RE: This is the one...

[Guest guest]

> > How long are migraines *supposed* to last (I've seen things saying

> > they can go up to 72 hours untreated, but I treated this one twice

> > and now can no longer take any more migraine meds because it

> > wouldn't be safe)?

> I'm fairly sure it's 72 hours. My mother and I haven't been given

> treatment that halts the migraine so much as blocks the symptoms

> (pain, nausea, etc), and the episode usually lasts about three days.

Mine got slightly better after taking the meds, but after a few hours

they wore off and everything was exactly the same again. My doctor

keeps switching me onto different meds telling me to keep trying them

until I find one that halts my headache. All of them do approximately

the same thing as each other, and none of them halt it.

One concern I have is whether Relpax can cause seizures.

> Be careful, though -- seizures (or greatly-increased seizure

> activity) can be a sign something's actually going wrong, especially

> if headaches start showing up or increasing as well.

I've had menstrual migraines for quite awhile, and this follows that

pattern quite well -- it started the same night my period did. The

main unusual thing was really the seizures, and the length of time (as

well as the amount of aura) of the migraine.

The seizures *could* conceivably have been a bizarre artifact of

migraine aura, too, since it's hard to tell the difference between a

migraine aura and a partial seizure at times. But they *felt* more

like partial seizures always have for me, especially the sense that

they " click on " and " click off " and greatly alter my consciousness

during that brief period.

I have been mostly seizure-free since I started on Neurontin. The

last time I had any seizures at all (to my knowledge) was last fall

when I was on Vicodin. It gave me both migraines and seizures

(myoclonic and partial). Which is why I was wondering whether Relpax

might be doing the same thing to my seizure threshold through a

different chemical mechanism. (I'd never tried it before, and did not

get any seizures before I took it.)

I do think that if this isn't gone by tomorrow I'm going to want to

see someone about it. (If it weren't Sunday, and Easter too, I'd

probably be finding someone *today*.)

What I'm really not looking forward to is explaining partial seizures

to a non-specialist, especially since I've never been able to have one

in a lab and therefore obtain a proper diagnosis. Partial seizures

are the kind of seizure most likely to be dismissed as psychiatric in

origin, and the last neurologist I saw tried to see fit to do away

with my autism diagnosis on the basis that what I was saying in answer

to his questions (including thinking outside of language) was

impossible for a human being. I do not want to see that man again,

nor do I want to be forced to disclose some of my past medical records

(including his report that was near-slanderous toward me, my doctors,

and my family), because they *really* bias neurologists.

I know that what I experience with them is neurological -- I don't

know whether it's a seizure or a migraine, but I know the pattern of

what's caused by my mind and what's caused by my brain deciding to

fire randomly, and this isn't my mind. But I am rarely up to

convincing a neurologist that I'm not crazy (or even harder, that if I

am crazy it's a completely separate issue from my seizures). Not to

mention my movement problems, which I'd rather just skip over with

most neurologists. It'd have to be someone who *really* knew seizure

disorders, including partial seizures, and was open-minded about

autism-related things, before I'd consent to see them.

>(Somebody I

> knew died a few months ago after having an increasing number of

> seizures & headaches. He wasn't epileptic, but had survived a brain

> infection & surgery several years ago.)

I haven't had a brain infection. My main worry is any damage I could

have done while headbanging.

> > And is there some reason that everything I've read about them

> > claims the aura is supposed to only happen *before* the headache

> > whereas I seem to have a good deal of aura in the *middle* of the

> > headache?

> That's the norm, but my mother and I both get the auras *during* the

> migraine instead -- neither of us get any of the standard

> " precursor " warnings. In my case, the auras seem mostly to be an

> intensification of aspects of Irlen Syndrome. Either that or IS

> just goes berzerk with migraines and I'm mistaking that for auras.

> (Or IS and auras are linked somehow, which wouldn't surprise me.)

Have you heard of " migraine aura status " ? I've never been diagnosed,

but I'm pretty sure I fall under that designation. Everyone in my

family gets auras in the absence of headaches, but I get them

sometimes for weeks at a time:

http://www.upstate.edu/neurology/haas/hpmiau_stat.htm

Interestingly I have the intermittent EEG slowing they talk about in

that (although mine isn't as clearly occipital, it's somewhere in that

vicinity though), but it was only two people so I have no clue if

that's related to that or not.

I also have visual processing problems. I think the migraine aura

thing accounts for some but not all of it.

[Guest guest]

I usually have a loss of eyesight before I get a migraine. Not totally

blind, but things go in and out of focus and I lose peripheral vision. Hubby

says my pupils contract and expand (not in sync, either). Is that what you

mean by 'auras'?

First I eat something (I usually forget to eat) and then I take an aspirin,

a no-doze, and two acetaminophen. I have to keep medicating myself for about

three days. My eyes stay messed up the whole time. (Hopefully my boss never

notices it, they'd probably lock me up for being on drugs or something!)

Louis

In my house, " normal " is only a setting on the dryer.

From: DeGraf

alfamanda jotted this down:

> How long are migraines *supposed* to last (I've seen things saying

> they can go up to 72 hours untreated, but I treated this one twice

> and now can no longer take any more migraine meds because it

> wouldn't be safe)?

I'm fairly sure it's 72 hours. My mother and I haven't been given treatment

that halts the migraine so much as blocks the symptoms (pain, nausea, etc),

and the episode usually lasts about three days.

Be careful, though -- seizures (or greatly-increased seizure activity) can

be a sign something's actually going wrong, especially if headaches start

showing up or increasing as well. (Somebody I knew died a few months ago

after having an increasing number of seizures & headaches. He wasn't

epileptic, but had survived a brain infection & surgery several years ago.)

> And is there some reason that everything I've read about them

> claims the aura is supposed to only happen *before* the headache

> whereas I seem to have a good deal of aura in the *middle* of the

> headache?

That's the norm, but my mother and I both get the auras *during* the

migraine instead -- neither of us get any of the standard " precursor "

warnings. In my case, the auras seem mostly to be an intensification of

aspects of Irlen Syndrome. Either that or IS just goes berzerk with

migraines and I'm mistaking that for auras. (Or IS and auras are linked

somehow, which wouldn't surprise me.)

DeGraf ~*~ http://www.sonic.net/mustang/moggy

[Guest guest]

Louise Gainor jotted this down:

> I usually have a loss of eyesight before I get a migraine. Not

> totally blind, but things go in and out of focus and I lose

> peripheral vision. Hubby says my pupils contract and expand (not in

> sync, either). Is that what you mean by 'auras'?

Almost. I do start having difficulty focusing my eyes, but that's a bit

different. What I see fits the dictionary definition of the word " aura " -- it's

like a colored " halo " or " nimbus " around everything, except it's around the

edges in both directions. (So the object doesn't just have a glow around it,

but a glow inside of it, that is.) A bit like what you get if you turn the

" color " knob on an older television way too high, so the colors overlap. Or, a

lot like this mockup of how black text on a white background looks to me:

http://sonic.net/mustang/moggy/photos/autism/autism-printing.jpg

DeGraf ~*~ http://www.sonic.net/mustang/moggy

[Guest guest]

I just have it around where my peripheral vision should be. It's fuzzy and

dark at the far edges, but everything that I can see comes into focus, then

gets further away, blurs and brightens, and then comes closer and back into

focus again.

Have you ever had a " cluster " headache? Those are freaky. I've only ever had

one, but I felt like there was something I should be doing to save my life,

but I didn't know what.

Louis

In my house, " normal " is only a setting on the dryer.

RE: This is the one...

Louise Gainor jotted this down:

> I usually have a loss of eyesight before I get a migraine. Not

> totally blind, but things go in and out of focus and I lose

> peripheral vision. Hubby says my pupils contract and expand (not in

> sync, either). Is that what you mean by 'auras'?

Almost. I do start having difficulty focusing my eyes, but that's a bit

different. What I see fits the dictionary definition of the word " aura " --

it's like a colored " halo " or " nimbus " around everything, except it's around

the edges in both directions. (So the object doesn't just have a glow

around it, but a glow inside of it, that is.) A bit like what you get if

you turn the " color " knob on an older television way too high, so the colors

overlap. Or, a lot like this mockup of how black text on a white background

looks to me:

http://sonic.net/mustang/moggy/photos/autism/autism-printing.jpg

DeGraf ~*~ http://www.sonic.net/mustang/moggy