Like I couldn't tell you, I'm fine right?

March 23, 2011 9:03 PM

So now there are now two instances of people having a speech impeding migrane on camera.

I didn't stop and gawk at these because I was too terrified to watch, as something very similar has happened to me. In July 2009 I was getting an aura/ visual disruption sort of migrane while in a bookstore. When the visual field disruption became unescapable I went to check out and get out of there. My speech, however, had left me. I was left with gibberish or reflexive statements like "no thank you" or "please, thank you". Like when they asked me if I wanted an ambulance called "no, thank you" came out fine. Nothing else did. Fortunately, this disturbance was over in 10 minutes.* (hey honey, i'm home! guess what, I couldn't speak in the bookstore just now. Well you're talking just fine now. errr) My migranes, before and since then, are similarly brief. It takes about 20 minutes for the visual disruption to pass and I can essentially function.
So, thanks to youtube, I know I'm not alone now but paranoia dictates that I need to know if this is just an incidentally really bad migrane or indicative of something worse underlying it. Internet sucks at telling me the long term implications of such an episode, so can you help? What real, credible research can you point me to? I have full university-grade access to articles so don't hold back from paywalls. This is not my field, however, so I need your editorializing as well.

*Yes I went back the next day to thank them for their concern and show them I was just fine.

posted by thusspakeparanoia to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

I had a very mild case of this once. My migraines largely stopped a few years after that and now they only occur every few years and are milder. My dad had it worse, where he couldn't remember his name. He still gets painful migraines, but hasn't had a reoccurrence of that phenomenon.
posted by Earl the Polliwog at 9:37 PM on March 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine has hemiplegic migraines that mimic strokes. He's been loaded into an ambulance and carted off to the ER more than once because he was walking in circles, half his face was drooping and he was slurring his speech. It's nice that people care but still quite a pita for him.
posted by fshgrl at 9:58 PM on March 23, 2011

Well, I can't point you to any research....but I can say that I suffer classic migraines with aura, speech slurring, vomiting, numbness, pins and needles etc. Like yourself, after the speech slurring / inability to speak, I went to see a neurologist. I was worried I might have some sort of tumor or mini-strokes. His diagnosis - still just migraine.

For further anecdata...a best friend of mine from highschool is a neurologist at the Mayo clinic...specializing in none other than migraines. The last time he was in town, we had lunch and he explained that the more they learn about migraines...the less they seem to know about what causes them and that most of the popular theories have recently been tossed out the window. He said something about the source of migraines being in "the brain tissue itself" or something like that....either way, this laypersons takeaway was that migraines are a mystery, and stroke like symptoms are indeed common.
posted by jnnla at 10:14 PM on March 23, 2011

The easiest way to figure out if you have long-term effects is to go down to your friendly neighborhood migraine specialist, or general neurologist if you don't have specialists, and let them work you up. I have had my head in the MRI tube for mine, and they shrugged and said "Heh, well, you have the same white matter lesions we see in lots of migraine patients."

I went home and stared at the ceiling all night, but no one seemed concerned about it, I was given meds, I feel much better and presumably the meds are staving off any further inappropriate lesion action.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 11:56 PM on March 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

These episodes are short-lived? Have you been properly evaluated for seizures (among other stuff, sz are just an example)? I'm really serious when I say that a slew of articles is not going to be helpful differentiating self-reports of migraine from other neuro disorders.

I very rarely get short-lived 'migraines' (in other words, what I thought were migraines, as did my PCP) now that I am not having frequent partial seizures with post-ictal headache and neurologic signs (slurred speech/expressive aphasia, sensitive to light/sound, contralateral weakness of hand/arm/face). I mean, triptans even stopped the headache part in its tracks.

IOW, as fairytale of los angeles notes, you actually will need to see a neurologist. Looked like a horse, mostly ate like a horse, kicked like a horse, lots of horses owned by people in my demographic...but...witnessed tonic-clonic and an electrode hat later....black zebra.

Also, advice to upthread folks (or friends of folks) with non-consciousness impairing episodes: carry a small explanatory card to hand out. It will save you ambulance rides.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 4:26 AM on March 24, 2011

i get migraines that are from my 3 comas. Neurologists dont know why i get them and i basicall;y have to deal with them. i get the whole left side of my body going numb, my toungue going numb, not being able to speak, getting dizzy, puking, the auras and everything.

I only get them maybe once a year or so.

I also found out that i have an insensitivity to Annatto extract. Its what is used to make yellow cheddar and yellow american yellow. Exactly 4 hours after eating it i get these migraines.


So those of you above me who get them check into it. see what you have eaten that day. This extract is used as a dye in foods . its in a ton of processed stuff.
posted by majortom1981 at 5:07 AM on March 24, 2011

Migraines run in my family (on my mother's side) for several generations, and while we all have very similar symptoms, we all have totally different triggers -- for my brother it's stepping out into bright sunlight, for my mother it's fast food cooking oil, and for me it used to be hormonal and now it's if my sleep patterns get screwed up. Only once in high school have I ever had a speech issue, and it initially terrified me (but once I figured out what was going on -- the other recognizable migraine symptoms had followed on a bit later) a detached part of me was sort of fascinated by what my brain was managing to do.

I've never had a doctor concerned by any of my symptoms, even the one speech incident, especially given that migraines are so common in my family that we all know what they are when they appear. And even in those older generations there's never been an incidence of stroke or other neurological issues. (Well. Unless someone makes some correlative link between development of Parkinson's and history of migraines, in which case I think I'm screwed) (but as far as I can tell no one has made that connection yet)
posted by olinerd at 5:34 AM on March 24, 2011

This has happened to me a few times.
Although I do suffer from migranes (thanks Mom!), I believe mine had more to do with my narcolepsy.

Maybe you can get a referral to see a neurologist to rule out anything?
posted by KogeLiz at 5:57 AM on March 24, 2011

Response by poster: Given the ephemeral nature of these episodes and that my baseline state of stress is currently at an lifetime high I don't feel compelled to see a neurologist in the immediate future. When my stressors are lightened, and I can see a more normal physiological baseline in myself (and with adequate health insurance, with the blessing) I will definitely get checked out.
I appreciate all of your advice and anecdata, but would am still curious if anyone has some suggestion of deeper research.
posted by thusspakeparanoia at 9:15 PM on March 24, 2011