Question
Let me begin at the beginning. Yesterday, around 4pm I began having some mild muscle pain in the back of my neck. At approx. 4:30 it suddenly spiked and could barely move my head. It began in my right shoulder and came up through my neck. Gradually it subsided a bit and I ignored it (I get a lot of aches and pains).

About a half hour later I was walking into a store and it was like I had looked directly into the sun or had an extremely bright camera flashed in my eyes. I say circles of light everywhere I tried to focus (also kind of like if you squeeze your eyes shut for a REALLY long time and it screws up your vision). The light let up a bit but I couldn't really focus my vision... somewhere between double vision and these light spots..... I was really scared.....

I decided to go to my mom's which was only about a 5 min drive away.... as I drove it got worse... I started getting head rushes.... like all the blood rushing to my head ( ok this is graphic, but to explain... it was like what may happen when you're bearing down during a bowel movement) and I could feel my pulse pounding in my head..... and this vise like grip throughout my face and forehead. What came to my mind? Ok I admit it... I thought I was having a stoke....

I stopped at the pharmacy next to her house and took my BP.... normal 126/76 and my pulse was 72.

That eased my mind a bit, but the pain kept getting worse. I got to her house and was in tears. I made myself eat (I hadn't eaten anything all day) and even though the muscle spasms and pain were making me nauseous at this point I downed half a sandwich.

I took on of my migraine pills, Axert, even though it didn't feel like any migraine I'd ever had aside from the location, and laid on her bed and cried. I was SO scared. After about 45 I decided I needed to go home and take a muscle relaxer and so I drove home, carefully... took a Soma and 2 Aleve and went to bed.

I'll be honest with you.... I've not been that scared medically in a long time. I don't know what it was all about.... I'm SURE the muscles had a lot to do with it..... I don't know what was going on with my vision.....


Answer
Amanda,

Believe it or not, you experienced a "Classic" migraine, not the more Common type of migraine.

Classic migraines are relatively rare compared to Common Migraines.

It sounds like it was brought on by muscle spasm from the base of your neck or mid-back traveling through the base of your skull. This type of headache is "Cervicogenic" and has no "Prodome" or Aura before onset.

You are correct in one thing, your symptoms are a bit weird.

You fit the "Classic" Migraine criteria to a key but the prior onset of spasm muddies the water.

Go see a Neurologist for a workup, he will probably order a MRA which is a MRI of the brain. If everything checks out and I think it will, I will find you a great Chiropractor in your area to address any biomechanical causes that commonly lead to these issues.

Let me know how it turns out,

Dr. Timothy K. Durnin
drs.chiroweb.com