When you have chronic migraine, your brain doesn’t always brain the way it’s supposed to. Brain-fog is real. For me there are some days I feel as if I have lost several IQ points. Other days, the effect of migraine-overwhelm is more subtle… I don’t have complete confusion, I just… lose words.
I might be in a conversation with a friend and say, “I like your… blue shade things… are they new?” The friend will frown slightly, realize I’m waving my hands at their sunglasses and thank me. Meanwhile, I’m clocking the fact that a mental abyss has suddenly opened in my mind and remembering that it is often a precursor to a bad migraine, I know I need to start taking evasive action.
Several years ago, I sent a text message to my youngest sister. Moments after I hit send I received a panicked call from her asking if I was OK. I was confused – I was fine, what was the drama? Apparently, my message was only half coherent, half garbled mess, and as she said, “I wasn’t sure if you had a migraine or a stroke.” I didn’t have either – I just didn’t have my reading glasses on when I typed the message and thought it was perfectly legible when I hit send.
Oops.
Funnily enough, there’s a term for when you lose words… the name of which I can’t remember.
Into my computer’s search bar I typed, “what’s the term for forgetting words when you’re speaking?”
The computer replied “tip-of-the tongue phenomenon” – which is NOT what I was looking for… but I like it because it is so self-explanatory. Even before I had a migraine-melted brain I suffered from tongue-tip-troubles from time to time.
APHASIA
That was the word I wanted.
Or more accurately, “transient aphasia” when it comes to migraine attacks.
The reason I knew it was thing, is because I wrote about it (in passing) over a year ago in my post about a reporter named Serene Branson who appeared to be having a stoke live on television (here) – but her slurred speech was actually migraine aura taking place in real time, broadcast nationally.
According to Aphasia.org, “Aphasia (pronounced Uh-FAY-zhuh) is a communication disorder […] Therefore, a person may have challenges talking, understanding others, reading, writing, and using numbers. Aphasia does not impact intelligence or memory, but […] It is a frustrating impairment as people with aphasia still know what they want to say and can make their own decisions.”
Aphasia can come from major neurological impairments caused by Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), stroke, brain tumors or infections (such as meningitis). When I looked up “migraine” with the search tool, the site came up blank. I needed to research somewhere else.
MedicalNewsToday says that aphasia is a rare side effect of migraines and generally takes place in the early stages of a migraine episode.
The recommendations on the site were to treat the underlying migraine first, but you could also try: reducing background noise and distractions, prepare cards with simple statements or questions, stick to yes-no answers if possible (that can presumably be done with head movements), write instead of speak, or use a phone to transcribe what you want to say.
[All of these sound doable… but a little unrealistic, I’m not going to lie.]
[For me – I use a medical alert keyring. On the tag (which I can wave at people) it tells strangers I have migraines and low blood pressure and who to call. It’s there on the off chance that I can’t speak to explain myself and avoid people thinking I’m drunk or on drugs when my speech slurs (it’s happened – read more here). Another time I had just enough time to write my home address on the back of a business card to give to a taxi driver, after which I used to keep it in my handbag in case I needed it again during another migraine episode.]
Over on Migraine.com, Amanda tells of her experience with temporary aphasia, and notes that she keeps her family and friends in the loop, so they know what is happening. She ends her description by noting that the first time was terrifying (because she and her mother didn’t know what was happening, and the doctors were running tests for a stroke), but now she doesn’t panic: “I at least now live with the understanding that my ability to communicate will return.”
Curious if any of you have experienced temporary aphasia, and what you do to minimize the disruption.
As an aside – the reason I thought of writing this post was the result of a word misunderstanding (more to do with fatigue than migraine). I was reading through the titles of someone’s blog posts, and I saw one that referred to something along the lines of “this that armsand the other”.
What in the beach-loving-mystery was arm-sand???
Eventually I realized there was a space missing. They meant “arms and”.
Obviously (or not).
Ah… words!
Good luck to anyone out there struggling – know that I’m sending you love, support, understanding and a sprinkle of magical armsand to get you through!
Take care taking care, Linda xox
The Mindful Migraine 
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