Although uncommon, hemiplegic migraine attacks can be severe enough to cause coma. In severe instances, affected individuals may experience prolonged weakness, seizures, confusion, memory loss, and personality or behavioral changes. The pain can cause nausea or vomiting, and affected individuals may be extremely sensitive to light (photophobia) and to sound (phonophobia). Migraine headaches cause throbbing, intense, sometimes debilitating pain and are notably stronger than regular headaches. Some individuals with hemiplegic migraine may also have attacks with a so-called typical aura, including visual, sensory and speech troubles but no weakness.ĭuring an attack of hemiplegic migraine, headache might start shortly before, during or after the aura. The specific aura symptoms that develop during a migraine attack can vary from one attack to another. Additional symptoms include numbness or a prickly sensation of the face or arms and legs (paresthesia), fever, imbalance, drowsiness or lethargy, and an inability to understand or express speech (aphasia). Visual symptoms can also include a foggy vision, or a loss of vision of one half of the visual field. Vision is usually affected temporarily, and symptoms can include a sudden appearance of a bright light in the center of the field of vision causing blind spots (scintillating scotoma), double vision, flashing lights (photopsia), and bright, shimmering, jagged lines (fortification spectra). In hemiplegic migraine, the weakness is always associated to at least one other aura symptom. Hemiplegia is a distinct aura symptom that characterizes these disorders. Weakness of the entire side of the body can occur. Hemiplegia may affect only part of one side of the body, such as just the hand or the hands and arms, or the face. The degree of weakness can vary from mild to severe. Aura symptoms can often outlast the migraine headache itself.īy definition, individuals with hemiplegic migraine experience weakness on one side of the body during the aura (hemiplegia), either just before or during the migraine headache. A migraine aura usually lasts about an hour, but can take up to a week to completely resolve. Aura refers to additional neurological symptoms that occur with, or often shortly before, the development of the migraine headache.
Hemiplegic migraine attacks comprise an aura phase and a headache phase. Hemiplegic migraine is a chronic disorder and can be extremely painful and debilitating. Individual episodes can vary in severity and duration. Generally, episodes become less frequent as a person ages. There can often be long episode-free periods during life. These attacks can range from about one a day to fewer than five in a lifetime.
Some individuals may be the first person in their family with hemiplegic migraine these individuals are described as having sporadic hemiplegic migraine.Īffected individuals experience hemiplegic migraine attacks. There is usually a family history of hemiplegic migraines in affected individuals.
Some affected individuals are believed to develop the disorder because of an abnormal variation in an as-yet-unidentified gene. Abnormal variations in three genes, the CACNA1A gene, the ATP1A2 gene, and the SCN1A gene, have all been shown to cause the familial forms. This is called familial hemiplegic migraine. In some affected individuals, hemiplegic migraine occurs because of a change (variation) in a specific gene. Additional aura symptoms usually affect vision, but also can affect speech, sensation, and mental status. Aura refers to additional neurological symptoms that occur with, or sometimes before, the development of the migraine headache. Affected individuals are described as having a migraine with aura. Hemiplegic migraine is a rare disorder in which affected individuals experience a migraine headache along with weakness on one side of the body (hemiplegia). 5 Myths About Orphan Drugs and the Orphan Drug Act.Information on Clinical Trials and Research Studies.
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