I have suffered Basilar Artery Migraines which I was diagnosed with, but after reading articles from The National Headache Foundation I believe that I should be diagnosed with Hemiplegic migraine. Although I still do not totally fall into this category.
I started suffering with this type of migraines from the age of 13, where I started my periods, and after suffering epileptic seizures since I was 2 years old. My grandfather and father had them and then I developed them—-but they were of a more intense version. A couple of days before I get a seizure, I start to experience chest pain, on and off until the attack starts.
I’ve also been told that I suffer strokes; it is like I’m having a heart attack! I have been for scans and tests for heart problems and nothing shows up so I only connect this side effect to the migraine attacks, as they start a couple of days before I have a headache. Unfortunately, they are always different; sometimes I don’t get any warnings, or my speech is affected. I can’t explain how I sound when I try to speak, except, that everything is jumbled and certainly not what I think I’ve said, so no one understands what I have said, and I get upset. Following that I develop unbelievable pain in my head. Sometimes only on one side and sometimes right across my entire head, and the pain in my eyes is incredible. I even begin to lose my eye sight, and that starts like a fuzzy, coloured blur in the middle of my eyes, and it covers both of my eyes completely. At that stage I can’t see.
I have total numbness on one or on both sides and I get a feeling of “pins and needles,” and then total numbness goes down both arms, legs and in through torso. At that point I have to lie down.
I am confused, I quite sick (nausea), and I lose all bodily functions. The pain is so totally hard to believe that sometimes I wish I would die. I could easily chop my head off to stop the pain, because I can’t lay, I can’t sit or move. It is like living hell. This severe attack can last for days, and after the headache has eased, I am disorientated, and I slowly get feeling back in my body, although I can’t even write anything days later, again, because words come out completely jumbled. I am clumsy and have no direction in my movements; my grip is lessened and I have accidents.
I have suffered these headaches for most of my life and I am now 40 years old and still haven’t the right drugs as the doctors don’t totally understand what happens when I suffer these attacks, and there is no drug I have tried or tested that actually works, so I just continue to suffer with the pain and again, sometimes wish I could end it. Nothing stops or eases my pain and I wish there was a solution to my problem. People who suffer with this type of migraine should be tested and ultimately diagnosed quickly when possible, but I have had consultants since I was 2-years-old and still don’t have any real help or anything to manage these better. I know that this affects my family life, I have 3 children, my eldest son is disabled, and I sometimes wonder if the various medications I’ve had to take all of the life are the cause for my child’s disabilities. When I had my third child I suffered a full blown stroke, which left me with numbness and affected speech for nearly six weeks after the birth. These migraines are not a joke and I wish that they could be dealt with more thoroughly.
