Please help me. As a child I had migraines, one side of head, always vomited, slept them off. As I began having periods I noticed a drastic reduction in frequency of the headaches. At age 21 I had an aura, (never noticed that before with previous migraines)( saw dots ) before the onset of pain. It was a very bad headache and I feared they were going to start coming back. They did not and I have been migraine free for 28 years. Headaches, of course, but certainly not the migraine type!
I am now 50 and have been without a period for over a year now. I have been put on some progesterone for hot flashes, as I have been afraid of estrogen because of family breast cancer. The hot flashes have diminished some what but they are still troublesome
just not as severe or frequent.
I began having strange symptoms recently that were bothersome with a gradual onset. My speech began to slur and I staggered when I walked as well as having trouble coming up with the words I needed. I had the feeling that I just took strong muscle relaxers and everything was in slow motion. This lasted about an hour and although I was bothered by the experience, I did not contact my doctor. I went weeks without another one, but over the last few weeks began experiencing more, although not as severe as the first one. The thought crossed my mind about TIA's but my sensations do not affect only one side of my body, but both sides equally.
I had an episode tuesday that did scare me enough to get me to the emergency room. Of course they suspected TIA's or stroke and proceeded with the standard tests, CAT, MRI, EKG, EEG, echo cardiogram, and bloodwork. I was assigned an internal medicine doctor as well as a neurologist. When all the above tests came back clean, the neurologist decided my symptoms were Panic Attacks and prescribed Xanax 3 x per day. I refused the drug.
The next day I had another attack in the hospital, and when I called the nurse, she assumed I was having a panic attack. I could not even believe this, as I was not under any unusual stress, and I was upset that just because they ruled out stroke they assumed the Panic attack diagnosis. The attack while in the hospital lasted about an hour and I returned to my normal self. That evening I developed a headache that I assumed was due to lack of sleep and the uncomfortable position my neck was in while in the MRI. The headache progressively got worse and was on one side of my head and light began to bother me and I got nauseated. I knew the feeling, it was a migraine and I had not had one in so long! It peaked and lasted about 4 hours and gradually went away before I even went to sleep. Im thinking, I wonder if the migraine could be related to these weird symptoms. I called a few friends with access to computer and had them look some things up and was amazed that migraines could cause neurological symptoms that mimic TIA's. I told the doctor the next day that I knew what I had, and that it has nothing to do with panic attacks. That day I did have some slight symptoms another
episode only involving slightly slurred speech and numbness around lips and face. Didn't last very long. I asked the nurse to take my bloodpressure and the bottom number was 65 which was much lower than normal for me.
I was frustrated because on the form I filled out at admittance when answering all the health history questions, I did check migraines in my history and the Doctor never even suggested the possibility, just jumped to the conclusion that I must be panicing! Today, Friday, I had no symptoms at all, and they released me from the hospital, with both doctors agreeing with my diagnosis of it being related to migraine.
My main question and concern I have is that I still don't seem to have the classic symptoms of a migraine aura according what little I have read since coming home from the hospital.
My symptoms do not only affect one side of my body, but both equally. My headache was however only on one side. I have had no visual disturbances with these. I do have trouble with slurred speech, and coming up with words. Everything slows down like you would feel after taking several soma at once. The symptoms seem to peak and then gradually disappear. Are my symptoms just rare but seen, or should I continue to seek answers for my strange episodes? I also have fibromyalgia that I take 30 mg elavil at night for. Thank you for your time and expertise. Leah




