Migraine aura vs. seizure aura

[@jessicah3450]

Our diseases don't read medical textbooks. Migraine patients, myself included, can see a variety of auras and they can affect any of the senses, not just vision.

[@stew3089]

i have seizure auras and i don’t see anything, i have a feeling of depression and impending doom for about 10-15 seconds with mine, very intense, which has potential to turn into a seizure.

[@TLEawareness]

@@stew3089 same here as far as the feelings go. I’ve had a couple of ecstatic ones though too.

[@stew3089]

@@TLEawareness so crazy man. the day i typed that message i had a seizure which led to a bleed on the brain and was put into an induced coma for 2 days. i’ve now just returned home with higher mg meds

[@M3LINDAH]

Agreed. I had a seizure last night out of nowhere. My vision is blurry this morning.

[@Shutupyourbrown]

More like deja vu and unwanted memories for me (i have epilepsy tho) if i dont have a seizure that day, I’m usually running on auto pilot mode it feels like (just dont feel myself)

[@morriganmagical9768]

This is a big comfort to hear. I recently started having really bad headaches with auras and my doctor said it might be seizures so I got scared and started googling. Luckily mine seems to most likely be migraine since they last anywhere between and 30-45 minutes. Thank you

[@angelamorris4304]

I will say, I didn't think these auras were so serious, until I wound-up in the emergency room this past Sunday evening. Usually, they last about 15 minutes, with zig-zag lines, colors of light, and water waves, and no headache. I started getting eye auras 17 years ago. They started out like zig-zag lines of colors. Then, later on, they became more watery looking. I can tell they are getting more frequent and I'm feeling more exhausted. This particular occurrence, I had gotten very upset at a subject line that my husband brought up. All-of-a sudden, the aura came on me, but it wasn't as bad as usual. Normally, I have to lie down, take my supplements, and wait it out. I'm usually very exhausted after experiencing these episodes. This time, I literally couldn't move. My husband called 911. This was the craziest thing I have ever encountered. There were times where I couldn't even speak. The EMTs had to help me up off the bed, and the whole time, I felt like I was going crazy. On the way to the hospital, the driver was swerving back and forth. I finally was able to speak. I told the attendant sitting with me that I felt like I was losing my mind. I felt crazy. I was told that auras are not dangerous, but now I'm seeing they are. I'm searching for a good neurologist/chiropractor, because I don't want to wind up having a stroke. This was the first time I experienced seisure-like symptoms. At certain moments, I became despondent. If anyone reading this has had any form of eye aura - take it serious, because eventually it can lead to further issues. My situation has gotten worst. Take care everyone.

[@jennycartwright5578]

Well thats scary what do you mean by they are frightening now

[@sermocaru]

Maybe look into massage or physiotherapy over a chiropractor, especially if you’re trying to avoid a stroke. I had considered one until I learned of the risks.

[@breazybear]

This actually happened to a news reporter live on air. She couldn’t speak and was jumbling her words as if she was having a “stroke”. Turns out it was just a symptom of migraine aura and there was no lasting brain damage or anything dangerous. I’m sure your experience was very frightening but all the literature points to migraine aura not being dangerous and you can always have an EEG done to rule out seizures and epilepsy. But I suggest you read more about migraine aura as it doesn’t necessarily refer to just the visual aura but can affect any part of your senses and cognition including reading, writing and speaking as well as motor function. What differentiates this from stroke is that there seems to be no lasting damage, other than perhaps psychosomatic symptoms and persisting anxiety/ptsd. I’m speaking as a person with migraine aura without headache/scintillating scotoma and have done a mind bending amount of research on migraine aura as I have panic disorder and my fears are very similar to your own.

[@angelamorris4304]

​@@sermocaruI have been going to the Chiropractor for almost a year now. I had read on Google that after a year of treatment, they stopped occurring. I've noticed they are happening at least once a month. I have scheduled an appointment with a Neurologist. I just had another episode where I couldn't move. I took all my supplements, Orange juice, and a banana. The aura went away, but I was left feeling extremely fatigued. I had ne ER had Eye Auras until age 39. About 5 years prior to my first episode, I got into an altercation with a Family member. She jerked my head forward, which I believe caused me whiplash. I let it go for years. Someone said to seek a Chiropractor. I have been considering massage Therapy as well. Thank you for the tip. .

[@angelamorris4304]

​. I wasn't having seisures until about a year ago. The feelings of being drained of all my energy just started happening. I never have a migraine. Sometimes I do feel a dull ache. I just had another severe episode yesterday. When I initially had them about 19 years ago - they were not to the degree that I couldn't walk. They have progressed in intensity over time. I'm going to a Neurologist, to check on medicine.

[@jf5504]

Wow, thank you for a clear and concise explanation. 👍

[@FlaThunderstorm]

I have had Migrain Visual Auras since I was 7 years old. I'm now 82 and still have them. Have never had a headache from them . They last up to 45 minutes each time. Infrequently I will get one right after another. Multiple years of my own research and reflection has pinpointed the problem, at least in my case. That problem is psychological pressure. When I am under stress I get them. Years ago I read an article about Migrain Auras from a clinical persective. The article stated that when you are under stress a substance is excreated in your body that constricts the blood vessels. In a sense squeezing and restricting the flow of blood in your vessels. And apparently the blood vessels in the brain are very suseptible to this restriction. The body's mechanism immediately senses that the brain will be damaged if the restriction of blood is not relieved and an anti toxin (of sorts) is rushed to the vessels to open them wide. I believe the initial restriction caues the Aura and when the vessesl are quickly opened wide a headache ensues. This is my own interpretation and certainly not from any formal medical education on my part.

[@dreamsofturtles1828]

Thank you for sharing this. I have been under stress for 3 months now due to damage to my house. I am getting visual disturbances with migraines, hot flashes and poor muscle coordination along with extreme irritability. Have been wondering what the heck is going on, this might be part of it.

[@katiwyekjopny]

The blood vessels theory of migraine has been proven wrong recently. Spreading cortical depolarization causes migraines, and it is caused by hyperexitability of neurons. What is interesting (and this is only my uneducated thought) - it seems that migraine and epilepsy lie on the same causal spectrum... The difference is in the level of neurons excitability.

[@Pyrolonn]

@@katiwyekjopny That's interesting. At least in me the causal trigger seems to be something like lack of sleep or general stress

[@RG.......]

​@@PyrolonnSo what treatment or preventive options are you looking at

[@lenevictoria]

I have epileptic aura too, but if i should describe it i would say : motor sensations , which affect your ability to control your muscles, such as twitching or the inability to move certain muscles, sensory sensations , which inolve taste,touch, phantom smells, sight and hearing ,such as tasting and smelling things that are not there. And hearing voices become stiff, unable to move yourself without feeling discomfort. Feeling of doom. Panic/fear and almost detachment in a way. Feeling of having done something wrong. Guilt and shame, bubbling hot bubbles in my body , make me stop and think so much just stare out in the room. The body stiffens uncomfortably and touch it. Hands it burns in the middle of the breast. (Sorry for typos , Im not English). This is how i would describe my epileptic aura. My last from second to minute. I have often all those feelings in one. How long it last depends on the degree of the aura. (I do not Get seizure everytime it is just a warning)

[@dearsyahirah1724]

stay strong! reading your experience is similar with mine and I can relate with temporal lobe epilepsy

[@_essiethelow_7330]

the same problem has with my daughter, so I want to know what medication helps you to get rid of it

[@kevinvince2011]

Thats really helpful for a junior neurological resident. Thx a lot!

[@jessicah3450]

Know once you're actually out practicing that diseases don't read medical textbooks. From, a patient. Good luck!

[@hereandabout]

. exactly what i experience . so it's a migraine aura . thank you so much !

[@Jordan-fq6xo]

Wow, for a 2:47 video there is a ton of digestible information here. Thanks.

[@balasundaram7781]

Really awesome sir

[@rebarx812]

I get the classic 20-30 minute scintillating fortification scotoma during which I feel otherwise completely normal and within a few minutes of it moving out of my visual field I usually go into a tonic-clonic seizure. So for me, the migraine aura is diagnosed as a seizure aura (focal-aware seizure).

[@armadilloross]

This dude has just explained this about as effectively as can be done. Well done sir.

[@nancyshookedoncrochet526]

yup I had the aura this morning. didn't get a headache this time.

[@davidmead16]

I have had 33 years of migraines with syncope . Now 33 years later I'm told I have seizures and epilepsy. Verified by eeg. I feel confused a lot very forgetful . And I stress really hard that makes everything worse . Now I'm losing my driver's license. Why did this happen to me ?

[@DeedsReadz]

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I hope everything gets better for you ❤️ Happy holidays.

[@nothanks6931]

My dad has a similar story. He is 55 with a history of somewhat daily headaches. He didn’t have his first seizure until 3.5 years ago and has had 6 grand mals since. He is on 3000mg keppra and an additional seizure medication that I don’t know the name or amount of. My dad has had his driver license also taken from him. It kills me to see him seize . As for you, all I can say I’m very sorry sir that you are going through this. I’m very very sorry. My dad, I can see him lost in thought sometimes thinking about his condition but he is generally distracted and happy otherwise. Please find someone you can hang out with and just be happy and find something to do. This isn’t a death sentence. Perhaps the name epilepsy makes you think it’s some super serious condition, just think of it as your normal just a different version. Every person has different habits whether voluntary or involuntary… I think the labeling of the condition makes you think its worse. I know it’s sad… but it’ll be ok.

[@nothanks6931]

You could always make lists if your forgetful. It would probably make you more organized anyway :) kinda like a college student or teacher or doctor. They have a lot to remember and always jot things down. Don’t worry sir. I’ve witnessed your pain.

[@jessicah3450]

It's really for the better, fainting or having a seizure while driving will be catastrophic. I am still very sorry that it is happening to you. Maybe if the condition gets well controlled with medications you can get your license back.

[@sincitylv]

@@jessicah3450 i was diagnosed epileptic at 13 ( 20 right now ) and haven't been able to get anything but my permit ( at 15 so its been expired ) although im medicated , the worst part about having epilepsy so young is it either delays you from taking certain steps in life such as your license , or it prevents it and you'll never be able to do such things again

[@randocalrissian7573]

Interesting. I get the dotty seizure aura and I call it the whooshes because it comes on all of a sudden and I’ll need to sit while it’s happening or it leads into a full tonic clonic. I’d love for you to do a video on some of the other auras felt, the ones that aren’t visual

[@HALOGENBLUEMAN]

Sitting and getting fresh air help

[@MaryFredette]

2 questions 1. Can you have both? Not necessarily at the same time. 2. For the Occipital Can it just be one circle? Does it have to be multiple? Because I have both of these however I only see one circle that lasts for maybe 2 min max but I don’t have a siezure afterwards.

[@samw730]

Yeah me too I get only one colourful circle which catches a side of a eye( my right eye )

[@TLEawareness]

There’s LOTS of different kinds of seizures. I’d look into partial seizures or somewhere along that route. I do believe that the seizure auras are called partial seizures. They can last seconds up to a minute or two.

[@_essiethelow_7330]

Thank you for giving this valuable information, is there any medication for this treatment? can it be curable? give some ideas, thank you.

[@KB-xp5cy]

Hey so this is really interesting to me as a migraine patient that was also evaluated for seizures. About the color dots presenting only during seizure auras - I actually get colorful purple dots, fiery colored dots, or colorful shapes fairly often. I’ve had multiple MRI’s and EEG’s, including a 3-day video EEG all come back normal. The doctors have reassured me that I do not have epilepsy. But I do get the colorful dots and shapes. So I thinks it’s possible that could be part of the migraine aura as well?

[@pidgeisabitch7756]

I have brain tumors that caused 5-6 auras a day and a full seizure once a months on average. The dots are quite intense paired with the audio hallucinations and strong feeling of dejavu due to the location of one of my tumors. I hope your lucky enough to be able to stop them. I was able to halt mine for a couple years by getting the main tumor removed. I've been Aura and size free since my surgery in Oct 2020

[@krystalgregors7731]

@KB so I have a congenital brain defect and have been seeing sparks of light my whole life. If there is no medical reason, there isn't for mine either- here's the other thing: have you considered these lights you're seeing could be supernatural, paranormal, &/or extraterrestrial in nature? Just a thought. I'm a legitimate professional Clairaudient Psychic Medium and I now believe these to be of that origin. That's as much as I would like to say here publicly, but... Just a thought. The truth is often stranger than fiction. 🤩

[@jessicah3450]

Yes, I have migraines with auras and do not see lines. Our diseases don't read medical text books. I also think the EEGs can come back normal if you are not having or about to have a migraine. Gotta try to get an EEG when you are in the full throws of an attack, but good luck with that. The only test that came back abnormal for me is I have demyelination similar to MS lesions thanks to my migraines. That showed up on an MRI.

[@SparkingLife111]

I saw video of a boy who had eeg etc nothing showed anything luckily his parents got it on video he was having focal seizures. Its tough try to video tape yourself. I got a head injury yrs ago told neuro that im pretty sure im losing consciousness he said no your not. Ugh.

[@elisepage4279]

Hi there, thank you for this! Do you have the names of any papers that talk about the difference between visual aura shapes between migraine and seizure? I've always had the latter but am diagnosed with migraine. I'm sure it's not the most sensitive diagnostic tool but I'm certainly curious!

[@stevehorn1111]

My daughter has this classic Turing pattern visual aura, and bilateral monocular polyopia (hope I wrote that correctly), and focal seizures. She just got out of the EMU (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit) and is highly frustrated because they diagnosed her with Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures, even though Occipital seizures are notoriously hard to detect. Even if there's a PNES component to this (not convinced), she has the vision issues and consistent discrete visual auras prior to these seizures with these "orbs". Highly frustrating when you go to what are supposed to be highly qualified epileptologists.

[@Angel200929]

What is it, if the visual aura last longer that 5 minutes ? Or 4 hours with no headache, but numbness in body, I’ve had a grand mal seizures before, also have sleep apnea, and a noticeable scull bump to head as kids on concrete ground off climbing frame, then hit on back of head 7th October 2005, had the grand mal seizures two in one day saw the dots you mentioned, they where black dots, also chicken pox virus resurfaced as Bell’s palsy later then cold sores after 2021 when feeling run down, + returning migraines on same day and eyes that has a weak muscles the Strabismus

[@Ryan-eu3kp]

I remember being 14 and my first visual seize occured while crossing the road. Was hilarous lol

[@AnnaWillo]

Oh shit I've been getting the circles

[@heatherwanamaker7904]

I have seizures and sometimes I get the dejavu feelings

[@crystalboyd7455]

Layments terms man!!!

[@dailydoseofmedicinee]

👏👏

[@kyaraonly]

I was born with epilepsy seizures when I was a 5 month year old baby

[@KapKuh]

Seizure auras for me are weird. I either go silent and stare, or I forget where I am and who I am.

[@georgesward9063]

Hello Dr Lee . Question for you or someone else that can answer : Do we know anything about cause, origin or treatment of long term aura migraines . basically an aura that is lasting over a month ( still present today) ( aura is fluctuating from clear to blurry vision and symetrical in both eyes) . MRI is negative, blood test are normal ---( Persistant aura without infarction ? then what are possible treatments. Could this be related to a heart problem ??

[@katiwyekjopny]

EEG? Carotid arteries throughput? Seems to be poor blood supply of oxcipital lobe.

[@georgesward9063]

The patient is 20 years old. Carotid arteries at that age should be fine specially that she is a person that does a lot of sports Atropine 1% drops made the blurry vision ware out for a while but since then it came out with double vision ( esotropia ) . patient is followed in neuroophtalmology . They have no clue what to do

[@reviewsloft1315]

First of all I,am a migraine patient from my childhood. 2.5 years ago when I was watching led TV suddenly I saw aura that was like zig zag and I was shivering because I was feeling very cold and it stopped after 20 minutes and never happened again but two weeks ago I saw the exact same aura and was shivering + feeling very cold. and after the aura ended I was still feeling a bit cold. and had an headache in the morning. Can you tell me if its a seizure or a aura migraine

[@DevBlayz]

Thats migraine, seizure aura last a few seconds, migraine last around 20-30 minutes

[@drjahon]

What's the pathogenesis of the aura, I couldn't find an exact explanation! Why does CSD occur? Is it due to vasoconstriction? If it's why vasoconstriction happens? Is there any relationship with serotonin?

[@katiwyekjopny]

Vasoconstriction has nothing to do with it.

[@King14278]

I had a focal seizure from migraine

[@naturalbeauty2231]

Me

[@FlaThunderstorm]

You know that these vision auras have nothing to do with the optics of the eyes per se as you can see the auras even when your eyelids are closed tight. It's very frightening if you don't actually know what is going on and can be devastating to a young child. Yes the auras are non life threatening, or so I'm told by the medical community. However, they are extremely disturbing no matter how many years one has been dealing with them. However, you do learn how to live with them. There have been times when I feel an aura is about to manifest itself and I quickly take two Ibuprofen which is an anti inflammatory and it helps to lesson or even stop the condition. Kind of affirms that an aura has to do with an inflammatory condition in the brain. Unfortunately, stress is the leading trigger to inflammation and something that we all live with these days in modern societies.

[@RG.......]

How often do you get the aura, is it with the headache? So the ibuprofen stops the aura within a few minutes instantly?

[@tinapiotrowski6161]

What did he say ? a hemomogist what???

[@nicoc7024]

What about aura with no headache?

[@TLEawareness]

Possible partial seizure. I’m far from being any sort of doctor though.

[@homirayousof5540]

My sister young one will know it better