Complications Ensue

Complicated migraine
If the aura preceding a migraine attack lasts for more than a few hours or days, then it can be an indication of a complicated migraine. Usually the migraine aura lasts for about 20 minutes. Also it ends before the headache itself begins. But when the aura lasts through the headache it can become a complicated situation.

  Factors like smoking, use of hormones in menopause and birth control pills can worsen the situation by causing permanent neurological changes. Such changes may lead to a stroke later in life

Complicated migraine can be further classified into:-

Basilar migraine/Bickerstaff syndrome
Basilar migraine leads to patients doing wild and crazy stuff. And since it is mostly found in young women, these ladies are usually thought to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.

This affects the back of the brain or the neck and results in a throbbing two-sided pain unlike the common migraine.

It causes symptoms like dizziness, double vision, slurred speech, confusion, fainting, disorientation, vertigo, ringing in the ears, prickly feelings on the body and trouble thinking clearly.

Although basilar migraine is relatively uncommon, the patients suffering from the same are at an increased risk of a stroke. The treatment for Basilar migraine or Bickerstaff syndrome is the same as that of common migraine. The preventative medications include triptans, beta blockers and calcium channel blockers.

Ophthalmoplegic migraine
Ophthalmoplegic migraine is an unusual form of migraine where the pain surrounds the eyeball. It can be caused due to weakness in the muscles surrounding the eye. The pain caused by this can last from a few days to a few months. Partial or complete paralysis of the nerves which, are needed for eye movement, is also reported by some patients suffering from ophthalmoplegic migraine.

  If you are suffering from pressure on the nerves behind the eye, you would experience similar symptoms. Therefore, it is important to confirm the presence of ophthalmoplegic migraine with the help of a physician.

Ocular/ophthalmic/retinal migraine
Ocular migraine, also referred to as ophthalmic or retinal migraine, has varied symptoms which differ from patient to patient, but get worse with age. Sometimes only the visual signs of the attack like the aura are present. As there is no headache, it is referred to as acephalgic migraine or migraine without headache.

In this particu;ar type of migraine, there could be repeated attacks of one-sided blind spots, lasting for an hour, with or without headaches.

Hemiplegic migraine
A very rare form of migraine that usually runs in families, a hemiplegic migraine leads to the development of motor paralysis on one side of the body. In addition to this, the patient may also experience numbness and a pins-and-needles sensation as well.

Considered as one of the more severe forms of migraine, its cause could lay in the defect of chromosome 1 or chromosome 19. Abnormal calcium channels could also be involved. Triptans should not be taken if this kind of headache is present.


Related Articles