When a person is telling he had a migraine than he will probably tell about a severe headache and flashes and stings in his eyes. However, there is also a condition called Acephalgic Migraine which is a migraine without a headache. Often it is considered as a mild migraine.
A migraine is considered a neurological condition and flashes, stings and headaches are not the only symptoms related to it. It is stated with 4 distinct stages each with its own symptoms.
A migraine is divided into 4 stages or phases. The first phase is the migraine stage, followed by the aura stage. After that comes the headache stage and the post-migraine stage. Although most people will go through each stage, not every person is likely to experience all stages.
The pre-migraine stage is related to symptoms like fatigue, concentration problems, pain in the neck, blurred vision and an abnormal sensitivity to sound and light. It can last from just a few hours to a few days.
Migraine stage 2 is called the aura stage. In this stage, individuals feel a specific sensation that let them know they will get a migraine attack. It is frequently experienced but not in everyone. Symptoms described in the aura phase are: seeing twinkling lights, lines, spots or a blurred vision. Sometimes they also hear a buzzing sound in their ears and have trouble speaking and thinking straight. In some rare cases, people experience seizures and will lose consciousness. The aura phase lasts from 5 minutes to over an hour. It is the pre-phase for the migraine attack When the true migraine starts, the symptoms of the aura phase have all disappeared.
The thirds phase is where a migraine kicks in with the severe headaches. Most often they experience a throbbing pain on one side of the brain. However, sometimes they feel it on both sides and sometimes there is a phase of a migraine without headaches.
The 4th stage is the final one and this one is called the post-migraine phase. This is the phase where people are relieved that the pain and aura sensations have stopped. It is followed by feelings of extreme fatigue and exhaustion and is compared to having a very disturbing hangover.
In common cases, individuals will experience always phase 3 and frequently a few of the other phases. However, in an acephalgic migraine (migraine aura without a headache) there is no phase 3. Because this disorder is very uncommon, doctors are often reluctant to diagnose this disorder