You might think the world is divided neatly into two groups—people with migraine and people without. Rarely are things that simple, though, and migraine is no exception. There are actually a number of different migraine types, and the two main ones are “migraine with aura” and “migraine without aura.”1 These two groups can further be divided into several subtypes, Nauman Tariq, MD, the director of the headache treatment program at Atrium Health Neurosciences Institute Charlotte, tells SELF.
Aura is characterized by visual, sensory, and speech disturbances—and you can have migraine aura with or without a headache, migraine with brainstem aura, hemiplegic migraine, and retinal migraine, per the American Migraine Foundation. “We used to lump all of these migraines into ‘complex migraine’ but now they are further categorized based on the symptoms they cause,” Dr. Tariq explains.
That’s good news for migraineurs since being diagnosed properly is the key to getting the right treatment. That said, the different types of migraine with aura can be a little confusing. Here’s everything you need to know, including the symptoms they cause and how to get relief.
What is migraine with aura?
It’s important to understand what migraine is in the first place. Migraine isn’t just a headache—it’s a neurological disease that affects about 12% of people in the U.S., the majority of whom are people assigned female at birth. Most people with migraine (around 80 to 85%) have migraine without aura, which is characterized as a throbbing or pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head, that gets worse with physical activity, bright lights, loud sounds, and strong smells, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
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Migraine with aura is less common, affecting around 15 to 20% of people with migraine. In addition to head pain and sensitivity to light, sound, or smells, migraine with aura symptoms includes visual, sensory, motor, or speech symptoms that usually warn that a migraine attack is coming. Per the International Classification of Headache Disorders, migraine with aura can be further divided into the following subtypes:2
- Migraine with typical aura—with or without a headache: Typical aura includes visual, sensory, or speech symptoms but no motor (that means muscle) weakness. This type of migraine can come with or without head pain.
- Migraine with brainstem aura: This type of migraine has aura symptoms that originate from the base of the brain (brainstem) or both sides of the brain at the same time. It’s typically associated with pain at the back of the head on both sides, according to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
- Hemiplegic migraine: An extremely rare type of migraine, hemiplegic migraine is characterized by experiencing weakness on one side of the body (hemiplegia) along with typical migraine symptoms.
- Retinal migraine: Sometimes called ocular migraine, this type of migraine causes visual disturbances that occur in only one eye before head pain begins.
What are the symptoms of migraine with aura?
Migraine with aura can cause an array of symptoms, from visual disturbances like seeing zig-zags or stars to sensory changes such as numbness or tingling. The symptoms of each type of migraine with aura can overlap, but here are the typical signs of each one, according to the American Migraine Foundation:
Source: SELF
