Migraines

I continue to try to spread the word about how dangerous migraines can be. They aren't just another headache that can be taken lightly. They can cause strokes; they can kill. If you have migraines you need to talk to your doctor. If your doctor doesn't seem to know these things educate yourself and find a provider that takes them for the serious condition that they are. If you don't you may end up with loss of memory function, like me, or worse.

According to E-Medicine "Migraine variant (MV) or migraine equivalent is the term applied to migraine, which exhibits itself in a form other than head pain. MV is characterized by paroxysmal episodes of prolonged visual auras; atypical sensory, motor, or visual aura; confusion; dysarthria; focal neurologic deficits; or gastrointestinal manifestations or other constitutional symptoms with or without a headache". And a migraine with an aura usually lasts up to 30 minutes. "In rare cases, the aura could be prolonged, lasting up to 60 minutes, raising concerns of possible stroke".

Complicated Migraines are a horse or should I say migraine of a different color. The same article in E-Medicine describes all the various types of complicated migraines. "Complications of migraine include chronic migraine, status migrainosus, persistent aura without infarction (stroke), migrainous infarction, and migraine-triggered seizure. Complicated migraines are rare, accounting for less than 1% of total patients with migraine. " However, according to Dr Todd Troost not all migrainous infarctions show on an MRI. This page in his web site deals directly with migrainous infarctions and prolonged migraines with auras: http://www.imigraine.net/migraine/prolonged.html

His web site is excellent and has proved invaluable to my physician care team. I hope you will find it helpful as well as any additional sites I may add on this topic.

I know not everyone has a medical background so if there is a term that I wrote about that you don't understand, please let me know and I'll attempt to explain it for you.

Here is a list of some helpful websites. The one in blue you can link from. I'm not sure how I manged to get it this way. Enjoy that one, because a computer guru I am not!

http://www.imigraine.net/migraine/prolonged.html

http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/TOPIC219.HTM

http://www.merckmedicus.com/pp/us/hcp/diseasemodules/migraine/default.jsp

http://ihs-classification.org/en/

http://www.americanheadachesociety.org/

http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/types-of-headaches-38571-5.html


If you find any other great sites on this topic please leave them in a comment so others can utilize those sites as well. Thanks