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Posted 6/24/2006 5:11 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone ever had a migraine w/ numbness?  I have had 2, both in March, one 05 and one this year.  It starts out with my hand going numb, then up my arm and then my face (right side).  That happens for about 10 mins, then the massive pain starts and the numbness goes away.  I also had an aura before my last one but not the first one. 

Zan

Posted 6/25/2006 3:23 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Zan,
Yes, I have had the numbness, vision auras, and could not balance, or speak until "it" passed. I do not always get the aura, and sometimes get the aura and no pain, but the weak, sick feeling, and be unable to function.

For me, these episodes usually are a day after a time of great stress. It is very frightening, and I hope you get some help soon.

Posted 6/26/2006 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
Hey there.... I have those too and my neurologist diagnosed them as Hemiplegic migraines -- My arm stays weak for 5 to 7 days afterwards though. Due to the hemiplegia, people that are diagnosed with them cannot take vasoconstrictors such as triptans and ergots -- Imitrex, DHE etc.....because of the higher stroke risk.
Posted 6/26/2006 11:59 PM (GMT 0)
My arm stayed week for a few days after this last one too.  How scary.  Couldn't just have the regular old migraine, now could we?  UGH.  How many have you had?  May i ask you age too?  They are very scary.  I am so afraid of having a stroke since they are so similar. 

 

Posted 6/27/2006 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
I looked up hemiplegic migraine, but I don't think that is what I am having becaue I could completely move my arm, it was just numb and from what I've read, I am pretty sure with these you can't move your arm.  Was that your case?  My neuro has never diagnosed this way, just as complex migraine.

Posted 6/28/2006 12:24 AM (GMT 0)
I have had many -- lost count! My family on my mother's side has a history of these so mine is "familial" due to it being genetic but there are also what they call "sporadic hemiplegic migraine". I could move my arm with my shoulder if that makes sense. They are scary - the first time it happened and I went to the ER they all thought I was having a stroke, which the CT scan cleared. I just had a consult with a "staff" neurologist at Mayo Clinic and we talked about the lasting weakness and he wasn't convinced it wasn't a hemiplegic migraine due to that. With numbness only you would be able to return to normal when that goes away and not have the lasting weakness. It's so complicated!!! And a lot of docs I have noticed fall back on the complex migraine when they aren't totally sure what to call them. I am 28 years old and have both hemiplegic and classic with aura migraines. It's hell and very scary.

Are you on any preventative meds? What do you take when you get a migraine? I am getting BOTOX next month and am supposed to start atenolol in addition to the Topamax I am already on. I get migraines a couple times a week now and have taken pretty much everything they can offer at this point. The hemiplegic migraines I get a couple times a month.
Posted 6/28/2006 10:39 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, we are about the same age (I'm 29).  Too weird.  My mom gets Migraine w/ aura but never the numbness.  With mine, I could move my fingers, hand, etc, just couldn't feel them.  So, I guess I don't know if they are the hemiplegic or not.  The only reason I worry is they say not to take Triptans if you are having those types.  I don't take a preventative med because I have only had 2 in my life, but the neuro gave me scripts of midrin and topamax if I need them.  What do you take for prevention? 

Xan

Posted 6/29/2006 10:01 PM (GMT 0)
I have tried midrin and it didn't work for me but that's not saying much seeing as MOST meds haven't worked! I am currently taking Topamax 200mg daily for prevention. Do you ever get the "aura" (numbness, vision loss, etc..) without the pain following? I wasn't documenting those occurences and my neuro said that those are migraines too so I needed to!
Posted 6/29/2006 11:50 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, the midrin was supposed to be for the pain, but I haven't used it yet as they just gave it to me when I had the last one in March.  I haven't filled the Topamax but will if I need too.  No, I don't get the aura w/o pain, but my mother does.  I think I will ask to see a new neurologist to see what they think and be properly diagnosed.  I have had a hard time finding good doctors lately. 

xan

Posted 7/1/2006 7:03 PM (GMT 0)
My family has had this type of migraine for years. We have been followed by the Mayo Clinic for over thirty years and researchers may have isolated the chromosome where this is carried. Incidence in our family is one out of three has this type of migraine with numbness, pain, sickness, etc. It is very scary, however, the docs have said that we are at no greater risk of having a stroke than the general population.
I am 44 and had one last week but had not had one in six years, prior to that it had been 12 years. My 20 year old daughter has had a half a dozen in the last 4 months. Was hospitalized several years ago for 5 days with paralysis, swallowing difficulty, etc. Took her a while to be able to read, tie her shoes, use her right hand, but everything did come back eventually with no residuals.
opie
Posted 7/2/2006 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
I am followed by the Mayo Clinic also. Are you diagnosed with complex migraine or hemiplegic migraine. I just wanted to be clear with the stroke risk -- being diagnosed doesn't raise the stroke risk but taking triptans and other vasoconstrictors does. It is well documented that if diagnosed with Hemiplegic migraines triptans and other vasoconstrictors are contraindicated due to the risk of stroke.
Posted 7/2/2006 12:50 PM (GMT 0)
We have been diagnosed with atypical familial hemipelegic migraines. My father actually takes nitroglycerin at the onset of a migraine. It does leave him with a headache but the paralysis and the length of the migraine seems to be shortened. He is going back to Mayo in August to see if there is anything new as the frequency of his headaches is increasing.
Posted 7/5/2006 5:44 PM (GMT 0)

I also get Hemiplegic migraines with aura.  I have the familiar type, and I have gotten this since I was 12.  It wasn't until I was 23 that I was able to get a succesful diagnosis.

I have been on a preventative for the bast year now, Inderal, and it has worked very well.  I went from 4 migraines a month to none at all.  Until today.  It's possible that I need to get a stronger dosage.

My symptoms are loss of vision, spots, dumbness starting at my fingers and travels up my right arm to my face.  My nose, mouth, throat, teeth, and eyes goes numb.  I get severely confused and can not speak normally.  Everything takes incredible effort, like dialing the phone - it takes several times to get it right.

I have been very considered about the possibly of stroke, I was basically told that if there is any change in the migraine to get to ER right away.

Posted 7/10/2006 12:59 AM (GMT 0)
I've only been getting migraines for 6 months or so, but the symptoms seem to shift around the gamut. Today was the first time I ever had a migraine with numbness (hand and foot) Also, my face felt the opposite of numb, kind of ultrasensitive, especially my nose.
Posted 7/10/2006 3:59 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah... I have something similiar. I will suffer a gnawing numbness in my upper lip or my right cheek, which disappears, then it feels like somebody just slammed a rock into my head. I also feel an incredible sense of vertigo for hours, and my eyes feel heavy and I feel somewhat disoriented. I have CFS so I am not too surpised by the latter of my symptoms (vertigo, heavy eyes, disorientation) but they still scare me.
Posted 6/29/2008 6:20 AM (GMT 0)

I had no idea there were other people out there that had this same exact thing going on. My migraines were so strange that I didn't even want to tell teachers what was going on with me b/c they would look at me like I was nuts.

I have had migraines with numbness that begins in my right hand or right side of my face. It can travel up my arm, into my mouth and throat (at that point I feel like I can't breathe right...but I think it's just that the numbness feels so weird). The numbness can be just tingling or so numb you could chop a finger off and I don't think I would feel it!. I usually get very confused. SOmetimes I can't speak or if I can my words come out messed up. I forget important things like my own phone number. ONe time I almost fell over from weakness on the right side of my body. Rarely I have vision disturbances. One time my right arm felt so weird I couldn't even look at it....it was like it wasn't my arm (strange). ONe time I had messed up hearing....people sounded as if they were talking to me out of synch or from another room or something. I used to have very bad light sensitivity. I used to throw up too. During really bad migraines, sometimes I experienced strange mood swings. After the pain and everything is gone, I still have pain if I sneeze or cough or move my head to suddenly. I also used to get what I call, "flash" headaches.....where for several weeks after a migraine I wouild experience a few brief but extremely sharp flashes of pain in a specific part of my head.

Oh...has anyone experienced this part.....after the migraine you are really hungry and have to eat right away? My mom and I are both like this. Also...it takes me two or three days to feel like my body is back to normal. I can't describe it well. But after a migraine, it's like I'm wiped out for the next couple of days

They were really bad in my teens and through highschool. Sometimes I got them every other day for a week.  Now I am 30 and can go two years without one. The last one was when I was pregnant (3rd trimester). THat was aweful b/c for the first time I got the numbness on the left side and the headhache on the right (reversed from all of my other headaches). I thought that b/c of this reversal that maybe something was wrong in the pregnancy and wasn't sure it was a migraine....ended up calling 911. The headache before that was the day I went home from the hospital after giving birth. I am thinking that pregnancy and childbirth are triggers for me now....hormonal?

The worst thing of all is that every time I am about to get a migraine the first symptom I have is this feeling like, "oh crap...here it comes" It's just this really uncomfortable feeling that I can't explain. There is nothing like it. I just feel it coming on. The only way I can try to communicate it to others is that it's like every inch of my body is sick....all the sudden I feel it everywhere.

SOmetimes I get the numbness and other symptoms and get no headache at all. 

As I have gotten older, the painful part of the headache is more easily managed with over the counter stuff (never could have done that before).

 My mom had this very same kind of migraine too. My brother and dad are prone to headaches also, but not this kind.

DOes anyone know if the mayo clinic is looking for ppl with these types of headaches still?

Does anyone have these same symptoms with a diagnosis? I have never had a diagnosis for what type of migraine I have. I saw two neurologists when I was a teenager.

Posted 6/29/2008 6:33 AM (GMT 0)

oh yeah...and I had a stupid doctor prescribe imitrex (back when it was only available as an injection). I took that stuff a few times and started to think I might fall over dead. I just stopped taking it on my own. Later, another doctor told me that I shouldn't be taking vaso constrictors. If you read about the stages of a migraine, yuou could see why this would be bad.

At the very beginning, when you have aura or other strange sensations but no pain....the blood vessels in your head are constricting. the constrict so much that you don't get enought oxygen to parts of your brain....the is when strange  things start to happen. THen, dilation begins and those blood vessels begin to get inflamed....this is when the pain starts.

SO just imagine how BAD it would be to take any type of vaso constrictor when your blood vessels are already so constricted that you are experienceing stroke like symptoms.

I had a doctor tell me that if I waited until the pain started to take the vaso constrictor that that would be good....but I opted not to do this because sometimes I could go from aura to pain and back to aura/numbness again. It was impossible for me to predict wether or not the constriction would start again. Anyway, I don't care what any doctor says to me now....there is NO WAY I woudl take a vaso constrictor with the severity of my symptoms.

Posted 7/20/2008 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hi
I have been reading about your headaches and you are describing my daughter's episodes perfectly. It always starts with numbness/heavy feeling in leg, foot and arm then to her nose,mouth and speech. Words come out wrong. She is not herself after for a day orso. At first her neurologist told us to give her advil, and now we are using Excedrin at the onset and she is not having a headache at all. Just the Aura as described above, so a 2-3 hour ordeal instead of a 12 hour ordeal with the headache and nausea/vomiting. What are some preventatives that are successful? How did some of you manage through school, etc? These started out as one every six months and now she has had two this weekend.
Posted 7/27/2008 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
I get this as well, however I also have a seizure Dx. Usually when I get numbness with my migraine, I am on the lookout for an impending seizure. It has yet to happen in conjunction with a migraine, but it always makes me think that it's what is about to burst. It's all very frightening, especially when you aren't able to sort one issue out from the other.

On top of all that, I use Topamax to control both, which gives paresthesia anyway, plus I'm a partial hemiplegic from having had a brain tumor and subsequent stroke already! I a mess, isn't I. I really don't know if I can offer much insight into this discussion, but I know that I have similar presentation with about a third of my migrain onsets. about 2/3 of my migrain onsets are visual deprivation ( I lose vision in both eyes within about 30-60 seconds) followed by gradual onset of discomfort, then actual agony over about 20-30 minutes. My bail out med, Imitrex nasal, gives pretty good relief about 70% of the time if I catch symptoms very early. I have noticed though that it seems to briefly make the numbness on my hemiplegic side get vastly worse for about 30 minutes after use. My neurologist has told me that this is a perception on my part and not a "T.I.A." as I have had multiple MRA's that do not show any vascular anomolies beyond surgical ones(which are substantial).
Posted 8/20/2008 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
hi i no exactly what you mean , its not nice at all. i get really paranoid when mine starts as i had a migraine indused stroke they think i was 13 when it happened but not detected till i was 25. i am now 35 and still suffering the headaches. i was really lucky as the stroke only affected 1/4 of my feild vission. but i now get scared when my headaches start incase it causes another. this time my face started with a strange sensation just on one side it almost feels numb i should know go back to my GP but am to scared.
Posted 8/22/2008 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
there is a long list of migraine preventative drugs that include taking (in lower doses than origianally intended) anti-epileptics like Topamax, anti-depressants old style (pamelor), calcium channel blockers (blood pressure) etc. etc. etc. You try one after another, ramping up slowly and seeing if it reduces frequency or force of your attacks. Always ask what side effects to look for. For example, I got all the side effects of Topamax at a less-than-clinical-for-migraine dose, so can't use it. Also, for Topamax, your doc is supposed to scheduled regular blood tests, at least one while ramping up and one after you reach clinical dose, to check for rare side effect of liver toxicity. If your doc catches it as soon as it shows up, you just stop the Topamax.

Make sure that you do not have Bruxism or jaw clencing - although very rare they can trigger migraines and even some hemiplegic-like symptoms. See my post 8/17/08 "TMJ - botox for TMJ, TMD or jaw clenching not enough - you have to stop the activity.

Good luck
Posted 5/6/2009 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
I've been looking for something or someone who could explain what this was. I've never had alot of headaches or migraines at all. But last night I got one that I thought was going to split my head open....I took some extra strength tylenol which usually works for me but it did nothing. Then all of a sudden my right hand and arm and the right side of my face and tongue went completely numb and it lasted about ten minutes or so. I was so scared! But then it went away....my husband was going to take me to the ER but we decided not to after it left and I was fine. But I felt super weak and thirsty after. During the numbness the headache went away but when the numbness went away the headache came back. I went to bed and slept it off. No headache this morning but my left eye feels like someone punched me hard. I was worried and was trying to find something online to explain it! Glad to know I'm not the only one!!!
Posted 5/11/2009 4:45 AM (GMT 0)

Hello everyone, I cant believe there are so many people out there suffering from the same migraines as mine. Kay0525 decribed mine so perfectly I couldnt have done a better job if I had described them myself. I am lucky that I only have them about once a year now as I used to have them about once a month on average. I have had them as frequently as once or twice a week. I started getting them when I was 10 and I am now36 so I have been getting them for 26 years now. I dont think they have anything to do with hormones as when I was pregnant with my son I had none and when pregnant with my daughter I had so many they put me on lithium to help with my stress and panic I was having several in one day. My mother gets the same migraines as mine although not as sevear. My much younger half brother also gets similar migraines but what is weird is that he has a different mother and our father gets only "normal" type migraines. I aso worry aboutstroke and would like to know if we are at a higher risk than non migraniers. I wonder also if I was given the right diagnosis of hemiplegic migraine 26 years ago as every where I have read they are described as one sided pareasis  and like ers on this site I can move my hand and leg ok I just cant feal them properly or work them properly Holding anything or walking normaly is impossible. They also have the tingling numbnes and I cant handle anthing touching me because it feels so revolting. I was given Imagran many times by doctor nd this is one of the drugs that should never be given I am really lucky I didnt end up having a stroke. This is what they have been giving my brother reciently I am so angry that the doctors have not got the education concerning these rare migraines. The drug makes he aura ten times worse anyway. Kay 0525 described the feeling of one coming on so well I can really relate to that "oh crap" feeling. My brothers migraines are two sided affecting both his arms and hands I have seen him having a migraine and his handswere locked he couldnt move them and his facial exprssion was also paralised so he couldnt move his mouth to talk this is reallydifferent from my aura. I sometimes wonder If mine are basilar migraines not hemiplegic but mine are the same in description as Kay0525s. Also they describe hemiplegic migraine as having a one sided headach and mine involves the whole head and only pethadine or morphine helps. Sorry about the errors on this reply my computor wont correct them properly stupid thing.

Posted 8/4/2009 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
It's wierd that yall brought that up. I am a white 23yo male. I have been getting these migrianes for about 10 years. My afther also gets them, but he just gets the aura then the headaches. Now for me, I get them on a whole nother level. Ill go into detail about a really serious one I got back when I was 14. Went out hunting with my father, he set up in his spot and I was in mine. 20 minutes later a buck walks by, I shoot. Got my first deer. I call my father on the radio and explain to him I got a buck. So i sit and wait and he finally shows up and we go look for the deer. We find the deer and he tells me to go and get the truck. I am so exicted and proud, I sprint all the way home ( half mile) Get into the truck and drive it there. We do all things you do to a deer and we take it to our garage. Take pics and such, then take it to the processor.

At the processor, I started seeing the dots, but I tried not thinking about them because sometimes that helps. Well, a few minutes later I started getting numbness in my toes, and I could feel it spread along the whole right side of my body. I tried telling my dad about it and he thought I was speaking in some wierd tongue lol, so then I tried to write out what was happening and he could read. I got home and just stared vomiting and using the toilet. After the first vomit or so, was when the headache kicked in. This lasted all night. Woke up around noon the next day felt a lot better, but if i sneeze or turn my head sharply I have a little pain in my head.

While I was in the Army, I received another migraine just like the one I said before. Numbness( cept this isn't really numbness, I cannot move my fingers, but it feels like there is a great weight being put on my hand/leg/fingers/tongue..ect, and also it is very sensitive) So I had a buddy come and pick me up and drop me off in the ER. THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT I HAVE HONESTLY FOUND THAT HELPS MAKE ME 100% BETTER RIGHT AWAY.... GET AN IV, GET THE MEDICINE THEY PUT IN THE IV TO STOP THE PUKING, AND MORPHINE...YES MORPHINE.... Try this and I swear you will feel soo much better. I have tried every pill/shot...ect they have and none of these work for me... something to think about. Pm me if you have any questions
Posted 8/4/2009 5:37 PM (GMT 0)
I also forgot to say that the numbness isn't always on one side. If I get it on the right side, the left side of my brain will hurt, if I get the numbness on the left side, then the right side will hurt.
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