Can this "migraine type" aura actually be a seizure aura?

[Mike758]

I have epilepsy, and I had partial seizure starting a few years ago and had a tonic clonic seizure in September, followed by another a month later. Since, I've been on Keppra and haven't had a tonic clonic since. I upgraded to 2000MG a day due to still having partial seizures, and haven't had any in the four months I've been on this dosage.

I've had about 50 of my typical partial seizures over a few years before being treated. My typical partial seizures would include a Déjà Vu sensation followed by a sensation of something rising in my stomach.

Today, I had a symptom that I thought was a migraine, but a headache never followed. For about 20 minutes I had dark spots in my vision, and it progressively got worse to the point where it was hard for me to see. Upon looking it up online, I read this can also be a seizure Aura. I'm concerned because I never had a headache after. Do you think this could be a seizure aura, because I never had a seizure afterwords? I also have never had this symptom before being treated for epilepsy.

 

[valeriedl]

There are two types of partial seizures. An aura is a simple partial and you don't blank out. A complex partial is a seizure that you don't blank out. There are also the tonic clonic seizures that you shake during.

During some of my seizures I will have a simple partial before and sometimes it will just go right into the complex with no warning. Sometimes I may just have a simple partial with no complex following.

At first after every complex seizure I would have a severe headache after. Only with in the last few years (I've had epilepsy for 11 years) I stopped having a headache after every seizure. I don't believe I've ever had a headache after a simple partial, only complex.

It's possible that this could have been a seizure. It's something you'd probably want to bring up with your neurologist and see what he says.

 

[SayThatAgain?]

From my personal experience, I am all too familiar with the vision change you have described. I have had them occasionally for many, many years. Combined with other seizures that jave affected my visual processing, I have degredation in my vision that is noticable all the time. It certainly reads like a seizure to me. Make sure you let your doctor know of this development ASAP!

 

[Nakamova]

I used to get a similar kind of visual disturbance (called scintillating scotoma), with no headache. I never had any other kinds of migraine symptoms. It's hard to know whether the episodes were migraine-related or epilepsy-related, since they occurred very infrequently, and in the 14 years since my tonic-clonic and subsequent epilepsy diagnosis, they've never occurred again -- the opposite of your experience.

It's possible for people to have both migraines and epilepsy, but since this is a new symptom for you, it seems more likely that it's related to your seizures.

 

[MaeDae]

I've been complaining about the light show for over 2 years now. I get balls of light bouncing around in my vision. I was told by my old neurologist that they were migraines without pain. He never associated them with seizures and sent me to see the eye doc. To this day I never got a clear explanation of what these light shows were but when I started taking AEDs they got better. I still get the light shows and sometimes when I get them i take my blood pressure and it is slightly elevated. My new neuro doc says it is not normal and may very well be seizure related. She said I should note how often, how long they last and time of day when it happens and tell her. Make sure you do tell yuor doc about the dark spots, everyone is different and perhaps your med needs to be upped or change, and do keep us posted ok? Feel better soon!

 

[lindsayschu2]

I didn't quite get from your post whether you have a history of migraines or not. If you have a history of migraines, have you had the blind spot type aura before? If you have a history of migraines I would guess it was what is called an occular migraine. You've never had this as a part of either a seizure or migraine before, and it is a more typical type aura of a migraine. It's not at all uncommon to have a migraine aura without headache. I have them all the time--I used to only have the visual aura, but as I have moved into perimenopause I now get the other symptoms associated with migraine, such as nausea, light and sound sensitivity, etc. But many people only get the visual aura and nothing else, as I did for 30 years.

 

[Mike758]

Saw the neurologist today for my routine check up. I made mention of this, and he was concerned about it, but he didn't make it seem like it was epilepsy related, he said if it isn't a migraine it's likely some issue with blood pressure. He told me to take and aleive if it happens again. It didn't help that I didn't really pay too close attention to other symptoms. Similar to what MaeDaes doctor said, mine said to keep a log of what happens. I never updated the thread, but I actually did have a headache after the episode, it just wasn't bad. I never found this out til after I saw the doctor, but apparently migraines are common in my family, and my mom gets them all the time. I also had lack of sleep the day of my last one. I don't remeber my first migraine, but I believe I had my first before my epilepsy diagnosis so I'm not sure if it's a new symptom. Like I said, I haven't had my typical seizure Aura since I upgraded to 2000MG Keppra a day, so I mean I will keep a log of when the migraines occur and keep track of all symptoms, but it's not something I will lose sleep over. If I were to have another actual seizure, I would likely go see another doctor in a better hospital, because the neurologists at my hospital have been a bit lame.