1956 My Crazy Migraine Journey (Part 6) The Different Symptoms of a Migraine

DISCLAIMER, THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, PLEASE SEEK OUT PROFESSIONAL HELP. FOR ANY OF THE METHODS OF RELIEF I TALK ABOUT TODAY ONLY TRY AT YOUR OWN RISK AND SPEAK TO A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL BEFORE TRYING THEM.

Just a third little note, this post may not make complete sense if you haven’t read the first and second parts. I will leave the links for you to go back and read in just a few seconds.

Here are the links

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

If you are not interested in reading the first and second chapters, then here is a rough idea of what it said. Part 1: I started getting migraines at the age of 11, I tried many methods of medication and relief. They randomly stopped happening frequently and they in only got 4 over the space of 7-8 years. Part 2: A few headaches throughout the years, sinus infections and ended up in the hospital once. Then had a killer migraine in August 2020. Click the above links to find out more. Part 3: All about the mega migraine I had in October 2020 and what lead to me starting a new daily medication. Part 4: This is all about the different triggers that can cause migraines. Part 5: This is all about the information you should or could keep track of to help treat and or prevent your migraines.

Today, I am going to talk about the symptoms and the stages of migraines and then I will share with you my symptoms and what I do to help with those symptoms. I do want to do a little disclaimer; I do have prescribed medication. PLEASE before you take medication, make sure you talk to a qualified professional.

To start, I think it will make more sense for you if I tell you about the stages of a migraine to begin with and then we can talk about the symptoms. The symptoms are a lot easier to identify when you know the stages and how they work. Overall, there are four stages of a migraine, are, 1 The Prodromal Stage, 2 The Aura Stage, 3 The Headache Stage and 4 The Resolution Stage.

The Prodromal Stage

If you can identify your prodromal stage, you have the most luck in stopping a migraine before it reaches the station so to speak. This stage is before the migraine attack. It is also known as the incubation stage, have you heard that term before? It is used across the medical board for illness and treatments. I am not sure if others do this but to make my life easier, I have given the prodromal stage a nickname. I call it the Early Warning Stage. The earlier you know you are about to get a migraine the bigger the chance of getting treatment/medication on time. A prodromal stage symptom could be a change of mood, trouble focusing/concentration, abdominal discomfort, insomnia, and the list does go on. A prodromal stage could be days before the migraine.

The Aura Stage

This one is a little simpler, it is still part of the early warning symptom, but you have less time to act. You could have as little as 5 minutes to react to one of these symptoms. There are many visions related which can be dangerous if you are driving or operating machinery in a warehouse etc. Therefore, you must carry any of your medication around with you. These symptoms tend to be obvious and as far as I know it is a definite indicator that you are getting a migraine. I could be wrong though so don’t take my word for it.

Symptoms you might get are sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, sensitivity to smell and even temperatures, you might also see patterns, lines, dots, etc in your vision. The way I can describe it is when you have looked at a light for too long and you get that blob in your eye that takes a minute to go, or when you look down at a kaleidoscope and see all the patterns. Therefore, I said these symptoms are hard to miss, they are quite literally right in front of you.

The Headache Stage

A little self-explanatory don’t you think? If you hadn’t guessed this is when the migraine is in full swing, and your head is POUNDING. The main symptoms are a very intense headache down one side of your head, nausea, tingling, numbness, dizziness, weak, stiffness, achy and the list does go on again. If you reach this stage, you have little to no hope of preventing the migraine. What you need to do now is look after yourself and take medications or other methods to treat the symptoms. Lying in a dark room, maybe with a cooling patch on your head, drinking some water, anti-sickness medications, if you can, sleep, does wonder. Imagine the worst headache you have ever had (those of you who do not suffer from migraines), now that is the baseline for a migraine. Honestly, the intense pain is close to and can be indescribable. Oh, and before I forget migraines can last DAYS.

The Resolution Stage

Hmm, this one might be my favourite stage, and I am going to use the word favourite loosely as it has the potential to be the longest stage. This should be a painless stage. The migraine is mostly over, you should be done taking any medication and not have many symptoms left over. The downside? Sadly, up to a week after your migraine attack, you might feel a bit lousy, tired, with no energy, possibly a loss of focus/concentration and just overall feeling drained. You might only feel it for the rest of the day, or you could be unlucky and feel the effects of a migraine for seven days.

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Right, so you now know about the stages. Feel free to go back over them, don’t worry it took me a minute to remember them and even now over a decade later I still must check the order of the stage sometimes. I thought I would share with you my symptoms and how I treat them with any luck I have tried something you don’t know about.

As a little side note, there are a million and one other symptoms you could have with a migraine, so just because none of the ones I mention come up for you doesn’t mean you are not suffering from migraines, please make sure you seek medical help.

Other symptoms you can get are feeling sick, being physically sick (vomiting), sensitivity to lights, sensitivity to sound and even smells, swearing, struggle to concentrate, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, tingling and numbness in your fingers/hands/arms/face/lips, feeling temperatures to the extreme (cold or hot) and the list goes on.

My Symptoms

Strangely my symptoms changed, they were very different from when I was a teenager compared to now. As a teenager, I got what they called “textbook migraine”, it was down one side of my head, I would see black spots before, and my hands would go numb and or tingly. I don’t remember a great deal as it was so long ago now, but I know I used to take Migraleve as a teenager and sleep.

For a reason unknown to me my latest migraines are very different. So much so that I didn’t realise they were migraines until about 3 weeks into it. Unfortunately, I don’t notice my prodromal symptoms until I get the migraine and then it clicks in my head that I was feeling tired and rubbish because I am getting the migraine. When I start to feel the pressure, it can go two ways, either a migraine or a sinus infection, it’s just a matter of time to find out which one it will end up being.

Another thing is I have been waking up with mine in recent months, so I have no warning signs at all. Which also makes it difficult to use medication, luckily, I am not on a preventative that I take every day and I have a different tablet to take when I get a migraine to lessen the effects.

My main symptoms are pain and pressure in my head and extreme sensitivity to light. Over recent years I have become sensitive to light if I want to get to sleep with or without a migraine. For instance, I must cover the light on my TV box, or it will keep me awake. I don’t get any obvious Aura signs/symptoms. I sometimes get black lines/areas but not every migraine. My main one is sensitivity to light, there was one migraine I had recently where I had my blinds and curtains closed for about two days and if I went downstairs, I hid under my dressing gown.

During the migraine stage I typically just sleep, and the medication I used to get rid of migraines makes me sleepy, so it works well. I also stay in a dark room and turn down the brightness on my phone, and my laptop if I manage to get on it, it is unlikely. I have on occasion used a heat pack on my head, you must be careful though, you don’t want to end up with burns so if you try this make sure it is not too hot and DO NOT fall asleep with the heat pack on. Lately, the headache portion of my migraines lasts up to 3 days. The worst migraine I’ve had to date is when I didn’t know what to do with myself. I couldn’t get comfy; the pain was so intense that my supervisor at work was even worried about me. I was very close to being sent home but then my medication started working.

I feel the worse during the resolution stage (other than the pain part), but I have experienced being very confused and fuzzy, struggling to concentrate and just feeling generally groggy and tired. It’s a bit like having a cold without having a cold. This lasts for anything between a couple of days to a week. It is the most annoying part of a migraine because you want to get back to life and catch up, but you feel foggy.

I have heard that as you get old there is a potential for you to grow out of them or they happen a lot less. I have my fingers crossed because I would like to get rid of them, but I am not going to hold my breath.