Is this an atypical migraine?

[Kaylajacs]

Hi everyone.

When I was a kid I had a very weird experience that seemed almost like a stroke. I woke up feeling like my sugar was low (I'm a type 1 diabetic) and when I tried to get up I slid out of the bed and into the floor because I couldn't move part of my body. My mom found me in the morning. I felt confused and all the things I was saying were not the things I intended to say. For example, I wanted to cry but kept laughing, and started counting numbers when my mom asked me to say the alphabet. When I tried to walk my right side was limp. My sugar was a bit low (60) but that's not too severe. I went to the hospital and after a few hours regained all normal functioning. They ran many tests but weren't sure what exactly it was- they said it wasn't a stroke and may have been an atypical migraine.

It's happened again maybe 10 times in the last decade, but never that severe. It's almost always right after I wake up, and more likely if my sugar is low or if I drank alcohol the night before. Symptoms are confusion, seeing weird bright red/black spots when I blink, inability to speak clearly, falling and stumbling, muscle weakness. It's a very bizarre, altered mental state. Usually at the end of an episode I throw up and almost immediately all the symptoms are gone. However, I get no headache pain at all and I've never had a regular migraine.

Do these sound like atypical migraines or something else? Could these cause lasting damage? They are quite rare but they scare me.

[AKC_75]

Hi and welcome to the Migraines & Headaches Community.

I have never experienced that before but I will say that if you know the triggers (or some of the triggers) then you should try to avoid those triggers. Keep a diary of what you ate, what you were doing, etc to help you figure out all the triggers.