Length of Major Hemiplegic Attack?
Hi. Yesterday at 10.30am my wife got a severe FHM attack. She was asleep when I came home for lunch. Normally she's better after a couple of hours sleep. This time it lasted extremely long.
Post-attack symptoms
As of now, 10pm the day after, 36 hours after the attack started she still does not understand what she sees and cannot interpret the input she gets. She can see my smile, but not anything else. We can communicate on a basic level. She is of course afraid it will never go away, and I think that triggers anxiety as well, and she had a couple of panic attacks during this time.
Is it just fatigue?
I was able to calm her down and get some food and water into her, she has hardly eaten since breakfast yesterday. I calmed her down by saying that the symptoms now are fatigue because she has not eaten or had a drink. What is normal?
I know migraine attacks can last for a long time, but this is the worst she have had the 18 years I have known her. We have gone to the hospital when she had recurring attacks, but they can not do much except giving painkiller intravenously. That's another thing, no painkiller seems to take the pain. She has used 2x 1g Voltaren (diclofenac) for suppository administration. She has also taken 4x 400mg ibuprofen during this time.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hi
, thanks for sharing what is going on with your wife. We don't give medical advice over the internet, but my first thought is to take your wife to her specialist. When a headache lasts longer than normal and/or is worse than normal it's a good idea to get her evaluated. Maybe you can call her doctor and report what is going on with her and see what they say. Maybe there is more that can be done to help her.
Take care,
Peggy (Migraine.com team)
https://migraine.com/blog/understanding-hemiplegic-migraine/
Hi, David, how are things going with your wife? Is she any better today? Please update us when you can, we are thinking of you! -Melissa, migraine.com team
We went to the hospital the same night that I wrote here. I called directly and we were able to go straight to the hospital without visiting the doctor.
They gave her paracetamol iv and a relaxing (Vival 5g) that she hallucinated with. This long attack and the relaxing medicine gave her panic attacks. Two weeks later she still have some anxiety but I guess this is normal with FHM. She had aura for one week, almost "Persistent Aura Migraine Without Infarction". At least "Prolonged Aura".
They have suggested Atacand (beta blocker) as preventive medication, but as it's not recognized in our part of the world she needs to pay herself. As we are relatively young and she has 4-10 attacks per year we think it's a little overkill. The same with Sarotex which is an antidepressant.
Any personal opinions is welcome 😉She has also used Topimax but too many side effects, so she stopped several years ago.
Any reason she should not try the triptans?
Have had migraine for 8 yrs.+ I am 74 yrs of age. Have tried just about every med for migraine including Botox. My head has become so sensitive to the injections that they are horribly painful (every 4 mos.) Weight gain due to inactivity due to "M", increased anxiety, loss of friends. I live alone and depression has worsened. Your wife is so fortunate to have you. Be strong.
You might live alone but don't ever feel like you have to go through it alone. We understand how isolating migraine can be and we are here to support you anytime you want to talk about it. Hugs to you. -Melissa, migraine.com team
