Migraine Symptom - the Full Range of Symptoms
   

Migraine Symptom
by Brian B. Carter, MS, LAc

Brian is the founder of the Pulse of Oriental Medicine. He teaches at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and maintains a private acupuncture and herbal practice in San Diego, California, and is the author of Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure.

Brian Carter, acupuncturist, herbalist, and author

There are many types of migraines, from migraine equivalents, to digestive migraines, even migraine auras without headache.

Most people are familiar with headache migraines, but what about the rest?

Here we'll look into the full range of all possible migraine symptoms.

Since I've dealt with the migraine headaches elsewhere (including acupuncture and migraine treatment), let's talk about migraine symptoms without headache.

Migraines without headaches occur in people who have experienced migraines with auras. The migraine symptoms besides the headaches are called the "aura". The aura usally precedes a migraine headache, but can occur by itself. We'll get into the list of migraine symptoms that are possible auras further down the page.

It's important to understand that migraine symptoms are a neurological in origin- that means that the the nervous system (brain and nerves) are causing the migraine symptoms. The headache that can come with migraines is incidental- the neurologic part is primary.What happens first in is brain overstimulation, then a spreading cortical depression.


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List of possible Migraine symptoms besides headache:

  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Weakness
  • Vision disturbance
  • Light sensitivity
  • Sound sensitivity
  • Throbbing headache
  • Pain over one eye
  • Sound sensitivity
  • Aura - the "prodrome" is your experience before the headache or most intense part of the migraine, and can include:
    • Flashing lights
    • Zigzag lines
    • Temporary vision loss
    • Speech difficulty
    • Arm tingling and/or weakness
    • Leg weakness
    • Tingling face and/or hands
    • Confusion
    • Giddiness
    • Noise sensitivity

NOTE: Medical researchers still have not found sufficient evidence to confirm that migraine symptoms can come from excessive exposure to boy bands like Menudo or hit singers like Britney Spears.

More migraine symptom and pathogenesis references:

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About The PULSE
All information herein provided is for educational use only and not meant to substitute for the advice of appropriate local experts and authorities.

Copyright 1999-2074, Pulse Media International, Brian Carter, MSci, LAc, Editor