Migraine with aura - symptoms?

[blueyes]

So now that I've officially been diagnoised with migraines with aura, my body seems to think it's time I acknowledged the diagnosis. :mad: I had a migraine yesterday and barely caught it in time - it got to the nausea point before the Imitrex stopped it - and I had to take another Imitrex today, and I may not have caught this one in time to avoid the nausea (again). I know why I'm getting them right now (hormones), but what I'm more interested in is how to better 'catch' the migraines so I can take the Imitrex and avoid as much of this nonsense as possible.

My auras - so far as I've been able to pin down - start with a slight band of pain around the front of my skull, which may or may not have a band of pain at the base of my skull. That resolves into a sharp pain above my left eye, and about 20 minutes to several hours later...I want to find a very dark, very quiet space and not move for the next eon (this is sans Imitrex, of course). BUT I don't have the visual aura or the 'sense of things closing in' that my doctor said some people get. I'm wondering if there are aura symptoms that I'm having but not realizing that they might be aura. Any descriptions - no matter how freaking weird - would be appreciated!

[cheshrcarol]

I occasionally get auras when I am what I think of as "migraine inclined". I either see sparkles, or it's like there a sheet of glass in front of me with water drops running down it - I can still see, but where the "drops" are is blurry or sparkly, and it doesn't just go down, they can shoot in all different directions. I've also noticed I get a seriously stiff neck when one is coming on.

Did I ever suggest to you that you try excedrin? I'm allergic to Imitrex (and all the triptans :mad: ) and pretty much the only thing that works for me that won't make my throat swell shut is excedrin. Takes care of my headache pretty much every time, on extremely bad ones I just have to take a 2nd dose an hour or two later if the pain's not gone and that clears it up.