caret icon Back to all discussions

Periodic Migraines with one seizure

Hello,

Well I have had what a Doctor called in my youth sinus headaches. This was a long time ago and he said young men did not get migraines. Well I had two different types of very bad headaches.

One was if I smelled anything related to fake maple syrup, brown sugar or anything related. I would get a headache immediately and it would be severe and last for a day or so.

The other headache I would get mostly started at night and would be intense, debilitating and I would be light/sound sensitive. I get these about three times a month. I can go a month without one and then get four the next month. I always can pinpoint the place in my head and taking some Motrin, an aspirin and some coffee and rest for an hour ro so and it gets better. Often I am left with a feeling of being lightheaded and I just feel off...like a second off from the world.

Well about three years ago I had one of the worst headaches I have ever had. It was two days of severe pain. I could not think clearly, light was evil and I felt very sick to my stomach. The day after I felt very lightheaded and foggy. After sitting for an hour or so I stretched back in my chair and all of a sudden my left eye went black, my right eye tunneled down to a cone and my right arm started twitching. I could think clearly and I tried to command my left arm to stop my right arm but it would not move. My sight and control returned in a minute or so. I then got up and started talking out loud to myself...the stroke thing. I had no slurred speech and could walk. My wife jetted me to the hospital. They concluded nothing after three days.

Now that time has passed I cannot remember if it was my right arm or left that was frozen...ugh. Anyway I have had no episodes since. I have also not pushed things. They ruled out TIA and vascular but it left me with a sense of what anger not knowing what happened. There was even talk about MS but now that years have gone by they say that is not a thought. I do have AFib so the stroke thing was a high priority at first but they ruled it out.

Anyway I cam across an article about complex migraines and seizure like incidents and I thought I might throw out my story to see if anyone has known or heard anything like it. I am still having migraines and would like to know if i shoudl try to get in with a specialist.

Thanks for any help, Bill

  1. Hi Bill.

    Thanks for much for your question. That episode sounds alarming but I'm glad to hear everything checked out OK. Of course that has left you feeling frustrated, which I totally understand. Many of share in your frustration and have waited years before we get an accurate diagnosis. Let me see what information I can give you that may help.

    I think it's a great idea to seek out a specialist - with one caveat - make sure it's a doctor who is board certified in headache medicine! These doctors are migraine/headache disorder specialists and as I said are board certified in headache medicine which is different than being certified in neurology. Neurologists may be fine doctors but have a hard time being experts in one area because they treat so many different conditions such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson's and others. Migraine/headache disorder specialists are just that, experts who treat one disorder, migraine/headache, all day, every day. Here is information on how these doctors are special and how to find one; https://migraine.com/blog/how-are-migraine-specialists-different/ and https://migraine.com/blog/looking-for-a-migraine-specialist/.

    In fact Kerrie just wrote an article with the great news that there is a 25% increase in the number of migraine specialists in the US! You can read about that here; https://migraine.com/blog/increase-in-number-of-certified-specialists/.

    Please keep us posted on how you make out with a new doctor,
    Nancy

    Please read our rules before posting.