Migraine Awareness Month on June, 2024: My husband gets optical migranes. can numbness in his hands and face be a associated with migranes?

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Is this another migraine symptom?

July 12, 2006 9:24 PM Subscribe

I keep losing sensation in my face; is this a new migraine symptom?

I've had migraines all my life, and a few years ago, my symptoms abruptly shifted from having an hour of awareness before a migraine hits, followed by twelve hours of pain, sensitivities to everything, and visual hallucinations to a new flavor of migraine that can sneak up on me, and includes olfactory hallucinations, confusion, and a sparkly light show.

In the past few months, I've started to get a slow-moving facial numbness- it starts on my eyelids, spreads across my eyes like a mask, then travels down to various isolated spots beside my nose, along my lips, and under my chin.

I think this is just more migraine fun, but I'm not sure. I've googled it, but I can't find anything meaningful. Has anyone else experienced this with their migraines?

I know the answer is "see a doctor" but I can't. When my migraines shifted so abruptly last time, I thought I might be having a stroke. ER visit, follow ups with neurologists and an ophthamologist, plus all the attendant tests- everybody agreed, it was just a different presentation of migraine.

Even with insurance, these bills put me in bankruptcy; unless there's an excellent chance I'm dying, I can't afford to do all of that again just to find out it's another symptom of the same. (However, if there's an excellent chance I'm dying, I can try to get a loan.)

posted by anonymous to health (16 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

I had very similar symptoms and was told by my neurologist that it was probably migraine--but that was after an MRI to rule out anything more serious. I have also experienced "eye migraines" where the vision in my right eye goes wonky and I see sparkling lights and interesting patterns. Oddly enough, I don't have "regular" migraines--so the first time the numbness happened I was sure I was having a stroke or something. I've had the ergonomics guy at the office hook me up with a new chair, keyboard set up, etc. and I have not experienced either kind of migraine since.

posted by agatha_magatha at 9:35 PM on July 12, 2006

The fact that it's moving tends to make me think it's a migraine symptom, as opposed to a tumor or something. Numbness is definitely a possible symptom.

In my worst attack, before I knew what was wrong with me, I started to get one and tried dosing myself with red wine.... which, of course, was the *worst possible treatment*. My entire right side went numb... right side of my face, arms, legs, everything. My parents were away from home that weekend... by the time I realized how bad it was, I couldn't even get to the phone anymore. I finally fell asleep, and was okay when I got up.

While I am definitely not a doctor, your symptoms do sound like a mini version of what happened to me, including the slow spreading. Does it stay all on one side?

I have gotten very few migraines in my older life since I started drinking coffee. I don't know if it will help you, but caffeine intake every day seems to prevent them for me.

posted by Malor at 9:39 PM on July 12, 2006

I have the sparkling lights--lightening streaks across vision, even have had "holes" missing spots in visions [that is some of the freakiest], severe sensitivity to light, nausea and the olfactory stuff. I will say this I havent had the severity of the numbness in the face, youve had, but Ive had an occasional migraine where I felt a numb spot in my face.

This may sound weird but I was able to control my migraines learning to avoid some unusual triggers, I havent had one in some months. This may sound odd, but I learned looking at GRIDS, yes grids--think checker boards and crisscross lines and flashing television--when they show pictures or flash lights in rapid succession such as on commericals or music videos,... and the occasional bright light were triggers. I also have gone off certain medications and foods I know are migraine triggering. I also had a hormonal component to the triggering of my migraines...that women may relate too.

I have cut my migraines by at least 60-70% over the years paying attention to this stuff.

Im not a doctor but I think if you ever CANT SPEAK, or CANT MOVE something you should go to the ER...[those are signs of strokes]

posted by Budge at 9:47 PM on July 12, 2006

See your neurologist, make sure it's nothing new (it's probably not). Learn your new warning signs, if that's what they are, and keep your meds handy.

I also get this weird thing where I get tunnel vision. I can only see about half of what's directly in front of me, and nothing on the periphery. Migraines seem to change or add symptoms at will. Oh joy.

posted by Meep! Eek! at 9:49 PM on July 12, 2006

Speaking as someone who just a month and a half ago was rushed to the emergency room after stroke-like symptoms, given a CT scan and an MRI, told it was just a migraine (the freakiest, most disturbing migraine imaginable that didn't involve a headache), and then received a $13,000 bill in the mail:

Yes. I've had a migraine that involved a moving numbness in the right side of my face that travelled towards my lips. It also involved the sudden inability to speak with the right words, massive blind spots that made it difficult to focus, and general numbness throughout my right arm.

It's horrifying, and not remotely like the headache-based migraines (with aura) I've experienced in the past. The next time it happens, I know I'll be hard-pressed to go back to the ER (even though, if there's a free or pay-what-you-can clinic in the area, it's always good to get it checked out, and it'd be a good plan to research to see if there is that kind of clinic anyway).

posted by I EAT TAPAS at 10:46 PM on July 12, 2006

I just saw a patient in the E/R on Sunday, who had exactly the same new symptom of facial numbness along with his, yes, migraines which he'd had for many years. I told him that it was quite common to have such a thing in migraines.

However, I'd examined him and reviewed his brain CT, which I have not done in your case. Therefore I cannot serve as your doctor nor can this be construed to be medical advice pertinent to you.

posted by ikkyu2 at 12:11 AM on July 13, 2006

Could it be a form of Bell's Palsy?

posted by PenDevil at 12:53 AM on July 13, 2006

I get 2-3 migraines a year and numbness is fairly common for me, sometimes in my face, sometimes in my hands, not necessarily symmetrically. I also get the vision problem sometimes, used to get the flashing lights when I was a teenager - not so much now. Had tunnel vision once, extremely weird and pretty scary. Confusion definitely, I'm always incapable of reading/writing and usually struggle with speaking. Feeling any of there symptoms coming on is for me an indicator to get straight home, take the pills and try to get to sleep asap, thus avoiding as much of the imminent headache and nausea as possible.

posted by biffa at 2:01 AM on July 13, 2006

Just thought I'd add I, too, sometimes get numbness in my face as part of a migraine. It's not as dramatic as yours, though, more like a spot the size of a quarter along my smile line, always on the left side (as are my migraines). My neurologist told me it's fine, though he did do a battery of tests first. He also told me to consider myself lucky, as a good friend of his goes numb all over his left side with migraines, and he gets them more than once a month or so. Yikes!

I hope you find some relief from your headaches. The ones I get with numbness often seem to be triggered by eating MSG or aspartame. I've had some luck controlling them by examining these and other food-related triggers. Good luck.

posted by katie at 6:34 AM on July 13, 2006

One thing about migraines that no one seems to publish is that the symptoms do change as one ages. You didn't mention how old you are, but many who have had them since childhood experience a change in their mid 20's to mid 30's. Don't be surprised if this time of fluctuation doesn't also present new symptoms beyond what you have recently experienced, and don't be surprised if there are more changes in the coming decades.

Your new symptoms are consistent with other migraine sufferers. In fact, some numbness or tightness should be associated with dramatic blood vessel contraction/expansion, particularly in the face.

Different presentation is typical of having different triggers and new triggers can arise as you age. I think of them more like allergies, and find it easier to explain it to others as allergies. I am allergic to NutraSweet/Aspartame/Phenylalanine. That what I tell people, that's what I tell myself.

You mention chance of dying. For what it's worth, everyone who experiences true migraines either thinks about that, or even wishes for it during the most painful part. It sounds to me like you feel very alone in this. Perhaps you might find some comfort and confidence in reading about, and talking with, others who suffer from migraines as well.

posted by kc0dxh at 7:40 AM on July 13, 2006

Although those symptoms could be congruent with a diagnosis of "migraines" they also sound very much like what I experience which is diagnosed as temporal lobe epilepsy. Have you had all the various brain scans in the past or just been given migraine drugs for immediate relief (like maxalt)?

My diagnosis was simple because I had a grand mal seizure at 13, but the majority of my experiences have been either "simple partial" or "complex partial" seizures, which are almost always followed by a migraine. They most commonly i

What constitutes domestic violence? How do I recognize that someone is being abused?

It's good to know that India is observing DVAM this year. It's encouraging to note that human right's activism is becoming mainstream in the Indian context.

Domestic violence is the violence or physical abuse directed toward ones spouse or domestic partner; usually violence by men against women.

It's also called by other names, viz, domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence (IPV).

DV has been broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, friends or cohabitation. [1] Domestic violence, so defined, has many forms, including physical aggression (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects), or threats thereof; sexual abuse; emotional abuse; controlling or domineering; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse (e.g., neglect); and economic deprivation. Alcohol consumption and mental illness can be co-morbid with abuse, and present additional challenges when present alongside patterns of abuse.

There are many theories surrounding the power-control dynamics of a violent relationship. The Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project is based on this theory.

Abusers' efforts to dominate their partners have been attributed to low self-esteem or feelings of inadequacy, unresolved childhood conflicts, the stress of poverty, hostility and resentment toward women (misogyny), hostility and resentment toward men (misandry), personality disorders, genetic tendencies and sociocultural influences, among other possible causative factors. Most authorities seem to agree that abusive personalities result from a combination of several factors, to varying degrees.

There is a view that abuse arises from powerlessness and externalizing/projecting this and attempting to exercise control of the victim. It is an attempt to 'gain or maintain power and control over the victim' but even in achieving this it cannot resolve the powerlessness driving it. Such behaviours have addictive aspects leading to a cycle of abuse or violence. Mutual cycles develop when each party attempts to resolve their own powerlessness in attempting to assert control.

Research by Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD RN FAAN has found that at least two thirds of women killed by their intimate partners were battered by those men prior to the murder. She also found that when males are killed by female intimates, the women in those relationships had been abused by their male partner about 75% of the time.

In a Los Angeles Times article about male victims of domestic violence, Fiebert suggests that "...consensus in the field is that women are as likely as men to strike their partner but that—as expected—women are more likely to be injured than men." However, he noted, men are seriously injured in 38% of the cases in which "extreme aggression" is used. Fiebert additionally noted that his work was not meant to minimize the serious effects of men who abuse women. Women are far more likely to use weapons in their domestic violence, whether throwing a plate or firing a gun.

How do we recognize that someone is being abused?

There are many symptoms that could be positively traced back to abuse in intimate relationships. Bruises, broken bones, head injuries, lacerations, and internal bleeding are some of the acute effects of a domestic violence incident that require medical attention and hospitalization. Some chronic health conditions that have been linked to victims of domestic violence are arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, pelvic pain, ulcers, and migraines.[60] Victims who are pregnant during a domestic violence relationship experience greater risk of miscarriage, pre-term labor, and injury to or death of the fetus. High amounts of stress, fear, and anxiety are commonly reported. Depression is also common, as victims are made to feel guilty for ‘provoking’ the abuse and are constantly subjected to intense criticism.

Really need advice: I suffer from Migraines yet doc still wants me to have IUS Mirena?

I vote do not get the Mirena unless other women in your family have had good results with it.

I had the Mirena for almost 14 months, although my migraines did decrease I developed hypertension & am now pre-diabetic due to weight gain caused by the Mirena.

Please google search Mirena Awareness & Mirena Side Effects before getting one PLEASE!