Painless migraine episodes - how long are your auras?

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have found you all! about a week and a half ago on Saturday I was out grocery shopping and I remember getting out of my car and getting hit with this sudden feeling that I was getting sick. Like I was about to come down with a bad cold but yet I had felt great all day. I went into the store and as soon as I walked in the door I felt a bit lightheaded and my eyes were so sensitive to the lights. I kept shopping and like 4 min in I was hit with this wave of dizziness and I felt like I was going to pass out. I didn't think I would be able to finish shopping. I made myself finish but it truly was so bad that I stopped a few times trying to decided if I should drop my basket and head home, that is if I could drive. So I made it home and woke my husband up from a nap and told him I wasn't comfortable being alone because I wasn't feeling well. My heart started racing and I was pacing the house. I think I had a panic attack because my symptoms were scaring me so bad. I had never experienced anything like it.Then my right foot was numb and I thought I was having a stroke and told my husband be needed to go to ER. Well ER is a big bill for us and I had my nephew coming over for a sleep over with my kids so I was trying not to be dramatic. I had my husband drive me around in hopes I would calm down or these symptoms would subside and I got to a point where I felt calmer and had him bring me home because all of a sudden I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep.
I still have some symptoms and now headaches along with them but for the first 5 day's there was no headache just extreme light & sound sensitivity, unable to concentrate or really focus, lightheaded, dizziness, feeling of being in a fog or disconnected, sleepy, feeling of gurglie stomach or gassy, agitated, right toes would numb on and off but so longer the whole foot etc. This week I started to experience the headache along with the symptoms but the symptoms aren't as extreme as the first week but defiantly present and effect my day to day life. My headaches seem to always come on the same time each day after 3:0pm. I have two young kids, 5 & 2, to look after and it has been a challenge. I now can remember a time 4 years ago where I had about 2 weeks of light sensitivity and dizziness and went in to see a Dr about it. I convinced him to do a Cat Scan only to turn up nothing and the Dr. said "you have migraines." Well I have never had migraines before and I was in disbelief since I wasn't having headaches. My Dr. didn't care to elaborate or explain non headache migraines so I left the office thinking he was just lazy, the dizzy stuff went away after awhile and I forgot about the whole thing until now.
I'm happy to read that I am not the only one going through this and plan to ask my Dr. for a referral to a neurologist to learn more about this and get a good prescription for something that can help lessen the attacks when they happen.
All my life I use to get this weird smell in my nose that would last a few days at a time and then some light sensitivity/lightheadedness following. I now believe that these were migraines and as I aged I received more and more symptoms along with it. I am 28 now. Today was the first day that I felt almost 100% until 4:00 came and I got a headache on top of my head. I took a excedrin and seemed to head it off or maybe the migraine itself is starting to weaken now that it has been almost 2 weeks. To be honest the length of this whole thing is what scared me. It just didn't seem normal for something to go on this long. I hoping im nearing the end of this episode. I can't wait to feel normal again and hope these are few and far between!

Hello I am a new member here. I am 37 years old this month and I have just had my first Silent Migrain with Aura. Starting on Monday, I got facial numbness and tingling around the mouth and cheek areas. I thought this was something else entirely and a lot of concerns came up and I was thinking maybe Bells Palsy or stroke. Tuesday I still had numbness and tingling in cheeks and mouth area but not as much and it would move from spot to spot around the lower half of face including chin and a little lower. I went to my Chiropractor Tuesday thinking maybe it could be a pinched nerve in my neck. Wednesday I woke up and now my left side of my cheek only felt a little sore and numb so I thought I was getting better. Today (Wednesday) I was helping a customer and was trying to read something on the computer screen when an aura in my vision came on and I could barely read parts of the screen because of the annoying movement of the aura in my left eye. It was as if I was seeing a half moon with lights and weird lines and squiggles. It grew and grew until it was finally on the outsides of my vision and then it was gone (about 20 minutes or more). I was so freaked out that I called my husband to take me to the hospital quick. They sent me to Neurology and the Doctor said I was having a silent Migraine. What!! I have never heard of anything like this and I don't have headaches hardly ever. It has been a couple of hours since my first episode and I only feel fatigued and thirsty. I don't have a splitting headache and the lights don't bother me too much. I am drinking gatorade which I was told was perfect for what I am going through. My question to anyone out there would be : has any of you experienced numbness and tingling and even soreness in the face before an Aura? Thanks!!

i also get all these systems and numbness to my mouth and cheek and left hand goes numb where i cant feel it.aura with and without a headache usually its around my left eye where it feels like its being pulled from the socket.they run from 20 minutes to 40 minutes as i usually time them because most of time i am at work and i am pretty much blind so i sit and wait it out and try not to freak out.i was getting these daily until my doc put me on atenolol 25 mg once a day.now i get them with hormone fluctuations and very bright lights.i live in sunglassses.i am glad i found others with this and i am not the crazy lady that sees diamond shaped rainbow colored circle and goes blind lol.i have had these since i was 14 yrs old and they just seemed to get get worse with age.

Hello all! I am new to the forum and just looking to share and read experiences about migraine with aura. I have had them since I hit puberty; my mom and grandmother are also afflicted. I am now 34 and they have always been typical with the scotoma, then the zig zag geometric that moves to one side or the other and then disappears leaving me with a headache on one side, which now is usually mild or none at all. This past Sat, in the wee hours of the morning, I was dreaming of an aura and woke up with it, totally typical for me. Then, on Tues, I woke up with a numb left tip of my middle finger which spread to other fingers in waves and then also from my armpit to my chest, so scary. I had a mild one sided headache the rest of the day. Finally, yesterday, I had a typical aura in the morning with mild headache and another one late last night. Also, my pinky finger on the left side has felt weird this morning. Freaking out here because it seems my migraines have changed. I never got them so many days in a week or with the numbness. My mom says she has had three in a day before and her middle finger went completely numb! Wondering if any of you have had similar numbness or frequency. Thanks for reading! I wish you all relief from these monsters!

I started having painless, migraine aura at the age of 14. I have always got lots of aphasia - at its peak I can say only one word a sentence. It gives lots of brain fog, confusion, and as a warning sign I get feelings of dread. I used to only have 1 or 2 a year, and it only lasted a few hours. It was generally better after falling asleep. I never took medication until 2014.

A few years ago I started to get more symptoms - shaking in my arms, pins and needles, yawning lots, numb and cold lips, freezing cold shakes, people next to me looked flat or stretched tall, overwhelming feelings of fear. I figured wine and blue cheese were triggers, stayed away from these, that seemed to help. Again, it only lasted a few hours in total.

In 2014 I had one that wouldn't go. After 3 days it got much worse, my legs were shaking as well as my arms, and I couldn't walk. I was at work, my manager took me to hospital. I was checked for stroke but this was fine. They said if it happened again, go straight back to the same hospital - it did happen again the next day, back I went. I saw an emergency neurologist who said my history meant this was probably nothing worse than migraine. I had an MRI a week or so later and it was clear. After having the migraine for 2 or 3 weeks I started taking Lamotrigine, and it started to lessen. It took another week or so for it to go completely.

A few months before this I had started to become lactose intolerant, but not having lactose didn't seem to help. The doctor suggested not having any dairy at all, not even additives, and this helped my stomach within 24 hours. I noticed a few weeks later that even having a tiny ingredient in a list would set off migraine symptoms again. So since then, I have no dairy at all. I have been ok with beer but no other alcohol, particularly anything aged.

I stayed on Lamotrigine for 6 months, starting with 25mg then 50 mg. I tried 100 mg but had weird side effects - OCD behaviours and thoughts. Coming down again to 50 mg stopped this.

I came off it in May 2015, as directed by my doctor, with no problems.

It's now February 2016, and I had it happen again for about 10 days. I think it was caused by lack of sleep and stress at work. No shaking this time - I stayed at home and rested, and I didn't get bad enough for hospital. The feelings of fear can be very scary though, and for a few days concentration on anything was very difficult. I couldn't have written this.

I went back on Lamotrigine 6 days ago, and my mental state improved within 48 hours - less emotional, more stable, no fear etc. Still got brain fog though, absolutely exhausted and just had to tell my boss I will need another week of work. Scared I may have no job next year as a result. I went back to the doctor today as my boss wanted proof I am well enough to work, I was feeling sorry for myself, but while there I realised how silly this is, as other people have worse migraine or are dying.

Anyway, I have given all these details in case it helps anyone else with their recovery. Lamotrigine works for me, the side effects are minimal - I drop things easily and I think my skin is drier. Its a horribly lonely, isolating, terrifying condition, and a lot of doctors don't understand it. I've seen 3 great neurologists, and 1 terrible one. Anyone who tells you 'I've never seen anyone like this' doesn't use the internet, because there are lots of us out there.

I do wonder if this is a form of epilepsy - partial seizures - rather than migraine. My symptoms are definitely more similar to epilepsy now, the only difference seems to be aura from migraine can go on so much longer.

Good luck to anyone reading this.