My ever-changing plethora of symptoms

My mom had migraines when she was younger, the kind that laid her out for 2 days, in complete darkness. I was the oldest of five and had to take over.

When I was 22 I first noticed auras, but no terrible headaches. At first they manifested as blurry distant vision in the afternoons. Then one day I saw jagged lines of light while I was driving and thought it was a crack in the windshield. I'd get headaches, but not very frequently.

My migraine got worse in my 20's and 30's, usually with a small wiggly light somewhere in my field of vision that got bigger, usually forming a crude letter "C" that scintillated. It eventually moved out of my vision and then a black hole appeared. A headache would follow, anywhere on a pain scale of 3-9. At times I'd get so agitated I couldn't rest.

Around age 36, new symptoms began to appear. I'd wake up and my last two fingers or part of my lower arm would be numb and sometimes tingly. I had a full workup, terrified that it was something worse than headaches, but thankfully it wasn't. I was put on Inderal 60 mg/qd. One day I had a headache and decided to try one of my mother's Imitrex injections for relief. Parts of my head, face and throat began to get numb, one spot at a time. The numbness would last for a few minutes and migrate to another spot. It was terrifying. I never used Imitrex again!

During my pregnancy later that year, every day my right arm would get numb and I'd have to lie down. Hormones definitely contributed to my migraines. From time to time a headache would hit me hard, but usually it was low grade pain and weird numbness.

My 40's brought new symptoms. I'm a teacher and I'd notice dull pain in my head and aphasia. I could almost "see" words but had to struggle a bit to say them. I also get mentally "off", when I feel almost intoxicated or out-of-body. I like I'm behaving oddly, and it's shameful and embarrassing, especially in social situations.

In the past ten years, my symptoms have included the following:
- "C" shaped light aura
- numbness/tingling in my mouth, tongue, arms, legs
- leg weakness
- aphasia
- right eyelid swelling/drooping
- pain in my teeth and gums
- rhinorrhea
- dull body aches, especially in my legs
- chills
- sensitivity to sound

Triggers for me are bright lights, especially strobe lights; odors such as car tires and certain perfumes; too little or too much sleep.

I've been on a few antidepressants which didn't help much. Higher doses of Inderal caused depression.

Thanks for reading! I look forward to being part of this site, as non-migraineurs can't really understand.