What's your strangest migraine symptom?
The less obvious symptoms associated with migraine often get overlooked - difficulty communicating, excessive yawning, smelling things that aren't there, and even distortion of body image and perspective.
What have your strangest migraine symptoms been? When did you realize they were linked to your attacks?
The hemiplegic ones are the strangest. Twitching, numbness, brain fog, feeling really generally out of it like I'm not fully here.
Other than that, the thing that took me the longest to figure out was actually my strange aura symptoms. Auras for me include panic attacks I can't get out of and just a feeling of absolute terror.
I'm crossing my fingers you continue to notice a decrease in number and even symptoms as well! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member) ,
Same here. I scared my husband to death . He was talking to me and all of a sudden I went completely white and fell. I couldn't make complete sentences . My auras look like the star field on Star Trek.
My strangest symptom occurs while I have no headache. Occasionally I get an electric shock that feels like the top of my head is going to blow off. It really sets me back on my heels if standing up. Immediately after the shock it feels like my hair is standing on end, but it is not. Headache specialist doctor could only say " well that is a strange symptom ". Boy, that's helpful.
, yikes! An electric shock that feels like your head is going to blow off sounds incredibly painful and jarring. I wish your headache specialist could've been more helpful. I know you mention this happening NOT during a migraine, but does this happen beforehand? After? Does it seem related to when you might have a headache or migraine?
I'm trying to do a dive into some of our articles where people might mention an "electric shock" feeling and one of them wrote about going off a medication, https://migraine.com/blog/the-time-withdrawal (although you didn't mention medication so I'm not sure whether or not this is applicable to you). Also, another community member asked about a shock sensation in the head, https://migraine.com/forums/shooting-burning-pains-in-head (but I'm not sure whether or not this is during migraine).
You mention a headache specialist, is this specifically a neurologist? I'm wondering if perhaps a neurologist would have more ideas or information to help you figure out what's causing that sensation.
-- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
I'll pee a lot. I run to the bathroom 4 or 5 times an hour.
, you are not alone in having to use the bathroom a lot before an attack. We have a lot of community members here who mention the same thing! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
The auras that present as smells... The burning wood, cooking fish, burning plastic,.. are all smells that could be real but never are... And cause cognitive dissonance for the duration of the phase. Fortunately I live with people who assure me when they're not real and to wait the sensation out untill it passes.
I just recently had to ask my husband if our house smells like an old historic house (my house was built in the 80s) it’s that damp old wood smell but I thought I was smelling. We were getting a lot of rain so I literally made him check the attic and other areas that we don’t use very often. In the past, I’ve also thought I smelled somebody smoking. It is maddening to say the least. 
We talk about this all the time around here! Apparently not everyone experiences this, but it's a huge topic on the site. Smoke is one of the most frequent smells people tell us about. The "old damp wood" smell is a new one to me, but I know exactly what you're talking about and it does fit in with some of the other phantom smells we hear about (dirt, trash, earthy smells). We're all so unique. Migraine is bizarre, right? Thanks for sharing your experience. -Melissa, team member
