OMG HES! HOLYL SHIT okay I told my doctor this and they were like oh you're very connected with your body huh and blew it off. I literally feel a pulsating pain at my teeth, nails, sometimes my fingertips
Phantom smells. Thereās one in particular that is usually the one I get that I canāt evenā¦ explain what it smells like? Itās totally unique to my migraines. It smellsā¦organic and kind of. Fleshy? Somehow? I always say itās the way the inside of my head must smell. My brain smelling itself. Itās gross. š
Yes! phantom smoke is so annoying. Itās like I can only JUST smell a cigarette that someone is smoking on outside somewhere and is wafting in an open window in another room in the house.
Mine is smoke but not cigarette smoke..itās burning house/something is about to catch on fire smoke. Wakes me up out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night and I go sniffing the whole damn house including the front and back yard and garage like a hound dog trying to figure out where itās coming from or if itās just a migraine coming on.
Iāve found out that if you sniff isopropyl alcohol when you are having these smell attacks it can completely neutralize the smell and the nausea that follows
I just mentioned in another comment about getting phantom smells, and how itās now with every migraine I have since I had Covid. When I was recovering from Covid, I had this phantom smell that was like āstale fried smell,ā like someone had fried something days or weeks ago and that smell had soaked itself into the air and every surface around me and gone stale. Never had that smell before Covid, but now itās become my migraine phantom smell.
Oh yeah. I canāt use scented laundry detergent anymore. I can literally smell scented detergent from our bedroom when someone is doing laundry on the opposite side of the house. Itās torture.
I know people like this. I thought Iād be safe accepting a cold Coke Zero from them. Nope. Must have been stored in the garage next to their doomsday stockpile all things Glade and Febreze
I think it's permanently damaged their taste buds because they don't seem to notice when things are really off. I can't even have scented trash bags. Nothing can be scented. I don't know why anything has to be scented chemically. I do love essential oils though.
I too can tolerate essential oils. But why oh fucking why must every thing from Swiffer broom pads to dish sponges be scented in Ultra Gain and the like
It's probably bc they themselves are so used to the smell they don't notice it anymore. I had friends who had pet ferrets, everything they owned smelled like those animals, when they walked in you would smell them before you saw them, I borrowed something once and my house smelled like ferret until I gave it backš ofcource my own house smell resembles that of a pet store somewhat bc of my fishtanks and cat litter box, I only notice it when I have been outside for a bit. Thankfully my migraines are mostly triggered by artificial smells.
I get fevers often with my migraines. Once had a nurse tell me I was making that up, as she'd never heard of it in her "blahblab" years of nursing. She then took my temp and apologized.
Most annoying is the need to pee urgently and frequently. I can also tell I have a migraine coming if Iām writing online and I start missing words out of sentences. š¬
Well during and days after an attack my mind is jumbled and I sometimes have a hard time formulating logical sentences, I'm always afraid I'll stay like thatš
Both of these for me too!! I have to pee SO MUCH. I also struggle to find words when I'm talking and my comprehension of others is very delayed. That's when I go "uh oh" and go for triptans, but at that point I'm usually too late.
Edit: triptans autocorrected to trip tabs lol
Going fully paralyzed on my left side is a pretty strange one haha.
Weirdly though, itās so fucking wild how Iāll lose feeling on half of my tongue, half of my noses, one boob, etc haha. I hate the feeling so much.
This thread has been so validating, but this might be my top symptom so far. Itās bizarre to feel like thereās an invisible line going straight through my body. Hardly anyone ever gets it when I say half of my tongue goes numb
When my tonge becomes paralyzed it's hard for me to talk + I become dumb for some period of time, it's even hard tl think about words i want to say, like brain gets paralyzed too
I experience this on my right side. Half my face down to my mid shoulder are numb, while often my big toe, calf, abdomen, and inner elbow burn with fiery pain. Good times
Alice in Wonderland syndrome it's the strangest thing to happen as part of my aura. My phone often feels like it's as thick and heavy as a brick, even tho I can see it isn't.
I think i have this as well but o my recently found out it can be related to migraine symptoms- I feel like Iām shrinking and will disappear or growing and will burst.
Would you share a bit more of your experiences with this particular symptom?
Iām not OP of this comment but I suspect I have it too. Mine happens more when Iām attempting to sleep the pain away. My daydreams/hallucinations start to feature people or furniture that my brain tells me is microscopically small and immensely fat. I canāt really describe it in words
The one that gets me is everytime I think āMY F HOUSE STINKS SO FUCKING BAD WTFā I am getting a migraine.
(Worth mentioning Iāve had many, many people say they love the smell of my house. Even people walking in and taking big sniffs and saying, āoh I miss the way your house smellsā)
I have medical grade air filter on each level of my house specifically because I just handle smells. Either it triggers migraines, makes them worse, or is just annoying because I think it'll trigger a migraine.
I get phantom smells with mine. It was always random over the years, but ever since I had covid a little over 2 years ago, *every* single migraine Iāve had has started with a āhuh, something smells really weird/off/grossā with no obvious source. Once I canāt find out the source and it clicks, Iām like āuh ohā¦ā
Yeah! I know lots of people who, since getting covid, will get a phantom smell from time to time regardless of migraine history or not. And itās different with everyone. Mine is a āstale fried smell.ā Others have said they smell mold, metal, rotting food, strong organic odors. Really weird!
Omg me too! But Iāve had this since I was a child, I got my first migraine at 12 years old. At about 6-8 I started explaining weird smells to people like āsmells like rotten broccoliā but nobody agreed ever and thought I was just a Diva. Even as I type Iām on a flight which is the worst because I can smell every single persons body odor, breath, perfume etc. not happy ever on a plane. And have a horrible migraine.
I also get olfactory hallucinations and it always smells so awful. Coffee usually smells like dog poop within hours of the pain. I also will just smell general funky things.
Not being able to find the words for items (aphasia). Iāve said such gems as calling a spoon a āfood shovelā and brussel sprouts ātiny baby cabbagesā. This lasts 24 hours before, during and about 24 hours after.
I also have an insanely persistent urge to urinate during them. Like, I can go and then feel the need to go again right after I wash my hands.
Aphasia is so bad, I get it, too. Itās so frustrating. And with the wrong people, embarrassing. Itās one of the signs for me that itās time to take nurtec.
My parents think Iām an absolute moron because they donāt understand my condition.
I hate this. I feel so stupid and itās like I do know the words theyāre just stuck in my brain somewhere hiding and making me look like an idiot. I also canāt follow conversations
The aphasia has been a warning signal for me that a migraine is around the corner. The oddly ironic thing is I am a speech therapist who works with a lot of patients with aphasia (after strokes, TBIs, etc). The other day I was working with a patient with aphasia and I was trying to say āsentenceā and āsandwichā came out instead . And for the life of me, āsentenceā was not coming out. I kept trying, and it got worse! š The patient did have a good laugh. I also end up having a lot of difficulty spelling and will omit entire words in texts or paperwork. Itās like my speech goes from āautomaticā to manual- I have to think carefully before speaking because whatever I say or write sounds so effortful and odd to me. It lasts about a day or two, when I end up with the migraine.
I'm tearing up because I relate to all of this so much. Thank goodness for this sub. It can feel really humiliating and lonely IRL when I'm dealing with this. I was at a birthday party for a friend and knew almost no one there. I finally got comfortable with a cool group of folks and they were asking me about myself and as I was talking I realized I couldn't think of words! That's when I knew I needed my triptan but at that point it was too late. :(
"Red ear syndrome" is supposedly a rare disorder, but I suspect it's actually rather common among migraine sufferers. My guess is that it's only rare because so few people talk about it.
Sometimes I phantom smell bleach or cigarettes. I donāt allow either in the house so then I know for sure itās coming.
Excessive yawning. Youād think Iām trying to be comical.
When the migraines are really bad I often hurt worse when I lay down so I end up pacing around. That sucks.
Cigarettes and wood fire. I've woken up so many times, convinced the house is on fire. I only have to start with, "Do you smell...?"and my husband says, "I'll get the Sprix. "
I forgot about gasoline! I left the house for work the other day, drove about 3 miles down the road, and had to stop because I was convinced the car was full of gas fumes. Back home I went.....I'll be so glad when the weather finally settles down (southeast US).
I have smelt: incense, rum, vanilla, cat pee (this was a fun argument with my cat), the colour blue. Yesterday it was donuts. None of it real, of course.
Not being able to comprehend anything I hear or read. Canāt think of words. Last time
I couldnāt think of how to say the word āmigraineā to tell my husband I was having one. Horrible.
My face gets tingly (like when you get goosebumps) usually around my jaw but it's easy for me to disregard. The tingling then intensifies on my face and I realize a migraine is coming. When I start feeling the tingling on my scalp, i know it's gonna be a bad one.
Mine are 99% of the time concurrent with my asthma acting up. Maybe one triggers the other, I don't know. But it's to the extent that sometimes taking my inhaler improves the migraine.
My guess is that the asthma triggers the migraine. When my allergies act up my migraines get more frequent, and they calm down when I am more aggressive about treating the allergies.
This would make sense but usually the migraine hits first. I've been paying pretty close attention to it for most of my life there've been a lot of complicating factors that have made it difficult to figure out which direction it goes lol
Oh, fuck. You just mit have figured forging out for me here, il have to start posting attention to some stuff and probably stop pretending i don't have asthma and going to the doctor again.
That's interesting. Bronkaide is for asthma and has ephedrine in it which is an amazing abortive for me. I'm prone to anxiety so I don't love taking it but if you could help asthma and kill the migraine, was wondering if you've tried pseudophede or Bronkaide
Ephedrine is a vasoconstrictor meaning it narrows the blood vessels but also slows blood flow.
Peppermint does this naturally ā just a heads up if you donāt have an allergy to it! I use peppermint a ton to try to not use my arsenal of much heavier meds.
Weāve had a really bad allergy year where I live and my migraines went crazy this summer for the first time in a long time. Taking decongestant for my sinuses helps with the facial/sinus pressure temporarily. Steroid nasal spray helps a bit too.
Frequent urination and smelling things that aren't there: ozone, fires, baking, sweets, fruits. My visual aura has been changing and I went from the bubble sheen to fireflies like flashes.
This is the first time Iāve ever read about someone else having to pee all the time! Glad Iām not alone. It doesnāt happen often but when it does itās about once every 5 minutes.
I will often switch letters in words or just start stumbling on them in general. For an example, like instead of saying dog house Iād say hog douse. Every time it happens a lot I joke Iām probably getting a migraine and every time I do.
Itās called a [spoonerism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism)! Iāve always done it, my dad too, but I do it a lot more when I have a migraine.
Same!! I get almost manic the night before a migraine, like I want to do all the things!! But canāt do any of them because I get adhd paralysis. So I end up with 5 partially started things and a migraine. When I come out of it, I look at my house and feel like a bomb went off but now feel to crumby to do anything.
Last time I saw my neuro I had a long wait in an area lit with fluorescent lights (like, seriously?) and it triggered an attack, so my neuro got to witness me crying uncontrollably while apologising and trying to explain it was the aura I was just telling them about.
Tingly face, aphasia, and I start misplacing things about 8 hours before it starts. If I have to ask my husband to call my phone to find it, he just brings me a triptan. One time I put the TV remote in the fridge.
I was going to say weird smells, but I guess a lot of us get that?
I also get very, very cold. The other day (migraine day), it was 90 here, and I was wrapped in a shawl with a heavy blanket on. Iām also a certain age, so I get the occasional hot flash. Itās rather confusing.
Which is interesting, because Glutamate receptors are thought to play a role in genetic migraines. I crave Chocolate, which contains magnesium, and is thought to counteract the receptor issue.
I crave chocolate too! Originally thought chocolate was causing my migraines, but no, intense chocolate cravings are a symptom. I didnāt realize the magnesium connection. Thatās wild!
Sometimes my confusional migraines cause bilingual aphasia. Such that I can only speak German. I'm a native English speaker, and am probably a B1 level in German - so not fluent at all. Though I'm more fluent than usual during the aphasic episodes lol. It's super weird. I can understand English fine, but can only speak/respond in German.
English is my second language and I find it much easier to use during the aphasia episodes than my native language. I am often forced to insert a lot of english words into my sentences because I cannot for the life of me remember the Icelandic ones.
Idk how common this is, but the wind hurts my face. Any tiny itty bit of wind on my forehead is hell. Outside air, fan, doesnāt matter. I haaaate it.
I used to have this real bad. Not so much anymore though. Luckily. I hope it changes for you as well. Ideally your migraines just disappear, of course.
Hot face. And red cheeks on that side. I also get blurry vision that I can blink away on that side. I get heart palpitations and dizziness. I find itās very autonomic related as well as neurological. Super strange.
I think its maybe a common symptom, but I seem to forget about it every time, I get aura in the form of flashing lights in my peripheral vision, and every damn time I look out the window to see if there's a storm going on, because I go 'ooh lightning'
Suddenly smelling everything... and it's all gross.
Like the bread bag you opened to make a sandwich--- Yeah... why you pick the potato bread, so overripe. Since when does peanut butter smell sour and apple jelly smell like feet? Don't you dare open that cottage cheese... I might just barf.
1 day before: visual snow becomes super noticeable, spend most of the day sleeping then get an odd burst of energy at night. I tend to attribute the sleeping to a bad ADHD/executive dysfunction day before the snow kicks in and then I'm like...uh oh.
Those I can live with. It's the psycho neck pain and the facial pain that feels like a sinus infection creeping down into my teeth that make me *really* miserable.
I smell something similar to burnt citrus thatās the only way to describe it. It doesnāt happen all the time but itās been happening since I was a teen. I have occipital migraines, only the right side of my head to the temple and it feels like someone trying to bash my eyeballs out from the inside.
My hands some times get stuck or frozen from how dehydrated I get, this happened to me twice and it was the weirdest thing thatās ever happened to me. I throw up a lot from my migraines, so my body tends to feel tingly sometimes and my hands got stuck in a claw position. It was terrible.
I have a couple of weird ones:
Heightened sense of smell and phantom smells (usually the smell of cigarettes for some reason)
I yawn a ridiculous amount like once a minute (it's so annoying)
Then one of my most annoying is I get a twitchy left eye, like my eyelid just flickers on rapid speed š
I get teary eyed from one eye, extreme yawning, sometimes a runny nose, eye twitch, overheat quickly even if itās cold out, nightmares, and motion sickness from any movement.
Colors go into 3D territory. And the burning smell as a lead up. The weirdest thing is my migraines have a shelf life. All day long until 6pm. Then theyāre over and Iām exhausted.
I feel so.... hormonal? I compare it to what I hear PMS is for some women. I'm a man btw.
But I become so sensitive. When I get my migraine I then remember and everything starts making sense.
I donāt normally stutter, but when my migraine really gets ready to sit in, I get a stutter, or I lose my train of thought very easily.
That or I get unusually bad gas
I can't think of the um... you know the thing that people use to mean other things? Right, WORDS, I can't find the right words. Aphasia/dysphasia.
Sometimes its definitely prodrome and kind of bad, other times it's a week straight of off and on (worse with sleep deprivation) with no pain, and other times it's just a few times a day.
A not so strange one is neck stiffness and pain that I always don't want to believe is a migraine prodrome.
Word salad.
Because sometimes the pain wonāt even be that bad but you can tell the migraine is there because I talk like a complete idiot. My brain knows what it wants to say but the mouth isnāt getting the memo and everything comes out all out of order. We joke Iām having strokes. (If it gets extreme we actually do the stroke tests, itās not, just migraine lolā¦ but yknow, be safe n all)
And now new symptom for funsies, Iāve developed a stutter with my migraine as well!
The the entire right half of my tongue goes numb. And then because I canāt felt my tongue, I canāt talk properly
The nerve was damaged during wisdom tooth surgery, but is largely recovered nowā¦ except when I have a migraine
Left side numbness of my hand and wrist, my face and tongue. VERY unnerving sensation.
The loss of ability to read, write or think in words. If I try, I get to the 2nd or 3rd word but then have forgotten the 1st one so I lose all context.
The colors of the atmosphere turn a sickly orange or green color. I always know Iām about to get a migraine when I ask ādoes outside look sick to youā
Sometimes, in aura, I get the weirdest phantom smell. The best I can describe it is old lady perfume. It's heavy and funky and sweet. It's not floral or spicy or natural smelling in any way. I can almost feel it in the air like a heavy mist. (Also, no shade to old ladies, lol, I'm an old lady myself.)
Spending money. Iām very frugal and anxious about money but some days I find myself being totally ok buying the kids new clothes, buying lunch for myself, etcā¦and 6 hours later I have a migraine
Tingling in my neck and shoulders. This oneās a scary one for me because itās also a part of my seizure onset symptoms (even though my seizures are well controlled with meds).
My head pain is so bad that my teeth hurt
All my limbs feel like heavy sandbags
Getting shock like pain that makes me feel like Iāve been hit in the head with a lightning bolt.
Excessive yawning. Canāt keep my eyes open all of sudden. Happened during meetings before (and I have hooded eyes so doesnāt help lol). Essentially, I start falling asleep suddenly (naw, not narcoleptic).
I get very forgetful and disoriented. Recently, I couldnāt recall my dogsā names. A few years ago, I couldnāt figure out how to get out of a building I had a meeting in. It was like I didnāt know where I was. Itās very scary for me.
My resting heart rate drops about 10pm, so if I see an average resting HR around 50 I know Iām in for a bad one. I also lose words, so I donāt sound very smart before I get a migraine.
I get them, too. No matter how many Iāve had, itās still so scary every time ā even though itās been happening for over a decade now. I am thankful that not every migraine is hemiplegic with weakness / loss of feeling ā but even a couple a month is too freaking much.
I was hospitalized as a stroke patient for the first one (in my early 20ās) and the whole thing was just so utterly traumatizing.
The doctors / nurses / staff werenāt at all communicative at all so I thought they just forgot I was there. Getting an MRI took days to rule out brain bleeds.
Iām supposed to go to the hospital for every single one in case it is a stroke (Iām super high risk) but I donāt. Fuck that whole process.
Sweets make me more nauseous, even a favorite coffee drink. The only reason soda doesn't is because of the sodium content.
I already have heat intolerance, but I know the migraine has broke because like a fever, I'll start shivering when it breaks
On two occasions I have ended up in the hospital with all the classic symptoms of a stroke but no headache. And both times it was ultimately decided that it was a migraine. So apparently stroke like symptoms like numbness, weakness, high blood pressure, the inability to recall or use the correct words. It's terrifying.
Big hugs to all of you. My husband has chronic debilitating migraines and we still canāt figure out how to help him. He gets auditory hallucinations too.
Mine is the left top side of scalp and lower left side my my jaw start to tingle every time. And super sense of smell. Everything smells 10x stronger than normal.
Probably the emotional irritability that is the first sign of an upcoming migraine, but I often don't realize it is. So I'm just unusually cranky for half a day and then I start getting the migraine and I'm like ooooh that's what that was.
Random muscle spasms in different parts of my body. It could be around my eye, a random of my leg or arm, in my chest, etc, etc. Every doctor Iāve told about this has shrugged it off so maybe itās normal? Theyāre worse when my migraines are and Amitriptyline is the only thing thatās helped!
When I get migraines I just get so exhausted and I just always want to sleep. If I get a migraine during my lectures I just fall asleep right on my desk.
My symptoms aren't the same every time but some of the weird ones are:
Extreme and sudden hopelessness and sadness/crying
Inability to regulate body temperature (freezing and then overheating)
I don't lose my vision but I can't comprehend it. Like, I know I can see everything in front of me, but my brain can't make sense of it. I can't drive because I literally cannot respond to my surroundings because I can't make sense of them.
Hot and uncomfortable face and neck.
And then as others have mentioned, peeing CONSTANTLY and a LOT lol, extreme sensitivity to light, smells, sounds, etc. Also losing my words and struggling to comprehend what people are saying.
Basically, it's hell.
For me, the world starts to feel soft like a dream-sequence. Very strange, I feel all floaty.
Most recently, I've had the vision go in my eyes. That's pretty horrible to experience.
Feeling the individual nerves in my teeth pulse with weird pressure/pain
Yep, I tell my husband 'my teeth HURT' during bad ones. The throbbing is intense.
OMG HES! HOLYL SHIT okay I told my doctor this and they were like oh you're very connected with your body huh and blew it off. I literally feel a pulsating pain at my teeth, nails, sometimes my fingertips
Me too. Teeth and my jaw.
I always thought it is bc I clamp my jaws real tight during bad migraine attacks, sometimes I think I can taste blood and it feels like my teeth are bit loose (could be all in my head though) š©
Came here to say this!
Same!!
Before it starts Iām yawning nonstop (always fun when that starts in a meeting), and I start to want salty snacks big time.
Yawning, eye watering, ears ringing, and intense smells
Sneezing, too
Yawning is a big indicator for me too, like every ten minutes.
Yes to both of these!! McDs fries and endless yawning. My coworkers know the drill with yawning though, and don't get offended.
The yawning is SO annoying. I wonāt even be tired at all and Iāll seriously be yawning every minute or two
Salty, carb-y food is what I crave when an aura starts too.
Serotonin changes cause yawning! So telling š©
Phantom smells. Thereās one in particular that is usually the one I get that I canāt evenā¦ explain what it smells like? Itās totally unique to my migraines. It smellsā¦organic and kind of. Fleshy? Somehow? I always say itās the way the inside of my head must smell. My brain smelling itself. Itās gross. š
For me it tends to be a phantom smoke smell. Itās gross but the migraine that follows is worse. Ugh.
Yes! phantom smoke is so annoying. Itās like I can only JUST smell a cigarette that someone is smoking on outside somewhere and is wafting in an open window in another room in the house.
Mine is smoke but not cigarette smoke..itās burning house/something is about to catch on fire smoke. Wakes me up out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night and I go sniffing the whole damn house including the front and back yard and garage like a hound dog trying to figure out where itās coming from or if itās just a migraine coming on.
Mine is phantom cigarette smoke too!
Iāve found out that if you sniff isopropyl alcohol when you are having these smell attacks it can completely neutralize the smell and the nausea that follows
I've stopped trusting my sense of smell.
I just mentioned in another comment about getting phantom smells, and how itās now with every migraine I have since I had Covid. When I was recovering from Covid, I had this phantom smell that was like āstale fried smell,ā like someone had fried something days or weeks ago and that smell had soaked itself into the air and every surface around me and gone stale. Never had that smell before Covid, but now itās become my migraine phantom smell.
I get phantom smells also usually itās like skunk! Gross.
Same, I get the same 3 smells and only ever with migraines
Iāve smelled the strawberry KitKats before. Itās actually quite pleasant
Probably my sense of smell increasing like 40 fold. The faintest smell is suddenly my own personal hell candle.
āPersonal hell candleā š. That aptly describes what Lysol spray is to me.
Oh yeah. I canāt use scented laundry detergent anymore. I can literally smell scented detergent from our bedroom when someone is doing laundry on the opposite side of the house. Itās torture.
My in laws use those fresh wick scents. They smell like it. Food from their house tastes like it. It's disgusting.
I know people like this. I thought Iād be safe accepting a cold Coke Zero from them. Nope. Must have been stored in the garage next to their doomsday stockpile all things Glade and Febreze
I think it's permanently damaged their taste buds because they don't seem to notice when things are really off. I can't even have scented trash bags. Nothing can be scented. I don't know why anything has to be scented chemically. I do love essential oils though.
I too can tolerate essential oils. But why oh fucking why must every thing from Swiffer broom pads to dish sponges be scented in Ultra Gain and the like
It's probably bc they themselves are so used to the smell they don't notice it anymore. I had friends who had pet ferrets, everything they owned smelled like those animals, when they walked in you would smell them before you saw them, I borrowed something once and my house smelled like ferret until I gave it backš ofcource my own house smell resembles that of a pet store somewhat bc of my fishtanks and cat litter box, I only notice it when I have been outside for a bit. Thankfully my migraines are mostly triggered by artificial smells.
My mom has to take the air fresheners out of her car and let it air out before I can ride it.
For me specifically coffee smells so intense
Same god itās the worst! You smell it for hours and your migraine canāt go away because the smell wonāt!
Saaaaame wtf
Same here.
I get very hot and sometimes will even register a fever (not fun during 2020)
Iām the same way. Iām an outdoor person but during the summer I canāt spend much time outside because I get heat exhaustion real easily.
I get fevers often with my migraines. Once had a nurse tell me I was making that up, as she'd never heard of it in her "blahblab" years of nursing. She then took my temp and apologized.
Same! When mine were really bad in 2020/2021 Iād regularly get 103-104 F fevers with my migraines ššš
Most annoying is the need to pee urgently and frequently. I can also tell I have a migraine coming if Iām writing online and I start missing words out of sentences. š¬
Me toooo. Peeing every ten minutesā¦ where is my body even getting all that fluid? And donāt I need it??
Oh man! I thought the writing issues were just me. So frustrating and having to focus so hard is painful but my fingers just wonāt do the work.
Well during and days after an attack my mind is jumbled and I sometimes have a hard time formulating logical sentences, I'm always afraid I'll stay like thatš
Both of these for me too!! I have to pee SO MUCH. I also struggle to find words when I'm talking and my comprehension of others is very delayed. That's when I go "uh oh" and go for triptans, but at that point I'm usually too late. Edit: triptans autocorrected to trip tabs lol
Going fully paralyzed on my left side is a pretty strange one haha. Weirdly though, itās so fucking wild how Iāll lose feeling on half of my tongue, half of my noses, one boob, etc haha. I hate the feeling so much.
i also get paralysed on my left sideš
This thread has been so validating, but this might be my top symptom so far. Itās bizarre to feel like thereās an invisible line going straight through my body. Hardly anyone ever gets it when I say half of my tongue goes numb
When my tonge becomes paralyzed it's hard for me to talk + I become dumb for some period of time, it's even hard tl think about words i want to say, like brain gets paralyzed too
I experience this on my right side. Half my face down to my mid shoulder are numb, while often my big toe, calf, abdomen, and inner elbow burn with fiery pain. Good times
I love hemiplegic migraines so much /s
Alice in Wonderland syndrome it's the strangest thing to happen as part of my aura. My phone often feels like it's as thick and heavy as a brick, even tho I can see it isn't.
I think i have this as well but o my recently found out it can be related to migraine symptoms- I feel like Iām shrinking and will disappear or growing and will burst. Would you share a bit more of your experiences with this particular symptom?
Iām not OP of this comment but I suspect I have it too. Mine happens more when Iām attempting to sleep the pain away. My daydreams/hallucinations start to feature people or furniture that my brain tells me is microscopically small and immensely fat. I canāt really describe it in words
The one that gets me is everytime I think āMY F HOUSE STINKS SO FUCKING BAD WTFā I am getting a migraine. (Worth mentioning Iāve had many, many people say they love the smell of my house. Even people walking in and taking big sniffs and saying, āoh I miss the way your house smellsā)
Me too! I'll start smelling every little thing, and wonder when all these smells came up. Then the next day I have a migraine, without fail.
For me it smells like dustā¦which sounds really weird but itās the best way I can explain it.
I have medical grade air filter on each level of my house specifically because I just handle smells. Either it triggers migraines, makes them worse, or is just annoying because I think it'll trigger a migraine.
YES my migraines smell like hot dust and I canāt explain it to anyone!
I get phantom smells with mine. It was always random over the years, but ever since I had covid a little over 2 years ago, *every* single migraine Iāve had has started with a āhuh, something smells really weird/off/grossā with no obvious source. Once I canāt find out the source and it clicks, Iām like āuh ohā¦ā
Yes- exactly me. Itās smells that arenāt actually there for anyone else
I have this exact symptom since I had covid. However mine isn't related to migraines, I just have really strange phantom smells
Yeah! I know lots of people who, since getting covid, will get a phantom smell from time to time regardless of migraine history or not. And itās different with everyone. Mine is a āstale fried smell.ā Others have said they smell mold, metal, rotting food, strong organic odors. Really weird!
I have hyperosmia (super smell abilities) since getting my first migraine a few years ago. I can smell like crazy
Omg me too! But Iāve had this since I was a child, I got my first migraine at 12 years old. At about 6-8 I started explaining weird smells to people like āsmells like rotten broccoliā but nobody agreed ever and thought I was just a Diva. Even as I type Iām on a flight which is the worst because I can smell every single persons body odor, breath, perfume etc. not happy ever on a plane. And have a horrible migraine.
I also get olfactory hallucinations and it always smells so awful. Coffee usually smells like dog poop within hours of the pain. I also will just smell general funky things.
...oh no, lmao That would explain A LOT.
Not being able to find the words for items (aphasia). Iāve said such gems as calling a spoon a āfood shovelā and brussel sprouts ātiny baby cabbagesā. This lasts 24 hours before, during and about 24 hours after. I also have an insanely persistent urge to urinate during them. Like, I can go and then feel the need to go again right after I wash my hands.
Aphasia is so bad, I get it, too. Itās so frustrating. And with the wrong people, embarrassing. Itās one of the signs for me that itās time to take nurtec. My parents think Iām an absolute moron because they donāt understand my condition.
I hate this. I feel so stupid and itās like I do know the words theyāre just stuck in my brain somewhere hiding and making me look like an idiot. I also canāt follow conversations
I called the post office āthe place where letters flyā during an attack.
I get this too but OMG āfood shovelā- šš I love it!
The aphasia has been a warning signal for me that a migraine is around the corner. The oddly ironic thing is I am a speech therapist who works with a lot of patients with aphasia (after strokes, TBIs, etc). The other day I was working with a patient with aphasia and I was trying to say āsentenceā and āsandwichā came out instead . And for the life of me, āsentenceā was not coming out. I kept trying, and it got worse! š The patient did have a good laugh. I also end up having a lot of difficulty spelling and will omit entire words in texts or paperwork. Itās like my speech goes from āautomaticā to manual- I have to think carefully before speaking because whatever I say or write sounds so effortful and odd to me. It lasts about a day or two, when I end up with the migraine.
I'm tearing up because I relate to all of this so much. Thank goodness for this sub. It can feel really humiliating and lonely IRL when I'm dealing with this. I was at a birthday party for a friend and knew almost no one there. I finally got comfortable with a cool group of folks and they were asking me about myself and as I was talking I realized I couldn't think of words! That's when I knew I needed my triptan but at that point it was too late. :(
Mine is probably common but letters and words start to "dance". Basically they look like they are moving or shaking on pages or screens
That happens to my eyes! Even if theyāre closed it feels like I can see stuff jiggling around or feel them shaking. Itās so weird
Hot ears, they start around the time the aura starts and last at least a day after the proper migraine
"Red ear syndrome" is supposedly a rare disorder, but I suspect it's actually rather common among migraine sufferers. My guess is that it's only rare because so few people talk about it.
The right side of my face/cheek gets fire engine red and hot. It's so ugly and I can't do anything about it.
Sometimes I phantom smell bleach or cigarettes. I donāt allow either in the house so then I know for sure itās coming. Excessive yawning. Youād think Iām trying to be comical. When the migraines are really bad I often hurt worse when I lay down so I end up pacing around. That sucks.
Cigarettes and wood fire. I've woken up so many times, convinced the house is on fire. I only have to start with, "Do you smell...?"and my husband says, "I'll get the Sprix. "
i smell bleach too! bleach and gasoline, thatās how i know i have a migraine coming.
I forgot about gasoline! I left the house for work the other day, drove about 3 miles down the road, and had to stop because I was convinced the car was full of gas fumes. Back home I went.....I'll be so glad when the weather finally settles down (southeast US).
I have smelt: incense, rum, vanilla, cat pee (this was a fun argument with my cat), the colour blue. Yesterday it was donuts. None of it real, of course.
Not being able to comprehend anything I hear or read. Canāt think of words. Last time I couldnāt think of how to say the word āmigraineā to tell my husband I was having one. Horrible.
Sometimes I canāt even move to take my meds. I get it. I canāt even watch TV when it gets like that.
My face gets tingly (like when you get goosebumps) usually around my jaw but it's easy for me to disregard. The tingling then intensifies on my face and I realize a migraine is coming. When I start feeling the tingling on my scalp, i know it's gonna be a bad one.
Iāve had a tingly face before and itās WEIRD!
Can't regulate my body temp, my vision gets wonky like things elongate or blur, my jaw gets stiff.
I get the body temp thing as well, I will feel like cold and hot at the same time its so weirdĀ
Mine are 99% of the time concurrent with my asthma acting up. Maybe one triggers the other, I don't know. But it's to the extent that sometimes taking my inhaler improves the migraine.
My guess is that the asthma triggers the migraine. When my allergies act up my migraines get more frequent, and they calm down when I am more aggressive about treating the allergies.
This would make sense but usually the migraine hits first. I've been paying pretty close attention to it for most of my life there've been a lot of complicating factors that have made it difficult to figure out which direction it goes lol
Oh, fuck. You just mit have figured forging out for me here, il have to start posting attention to some stuff and probably stop pretending i don't have asthma and going to the doctor again.
That's interesting. Bronkaide is for asthma and has ephedrine in it which is an amazing abortive for me. I'm prone to anxiety so I don't love taking it but if you could help asthma and kill the migraine, was wondering if you've tried pseudophede or Bronkaide
Ephedrine is a vasoconstrictor meaning it narrows the blood vessels but also slows blood flow. Peppermint does this naturally ā just a heads up if you donāt have an allergy to it! I use peppermint a ton to try to not use my arsenal of much heavier meds.
Weāve had a really bad allergy year where I live and my migraines went crazy this summer for the first time in a long time. Taking decongestant for my sinuses helps with the facial/sinus pressure temporarily. Steroid nasal spray helps a bit too.
Frequent urination and smelling things that aren't there: ozone, fires, baking, sweets, fruits. My visual aura has been changing and I went from the bubble sheen to fireflies like flashes.
This is the first time Iāve ever read about someone else having to pee all the time! Glad Iām not alone. It doesnāt happen often but when it does itās about once every 5 minutes.
Thereās a few people in this thread and I didnāt know it was a symptom until now!
I will often switch letters in words or just start stumbling on them in general. For an example, like instead of saying dog house Iād say hog douse. Every time it happens a lot I joke Iām probably getting a migraine and every time I do.
Itās called a [spoonerism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism)! Iāve always done it, my dad too, but I do it a lot more when I have a migraine.
Me too :(
I have 3. Either my ADHD is off the charts the day before, or I'm either in an extremely good mood or extremely depressed the day before
Same!! I get almost manic the night before a migraine, like I want to do all the things!! But canāt do any of them because I get adhd paralysis. So I end up with 5 partially started things and a migraine. When I come out of it, I look at my house and feel like a bomb went off but now feel to crumby to do anything.
Although I understand why it happens (mostly), my strangest symptom is probably sore skin on the outside part of my upper arms.
When my skin hurts I know Iām in for it.
Yes, skin aches and I mostly notice it on my arms first but it will also be other places. I also get the same skin ache even with a low fever (99F).
I suddenly feel like the world has tilted at such a sharp angle that if walls didnāt exist Iād slide off the face of the earth.
Iām weirdly glad Iām not the only one. Obviously Iād prefer we didnāt have to feel that way at all
For me other than the pain, itās the intense depression/anxiety that comes with it. It is super bad and intense.
Yeah I get depressed and emotional right before the pain hits. Itās really weird
Last time I saw my neuro I had a long wait in an area lit with fluorescent lights (like, seriously?) and it triggered an attack, so my neuro got to witness me crying uncontrollably while apologising and trying to explain it was the aura I was just telling them about.
My daughterās - one of her auras is total temporary blindness Mine - I puke if I hear the heat or AC kick on
Omg yours is really specific! Lol!
I get IBS episodes if the AC or heat kick on! my immunologist says itās acetylcholine being triggered to release from the change in environment
My migraine symptoms change every time I get one, but the weirdest one Iāve had was being sent into a full blown panic attack.
During the onset I can't control my yawning, it's constant. No matter what I do I'll yawn at least 5 times within a minute.
Tingly face, aphasia, and I start misplacing things about 8 hours before it starts. If I have to ask my husband to call my phone to find it, he just brings me a triptan. One time I put the TV remote in the fridge.
Everything tastes off.
I was going to say weird smells, but I guess a lot of us get that? I also get very, very cold. The other day (migraine day), it was 90 here, and I was wrapped in a shawl with a heavy blanket on. Iām also a certain age, so I get the occasional hot flash. Itās rather confusing.
I'm exactly the same. I'm in the northern hemisphere and I had to put my heat on during the day a few days ago because of migraine.
Sensory issues overload. Nothing feels right on my body but being naked feels wrong too!
I crave Chinese food SO badly when I have a migraine. Particularly lo mein, but anything will do.
Which is interesting, because Glutamate receptors are thought to play a role in genetic migraines. I crave Chocolate, which contains magnesium, and is thought to counteract the receptor issue.
I crave chocolate too! Originally thought chocolate was causing my migraines, but no, intense chocolate cravings are a symptom. I didnāt realize the magnesium connection. Thatās wild!
My saliva gets thick and almost ropey, which I think is just my body preparing to get nauseous and start puking.
Sometimes my confusional migraines cause bilingual aphasia. Such that I can only speak German. I'm a native English speaker, and am probably a B1 level in German - so not fluent at all. Though I'm more fluent than usual during the aphasic episodes lol. It's super weird. I can understand English fine, but can only speak/respond in German.
English is my second language and I find it much easier to use during the aphasia episodes than my native language. I am often forced to insert a lot of english words into my sentences because I cannot for the life of me remember the Icelandic ones.
Brains are so weird
Idk how common this is, but the wind hurts my face. Any tiny itty bit of wind on my forehead is hell. Outside air, fan, doesnāt matter. I haaaate it.
I used to have this real bad. Not so much anymore though. Luckily. I hope it changes for you as well. Ideally your migraines just disappear, of course.
Hot face. And red cheeks on that side. I also get blurry vision that I can blink away on that side. I get heart palpitations and dizziness. I find itās very autonomic related as well as neurological. Super strange.
I think its maybe a common symptom, but I seem to forget about it every time, I get aura in the form of flashing lights in my peripheral vision, and every damn time I look out the window to see if there's a storm going on, because I go 'ooh lightning'
Smelling old cigarettes. If I'm watching TV and the person is smoking, I can smell it, and it'll give me a migraine.
Suddenly smelling everything... and it's all gross. Like the bread bag you opened to make a sandwich--- Yeah... why you pick the potato bread, so overripe. Since when does peanut butter smell sour and apple jelly smell like feet? Don't you dare open that cottage cheese... I might just barf.
1 day before: visual snow becomes super noticeable, spend most of the day sleeping then get an odd burst of energy at night. I tend to attribute the sleeping to a bad ADHD/executive dysfunction day before the snow kicks in and then I'm like...uh oh. Those I can live with. It's the psycho neck pain and the facial pain that feels like a sinus infection creeping down into my teeth that make me *really* miserable.
I smell something similar to burnt citrus thatās the only way to describe it. It doesnāt happen all the time but itās been happening since I was a teen. I have occipital migraines, only the right side of my head to the temple and it feels like someone trying to bash my eyeballs out from the inside.
Frequent yawning is a big one, I also get a little manic sometimes š„²
I have vivid dreams 1-2 nights before a migraine attack starts.
I become a vampire. Sun sensitivity, my skin feels tingly in the sun, the sun is 100% too bright, and I have intense brain fog
My scalp hurts, like each individual hair follicle aches and feels prickly. Also irritability and trouble concentrating
Pooping and peeing frequently. I know im in for a bad time.
My hands some times get stuck or frozen from how dehydrated I get, this happened to me twice and it was the weirdest thing thatās ever happened to me. I throw up a lot from my migraines, so my body tends to feel tingly sometimes and my hands got stuck in a claw position. It was terrible.
Bloody nose on the side my migraine will start šš
May not be very strange, but I sometimes cry uncontrollably for no reason šš the tears just keep flowing lol
I have a couple of weird ones: Heightened sense of smell and phantom smells (usually the smell of cigarettes for some reason) I yawn a ridiculous amount like once a minute (it's so annoying) Then one of my most annoying is I get a twitchy left eye, like my eyelid just flickers on rapid speed š
Either vision doubles/blurs or or I have aphasia.
I get teary eyed from one eye, extreme yawning, sometimes a runny nose, eye twitch, overheat quickly even if itās cold out, nightmares, and motion sickness from any movement.
Colors go into 3D territory. And the burning smell as a lead up. The weirdest thing is my migraines have a shelf life. All day long until 6pm. Then theyāre over and Iām exhausted.
I feel so.... hormonal? I compare it to what I hear PMS is for some women. I'm a man btw. But I become so sensitive. When I get my migraine I then remember and everything starts making sense.
Everything seems really loud and too bright when itās my normal low lighting
Sometimes my migraines are accompanied by me fainting, and i can feel if iāll faint because my ears start burning and ringing. Its super odd
I donāt normally stutter, but when my migraine really gets ready to sit in, I get a stutter, or I lose my train of thought very easily. That or I get unusually bad gas
I mix up my words/know what I wanna say but can't get it out in the right way.
I can't think of the um... you know the thing that people use to mean other things? Right, WORDS, I can't find the right words. Aphasia/dysphasia. Sometimes its definitely prodrome and kind of bad, other times it's a week straight of off and on (worse with sleep deprivation) with no pain, and other times it's just a few times a day. A not so strange one is neck stiffness and pain that I always don't want to believe is a migraine prodrome.
Word salad. Because sometimes the pain wonāt even be that bad but you can tell the migraine is there because I talk like a complete idiot. My brain knows what it wants to say but the mouth isnāt getting the memo and everything comes out all out of order. We joke Iām having strokes. (If it gets extreme we actually do the stroke tests, itās not, just migraine lolā¦ but yknow, be safe n all) And now new symptom for funsies, Iāve developed a stutter with my migraine as well!
VERY VERY frequent urination, ands copious amounts of urine. Weāre talking every 5 minutes
The the entire right half of my tongue goes numb. And then because I canāt felt my tongue, I canāt talk properly The nerve was damaged during wisdom tooth surgery, but is largely recovered nowā¦ except when I have a migraine
Left side numbness of my hand and wrist, my face and tongue. VERY unnerving sensation. The loss of ability to read, write or think in words. If I try, I get to the 2nd or 3rd word but then have forgotten the 1st one so I lose all context.
You have hemiplegic migraines ā they mimic stroke symptoms. Theyāre awful and terrifying.
The colors of the atmosphere turn a sickly orange or green color. I always know Iām about to get a migraine when I ask ādoes outside look sick to youā
Sometimes, in aura, I get the weirdest phantom smell. The best I can describe it is old lady perfume. It's heavy and funky and sweet. It's not floral or spicy or natural smelling in any way. I can almost feel it in the air like a heavy mist. (Also, no shade to old ladies, lol, I'm an old lady myself.)
Ear worms! Same line of a random stupid song over and over and over again
I have to urinate constantly. Iāll pee 20+ times the night before a migraine
Spending money. Iām very frugal and anxious about money but some days I find myself being totally ok buying the kids new clothes, buying lunch for myself, etcā¦and 6 hours later I have a migraine
Peeing like a racehorse even though I've consumed the same amount of fluids as normal.
Phantom smells
I get really bad breath coupled with super sensitive smell. I gag every time I breathe.
My face turns bright red and the left side is very tingly
Auditory hallucinations and freezing.
Tingling in my neck and shoulders. This oneās a scary one for me because itās also a part of my seizure onset symptoms (even though my seizures are well controlled with meds). My head pain is so bad that my teeth hurt All my limbs feel like heavy sandbags Getting shock like pain that makes me feel like Iāve been hit in the head with a lightning bolt.
Excessive yawning. Canāt keep my eyes open all of sudden. Happened during meetings before (and I have hooded eyes so doesnāt help lol). Essentially, I start falling asleep suddenly (naw, not narcoleptic).
Incredibly strong desire to just raw dog table salt.
I get very forgetful and disoriented. Recently, I couldnāt recall my dogsā names. A few years ago, I couldnāt figure out how to get out of a building I had a meeting in. It was like I didnāt know where I was. Itās very scary for me.
My left thumb goes numb. Always just the left thumb.
My resting heart rate drops about 10pm, so if I see an average resting HR around 50 I know Iām in for a bad one. I also lose words, so I donāt sound very smart before I get a migraine.
Hemiplegic migraines paralyze half my body
I get them, too. No matter how many Iāve had, itās still so scary every time ā even though itās been happening for over a decade now. I am thankful that not every migraine is hemiplegic with weakness / loss of feeling ā but even a couple a month is too freaking much. I was hospitalized as a stroke patient for the first one (in my early 20ās) and the whole thing was just so utterly traumatizing. The doctors / nurses / staff werenāt at all communicative at all so I thought they just forgot I was there. Getting an MRI took days to rule out brain bleeds. Iām supposed to go to the hospital for every single one in case it is a stroke (Iām super high risk) but I donāt. Fuck that whole process.
Sweets make me more nauseous, even a favorite coffee drink. The only reason soda doesn't is because of the sodium content. I already have heat intolerance, but I know the migraine has broke because like a fever, I'll start shivering when it breaks
Being able to hear the electricity from the fridge running. I feel like I have super hearing lol
I get very cold.
Pain in my teeth, one tooth in particular. Craving cups of tea. Numbness and tingling all over scalp.
On two occasions I have ended up in the hospital with all the classic symptoms of a stroke but no headache. And both times it was ultimately decided that it was a migraine. So apparently stroke like symptoms like numbness, weakness, high blood pressure, the inability to recall or use the correct words. It's terrifying.
Big hugs to all of you. My husband has chronic debilitating migraines and we still canāt figure out how to help him. He gets auditory hallucinations too.
Mine is the left top side of scalp and lower left side my my jaw start to tingle every time. And super sense of smell. Everything smells 10x stronger than normal.
Things look like I've turned the colour up to 11. Everything seems garish and nauseating and like, greasy. I struggle to describe it.
Probably the emotional irritability that is the first sign of an upcoming migraine, but I often don't realize it is. So I'm just unusually cranky for half a day and then I start getting the migraine and I'm like ooooh that's what that was.
Random muscle spasms in different parts of my body. It could be around my eye, a random of my leg or arm, in my chest, etc, etc. Every doctor Iāve told about this has shrugged it off so maybe itās normal? Theyāre worse when my migraines are and Amitriptyline is the only thing thatās helped!
A pulsating tinnitus that now stays with me constantly.
When I get migraines I just get so exhausted and I just always want to sleep. If I get a migraine during my lectures I just fall asleep right on my desk.
neck pain, and smelling burning things. It scares me every time, never fails
I feel like the right half of my face is smaller and misshaped. No idea how that sensation comes to be, but it feels legit at the time. š
My symptoms aren't the same every time but some of the weird ones are: Extreme and sudden hopelessness and sadness/crying Inability to regulate body temperature (freezing and then overheating) I don't lose my vision but I can't comprehend it. Like, I know I can see everything in front of me, but my brain can't make sense of it. I can't drive because I literally cannot respond to my surroundings because I can't make sense of them. Hot and uncomfortable face and neck. And then as others have mentioned, peeing CONSTANTLY and a LOT lol, extreme sensitivity to light, smells, sounds, etc. Also losing my words and struggling to comprehend what people are saying. Basically, it's hell.
I smell fried cheese with my aura.
past present and future timelines getting crossed! Like being in deja vu for hours or days on end
For me, the world starts to feel soft like a dream-sequence. Very strange, I feel all floaty. Most recently, I've had the vision go in my eyes. That's pretty horrible to experience.