Why I'm More Likely to Have a Stroke: Migraine, Aura, Stroke, and Prevention

Reported by: Evan Dawson Email: edawson@13wham.com

I don't mean to sound morose, but I'm not looking forward to having a stroke. And yet there's a significant chance I'll have a stroke at some point.

My father had a stroke at age 47. He was playing tennis and collapsed, which is a heck of a lot better situation than driving a car and suffering a stroke. He survived and regained his muscle memory in almost all aspects, which is fortunate. To say the least.

In so many ways, our health is our inheritance. Does this mean I'm destined for a stroke, just like my father suffered? Not at all. But I have a serious and additional factor working against me: Migraines.

Specifically, migraines with visual aura. For those who don't suffer migraines -- or for those who don't know what aura is -- all I can tell you is that it's a visual disturbance that portends a migraine. You'd have to experience it to fully grasp what aura is like. For me, the aura arrives on one part of the field of my vision: left or right, never the center. The ensuing migraine pain is always going to be located on the opposite side of my head. Why this is, I have no idea.

Aura wipes out my vision with changing patterns of wavy lines and dancing sparkles. It lasts for half an hour, dissipates, and then the pain arrives (often accompanies by nausea and aphasia).

You can see migraine aura art by clicking here; the artists do a pretty good job of showing what aura is like: click here.

I only recently learned that researchers are beginning to tie stroke to migraine-with-aura. Here's an article that probes the new research, which also brings up the possibility of heart disease.

http://www.13wham.com/content/blogs/story/migraine-sufferers/hR1xJIMlaEOTFDOArjgn5A.cspx

some of those drawings are gross but so very accurate especially the zig zags and blind spot ones.