    I'm going to be honest and beg the blogosphere for information of psoriasis and earache. I have psoriasis and now it seems to have spread to my right ear. It causes a dull ache, but not bad enough [...]
  • Dear Non-Vegans, Love Eccentric Vegan
    Eccentric Vegan compiled a great resource post, called "Dear Non-Vegans," all about why meat, eggs, all other animal products are not healthy, humane, or environmentally friendly on Vegan Soapbox. I [...]
  • Top Ten signs of Alzheimers Disease
    [caption id="attachment_1800" align="alignnone" width="67" caption="Alzheimers"][/caption]Memory loss that disrupts everyday life is not a normal part of aging. It may be a sign of Alzheimer's [...]
  • The best way to measure body fat
    [caption id="attachment_796" align="alignnone" width="104" caption="Tape Measure"][/caption]When does "putting on a few pounds" cross the line into needing to lose weight? Neither scale, BMI, pinch [...]
  • Exacts on how you too can run up expensive therapy bills for your children.
    Ok, so see, as I said, I’ve never been away from my children much.  And, I have missed not one, not two but on Saturday, I will have missed three of my son’s basketball games.  Never in [...]
  • Published Letter to the Editor
    My first letter to the editor was published this week in the Middle Tennessee State University student newspaper, Sidelines. Here's the published version of what I wrote in response to their article [...]

Hot Off The Press