Dreaming in a migraine?

[rob38]

I suffer from normal migraines with aura, sickness and a headache, and I suffer from hemiplegic migraines that cognitive issues and loss of sensation in limbs etc.

Recently I have been experiencing episodes where my brain starts lucid dreaming while awake. It is really weird, it is very difficult to stop the dreaming and although the dreams I am experiencing are new, I have a huge sense of deja vu, like they are memories of dreams. It is an odd experience, and it makes me feel a bit sick as I feel like I am in two places at once. Alongside the dreaming I get regular migraine symptoms like feeling dazed, tired and issues with cognition.

Does anyone else experience something similar?

I've just spotted this as I searched 'deja vu' for this reason! Yes, I get something very similar. It started about 5 years ago - possibly linked to migraines (I get them with auras but no real headache) although worryingly I've read they could be linked to temporal lobe epilepsy? They definitely trigger a lot of anxiety for me.

I find it really scary and struggle to explain it to people. It's like an extended deja vu but feels like everything I'm thinking/ feeling I've dreamt before, although it also feels like I'm in a dream state.

It lasts for about half an hour, but I'm always terrified it won't go away and I'll stay like that. Thankfully I haven't had an episode for months, but I often get quick flashes of deja vu, which now make me really anxious.

Thank you for your message, I think its the same thing, I was also really worried that it would not go away. I have spoken to my GP and they think its mostly likely a migraine. I get hemiplegic migraines that can effect my speech, cognition and body temperature. A hemiplegic migraine is like a storm in the brain and in this case I think it just effecting a different area of my brain and switching on lucid dreaming. I have been effected by it a few times now, with the longest episode lasting over 5 hours. Like you there seems to be a shadow left afterwards, I don't get quick flashes of a feeling of deja vu, but for weeks afterwards I get false memory's. However this is also consistent with me for it being a migraine, as with a hemiplegic migraine I can be left with some symptoms for weeks afterwards.

I have found a post on reddit by someone describing exactly the same symptoms of dreaming and deja vu. They said in their post that they experience a headache and nausea while its happening, which sounds like a migraine.

I am also concerned about it being epilepsy though in regards to the deja vu, but that is the only symptom related to epilepsy that I experience. I think if it was epilepsy there would be other symptoms maybe like muscle tensing.

A really good tip my GP gave me was to record when it happens. I have found writing down the symptoms while it is happening helpful in keeping my anxiety down and too look back on when trying to explain it to people.

Yes, I also don't have any other symptoms of epilepsy so I don't think it's that. I do definitely think it could be linked to migraines, although don't really get a headache or aura at the time it's happening. I think the triggers could be tiredness, and too much screen time sometimes.

I also think it's no coincidence that for me they began in peri-menopause, and they seem to be (fingers crossed) easing off now.

I'd love to read more research on it, and it's good to know I'm not alone! It's so hard to explain, you feel like you're going a bit mad!

I’m so sorry you are having these episodes. Sadly for me this is a temporal lobe epilepsy aura.

The nausea for me is like the feeling on a roller coaster. I have emotions with mine too, usually euphoria but sometimes absolute dread.

There is no muscle tensing, no one would know this is happening to me. It’s called a focal seizure (not the same as an absense seizure.) The only outward clue is if it then grows to both sides of my brain and I drop.

without worrying you, and you may have had this already, you need a neurology referral.

https://www.epilepsy.com/what-is-epilepsy/seizure-types/focal-onset-aware-seizures

Just to say as well that mine are not horrible, they feel quite amazing, so it’s probable that these happen all the time to a lot of people and they think it’s iffy blood pressure, or they stood up too quickly. Very easy to write off.

I am medicated now. I also have migraines but they have eased off. An epilepsy diagnosis is not great obviously but the medication I am on has helped massively with the worry I could just drop at any moment (I had these mild feelings for around 15 years before I eventually had a full on tonic clonic and was diagnosed)

Yeah definitely although it is scary to experience its quite unusual and it would be interesting to learn more about it. My trigger seems to be stress. I'm pretty sure its a weird type of migraine (I sometimes get hemiplegic migraines without a headache, and only a brief aura). Glad to hear that yours are easing off, I will update the post if I learn anymore about it.

I had this exact thing today. I'm sat here reeling from the day I've had. First search on Google bought me here. I've spent the day "dreaming"?!? dreams that I think I've already had while I have the worst hemiplegic migraine I've had in years. It was like I was here in body but my mind was dreaming and not in a day dream kind of way.
This is completely new for me, I started getting the migraines during Covid - I've learned to deal with them and the numbness but today has left me very shaken. I'm also wondering if this is a perimenopause thing?!
This was posted a while back - did these episodes become a regular thing?