For anyone who suffers from the rarer type of migraine, here's my story.
I was thirteen when the first one hit me.
I was in my second year at high school.
I remember it was a really bright sunny day, and I was sitting outside in the lunch break with a group of friends.
I will never forget looking at my friend and only being able to see half her face. She looked like she only had one eye. The other half was completely blanked out.
At first I just thought I'd looked at the sun for too long, but instead of my vision returning to normal, the blind patch gradually started to increase.
I remember looking at the sign on the school wall and only being able to see half the letters.
At thirteen I was terrified, although at that age I wasn't really aware of the serious things, I knew there was something drastically wrong.
I didn't tell anyone.
My friends just carried on with their conversation, completely oblivious to what was occurring inside my head.
I was relieved when half an hour later my vision gradually started to return to normal.
However, that wasn't the end of it.
In the French lesson that followed I became really confused.
I remember looking at each person in my class and desperately trying to remember their names.
I knew all their first names and surnames, but I couldn't for the life of me remember who they were or what they were called.
The voices and background noise sounded echoy as though they were calling from a distance and I couldn't understand what they were saying.
When it came to writing in my book I realised I had forgotten how to spell in English never mind French! The letters were all jumbled up and none of it made any sense.
I tried to tell my friend that I wasn't feeling well, but to my horror my words came out in complete gobbledegook.
My friend just laughed, thinking I was being silly. It was a French lesson after all. I think she thought I was trying to pronounce something in French, but I just wanted to say "Please help me". I knew what I needed to say but I just couldn't get the words right.
Then came the one sided numbness.
It started in my little finger and gradually spread over each digit in turn, then my hand, up my wrist and arm to my shoulder. Then half of my face went numb and tingly including my tongue.
The numbness lasted around ten minutes, and then the grand finale was the worst most excruciating headache I had ever experienced, accompanied by vomiting.
The most scary migraine I ever experienced was when I was seventeen and at college.
I had what I now know to be a double migraine (it usually effects just one side but this one effected both sides of my brain at the same time).
This meant the visual stages were almost constant without any reprieve. I couldn't see for at least four hours and up to 80% of my vision was blanked out and replaced with wavering flickering bright lights.
The confusion was worse than ever, so I could barely speak and didn't even know my own name.
I remember standing up and trying to walk but my legs were like lead and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get them to move (numbness effected both sides with this one).
It took me three days to fully recover.
Now I get them on average about every six weeks (which is quite enough).
Although I have learnt to deal with them over the years they are still very scary as each one is slightly different.
Sometimes I will have a longer visual stage or multiple visual stages which make me panic.
I think for me the visual stage is the most distressing.
I carry on through them and no-one is ever aware that I'm having an attack.
The confusion is also distressing as I struggle to remember passwords, lose the ability to spell and sometimes forget my own children's names.
The only blessing is that this stage is usually short lived (about half an hour).
The scariest part of the numbness stage is without a doubt when my tongue goes numb.
Some are worse than others. I can sail through the short lived ones but then I will get one of the horrendous long lasting monsters that make me panic and bring me to tears.
I sympathise with anyone else who suffers as most people assume a migraine is just a very bad headache and have no awareness of all these neurological symptoms that accompany this type of migraine.
I have found the main triggers of mine are hormones (without a doubt. I'm only 42 but already pre menopausal which is proving to be a nightmare in itself) and also bright sunlight (which is why I wear sunglasses a lot).
I haven't found a cure as yet, but I am considering having the darth piercing done (if I can pluck up the courage).
I think anything that gets rid of these monsters once and for all can only be a huge blessing!