I used to have #migraines.
Luckily, they were "classical" rather than "common" migraines. That means simply that attacks began with an #aura, giving advance warning, and time to retreat to the Bat Cave before the howling #headache, #photophobia, #helpless #existential #despair etc. kicked in.
1/n
My auras took the form of disturbances in the visual field and a general sensation of #weirdness. The most notable visual disturbances were scotomata. A #scotoma is a sort of glowing, shimmering, flashing thread, always just outside one's direct focus.
(They're sort of cool-looking, in fact, but can make reading difficult.)
This seems to be by far the most common form of aura, though some people may hear or smell things that aren't there, etc.
2/n
I haven't had a migraine in decades. Yet from time to time I experience scotomata. I did so earlier today.
And it's only thereafter that I learned this *was* a migraine -- I've never stopped having them. Apparently it is not uncommon: migraine sufferers go on having attacks throughout their life, but at some point the attacks become limited to the aura, with the headache and other fun stuff failing to show up.
If you're going to have a migraine, this is the way to have it.
3/3
Marcus Marcius Marcellus
PhilipKing