| Most people think of a migraine as excruciating pain, | | | | green, yellow and blue. The colors look good together, |
| but pain is actually the third step of a migraine episode. | | | | and are pleasing to watch as long as the migraine pain |
| Before the pain, a majority of migraine sufferers | | | | has not begun. These people may also feel that they |
| experience the pre-headache phase and the aura | | | | are look through smoke or smog. At times, it seems |
| phase. | | | | their eyes are shaded by a mini-blind with a crescent |
| If you have ever heard of the aura phase, you've | | | | shape. |
| probably wondered, "What does a migraine aura look | | | | 3. Artistically minded migraineurs are likely to say that |
| like?" | | | | migraine aura look like op-art paintings. They describe |
| Although many people speak only of the aura's affect | | | | psychedelic, neon borders around a primary zigzag |
| on the eyes, the aura is much more than that. | | | | design in black and white. In fact, more than one |
| Migraineurs (those who have migraines) and their | | | | sufferer has observed that, were it not for the onset |
| physicians know that some or all of the following may | | | | of excruciating pain, the visual phenomenon would be |
| be part of an aura. | | | | very entertaining - something you might pay to |
| * auditory hallucinations - you hear sounds that aren't | | | | witness! |
| there | | | | 4. One German artist, Delia Malchert, undertook to |
| * confusion in thinking - things aren't making sense | | | | represent her aura's visual hallucinations in paintings. |
| * decrease in your hearing ability | | | | Her migraine aura look like scotoma: points in her visual |
| * difficult finding the words you want | | | | field where vision is absent or reduced. They usually |
| * dizziness | | | | begin with a small spot near or at the centre of her |
| * increased feel and touch - or reduced feel and touch | | | | vision. The spot grows gradually, darkening her vision |
| * olfactory hallucinations - you smell odors that aren't | | | | and developing a jagged, zigzag rim of black and |
| there | | | | white. The rim emits quick flashes as it rotates rapidly |
| * partial paralysis | | | | around the darkening center. Before long, the |
| * sight loss - partial or blurry vision | | | | scintillating and darkening increase to become a |
| * tingling or numbness of your face | | | | temporary visual disorder that is almost like legal |
| * visual hallucinations - you see sights that aren't there: | | | | blindness. At that point in the aura, the center part of |
| flashing bright lights, wavy lines, spots, or zigzag lines | | | | what she sees is very blurry. To her, the hallucinations |
| For now, however, we will look only at the last | | | | of a migraine aura are irritating and annoying rather |
| symptom in the list: visual hallucinations. What does a | | | | than entertaining, even though they are not always |
| migraine aura look like in terms of its visual | | | | followed by migraine pain. She does admit, though, that |
| hallucinations? | | | | they can be aesthetically pleasing. |
| Migraine Aura - Visual Hallucinations | | | | What does a migraine aura look like? |
| The visual effects vary from person to person, | | | | These phrases sum up some of the many visual |
| although there are similarities. The changing activity of | | | | perceptions migraine sufferers may experience. |
| the nerves that coil around the blood vessels can | | | | * lightning bolts like jagged "Z" patterns - most common |
| produce partial loss of vision or intense colors and | | | | * psychedelic patterns of bright colors |
| patterns. | | | | * sparkling zigzag lines that rotate |
| 1. For some people, the effects begin as a small dot in | | | | * random patterns of curved and straight lines |
| front of one or both eyes. The dot is a blind spot - a | | | | * spider webs in front of the eyes |
| spot resembling the effect of accidentally looking | | | | * lattice work, grids, or mini-blinds in front of the eyes |
| toward a bare light bulb. Over a period of 30 to 60 | | | | * a spiraling tunnel |
| minutes, the dot begins to grow. It flashes. Gradually, it | | | | * kaleidoscopes of changing colors and patterns |
| changes shape, becoming an oval, a broken circle, or | | | | * objects seeming to be larger, smaller, nearer, or |
| the shape of a V on its side. Off-center, the changing | | | | farther away |
| dot grows further and slowly moves to the peripheral | | | | * objects seeming to be tilted |
| vision. It creates repetitions of itself, chaining them | | | | * double vision - seeing two of everything |
| together like linked circles, triangles, or other geometric | | | | * stationary objects appearing to move |
| patterns. | | | | Migraine aura sufferers agree that whatever the visual |
| 2. Other people describe a migraine aura as zigzag | | | | effects, they cannot be escaped. Closing the eyes or |
| patterns in complimentary colors, such as red and | | | | trying to look around the effects does not help. |