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What about when there is little or no pain?

At 53 years old, my first visual and sensory aura made themselves known to me. Never before in my life had I experienced such a thing and had no preparation for what occurred. In my vision, I had the classic scintillating scotoma. I thought I was either going blind or having a stroke. It passed in 20 minutes, but was immediately followed by tingling in the fingers and then one side of the jaw and the side of the tongue.

Although I could speak, the oral word and the written word were effortful for me to work with. I have never been so frightened in my life, thinking I was losing control of my brain. Since my Dad had a stroke when I was 30, stroke has always been my particular phobia and although I was diagnosed with "migraine with aura", when it actually happens to me, I go into a panic attack, which makes everything worse. Sometimes a get a bit of a dull headache afterward, but nothing unmanageable, and sometimes no headache at all.

Does anyone else deal with this in a less self-torturing manner? I would love to hear from you.

Thanks for any feedback, suggesting or support! My thoughts are with all of you!

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