Silent migraines, also called acephalgic migraines or migraine without headaches, are the types of migraines that do not involve the typical head pain. Instead, people with silent migraines experience other symptoms such as aura (visual disturbances), dizziness, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound.
“Migraine aura without headache”—previously known as “acephalgic migraine” and sometimes called “silent migraine”—is when someone has a migraine aura without any head pain. Despite a lack of head pain, migraine aura without headache is still disabling for those who live with it.
Silent migraines can impact a person's quality of life, especially if they are severe or occur frequently. Even though silent migraines do not cause pain, the other symptoms may be debilitating. Medications and lifestyle changes can help manage symptoms.
Specific foods: Foods and additives, such as salty and processed foods and aged cheese, might trigger silent migraines. Caffeine and alcohol can also increase the risk. Skipped meals and sleep problems: Skipping meals or sleep disturbances may also lead to silent migraine attacks.
Silent migraines, also called acephalgic migraines or migraine without headaches, are the types of migraines that do not involve the typical head pain. Instead, people with silent migraines experience other symptoms such as aura (visual disturbances), dizziness, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound.
Triggers of silent migraine
Some commonly reported triggers include: Emotional stress and anxiety. Changes in hormone levels during menstrual cycle. Environmental changes (Climate and weather)
Typical migraines present with four phases: prodrome, aura, headache/attack, and postdrome. Silent migraines may still have these phases. The attack phase in typical migraine includes head pain with nausea, vomiting, or sensory disturbances.
Focal seizures and seizure aura can mimic migraine aura. Visual migraine aura can be confused for occipital seizures and vice versa, although symptoms are classically distinct. This is further complicated because occipital seizures are often followed by migraine-like headache.
Migraine has indeed been linked to silent infarct-like lesions (identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) regardless of clinical manifestations) [61–63] that may be triggered by vascular changes linked with inflammation.
Migraines have not been shown to cause stroke, but if you have migraine with aura you have a very slightly higher risk of stroke. This guide explains more about migraine, and lists some useful organisations. Stroke and migraine both happen in the brain, and sometimes the symptoms of a migraine can mimic a stroke.
Answer: Dehydration is one of several triggers that can exacerbate migraine headaches, including migraine variants like the one you are experiencing. Maintaining good hydration should help reduce the frequency of these visual migraines, which are also known as acephalgic migraine.
A hemiplegic migraine is a rare form of migraine in which the migraine headache attack is accompanied by unilateral weakness. Typically, migraine aura has visual symptoms, but motor symptoms are rare.
It's common for the cognitive symptoms of migraine to linger into the postdrome stage. Even after the headache itself has passed, people feel like they can't think clearly, or like their brain is still in a fog. This postdrome stage usually dissipates in a day, but it can last several days.
For patients suffering from chronic silent migraines, the impact on their quality of life is equal to those who experience chronic migraines with headache pain. Some migraineurs have been known to experience a constant silent migraine for indefinite periods of time. In some instances, these attacks can last for years.
You might be surprised to know that you can have a migraine without pounding head pain and nausea. It's called an ocular or ophthalmic migraine, and it's a form of silent migraine – silent in the sense that it isn't accompanied by pain.
For example, with abdominal migraine, a person may have nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain as a symptom of their attack but without headache. Vestibular migraine is another example of a silent migraine, when a person may experience dizziness and vertigo but no significant headache.
migraine without aura – the most common type, where the migraine occurs without warning signs. migraine aura without headache, also known as silent migraine – where an aura or other migraine symptoms are experienced, without a headache.
Silent migraine treatment
There's currently no cure for migraine. But silent migraine attacks might go away on their own. You can also use an over-the-counter (OTC) pain reliever to ease symptoms in the short term. Aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen are all popular options.
It's not a coincidence — headaches are more likely to occur when you're stressed. Stress is a common trigger of tension-type headaches and migraine. It can also trigger other types of headaches or make them worse. Stress is a particularly common headache trigger in children and young adults.
Cluster headaches are considered by many experts to be the most painful type of headache a person could ever experience, affecting an estimated one in 1,000 people in the United States.
Global Epidemiology and Trends
In 2019, the national age-standardized incidence rates of migraine ranged from 692.6 to 1,528.4 cases per 100,000, with Italy [1,528.4 (95% UI: 1,345.4–1,709.3)] and Norway [1,515.7 (95% UI: 1,333.8–1,693.4)] having the highest rates.
Migraine affects an estimated more than 10% of people worldwide, occurs most often among people aged 20 to 50 years, and is about 3 times more common in women than in men. In a large US survey, 17.1% of women and 5.6% of men reported having migraine symptoms.
As your brain shrinks, it pulls away from the skull, puts pressure on nerves and causes pain. Even mild dehydration can lead to a headache. When you drink water and other fluids, the brain plumps up to its previous size and the pain goes away.
Vestibular migraine causes episodes of dizziness described as rocking, spinning, floating, swaying, internal motion and lightheadedness. They most often occur spontaneously, but can be triggered by stress, sleep problems, skipping meals, dehydration, other illnesses.