NeuroTalk Support Groups - Hemiplegic Migraine

Hello Tinymom,

Step back and take a deep breath. I had my first attack in Jan. 1998 at the age of 50 and after retiring in the prior September. I thought it was a stroke, as did the medical people, slurred speech, complete left side paralysis, drooping eye sensitive to the light. I was admitted to the hospital and all the test were ran, MRI, CT Scan, ultrasound of the arteries in my neck, and check of the chambers in my heart. Thus began a saga of going to the neurologists every other week. I was having an episode ever week. One day I'd have the episode, the second day I'd have extremely sore eyes and fatigue and on day 3 I'd be physically weak. I recorded a diary of what I eat every meal and how I felt every day for a year. I was tried on every med regiment you could think of. When the neurologist said he was changing my meds and starting me back onto what I had started with the first time, I said enough and changed neurologists. Six months into this neurologist's treatment, he was relocating and referred me to Vanderbilt Hospital. A wonderful lady doctor was there from Cleveland Headache Clinic conducting migraine studies. She had seen my files earlier and told me that I had migraine with stroke symptom aura. So I am on Aggrenox, Depakote generic, Propanol, and Anytriplene. I've had no specific name for my migraine until Monday, November 3, 2014 ... yep it's Hemiplegic Migraine! The frequency of episodes has changed to about 3/month and the severity has diminished. My doctors say I will most likely have this the rest of my life but I can live with it and nothing prevents an episode but the meds lessen them greatly. So Tinymom hang in there, you can adjust and I was told that most people that have them at an early age can have them go away just like they started but when the onset is later in life like mine, they're here to stay. God Bless and stay strong!