Migraine with aura

Migraine with aura
Migraine with aura is a neurological pathology, one of the forms of migraine. The disease is characterized by a complex clinical picture, a large number of seizures and a severe course.

The content of the article:
Causes of migraine with aura
Symptoms of migraine with aura
Types of migraine aura
Diagnosis of migraine with aura
Migraine Treatment with Aura
Non-drug aspects of migraine treatment with aura
Migraine with aura
Aura is a set of certain symptoms that manifest themselves before the patient has a headache attack. Their presence significantly increases the risk of extremely life-threatening complications, including migraine stroke, repeated micro-strokes, cerebellar disorders, migraine status and less severe neurological disorders.

Like a common migraine, the disease in which aura is present is more often observed in women, but it can also appear and develop in men, especially representatives of the younger and middle age categories.

Causes of migraine with aura
Migraines can occur for various reasons, most of which are purely individual. As a rule, even one factor is enough to start an attack of severe headache, especially if it is repeated for a certain period of time.

Among such factors, there are physical exertion at work and too intense sports training, selected without taking into account the age and characteristics of the body. The same applies to long-term mental work, which can provoke an attack.

Aura often accompanies migraines due to prolonged work at the computer, which is associated with eye strain and mental activity. Seizures may also occur due to the constant need to communicate with people during the day.

For this reason, migraines often bother office workers: managers, accountants, secretaries, programmers, whose duties include interacting with computer equipment, a large number of employees and clients throughout the working day.

In addition, migraines, like other types of headaches, can occur due to a permanent state of stress received both at work and outside it. Any stress on the nervous system can provoke an attack.

Additional causes that provoke migraines:

Incorrect intake of medications;
Regular lack of sleep, lack of proper sleep;
Too long sleep, exceeding 12 hours a day;
Climate change;
Hormonal disorders;
Improper nutrition.
In addition to the above, there are other causes among the provocateurs of migraine that only a doctor can identify, so timely referral to a specialist when migraine symptoms with aura are detected is mandatory.

Symptoms of migraine with aura
The main sign is considered to be a visual disorder, which is why sometimes specialists take this migraine for visual neuritis. Patients see illusory zigzags, flickering and moving highlights, color spots. Along with this, it is often difficult for them to navigate in space and focus their eyes on objects that always seem lower than usual during seizures and are covered with black and white spots.

Migraine of this type is characterized by both visual and sound hallucinations: extraneous noises and voices of varying degrees of volume.

Often, the occurrence of dysphalgia is a state of inability to remember words, put them into sentences and pronounce them. Another symptom is the appearance of a tingling sensation in the fingertips. The tingling can go higher up the arm and even spread to one cheek, temple and affect the tongue.

It happens that the aura makes itself felt by symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, dizziness, general deterioration, drowsiness, involuntary twitching of the limbs.

The listed signs appear 10-60 minutes before the headache. The attack can last from 2-3 hours to several days in a row. A longer duration of the attack indicates a migraine status. Patients complain of pain on one side of the head and only in rare cases — on both sides. Headache is preceded by pulsation in the area of one or two temples, a feeling of pressure on the eyes. Symptoms can be significantly aggravated due to bad habits: smoking, alcohol and narcotic substances.

Types of migraine aura
The most common aura is visual. It is characterized by the illusory appearance before the eyes of a blurred shimmering spot, white, golden or multicolored. The patient sees it in each eye, but only one half of the field of vision is always covered by the spot. When the spot disappears and vision is restored, an attack of cephalgia occurs.

In children, the aura manifests as “Alice’s syndrome” — a condition in which the patient sees distorted shapes and sizes of surrounding objects and various visual hallucinations. The visual type of aura is also characterized by black spots in front of the eyes, sparkling dots, blurred vision. Retinal aura is rarely observed, which is expressed by the appearance of a spot in the center of the visual field and subsequent temporary blindness.

A sensitive aura is the occurrence of transistor sensitive disorders preceding a headache: tingling, numbness of the fingers of one hand with a gradual transition to the entire arm and one half of the head. Sometimes this feeling passes to the corresponding half of the whole body. There is also ringing in the ears, auditory or olfactory hallucinations.

Aura can cause temporary speech disorders. This may be slow pronunciation, slurred reproduction of words or individual sounds, difficulty in choosing words. Less often, the aura manifests itself as a violation of motor function. This phenomenon is described by patients as muscle weakness, passing along one arm and leg on one side of the body.

Diagnosis of migraine with aura
Consultation of people who have migraines and other types of headaches is conducted by a neurologist. It is he who is engaged in making a diagnosis, the first stage of which should be a survey of the patient. It is necessary to get the most complete information about the sensations before the headache attack, during and after it.

Migraine, both with and without aura, must be differentiated from other diseases. These are organic and vascular pathologies of the brain that cause symptoms similar to those of a migraine aura: ischemic stroke, TIA, discirculatory encephalopathy, cyst, encephalitis, intracerebral tumor.

To exclude these diseases, the patient is sent for a neurological examination. In the process of studying the clinical picture, the following studies are conducted:

Dopplerography;
Magnetic resonance imaging;
X-ray;
Computer study of the brain.
Laboratory tests are also necessary, among which blood and urine tests are mandatory. In addition, neurological examinations and, if necessary, consultations of specialists from other fields of medicine are carried out. So, first of all, an ophthalmologist is involved in the work of diagnosing migraines to determine the fields of vision and examine the fundus.

An important point in the diagnosis of this disease is electroencephalography, which allows you to get information about the functional activity that the patient’s brain has and about the features of his bioelectric rhythm. The results of this study are used in the selection of medications to eliminate the symptoms and causes of the disease.

Migraine Treatment with Aura
It is believed that migraine cannot be cured with drugs of non-specific action, since they are ineffective in this case. And yet, in modern pharmacology, there are remedies that can alleviate the main symptom of migraine — a headache attack. These are antispasmodics and anti-inflammatory agents of nonspecific action: aspirin, citramon, ibuprofen, no-shpa, nicoshman, nicotinamide and others.

It is necessary to take these drugs at the first signs of aura manifestation. This allows you to prevent an attack or at least facilitate and shorten its course in time. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that this measure serves only for temporary relief of the general condition and removal of unpleasant symptoms, and systematic administration of drugs without specialist supervision and their independent appointment is unacceptable. Therefore, contacting a doctor in this case is mandatory. Medical treatment should be carried out only according to the recommendations of the attending physician. As a rule, he prescribes several drugs for a comprehensive effect:

Ergot-based remedies for vasoconstriction and arteries;
Analgesics;
Antidepressants;
Anticonvulsants;
Salt solutions in case of dehydration.
Triptans are considered to be the most effective medications that prevent migraines. Drugs of this group are also always present in the list of medications prescribed for this pathology.

When prescribing medications, the doctor takes into account the age of the patient, the peculiarities of the state of his body and possible concomitant pathologies. When side effects occur, he excludes the medications that caused them, or replaces them with drugs with a similar effect. Also, the doctor prescribes a dosage of drugs, which cannot be exceeded in order to avoid intoxication.

Non-drug aspects of migraine treatment with aura
Therapy for the treatment of migraine implies only a comprehensive approach aimed both at relieving the attack during its manifestation and at reducing the frequency of these critical conditions.

It is believed that migraine can manifest itself due to negative external influences. It is extremely important to identify these components of the human environment and make interaction with them minimal or completely excluded.

Sometimes, to get rid of migraine attacks and all kinds of headaches, it is enough to make lifestyle adjustments, namely:

Give up all bad habits;
Do not overload the body with physical and mental loads;
Avoid stress and emotional shocks;
During depressive states, visit a psychologist and follow his instructions;
To be outdoors more often, especially if the work is associated with a permanent stay indoors;
Do physical education.
During an attack, first of all, you need to relax, if possible, sleep. It is advisable to ventilate the room to avoid stuffiness, which also provokes an attack. Cool compresses on the head, wet bandages, massage help to soothe the pain. An effective remedy is self—massage: repeated light squeezing of the head on the sides.

There is a list of folk remedies used to treat migraine attacks, such as a decoction of dogwood, green tea and potato juice. These drugs can have a good effect as part of complex therapy. You should also consult about taking decoctions of wormwood, oregano, St. John’s wort, elderberry, valerian, chamomile, lemon balm, widely recommended by folk medicine.

After the therapy is over and the migraine has stopped bothering, it is necessary to pay attention to preventive actions: follow the principles of a healthy lifestyle, exercise moderate physical activity without overloading, observe a gentle work schedule and eat properly regularly.

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