When people hear the word “migraine”, they usually think of a throbbing and agonizing pain that usually lasts for a few days every month. However, a lot of people experience migraine aura without pain.
This might sound unusual, but particularly Older patients usually report aura symptoms without feeling any sharp pain in the temples, which is often what one of the main symptoms is.
Even despite the pain, these episodes are still diagnosed as migraine attacks since patients usually experience all the other visual and sensory problems.
To understand more about this kind of condition, we’ll investigate further below.
Migraine Aura Without Pain
A migraine aura without pain is usually called typical migraine aura without headache pain. The symptoms usually build up from 5 to 20 minutes and don’t last that long. This is usually called the march of symptoms. To clarify, this is where symptoms gradually increase until they reach the maximum level. After that, they decrease until they go away.
However, most of the time, there is no headache pain associated with the other symptoms. However, because no other disorder can be blamed for the offset of symptoms, the patients are successfully diagnosed with this condition.
Proper Diagnosis
A proper diagnosis depends on keeping an eye on all of the visual symptoms that you experience. Although these symptoms usually go away within an hour, if you usually have a blurry vision then you are probably suffering from migraine aura without pain.
To complicate things further, some people will experience pain with some of their migraine attacks, where others will still remain pain-free. Nevertheless, the migraine characteristics usually change with time. For example, as migraine patients get older, and even if they used to experience throbbing pain in the past, the pain intensity tends to decrease with age.
In some cases, the pain will disappear altogether. This is why migraine aura without pain is usually more common among older migraine sufferers. These patients are most likely going to experience visual symptoms more than other types of symptoms. The condition is also usually more common in men than women.
Symptoms
A migraine aura without pain usually features the same symptoms, as with any other type of migraine aura. These include visual symptoms where patients experience flashing or moving bright lights that get bigger. Sometimes patients see zigzag lines or waves of light which cause a lot of visual confusion.
Other patients can experience blind spots or blurry vision in addition to shimmering effects or auras around various objects. Patients might misinterpret these symptoms and think that they are suffering from eye problems.
Sensory symptoms are less common among the patients of migraine aura without pain. Patients would still experience numbness or tingling that starts in one place in the body and spreads to other parts. Most patients experience lateral pain, tingling, and numbness. They usually experience odd feelings like pins or needles in their arms or feet; before they start to feel some sort of improvement.
The least common type of symptoms is related to speech. This is called expressive aphasia which affects the way words are pronounced. In very rare occasions, patients will suffer from global amnesia where they are unable to recall an hour or so of their memory.
Treatment
As with any kind of migraine, there are various options available when it comes to treatment, with some being more affective than others. The FDA has approved various pharmaceuticals, but stress and relaxation techniques are also recommended.
To find out more about these different options, you can read more about migraine treatments, or consult with your doctor to find out what options are the best for you.
If you are thinking about Botox for migraines, it’s important to do your research about all of the procedures involved. As this can be quite a costly procedure, it’s also important to think about how you will be able to afford this treatment. This is because unless you experience chronic migraines, you won’t be covered by insurance.
Conclusion
A migraine aura without pain is treatable. However, the success of the treatment will solely depend on the accuracy of the diagnosis. This is why you should always consult with your doctor in order to rule out any other possibilities and to decide on the proper action.
In the above article, we have covered various aspects of different kinds of intense headache pain. While it might seem strange to talk about a migraine without pain, since they are known to be so painful, this is an important consideration, especially for older sufferers.
As discussed, various treatment options are available that can help you to treat all of the uncomfortable symptoms that come with this kind of condition, even if you don’t experience the typical throbbing pain.
