Transient aphasia after aura?
Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum so please bear with me.
I have recently had a pacemaker fitted because of heart problems. I also have a 75% blocked artery that is due to probably have a stent fitted. I hate drugs but have been put on statins, betablockers & baby aspirin. Consequently this has brought back my migraines which I last had 13 years ago before I had breast cancer, during which time I was on a treatment to reduce my estrogen levels, which must have stopped my migraines! The other day I had an auora start... I walked straight home... relaxed... massive migraine started. I dozed off for an hour or so & when I woke up my auora had gone but I couldn't understand what I was reading and when I spoke I could pronounce the words. This went on for 5-10 minutes & then stopped!? By the evening my migraine had lifted quite a bit & by the morning it had gone though had a sore head. I spoke to my GP who said it might not be bad but if it happened again to call 999.
Has anyone else had anything like this? Has anyone had 'transient aphasia' AFTER 'aoura' as all the descriptions I have read seems to say it happens with aoura.
Also does anyone think I should try & get this episode investigated as my GP says it's too late to investigate it now? Or does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks everyone.
Welcome! The aphasia you've experienced sounds so scary, I'm sorry that happened. 🙁 I am not a migraine expert, and one of my colleagues can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that other "non-headache" symptoms like nausea, weakness, aphasia and so on can occur at any point in the migraine process. Recall, too, that the final phase of migraine, postdrome, is nicknamed "migraine hangover" because of how nasty it can make you feel, despite the pain going away. It is always worth getting checked out for symptoms that leave you unable to speak or clearly understand what you are hearing or reading, to rule out the possibility of past stroke or other issues. Do you have access to a neurologist or other specialist who focuses on migraine? They would be best equipped to handle migraines in a particular way.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns, or just want to talk.. We're here for you! -Melissa, migraine.com team
Just wanted to write you back to let you know that you're not alone. Three times I've had this happen. The first time was nearly 30 years ago. Not a lot was understood about migraines at the time, and I had the full-on stroke symptoms. Spent four days in the hospital with tubes and cameras going in everywhere to try to identify the source of the stroke. Of course, no stroke was found, but spent six months on blood thinners just in case. I had an MRI years later which proved that there was never a stroke.
One time, I had one of these, where I could not speak - basically I couldn't form words or else I'd just utter gibberish. I dismissed it as a migraine, and sure enough, after going to bed, woke up with all normal. Then, was scolded heavily by my doctor when I asked about it, because if I did ever have a stroke and waited to receive medical attention, I'd have missed the opportunity to do something to reverse the effects.
So, the third time this happened to me, I did go to the hospital. Spent a few hours being monitored, and was discharged after the doctors agreed that there was no stroke, and that my symptoms had returned to normal.
I'm not a doctor, but I would suggest that it's better to have things checked out and maybe find that it was not necessary than to take the opposite approach, and then learn that you really should have had it checked out. Good luck.
