IAmA 32/M who has had migraines for 27 years and I had my first fortification aura today. AMA

I've had severe migraines since I was five years old. I was diagnosed by a top Michigan child neurologist at the time. I've had streaks where the migraines improved dramatically for years and I have been under a bad spell of having tons of bad migraines for the past 4-5 years. Most males with migraine grow out of them before adulthood. I'm one of the unlucky ones who didn't.

* [Migraine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine) * [Migraine aura](http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/migraine-aura/MM00659)

If there's one thing I'd like to clear up for people, who don't understand migraine, it's NOT a headache! Migraine is a neurological disease and sister illness to epilepsy. SEVERE head pain is only ONE of the symptoms that a migraine produces.

Today, at nearly 33 and having these for 27 years, I had my first fortification Aura, or aura of any kind. It sent me into a full blown panic attack because I didn't realize what it was. The aura demonstrated in the mayo clinic video I linked to was very close to the one I had today.

EDIT 1: **Thanks to everyone who has replied and shared their experiences with me. It's nice to NOT feel alone in this, however, I would not wish migraine pain on anyone. Please keep sharing your treatments with me, I've found a couple of them so far, that I'd never heard of and will be giving a try.**

I don;t know if anyone will be interested in this subject at all, but if so, please feel free to ask me anything!