Anyone suffer from migraine with aura?

[Afternooninthepark]

And can you prevent them from occurring?
I’m 45 and since pregnant with my first child 13 years ago I have suffered on/off with migraine with aura. Weirdly, I don’t get much of a headache after but I will get a really scary blind spot in my vision which then becomes a zig-zig flashing thing. It lasts about 30 mins and then I’ll get a slight headache.
I’ve always put them down to a hormone thing due to always getting them during pregnancy (it’s how I knew I was first pregnant with 2nd pregnancy) and during my periods. I usually get about 4/5 per year. However, this week I’ve had 2 and my period isn’t due till next week.
Although my mum and sister get them and I think they could be hereditary, I absolutely hate them. They leave me panicky and scared and I hate it interfering with my vision. I’m left drained after an episode and fearful for the next one. My GP isnt much help.
Does anyone sympathise? Do you have any tips how to prevent them?
I fear that, at nearly 46 this may get worse during perimenopause 🙁

I get them just as you descibed - blind spot, then zig zag flashing lights, then feeling of dread/panic, then the headache.

Hunger is a trigger, so I am devoted to my snacks.

When I get the blind spot, I immediately take paracetamol and codeine. If I time it right, this stops the headache.

If it's any comfort, menopause has made them less frequent for me.

SilverLlama combined pill is out with migraine. Mini-pill is fine - and not having periods (which I don't on Cerazette) has eliminated my hormonal migraines.

Yes I have these too. And it’s so unsettling losing vision for half an hour or so!

Hormones trigger and also for me a big trigger was dehydration. I drink lots every day now and they gave cut right down.

I would get three plus a week when on microgynon or pregnant!

Someone asked about speech, I used to become quite unable to string a sentence together, unable to think of nouns in particular. I’m notoriously bad with names at the best of times but during a migraine I would struggle with words like chair or hand. I worried when I was having the migraines that they would do permanent damage to my brain, the effect was so extreme. I would also have thoughts repeating in my head. Those symptoms were so frightening that the aura doesn’t worry me!

Not now but I did up to menopause. Horrible. Being on the pill didn't help and I was ten times worse during the short time I was on HRT.
Didn't have one migraine when I was pregnant and am free of them now.

I'm glad to have left migraine behind and hope you can get some good treatment for it.

I get the aura and headaches separately. I found the first aura attack weird and scary but I am used to them now and find they only last half an hour or so so just sit quietly till they pass.

Thanks for all the tips everyone.

I occasionally get those zig zag patterns, they last about 15 minutes, the pattern gets bigger and bigger until it would be difficult to type or read, but no headache. Was told they are migraines with aura without the headache. I also sometimes get the feeling my eyes are crossed, (they are not) making me slightly dizzy, it only lasts a few minutes and doesn't happen very often. Worrying when my kids were little and felt I couldn't cope during an attack especially outside.