Many people have auras before and during migraines. These can be visual (seeing colors or black spots or colors/lights look brighter or dimmer), sensory (sensitivity to light/sound), speech-related (difficulty speaking or understanding speech), motor (impairment to movement), and brainstem (vertigo, tinnitus, ataxia, decreased consciousness, etc).

I get sensory, speech related, motor, and possibly some brainstem aura symptoms. You kind of just learn to recognize when a migraine is coming on and not a regular headache.

My migraines are actually usually without headache, just a lot of aura. That might sound not so bad, but it’s pretty bad.

They tend to start a bit insidiously, with a little bit of sensitivity to light and sound and, even more so, frequently changing or bright light and fast sound.

That’s when things start to feel overwhelming in my head, so if I’m not being obtuse, I recognize that it’s time to take medication. Sometimes my partner realizes it before I do because I’ll start covering my eyes and just mildly complaining about things being too bright or too much.

Anyway, at that point I take sumatriptan. It requires a prescription, but it’s not expensive. It works like magic for me.

Before I found sumatriptan, I would have to be in a dark, silent room with my head in a pillow.