You don’t usually think of those two as related, do you? Well, researchers at Griffith University, where a lot of research is being done into migraine, have indeed taken notice of the descendants of the mutineers and the prevalence of migraine disease among the people today. Compared to the general population, the prevalence of migraine is more than double.
Studying this group of people is providing new insights into the genetics of migraine, as is summarized by Ms Hannah Cox in this brief video.
Reporting on the Grammys, CBS 2 Reporter Serene Branson was on live TV when something went very wrong. She started slurring her words, and was no longer making any sense.
She sat down, crying and confused – what had happened? Her right cheek went numb, then her right hand – obviously something was very wrong.
The video quickly went viral, and people were concerned. Was it a stroke? Some of the signs were there.
But doctors now believe it was migraine attack.
Actually, these symptoms aren’t as rare as you might think. What was rare, of course, was that Branson was on live TV when it happened!
However, Branson is certainly not the first public figure to experience similar symptoms. Also in the USA, Senator David Long woke up with numbness on one side of his body, and was diagnosed with a minor stroke. But it turned out that it was actually a migraine attack.
Both these people did the right thing – they immediately had their symptoms checked out.
Anyone who has experienced symptoms like this can at least relate in a small way to Branson, although most of us haven’t had an attack like that on-air. She described the experience afterwards:
“I knew something wasn’t right as soon as I opened my mouth. I hadn’t been feeling well a little bit before the live shot. I had a headache, my vision was very blurry. I knew something wasn’t right, but I just thought I was tired.
So when I opened my mouth, I thought, ‘This is more than just being tired. Something is terribly wrong.’ I wanted to say, ‘Lady Antebellum swept the Grammys.’ And I could think of the words, but I could not get them coming out properly.
They sat me down immediately. I dropped the microphone. Right after that, my cheek went numb, my hand went numb, my right hand went numb and I started to cry. I was scared. I didn’t know what had gone on and I was embarrassed and fearful.”
Our thoughts are certainly with Serene Branson as she gets back to work. Thankfully she has gotten some answers and treatment.
For a long time visitors have been sharing their art and photos with us (what am I saying? Photos are art!). They are trying to describe some aspect of their migraine attacks visually, so we can understand just a little bit better.
I put all the entries together in a video over a year and a half ago, but there is so much new art I decided it was time for an update!
So here is a glimpse of the art from so many of our visitors. You can take a closer look, find out who the creator is and what they have to say about their art, and even leave your own comments and ratings, by visiting our Migraine, headache, and art page. Scroll to the bottom for links to each picture, or upload your own art!
(Note – some of this art is disturbing. Which is, of course, appropriate considering the topic!)
We’ve talked a lot about migraine aura – especially visual aura – here in the past. Typically, visual aura hits before an attack of pain in migraine, although sometimes it hits all by itself, and can be quite debilitating in its own right.
But what if that visual aura never went away?
That’s what does happen to some people. I’ll get more specific in a moment, but first a couple of important notes…
Is this migraine?
There is some debate over whether these visual symptoms should come under the classification of migraine at all. Now of course, there are many things that can cause aura-like symptoms, shall we say. So of course those other issues need to be ruled out before you can even consider whether or not this is migraine-related.
Next, we have to ask if the visual symptoms are the same as migraine aura, or if they have unique properties. This could mean there is a different cause, though it still could be that there is a root cause involved in the migraine attacks and the visual symptoms.
Finally, even if the symptoms are the same, there is still debate over how closely they are related to migraine. Does the patient have individual migraine attacks? Could there be a common cause of both? Could it be a similar symptom from another cause? These are difficult questions to answer, though we certainly seem to be getting closer to answers as our understanding of the brain increases.
What is Persistent Migraine Aura and Visual Snow?
Last year I was corresponding with someone about persistent migraine aura, and visual snow, and they pointed me to some helpful information. I would give them credit, but for some reason I can’t find the correspondence at the moment (what? James isn’t perfectly organized? I’m so disillusioned!)! But I appreciate the nudge to post on this topic.
Persistent Migraine Aura (PMA), also known as persistent aura without infarction, is diagnosed when there are aura symptoms lasting more than a week without evidence of infarction (which refers to the death of brain cells). This is in a patient that already has migraine with aura, and then has symptoms that are typical of their migraine attacks but lasting longer.
Often these symptoms are only on one side, though not always. They can continue for weeks, even years.
Visual snow (VS) is a more specific symptom, which could be a part of PMA or not, or even a symptom that is a part of a totally different diagnosis.
As you might guess from the name, VS is when the person sees "snow", like static on an old TV, all the time. This may be a temporary condition, or pretty much permanent. VS is often accompanied by other symptoms, and other types of visual disturbances, as the video below illustrates:
What’s causing it?
That question doesn’t always have an answer. As mentioned above, often it’s related to migraine and considered a part of migraine disease.
Sometimes there are other causes – at least suspected causes. Research on VS is extremely limited, and though the visual symptoms do have some patterns and relate to other symptoms, it’s sometimes hard to know if there’s a solid related cause, or just two things that are comorbid (that tend to go together, though we may not know why), or if there’s just a coincidental relation.
In our next post on the topic, we’ll talk a little more about possible causes, and what treatments have been suggested.
For now, remember that this is a condition/symptom that is known by (some in) the medical community, and if you’re suffering from it you are by no means alone.
Hanging out on Twitter, I see a lot of talk about "cluster headache". Some people actually know what they’re talking about. But I suspect most do not.
Some seem to casually mention that they have a cluster headache today. Some mix up terms completely, saying things like cluster migraine. Or they say they have a migraine or a cluster headache or something.
I don’t get too upset at the people themselves, who are simply misinformed or uninformed. But having some idea what cluster headache is (though I don’t suffer from them myself), I still get upset that the term gets thrown around so casually.
Cluster headaches are also known as "suicide headaches", and there’s a reason. The pain is almost beyond comprehension.
But special thanks to A ClusterHead’s Life for posting some videos of people enduring a cluster attack.
I’ve posted one below, but I’ll warn you – it’s hard to watch. And it’s one of the less graphic videos. But if you want to understand cluster, take a look at a few of the videos here. You’ll never use the word casually again.