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Aura (symptom)
Encyclopedia
Migraine
Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
sufferers before a migraine headache, and the telltale sensation experienced by some people with epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
before a seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
. It often manifests as the perception of a strange light, an unpleasant smell or confusing thoughts or experiences. Some people experience aura without a subsequent migraine or seizure (see silent migraine).
When occurring, auras allow epileptics time to prevent injury to themselves and/or others. The time between the appearance of the aura and the migraine lasts from a few seconds up to an hour. The aura can stay with a migraine sufferer for the duration of the migraine, depending on the type of aura this can leave the person disoriented and confused. It is not uncommon for migraine sufferers to experience more than one type of aura during the migraine. Most people who have auras have the same type of aura every time.
Auras can also be confused with sudden onset of panic, panic attacks or anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
attacks creating difficulties in diagnosis. The differential diagnosis
Differential diagnosis
A differential diagnosis is a systematic diagnostic method used to identify the presence of an entity where multiple alternatives are possible , and may also refer to any of the included candidate alternatives A differential diagnosis (sometimes abbreviated DDx, ddx, DD, D/Dx, or ΔΔ) is a...
of patients who experience symptoms of paresthesias, derealization
Derealization
Derealization is an alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems unreal. Other symptoms include feeling as though one's environment is lacking in spontaneity, emotional coloring and depth. It is a dissociative symptom of many conditions, such as psychiatric and...
, dizziness, chest pain, tremors, and palpitations can be quite challenging.
Visual changes
- Bright lights and blobs
- Zigzag lines
- Distortions in the size or shape of objects
- Vibrating visual field
- Scintillating scotomaScintillating scotomaScintillating scotoma is the most common visual aura preceding migraine and was first described by 19th century physician Hubert Airy . It is often confused with ocular migraine which originates in the eyeball or socket.-Presentation:...
- Shimmering, pulsating patches, often curved
- Tunnel visionTunnel visionTunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision.- Medical / biological causes :Tunnel vision can be caused by:...
- ScotomaScotomaA scotoma is an area of partial alteration in one's field of vision consisting of a partially diminished or entirely degenerated visual acuity which is surrounded by a field of normal - or relatively well-preserved - vision.Every normal mammalian eye has a scotoma in its field of vision, usually...
- Blind or dark spots in the field of vision
- Curtain-like effect over one eye
- Slowly spreading spots
- KaleidoscopeKaleidoscopeA kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors...
effects on visual field - Total temporary monocular (in one eye) blindness (in retinal migraineRetinal migraineRetinal migraine is a retinal disease often accompanied by migraine headache and typically affects only one eye...
) - Heightened sensitivity to light
Auditory changes
- Hearing voices or sounds that do not exist: true auditory hallucinations
- Modification of voices or sounds in the environment: buzzing, tremoloTremoloTremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
, amplitude modulationAmplitude modulationAmplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
or other modulations - Heightened sensitivity to hearing
- Someone speaking at a level and normal tone sounds like they are shouting loudly
Other sensations
- Strange smells (PhantosmiaPhantosmiaPhantosmia, or olfactory hallucinations, involves smelling odors that are not derived from any physical stimulus. These phantom odors can range from rotting flesh to a spring meadow, though most cases report unpleasant aromas...
) or tastes (Gustatory hallucinations), or where food and drinks taste different than usual - Heightened sensitivity to smell
- Feelings of déjà vuDéjà vuDéjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
or confusion - Feelings of numbness or tingling on one side of the face or body
- Feeling separated from one's body
- Feeling as if the limbs are moving independently from the body
- Feeling as if one or multiple limbs are growing
- Feeling as if the mouth is too small for the teeth inside
- Feeling as if one has to eat or go to the bathroom
- Feeling as if one is going to vomit
- Anxiety or fear
- Weakness, unsteadiness
- Saliva collecting in the mouth
- Being unable to understand or comprehend spoken words during and after the aura
- Being unable to speak properly, such as slurred speech or gibberish, despite the brain grasping what the person is trying to verbalize (aphasiaAphasiaAphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
) - Temporary amnesia, such as forgetting how to do tasks you have been doing for years
Uses
The specific type of sensation associated with an aura can potentially be used in an attempt to localize the focus of a seizure.Auras share similar symptoms with stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
s, but onset is more gradual with auras. Auras can last from several seconds to as long as an hour, and can sometimes end with feelings of extreme tiredness, weakness, heart palpitation
Palpitation
A palpitation is an abnormality of heartbeat that causes a conscious awareness of its beating, whether it is too slow, too fast, irregular, or at its normal frequency. The word may also refer to this sensation itself...
, sweating and warmth throughout one's body.
The onset of an aura can provide an early warning for those experiencing migraines.
See also
- Complex partial seizureComplex partial seizureA complex partial seizure is an epileptic seizure that is associated with bilateral cerebral hemisphere involvement and causes impairment of awareness or responsiveness, i.e. loss of consciousness.-Presentation:...
- HallucinationHallucinationA hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
- ParesthesiaParesthesiaParesthesia , spelled "paraesthesia" in British English, is a sensation of tingling, burning, pricking, or numbness of a person's skin with no apparent long-term physical effect. It is more generally known as the feeling of "pins and needles" or of a limb "falling asleep"...
- Simple partial seizureSimple partial seizureSimple partial seizures are seizures which affect only a small region of the brain, often the temporal lobes and/or hippocampi. People who have simple partial seizures retain consciousness...
- SynesthesiaSynesthesiaSynesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...