TIA or Aural Migraine.....Sleepless in the Midwest.....

Totally confused and soooo anxious.

This morning I had zig zags and distortions in my eyes and couldn’t read all the letters on my page. (It was not symptoms of a retinal tear or detachment) ...I had this once before, maybe one year ago. Both times I assumed it was an Aural Migraine and in awhile I would get a headache...but not a huge headache. Tonight I feel pretty tired and still have a lingering headache.

So today, my eye visions lasted about ten minutes, also I think it was only in my right eye...but not sure....anyway ....the eye zigzags stopped and I reading a paper out loud and I couldn’t pronounce the word “oriented.”....I reread it about three times and I knew I wasn’t saying it right and then everytime I read the would administration...I would speak the word “mother”.......and I was realizing that I wasn’t really comprehending what I was reading. After about 15 minutes ...it was all gone....but I was left with an huge panic attack....most of the day. I had no other signs of stroke, no weakness, tingling, drooping, blindness....BP and pulse and EKG were normal, etc.

I made an appointment with my Internet’s for 8:00 tomorrow. If I didn’t have Afib I would think this was an Aural Migraine with Asphagia.....but now I am very concerned about stroke.

Does anyone have any experience with aural migraines with asphagia? I wonder if they will have to run all sorts of huge tests to determine what’s going on.

Also, is a TIA a warning of a larger stroke?

Linda

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lds001
Also, is a TIA a warning of a larger stroke?

Yes, Linda, it is, and I think you should seek immediate medical care. A 911 call would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do right now.

Carey,I just saw your email. It’s 8 AM and I am sitting at my internist office. My EP,s office is on the floor above me so one way or another I will make sure I get the appropriate urgent care needed

Carey, I saw my doc.....she feels I had a complex migraine...however she is going to have me go and have a stroke protocol MRI......today. Thanks for your help!

Glad to hear that. It probably is just a migraine but better safe than sorry!

IDS 001

Sounds like an Aura Migraine to me---I get those, I have since my early 20s and I am now 80. I got only a couple a year until I started getting AF then I might get a couple a month now, I can't take some supplements as they will give me those Aura Migraines. Yes, they start with a zigzag flashes of light and depending where it hits you in your eye they can obstruct your vision. They usually last about 20 min. to a 1/2 hr. and you can have a little headache, during the attack and a little while afterwards sometimes you can be a little out of it like you said. They are nasty and I hate them but they are not TIAs, they are Aura Migraines. There is a couple of posts about Aura migraines on this site and some have said that they have gotten them and AF as well.

Liz

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Carey
Glad to hear that. It probably is just a migraine but better safe than sorry!

I totally agree...My MRA was normal.....I still have a headache/nausea....ugh. My Doc said if it should happen again to go to the ER

Thanks!

Linda



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2020 06:22PM by lds001.

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Elizabeth
IDS 001

Sounds like an Aura Migraine to me---I get those, I have since my early 20s and I am now 80. I got only a couple a year until I started getting AF then I might get a couple a month now, I can't take some supplements as they will give me those Aura Migraines. Yes, they start with a zigzag flashes of light and depending where it hits you in your eye they can obstruct your vision. They usually last about 20 min. to a 1/2 hr. and you can have a little headache, during the attack and a little while afterwards sometimes you can be a little out of it like you said. They are nasty and I hate them but they are not TIAs, they are Aura Migraines. There is a couple of posts about Aura migraines on this site and some have said that they have gotten them and AF as well.

Liz

Thanks Liz....yes exactly....except I also had this weird speech thing....and I felt I was out of it. I did NOT like the feeling. I would be hard pressed to figure out stroke or TIA.....I probably wouldn’t take any chances. ‘

Linda

Linda:

I have read that during the Aura Migraine you can have a tingling in your arm and even your mouth, I have had that twice in my lifetime, it is also a part of what some people can experience during these attacks. I know it is scary but just know it does happen.

Liz

Hi,

I have recently experienced a similar event, but mine was slightly different . I get AF 5-6 times a month, HR up to 180, 6-12 hours. I’ve recently been put back on Isoptin and low dose Flecainide and Eliquis.

I was standing in a queue in the supermarket when I felt a numbness run down the side of my head and face, I felt nauseated and shaken and could only stagger to a seat to sit down.
Taken to hospital by ambulance, WAITED 11 hours and gave up and went home.

Next day feeling very seedy, went to GP who insisted I go back to ER. Waited another 12 hours....stayed overnight, had a cat scan next day and bloods, physical and neurological tests.
They said not a TIA (but was outside the window of opportunity for bloods.) diagnosis...migraine or BPV. I’m not impressed but I am concerned.I have been freaking out ever since.

Joy

I really hate these Aura Migraines, I sometimes hate them worse than AF. There are all kinds of symptoms that can happen with these Auras, I have read that a numbness sometimes happens in your left arm and face, it is scary. The numbness has happened to me twice which did scare me as I have gotten these Auras off and on throughout my life, but apparently this can happen and it is due to the Aura Migraine, I have read this when I googled it. I have since had blood work done plus an echo and everything is good. So, I try to relax and lie down when I get one plus I take an aspirin which helps.

My mother and grandmother had these migraines so I guess it is something they passed on to me, it has happened once to my daughter, I hope she will be spared.

There is also on this site a topic about people having these Auras and also AF, Carey has said that he got it after his ablation and a few others have said that as well. I will try to find that topic.

This thread has a lot of info: Aura Migraines/AFIB

Liz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2020 03:32PM by Elizabeth.

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Elizabeth
There is also on this site a topic about people having these Auras and also AF, Carey has said that he got it after his ablation and a few others have said that as well.

It seems that any cardiac procedure that involves a trans-septal puncture (as ablations do) can set you up for auras. I had a mitral valve repair that involved a trans-septal puncture and, sure enough, the auras started the next day. They diminished as the puncture healed though going from about one a day to one every two weeks, to none.

Daisy:

I have never had an ablation, but, you know I have had a Pace maker installed about 20 years ago and I have had more of these Aura migraines since then. Could there be a connection or is it because of my AF and family history?

Liz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2020 04:16PM by Elizabeth.

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Elizabeth
Daisy:

I have never had an ablation, but, you know I have had a Pace maker installed about 20 years ago and I have had more of these Aura migraines since then. Could there be a connection or is it because of my AF and family history?

Liz

I don't know. I had a pacemaker implanted a year and a half ago and didn't get auras, but I did get them with the trans-septal puncture. I have had the very occasional non-migraine auras for about 20 years (before Afib) but I suppose there could be a link between the tendency to get auras and a predisposition to Afib?

Thanks Liz

I have been suffering quite severe dizziness and nausea for some time now, so maybe it's all part of that. I see my neurologist in a few weeks so will run it all by him again.

What really frustrates me is that my GP and Er Dr suggested I may be depressed or anxious and wrote scripts for antidepressants which I declined.

I said to the Cardio in ER (not my regular guy) "of course I'm anxious and miserable with a HR of 160+ for 12 hours, and on other days so dizzy and nauseous I can't walk straight, wouldn't you be?"

I'll do a bit of reading up on the Migraine. I also think my neck may be causing some problems as I have bulging discs and bone spurs which can make me feel as if I've had a electric shock if I move my head the wrong way.

I developed Aura Migraines for the 1st time about 4.5 years ago 1 week after my 1st ablation. You an go find my old posts. I still have them to this day usually about 2 per month. Prior to that I was never even a headache guy and did not know the term Aura. I thought I was having a stroke on my 1st one and that sent me the the ER. All these years later, I take an Sumatriptan at 1st sign and just go on best one can.

I too have posted about aural migraines, pre and post ablation(s) and Watchman.

The most surprising situation for me is that last July when I switched from low dose to Eliquis to aspirin, I didn't have an episode for almost 4 months. And since then only 3.
Prior to that I went through a sort of bell curve frequency - stretches w/o, and then periods where I often had several a week. All lasting about 20 minutes.

One constant is the apparent trigger of high intensity, tightly focused light sources, many times from the sun glint off of a window or chrome bumper or similar.

AB Page:

Do you have a Watchman, and did you get the Aura Migraines after the Watchman was implanted?

Liz

I had ocular migraines before my AFIB diagnosis, but also probably had AFIB then. This is going back 10 years. After my first ablation, the frequency increased dramatically, continuing through a Watchman 18 months ago. Post Watchman they decreased in frequency. 6 months ago when i switched from Eliquis to low dose aspirin, there was a dramatic drop-off in frequency. For me, in hindsight, there appears to be a connection taking Eliquis and frequency of episodes. When on full dose Eliquis I had them most often. I don't recall with certainty, but during the time I was on full dose Eliquis and before my first ablation, I don't think I had them any more often. Just after the ablation(s).

So is it transeptal punctures and Eliquis related? Dunno.