Migraine headaches
Migraine headaches
Migraine headaches often begin in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. Migraines may progress through four stages, including prodrome, aura, headache and postdrome, though you may not experience all the stages.
Prodrome
One or two days before a migraine, you may notice subtle changes that signify an oncoming migraine, including:
Constipation
Depression
Food cravings
Hyperactivity
Irritability
Neck stiffness
Uncontrollable yawning
Aura
Aura may occur before or during migraine headaches. Auras are nervous system symptoms that are usually visual disturbances, such as flashes of light. Sometimes auras can also be touching sensations (sensory), movement (motor) or speech (verbal) disturbances. Most people experience migraine headaches without aura. Each of these symptoms usually begins gradually, builds up over several minutes, and then commonly lasts for 20 to 60 minutes. Examples of aura include:
Visual phenomena, such as seeing various shapes, bright spots or flashes of light
Vision loss
Pins and needles sensations in an arm or leg
Speech or language problems (aphasia)
Less commonly, an aura may be associated with limb weakness (hemiplegic migraine).
