← Return to Hemiplegic migraine
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Replies to "Hello @guderianj and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I appreciate your post about hemiplegic migraine. We..."
Hello
I have been diagnosed with Hemiplegic migraines.
Just this month I was hospitalized 2x back to back. My attacks are very textbook symptoms. I start with a tingling in my right hand then it slowly moves up my hand to a full-fledged numbness and keeps working its way on the right side of my body. My pain in my head is a sharp pain on the right side, usually in the front and then eventually as a time progresses it’s the entire right side. I suffer with slurred speech, not being able to form sentences, extreme confusion. My entire right becomes so dead like where I can’t lift my right arm. My right leg becomes nearly impossible to walk on. My attacks last generally for an hour and can come in clusters so I can get one or two a day if I don’t receive Medication for pain. My hemiplegic migraines occurred because I was about three weeks past due my Botox injections that I’ve been doing religiously for the past seven years every three months. This was the first time that I missed the exact date for injections just due to scheduling. When admitted to the urgent care I was put through a battery of testing because doctors believed it was a stroke since it mimics stroke like symptoms. In conjunction to my Botox I also tak le the injection that I self administer once a month called emgality to release the intense pressure that my head carries. It’s truly scary having thos type of migraine because I’ve been in public when it happens, and I have to go and lay down in the car or wherever I can because I can’t function for the hour or so. My head is always in a state of pain if that makes sense. It’s just tolerable with the help of these medications. prior to botox I was getting attacks where I would not be able to get out of the bed because within 20 min or so of waking I would get hit wi my migraines making it just extremely debilitating not being able to tolerate anything lights, sounds smells pretty much everything. Life just becomes just too loud and too bright and too disturbing so I normally have to shut everything out and cover my eyes having no sound and just try and go to sleep, which is nearly impossible when you have that kind of severity of head pain.
Thank you, I will review everything. I have had “typical” migraines with aura, nausea, sound and light sinsitivity etc. daily my entire life. They are well managed with topomax. My hemiplegic migraines presents with left sided numbness, weakness, neurological confusion, and fatigue. I am taking verapamil twice aday. 40mg quick release in the am and 120mg slow release in the evening. Along with the topomax 125mg I was already taking. My episodes last anywhere from hours to weeks. Depending on cause. I have no auras (visual disturbance in a glittering blob)