Is this what Alzheimers feels like? A migraine experience.

I had another full on migraine last night and it terrifies me.

It was only 3 months ago that I had the last one and this one happened in exactly the same way as before.

My last migraine started with neck pain, but I didn't realise at the time that this could be a symptom of the onset of a migraine. After nearly 3 months of neck pain I was just starting to finally feel normal, but this morning after the migraine the neck pain is back.

One other thing I noticed yesterday was that throughout the day I felt I needed to pee a lot more than usual, I kept feeling desperate for the loo and began to feel that I may have been getting a urine infection. Looking back to the the migraine in February I had exactly the same thing, I couldn't stop peeing. This and neck pain are something I need to be aware of, as either or both could indicate the onset of a migraine.

Yesterday had been a normal day, I actually felt pretty good. We had a good day working together stripping varnish off a wooden floor by hand and made good progress, hard work but all ready to varnish when we went to bed. I then enjoyed a relaxing bath and had my one drink a week, which consists of a Jack Daniels and a diet Coke. What could be interesting here that it wasn't a caffeine free Coke, making it my only drink this week with caffeine in it.

I sat down for a few minutes before standing up again to prepare dinner and upon standing experienced the pain in my head as before. An intense pain that subsided after a couple of minutes, exactly the same as the last time, but I wouldn't describe it as a thunder clap. The pain wore off and I carried on preparing dinner. 

Around 10 to 20 minutes later the zig zag lines started, at first only affecting the bottom half of my vision, but increasing over time. No headache at this point. The vision disturbances (aura) continued for about 20 minutes, during this time I took a migraine tablet. 

Once my vision cleared and went back to normal the headache started. They say that most people experience migraines on one side of their head but I honestly couldn't tell you where mine radiates from. 

As with each of my previous two migraines that started with the aura I then stated to forget the names of things and people, my recollection had completely gone. I didn't know things that I was looking at, they were no longer recognisable.  Even when my husband told me the names of my dogs, my children and grandchildren they made no sense. I didn't even know his name and had to ask. 

Having now experienced this three times I wondered this morning if that's what it feels like to live with Alzheimer's all the time. Suddenly not knowing what things are, not just forgetting the names of them but seeing them as completely different objects. Not having any recollection of specific everyday things, what they are called or what they are used for. I could read but didn't know what the words meant, my mum is like that. How terrifying must it be to live in that world permanently.

The very first time I had one of these migraines was around five years ago and because I'd never experienced anything like it before I was sent to A&E to check whether or not I had suffered from a mini stroke or TIA, as that time I also had numbness in my face. I remember the nurse I saw telling me that a friend of hers suffered from that type of migraine every time and although awful for her I have to admit it makes me feel slightly better knowing that other people suffer the same symptoms.

Five years ago for the first migraine with aura and memory problems and now two in three months. My last attack lasted for two weeks, with the headaches picking up every afternoon. Fingers crossed that I get over this one much more quickly. I am writing this, with head pain but not debilitating. I'll keep taking pain killers today regardlessly and hope that the afternoon is relatively normal. My main problem is being scared to stand up. 

I have my blood tests in the morning, so hopefully I'll be able to get to the bottom of things and start to learn how to control or at least live with future attacks without being completely freaked out by them. 

What would be really great though would be to hear from anyone else who suffers or suffered from migraines like these, whether linked to peri-menopause, menopause, other hormone related issues or just generally and to hear how they dealt with the attacks.