I get hemiplegic migraines, they are virtually indistinguishable from a stroke in that I get the classic one-sided facial droop, arm & leg weakness one the same side, can't speak properly etc. Often with really nasty nerve pain on that side. Sound aura - it sounds like I get " superman hearing" - everything gets really clear, loud, it seems like I can hear all the sounds; being in a public or noisy place with this is really unpleasant. Also I get a similar effect with textures - anything other than pure water or a sheet of glass feels horribly bumpy, gritty, unsettling. As well as the blinding headache, which is mercifully over fairly soon, only a couple of hours but the other symptoms can take several days to properly improve. I get a couple of severe attacks a month, & TBH I have low level migraine most of the time. Sometimes numb feet if I haven't managed to get somewhere to sit down before it starts, especially if it's just a mild one & I try to carry on. I always carry emergency taxi money now, as I've got stuck too many times.
Hormonal migraines (currently about 3-4 a month - ovulation, 2 days pre-period, mid period, & sometimes another onebut I can't identify the trigger point) - opposite side of my head to the hemiplegic migraines. Light is painful, nausea & vomiting, regardless of whether I've eaten. Unless I've managed to drink lots of water beforehand, I get heartburn from repeatedly vomiting bile. Sometimes I breathe it in, which is horrid, & makes me cough for days. Dreadful pain in my head, sinus, neck, shoulder, teeth, ear - all on the one side. Numb fingers. Warmth directly on my head helps, albeit for an hour at most, but it's a blessed relief. Sometimes when I can tolerate moving without it triggering vomiting, I stand in the shower just for the pain relief.
I sometimes get a weird migraine ish headache, quite short, followed by partial loss of sight in one eye. It's always the same eye. It doesn't happen very often but it is getting more frequent. I've noticed I often feel very faint afterwards.
I can't be medicated for the hormonal migraines as the standard treatment, triptans, is linked with incidence of strokes in people with hemiplegic migraines. I am on other medication, including botox (unpleasant), & I avoid a lot of foods, including some very common things such as artificial sweeteners, caffeine & most sweets - especially things like haribo - I don't know what is in them but one of my worst ever attacks was from 5 of the sours. Also licorice (which is in a lot of herbal teas), msg (in a surprising number of foods, under various names), I don't eat much red meat, don't eat blue cheese, or very sugary foods as sugar spikes (or crashes - I'm not sure) can trigger them. I drink a lot of water, when I can, & herbal tea etc. I'm considering trying extended fasting to regulate my blood sugar in the hope that it might improve things.
www.migrainetrust.org
Check out the link above. There's also one called Migraine Action (UK based, I think) but I can't find them right now, for some reason. Both very helpful when I looked into identifying my triggers.