Anyone elses migraines cause stroke like symptoms such as speech loss?

[Katiex]

5 years ago when I was in labour with my second son I woke up with a banging headache along with labour pains so I went downstairs to my partner to tell him I needed to go to hospital and I couldn't talk. It came out jumbled and slurred and didn't make any sense it was like I was speaking in different language. I also couldn't understand what my partner was saying.

We rushed to hospital and they said I had pre eclampsia and put it down to that.

Then last year I was watching tv and suddenly realised that parts of peoples faces were missing and writing on the screen. I looked in the mirror and half of my face was missing in a blind spot on my eye. I then began losing my whole vision and could see all these kaleidescope colours. This lasted half an hour until my vision came back and then a pounding headache started.

Then last thursday night I started off with a headache went to bed and my son wouldn't go to sleep. I went to say to him that it was late and we had to be up the next day but I couldn't remember his name or think of what to say. I was aware that my thought weren't forming as they normally would I felt confused and spaced out but as if I was locked inside my head. I also felt like my whole body had disappeared.

At hospital the doctor asked me to follow his finger but I couldn't my eyes were just darting about on their own and my pupils were massive.

The feeling wore off after an hour and they said it sounds like complex migraines. They wrote a letter to my doctor to send me to the migraine clinic.

I went to see my doctor on monday and he said lets see what the experts say first. He has referred me to a neurologist.

I am so worried they are going to find something because I also have regular periods of things looking unfamiliar to me such as my house or old school. I do suffer badly with depression, anxiety and panic attacks so that probably doesn't help.

Does anyone else suffer these symptoms with migraines?

[BumbleGirl]

Hello Katie, I'm sorry to hear what you're going through. It must be very traumatic. I have heard of migraines giving people symptoms like these - migraines can do a lot to our bodies! The dr has to send you to a neuro otherwise they wouldn't be doing their job properly and I'm sure it will just turn out to be migraines and hopefully they will be able to help ease the symptoms. Also I'm sure if it was something serious a lot more would have happened in the last 5 years xxx

[Rennie1989]

It is very common for migraines to cause distressing symptoms like auras, numbness, tingling, hearing loss and more. My second migraine was awful, I couldn't see, I had numb patches on my face and body and could not look at light, listen to sound or move a muscle without being in agony. Not to mention it gave me visions into the future!!

[harasgenster]

Hi Katiex, might be temporary aphasia, which can happen with migraines.

I had a few 'falling down' episodes (no pain, just collapse) followed by an inability to speak properly (I couldn't put the words in the right order and often used the wrong word or just couldn't remember how to communicate) or really understand what was going on around me for about half an hour afterwards. At the same time, everything looked weird - 2D kind of. I could look at the grass in the garden and say 'grass' inside my head, but it just didn't look like grass.....very hard to explain, but it was like all my perceptions were just 'off'. I also used to have problems with perception of sound and vision even when I didn't fall down, where sound would be 'far away' and my inner dialogue very loud and echoey and I would get odd visual disturbances.

I was sent to a neurologist in case it was epilepsy but after listening to my history he said it wasn't epilepsy and sent me packing.

I then self-diagnosed myself with 'dissociative seizures', which are a psychological thing, all the way up until I was doing a short course on neurology on the internet and heard about aphasia - which can affect people for a short period after unusual brain activity, like seizures or migraines. Migraines, I found out, don't always cause pain. They can present just like my problem: sudden fall, followed by loss of speech. Like all migraines, they're harmless, though. The times I got perception changes could have been mild migraines, the side effects and withdrawal effects of antidepressants (known for this kind of thing), or psychological. Bottom line: all harmless.

If you're also getting headaches and you're not falling down, sounds like migraines is your problem. Remember that migraines can be brought on by stress if you're prone to them so try not to get yourself too worked up about the odd symptom! It is very odd and disorienting, but when I was having the problem I found just lying down for half an hour did the trick and I was soon back to my old self.

I'm sure you're going to be fine :)