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silent migraines or painless migraines or pain in the butt!

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Posted 4/26/2007 3:22 PM (GMT -5)
After over 18 months of searching for a problem I was told was all in my head...............the new doc thinks he found the problem in my head! lol
I started getting dizzy spells and vision distorsions( my eyes see but my brain can't figure out what it is looking at), left arm pain and trembling,left side of my body is dead weight. I can use it but I have to force the issue. heart palpatations,fainting,fatigue extreme at times and has progressed to included slurred speech and confusion. Well they started out by sending me to a cardiologist...........nothin. the ticker is ticking like a charm so they attributed it to stress( was very likely because of the situtation I was in) but the stress left and the symptoms didn't( although they did slow down over the summer). SO I as told by about 3 Dr's that I had depression. I wasn't going for it. I refused treatment and found yet another Dr.This Dr is amazing. He at least listens and never once did the hand pat. You know the one. " yes yes dear here is some prozax call me in the morning" I have all the tests. Thyroid,cat scan,mri ekg ecg blood tests ultrasound.........basically I am as healthy as I can be for a woman of 33 but I feel like absolute crap for a week at a time. We have ruled out seizures and MS and ocular migraines so now he thinks it might be silent migraines.
Is anyone else out there expriencing anything like this. I am so tired of being sick. When I have an attack it can debilitate me for a week or more. Mostly with the heart palps and the fatigue.. I can have 1 attack a week or 1 a day. no rhyme no reason . I have tried to keep a diary to track the symptoms but nothing is showing as a trend. Sorry or the long post. I am just on a short road at the end of a long jouney.
He has given me 2 imatrex pills. Next time I have a spell I have to take 1. If it goes away it is migraines....if not he thinks it might be something else. I feel like I am going crazy scool
Posted 4/27/2007 2:14 PM (GMT -5)
When I read your title I thought, I'd take "painless" migraines any day over this stuff. Now that I read your decription I think I'll stick with what I have. I take Imitrex for my headaches. I was told by my doc that the pills are the weakest form of Imitrex (takes about an hour to work) , the nose spray is the next strongest (works in about 1/2 hour) and the injection is the strongest (took 15 minutes). I went in to the doc's office when I had a bad headach (let it come on to test the Imitrex). I was wearing sunglasses and even asked them to turn off the exam room lights and close the blinds. The doc gave me the injection and in 15 minutes I was like a new woman. If the pills don't work you might talk to the doctor about this.

I know what you mean about the fatigue. I get a headach on one side on one day and then on the other side the next day. I have one day after where I am a zombie with fatigue and then I'm fine....until the next one. Good Luck.

P.S. The weirdest symptom I get is that when I have a headach I crave protien, mostly red meat. Go figure.
Posted 5/6/2007 11:10 PM (GMT -5)

I have been diagnosed with Silent Migraines for a few months now.  I thought I was dying about 7 months ago when I started with severe vertigo- like I couldn't walk straight for a week, numbness in my arms, and a bunch of other stuff.  I told the docs the same thing each visit:  during my episodes, the lights start to dim, I get really warm or hot suddenly, my arms go numb or tingle, and I feel very light-headed, like someone's pushing my head back.  I also couldn't drive, walk through the grocery store or mall without holding tight onto something.  I was beginning to think it had to do with the lights.  I was going through this a little bit 8 yrs ago, then it started back up full force.  My neurologist started me on Topomax- made me crazy with extremely bad side effects, then Depacote- extreme nausea, Lyrica- ok, my light-headedness is going away but I'm still loopy, then finally Neurontin- Bingo!!!  I've been dizzy free for 2 months now!  Before, I had other symptoms because they also found Mitral Valve Prolapse, so I had heart palpitations, chest pains, etc, but some syptoms overlap.  I'm 32 yrs old, so it's not just for older folks like reports say.  I was a very healthy woman before this with a very active lifestyle, husband and two kids, happy, the works!  It's devastating when your whole life gets put on hold for that long with no answers.  Hope this helps because I couldn't find anybody that had the same syptoms as me and the docs kept saying "hmmmmmm."

Posted 5/8/2007 7:51 AM (GMT -5)
Well it looks like it works! I was at the restaurant Sat morning for breakfast with my family and started to get chest pains and dizzyiness. Arm pains and confusion. I actually walked into the guys bathroom eyes So I popped a pill and the symptoms went away. The Imitrex made me feel really crappy for about 2 hrs but It worked! YEAH. So I guess I have silent migraines.
Sorry to hear about your problems Babie but I must admit it is nice to hear I am not alone. Dor awhile I felt like I was going nuts. So I have a call into the R to see what the next step is. Thanks for the ear guys.

Mikelean
Posted 3/20/2009 5:04 PM (GMT -5)
for the last six months I have been suffering from severe nausea where I am sick for about 10 hours with extreme dizziness. My doctor's original diagnosis was meniere's disease, tests have been inconclusive and now they are thinking it may be painless migraine episodes. My attacks come on all of a sudden, and I am left dizzy and light headed for about a week. In between though I do suffer from tension headaches usually occurring on the right side of the head which also lasts up to week. The doctor so far has prescribed stemital suppositories, which work eventually. I wanted to know if there was anything out there that I could take as a preventative measure against these episodes.

smhair  

Posted 3/26/2009 11:06 AM (GMT -5)
I have had a few silent migraines recently but nothing like you describe! I have the sensitivity to light and sound, and a little nausea. I sometimes get that light-headed feeling. But it all goes away after one dose of Maxalt.

Incidentally, I used to get terrible migraines all the time. I'd be sick at least 3 days every week, usually more. Turns out it was very much related to TMJ. I got braces (at age 42) to correct my overbite and haven't had a full-blown migraine since! It's been over a year.
Posted 3/26/2009 2:41 PM (GMT -5)
I've been suffering from silent migraines for about a year.  At first they thought I was having strokes, but the onset pattern was exactly the same every time, and strokes don't follow a set pattern.  The first thing to go would be my vision, incredibly blurred to the point of not being able to see well enough to do anything.  I couldn't turn my head left or right as that would make me even more dizzy than I already was.  After that I would be unable to walk.  Not able to balance myself to the point of falling.  After numerous tests it was found that I have a small hole in my heart, or PFO, and that sometimes when people have migraines they have this hole and if they "plug" it, the migraines go away.  I'm have the procedure done next week.  I'm hoping that this will correct the problem and I can get back to a normal life.

Posted 3/26/2009 8:57 PM (GMT -5)
We all are in the same boat. I have been having these eppisodes for 7 years now. Not as bad now with supplementation, but still annoying. I am hoping with age they dicipate(I have been thinking that for some time.) Has anyone else had success with any supplements? What type? How much? Jayhwler, Let us know if that surgery works for you. I heard of success stories....I wish you luck.
Posted 7/12/2009 6:39 PM (GMT -5)
"palpatations,fainting,fatigue extreme at times and has progressed to included slurred speech and confusion"

"Well it looks like it works! I was at the restaurant Sat morning for breakfast with my family and started to get chest pains and dizziness. Arm pains and confusion"

These symptoms could also be food intolerance. Mine is to MSG which is in everything. When I get a big enough dose I get hyper, palpitations sometimes with heartburn/chest pains/indigestion. I then collapse in an exhausted, limp, 'brain fog' for a bit. have had ECGs on lots of occasions especially after eating out. Say 'chest pain' to a Doc and he reaches for his ECG machine.

It may be worthwhile checking these out. My doc suggested "painless migraine" to me so I have been researching the web for info. now I discover they are called 'silent migraines'--thank you
A lot of normal migraines are said to have food "triggers"

Has anyone got IBS or clinical depression with this?

Has anyone tried Digesic or opioid painkillers?

Has anyone looked at "adrenal exhaustion"?

Post Edited (Michael Angel) : 7/12/2009 5:44:33 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/12/2009 9:15 PM (GMT -5)
Wow, it helps to know you're not alone.  This scared the heck out of me when it first started 2 months ago and  I'd suffered from CMs a few years ago.

 

I've also been having some stomach problems...it seemed like delayed food allergies to some of my fave fruits  but a doc said it was probably mild IBS.  I'm a few weeks into an elimination diet and the stomach feels better if I avoid most fruits or eat in very limited amts.  I cut out foods with preservatives and went organic a few years ago.  It helped me get rid of CMs.

 

I don't really get the palpitations w/ mine.  I get really bad shaking, confusion, major dizziness and I move very forced and slow.  My temp drops below 96 usually too but that's the least of anything.  Extreme fatigue often follows but once in a while I can move around a bit after.

 

Good luck JayHawker!

 

What supplements are people taking?  I think it was feverfew I tried when I had CMs but it didn't help.

 

Just changed docs so I haven't seen the new one yet.  The old jerk just kept telling me to keep a headache diary but never asked what I'd found by keeping track.   If it kept happening "a lot" he'd think about medication and my fave was just before he walked out of the room he turned back and told me "You should exercise more...oh, yeah if you can with your other "thing"... then I fired him.

 

I've been working w/ an out of state Rheumy to figure out what my polyarthralgias are from for almost a year now and it's the reason I started seeing a doc in town.  I used to run 7-8 miles a day before all this and would give almost anything to get back to that.  Now I get up at 4am to get to work by 8am and give my dogs a long slow walk before I leave.

 

 
Posted 7/12/2009 11:26 PM (GMT -5)
There are food allergies and food intollerances. They are diffent.

Get checked for gluten, lactose and sucrose intolerance.

Gluten intolerance is very common in people with a Celtic and sometimes Jewish heritage,

Common allergens are some nuts, MSG & yeast, eggs, cow's milk, seafood (typically either/or fish and shellfish but can be both). Allergies are normally to proteins.

Feverfew is not a cure for migraines/ It is aprophalactic and needs to be taken daily. best to grow your own and eat a couple of leaves daily. (Some times the herb sold in Chinese shops is not Feverfew it is another variety of chrysanthemum the Chinese use for teas) It can take 12 months for it to be fully effective
See the research done on this at Guy's Hospital Migraine Clinic in GB (London?) some years ago now. It was a 2 year study and had excellent results in people with chronic-hospitalising migraines.
Posted 7/14/2009 1:52 AM (GMT -5)
We found out recently the my 17 yo daughter has been getting silent migraines most of her life. She didn't know that having vision disturbances wasn't normal, she also has the 'Alice in Wonderland' syndrome.
Posted 12/24/2009 12:46 PM (GMT -5)
I have silent migraines which went undiagnosed for years. I'm glad to have them diagnosed but I desperately need relief!!!!! It is a disability and a drain on my life.

At first the indicators were visual. But it didn't take long before I had no obvious indicators. Nightmares accompany migraines in my sleep and I know the next morning because I wake up feeling like I'm a ton heavier, joints are stiffer, eyes puffier, glazed and dizzy, I'm depressed and crying for no real reason, and sensitive to light and noise, plus I crave food of any kind, especially sweets and chocolate.

During most episodes I get moody and lash out, get suddenly so lethargic I can barely hold my eyes open to drive home, I fall asleep (passout) in my chair at work, get sensitive to light and noise, lie down thinking I just need to rest and I wake up with all these full blown migraine symptoms. Most of the time my migraines come on the weekend when I am more relaxed which has wreaked havoc on my leisure life.

Over a period of time this has lowered my quality of life. I have missed out on so many fun activities with friends and family. It's gotten to where I cannot plan my weekends. I have lost days of work, let people down, and it has lowered my confidence. I have gained weight from the food cravings and depression that accompanies the symptoms which in turns lowers my confidence and self-confidence and the cycle continues.

If anyone finds something that works, please please share. I saw the one about the drinking celery juice. I will try that.
Posted 1/3/2010 7:15 AM (GMT -5)
My answer was Topomax to control my migraines. I had already pared down my diet to wheat, gluten, egg, dairy, corn free, red meat, lunch meat and pork. That does not leave much of a choice. I too am allergic to such preservatives as MSG and sugar supplements as aspartame, ACE K and anything thing that contains a sulphur in it. I am allergic to most meds that are of a aspirine derivitive or an opiate derivitive. I also have chronic pancreatitis which has been diagnosed as idiopathic - unknown. The same for my migraines they cannont give me an answer as to why I have them as bad as I do. When I get them...my left side goes numb, I walk into walls, I fall down, I have half of my face that has no feeling. My mouth feels as if it has been shot full of novacaine. I think in double, I speak in double and therefore if given a pen I write in double. I get bloody noses, I throw up, I don't eat, I slur my words, I wrap my head with a tight towel like vice to take away throbbing. The pain is out there.... The topomax keeps my migraines at bay for about 1 every 7-8 weeks and then I get a migraine and it can last for about 9 days.

To help with side effects from the Topomax I have just begun to take Coq10 about 160mg. This helped me with my memory loss, and energy level. It is something. I don't have a back up plan but I check this forum often for new ideas. I don't want to be on this drug forever because I hope the side effects are not permanent.
Posted 7/9/2011 5:23 PM (GMT -5)
I am a 33-year-old female and have just experienced my first silent migraine; I have no history of any medical problems, and have rarely even experienced a headache over the period of my life. My first episode happened approximately 3-weeks ago in the middle of the night. I woke up and found that I could barely open my left eye, which was completely occluded and I couldn't see out of it at all for about 10+ seconds. After that period, everything was fine, except I've felt a slight pressure behind my left eye since that time. I went and saw my optometrist, who diagnosed me with a viral infection and silent migraines. At first I was really afraid that I had a brain tumor or had experienced a stroke, but my optometrist assured me otherwise. However, I think I will go see a neurologist for further testing. My optometrist also said that if the silent migraines persisted, then I could wear a special type of eye contact to reduce or eliminate the migraines. Also, another optometrist thought I may need to consider a sonogram of my carotid artery, but that she would be surprised if I had any blockage as I'm fairly young and healthy. A little scared and unsure. . . any advice out there? I've never heard of such a thing! confused
Posted 8/11/2011 7:44 AM (GMT -5)
mikelean,
i have the same as you, do you still get them, how are you now?
Posted 8/25/2011 1:05 PM (GMT -5)
Have any of you researched Hemiplegic Migraines? It sounds like a lot of your symptoms could be coming from Hemeplegic migraines. It is important to know if this is what you have because the triptans (imitrex and maxalt) are contraindicated for this type of migraine. I've had them for several years. I get the paralysis and feel like my limbs are completely dead. It feels like a tree trunk is attached to my body weighing me down. I get the slurred and confused speech, vertigo, loss of balance to the point I'm falling over or running into things. Sometimes I get the headache sometimes I don't.

For the longest time I knew foods were triggering them but I couldn't figure out what elimination diet to try. I finally did some testing and found out I'm reactive to a bunch of foods such as wheat, dairy, fructose, pepper, olive, mushrooms, grapes, cauliflower, watermelon, vanilla, cinnamon, corn, the list just goes on and on. I've had to completely change the way I eat. It has significantly reduced the frequency of my migraines.

The frustrating thing is people often think migraines are just a bad headache. Most are unaware of the complete neurological breakdown (as I call it). The other symptoms are sometimes worse than the pain. At least you can take something for the pain. Don't know of anything you can take to ease the paralysis. I've been checked for a stroke so many times I've lost count.

If you want to check out food reactions I went to gary@performwell.net. He completely changed my life for the better. I still get migraines but nothing like I used to.

On top of the migraines I also have TMJ and a bad disc in my neck. Chronic pain overwhelms my life most of the time.

Best of luck to all of you in finding the relief you need.

Sherri
Posted 7/1/2012 1:50 AM (GMT -5)
In this thread and elsewhere in the forum I read (today) stories of people similar to mine. I dont have a diagnosis yet and sometimes question if the first ENT I saw is right and my symptoms are related to panic attacks. I had anxiety since I was a little child but began suffer mild vertigo attacks at 15. They happened at the same time as seasonal hayfever and apart from having blocked nose the problem dent cause me much problem. Also nasal voice so people didn't understand me well. Then several years back I had the mild vertigo attacks again during hay fever season this was in my early thirties. It didn't warrant looking for help. Then one day a lid from a tube where I carry large drawings from art college came off as it was badly made and hit me in the ear with force. It hurt and I bled a bit from outer ear for about 5 days. On day 6-7 I fell suddenly when standing near my easel in the college, the room was spinning and I felt scared and nauseous. I went to my General Doctor who said it was a problem in m ear . He did ECG it was normal. In 2 hours it went away. Then in 1 month time I had similar episode and walked into a wall. I didn't feel anything else amiss jus vertigo, nausea, reduced hearing and some noises in one of ears. I couldnt my head if I did vertigo would get worse I had to focus on one spot like ceiling lamp and keep head and eyes still. After few attacks I was given stemetil which helped. The attacks were out of the blue. With time I felt mildly off balance mos of the time, for days weeks and even months. I nearly failedy course. At the time I also began to suffer what Gp told me was sinus and ear infections and I was treated with several courses of antibiotics. I asked for referral to specialist ENT who together with his colleagues saw nothing wrong in their department. Normal CT scans with at times evidence of swollen turbinates ( they did endoscopy of nose and it also proved allergic looking inside of nose), second CT normal, no contrast MRI normal. He wrote to gp that anxiety is main part of my presentation and told me I was not an ENT patient. I was advised by one of the main Dr's colleague to see a neurologist as I described some pains he said could be a type of headache. I continued to go to another GP he also said sinusitis plus conjunctivitis as I developed eye pain and watering. After another course of antibiotics referred to new ENT who also agreed I'm not their patient and suggested it may be migraine variant. I now was given pizotifen for migraine prevention. I dont have typical pain just uncomfortable or medium pain in front sinuses and around eyes.
Posted 7/1/2012 1:53 AM (GMT -5)
Sorry for misspelling it's touchscreen issues .
Posted 9/11/2012 1:19 PM (GMT -5)
hi i m a 31 year old women.I just gave birth to my fourth child in April,Before i got pregnant i used to suffer bad headaches or migraines at least three days a week.Then when i got pregnant i never had one migraine.It was a nice break,but since i have had my son i have been feeling very weird a lot of the same symptoms you all are feeling.i have a pressure on the back of my neck that spreads to the back of my head.My left arm and face goes numb.i get very dizzy and cloudy feeling, sometimes i feel like i m going to pass out.there are times i have chest pains.sometimes it feels as though someone is sitting on my chest.there are also time were my throat will feel swollen and my nasal cavities also feel blocked but then when the episode is done the symptoms go away.It happened one day in June then it lasted three days in July.then in august it lasted a week and now its been everyday.which is making it hard to live my day to day.I have seen a neurologist and she said that she found a few little spots on my brain and she is taking other test she hasn't diagnosed me yet.I was wondering if any of you have had the spots.I know i have read on some sites they have had the same thing.I don't know if this makes sense but just had to let some stuff out.I m really scared and sometimes feel like i m crazy so i haven't talked to anyone about it.I just hope the doctors figure out soon what i do have.For you guys with these silent migraines is there help and medicine to stop these migraines?will i have to live with this forever?
Posted 9/17/2012 9:21 AM (GMT -5)
barbie93, my symptoms sound exactly like yours! When they told me I had suffered my first migraine the first thing I told them was that I didn't have any headache! I even wondered if the lights where I work were causing my symptoms! I was diagnosed only 3 weeks ago and am relieved to hear that someone else has found some relief. If my symptoms persist I will ask my Dr about Neurontin. Thank you for posting.
Posted 4/6/2013 2:17 PM (GMT -5)
I was diagnosed with silent migraines. I was dizzy and having vertigo spells almost every day for over a month when they firgured it out. It would have been diagnosed sooner, but I also have a heart defect and they wanted to make sure that was not causing it. I went to a D.O. neurologist after I had trouble with Topomax side effects. He told me there had been research done showing that magnesium and riboflavin (B-2) after taken three months shows the same relief as Topomax. It takes three months to build up in your system, and then you take it everyday. It has worked wonders for me. I went from having problems everyday to down to one silent migraine once every few months.
Posted 8/9/2013 9:48 PM (GMT -5)
This sounds so familiar- I don't want to get too cozy until I get a diagnosis (My neurologist sounded non-interested). I have complex temporal epilepsy- which has it's own set of defined auras- all of my life I have had periods of exhaustion and confusion. There were several times under extreme stress I had colorful flashing lights followed by vertigo and lots of mental confusion. Because this was before I was diagnosed for epilepsy- In hindsight I called those events partial seizures.

This is important now because since I started Topomax I had a few events under extreme pressure where I was so confused this was followed by a complete trashing of my memory. The thing I faced with is: I reported this to my GP he said I think you are BiPolar- he referred me to a Psych. My Neurologist is confused I have a PhD and run my own business- I think he is uncomfortable with the Diagnosis. I've since moved to the City and am dealing with a new set of Dr's and trying to figure out what's going on. I keep saying what is wrong is medical- but once you get slanted into psych no one will listen...
Posted 8/10/2013 8:53 PM (GMT -5)
I alternate between painless migraines, and very painful migraines.

With the painless migraines I tend to get much more extreme aura symptoms. I very rarely get queasy with a painful migraine, but I'll feel sea sick with a painless one. My vision distorts more, my hearing messes up more, my sense of smell becomes so sensitive it's unbearable. I'll get dizzier, I get the "word salad," thing happening, and generally feel really disconnected from reality.
(I get dizzy, and feel slightly disconnected with the painful migraines, but nothing as extreme as the painless ones.)

The first few times it happened it was terrifying. Even now it takes me a while to figure out what's going on. Apparently the first thing to go with my migraines is the ability to realize I'm getting a migraine. 22 years of experience with them, and they still sneak up on me. It's only after the migraines gone that I look back and say, "probably should have seen that coming..."

I was quite lucky with my diagnosis. I started out with classic migraines when I was 7. I wasn't diagnosed until I was 12, but I had a medical history of migraines before the painless ones started in my late teens.
It gave my doctor at the time a starting point to work from, and while I still had to be tested for everything under the sun (I was getting diagnosed with CFS at the same time. I'm pretty sure I hold some sort of record for the number of medical tests in a month) it was all done from the stand point of "We're sure it's migraines, but we need to be certain," rather than "it could be X,Y, or Z... We have no idea."
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