On Tuesday I suddenly developed blurred vision in my peripheral vision which then started spreading across my right eye. Around the same time I started feeling really “off”, almost like I wasn’t fully in control of my body or myself.
I joined a work Teams meeting and although I was speaking mostly ok, I was noticeably struggling to find words and formulate sentences properly. Afterwards the nausea kicked in alongside a headache, and then the nausea intensified quite quickly to the point I felt like I could be sick.
Around three hours after the blurry vision started, I joined another Teams call. I started speaking and then suddenly just couldn’t find words at all. It was like my brain knew exactly what I wanted to say but my mouth physically just froze and wouldn’t cooperate. My colleague actually said “what are you doing?” because I had just gone silent mid-conversation, and then I started panicking which understandably panicked her too.
My manager rang my husband, he came to collect me and took me straight to hospital. On the way there I became terrified it was a stroke because I still couldn’t speak fluently. I could get some sentences out but it felt like enormous effort.
Even while being triaged in hospital I still wasn’t speaking properly. Whenever I could get words out I just kept saying “I think it’s happening because I’m panicking.” After about an hour in hospital my speech slowly started coming back and by the time we left I was mostly back to normal.
Since then I’ve been absolutely zapped of energy. I still have a thick/heavy headache, stiffness and nausea. My speech is mostly back to normal but I still feel slower than usual and keep muddling words up (for example saying things like “Sam Handwich” instead of ham sandwich!).
I’m having an MRI to rule out a TIA but I am confident it’s more likely a migraine from what I’ve read since. I’ve never suffered with migraines before and have never experienced anything remotely like this.
My question is, is this kind of speech issue actually common with migraines/auras and has anyone experienced similar? I’m almost second guessing myself now and driving myself mad wondering “did I somehow imagine this?” even though logically I know I didn’t. I think I’m just in disbelief that something like that actually happened to me.
I’m also still off work which is bothering me because I keep having the classic “am I actually sick enough to be off?” thoughts.
Any advice or similar experiences would honestly be really appreciated.