A Headache With No Headache Pain: Is There Such A Condition?

What would you do if someone told you that you were suffering from a headache when you knew that you had not had any headache pain?  Yet, at the same time you also knew that you had had some very odd symptoms that you were having trouble getting diagnosed. If you have been suffering from some odd unexplained symptoms you may actually be afflicted with what is often called a silent migraine.  It is known by many other names as well. It has recently been given the name of migraine aura without a headache, whereas other times it was called ocular migraine or painless migraine.

The signs of this non-headache headache are like those a person may get at the onset of a migraine, but they never get the accompanying headache pain. A person may have the visual symptoms like seeing flashing lights off to one side, feeling dizzy, or feeling tingling or numbness in one’s fingers.  Sometimes people even have difficulty talking, or suffer pain in odd places on their faces. These odd symptoms are usually found in woman rather then men, somewhat later in life.

The biggest problem with this odd condition is that these symptoms can be mistaken for other ailments. Without being able to tell a health care provider that there is headache pain it is difficult to get a correct analysis of this condition.

For example, the symptoms are very similar to those of stroke indicators. Many people have been misdiagnosed because doctors thought their patient might have suffered a minor stroke instead.  These symptoms can also be attributed to seizures or serious visual problems.  With all these more obvious options it is not a surprise that doctors look to them first.  You should allow your doctor to do whatever tests they feel are necessary to eliminate the more serious health issues. In case one of them is the problem you will want to be sure. They may do a CT scan, an MRI, will order blood tests to be taken and likely want an eye examination. Once these tests are completed and everything comes back negative its time to point your health care provider in a different direction. The way to get them to take a serious look at the possibility of a silent migraine being the cause of your symptoms is to explain your family history first. Almost all migraine sufferers have other members of their immediate family who also get migraine headaches. Then closely describe your symptoms, again, and show them how they resemble those associated with migraine. If you’ve had these episodes more than once that should also go a long way to convincing them that you are indeed suffering migraine symptoms without the headache pain.

You can take any of the medications that are used in regular migraine treatment. This includes the medications some people use to try to prevent a migraine from coming once the aura has begun. Injectibles and nasal sprays are better to use because they are fast acting.

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