Seeing migraine auras
Eighty percent of people with migraines get disabling headaches out of the blue. The other 20%, however, experience sensations, usually visual, that warn them that a migraine is on the way. These symptoms are called seeing migraine auras .
Typical experiences of visual auras include flickering or flashing lights and shapes that appear in your visual field and move or expand to cause partial loss of vision. These symptoms are most often on one side of the visual field—and it tends to be the side opposite the one on which the pain of migraine will be felt. Other experiences of migraine aura can include weakness or numbness on one side of the body or difficulty speaking (dysphagia).
Auras and migraines occur together in predictable ways. An aura typically lasts less than an hour—and may last just a few minutes. The pain of a migraine follows shortly, and, in most cases, the symptoms of an aura dissipate before or as the pain of migraine arrives. Auras that persist for longer than an hour are unusual and should be evaluated by a doctor.
