I had a classic migraine with aura (sledgehammer headache) on Thursday.

I haven't had a migraine with aura since November of 2012, over a full year, and so I was so disappointed to see the shiny zig-zag lines across my vision at work the other day, right before a field trip with my class of kindergartners! :( I'm a paraprofessional and not the lead teacher, but it was still so terrible to tell the teacher I'm paired with that I couldn't go on the trip, and that I needed to get home ASAP.

I'd only gotten a few hours of sleep that night due to stress and bad sleep regime that evening, and so I'm assuming that wacko-sleep change in schedule may have influenced the trigger in the migraine.

Good news is I got to sleep before the pain really fully landed, and when I can sleep during a migraine, I seem to be able to stop the migraine in its tracks. When I woke I wasn't in so much pain and could walk without vomiting.

Funny thing is, I'd been having weird chronic daily headache (NON-migraine) type headaches since last spring, off and on light headaches I can function with but that aren't fun none the less. These headaches were caused by eating too much MSG in one sitting one day last April and seemed to have left permanent effects to my brain's processes and have left me with odd sensations in my head and around my eyes. I almost wanted to trigger a migraine headache to see if it might somehow "revamp" my brain's function and rid me of the weirdo light-non-migraine headaches I've been having due to eating MSG that day. Studies show that migraines with aura do leave lasting effects on the brain in many cases, and might change blood flow etc. I always feel different after a migraine, almost as if my brain has had electric shock therapy or something, as if its been turned off and then recharged. I wonder if it could correct a problem. Probably not. I should probably put this on the migraine board, but no one really replies there, so I'm putting it here.

Some people live life with little to no headaches. I'm so jealous of those people. But I try to count my blessings. I've been blessed with a generally happy stomach which doesn't give me too much trouble usually.

My mother has the vision migraine. Half of her vision is gone for 20 minutes exactly followed by a dull headache for the rest of the day.