What Is a Complicated Migraine?

According to the National Headache Foundation (NHF), a complicated migraine refers to migraines with extended visual disturbances known as auras or nerve paralysis that affect eye movement.

• Migraine

Status

• "Complicated migraine" is a term that has been largely abandoned by clinicians, the NHF says, but is sometimes used by laypersons.

Types

• The complicated migraine label, reports WomensHealth.Aetna.com, once covered basilar migraines, with symptoms related to the base of the brain, and hemiplegic or stroke-like migraines. Other unusual types include ophthalmoplegic migraines, which are very rare and focus around one eye; retinal migraines, which bring on temporary, short-term blindness; and cyclic migraine syndrome, a cluster of at least 10 long-lasting headaches in a month's time.

Demographics

• Because of the broad definition of the term, men and women of all ages and racial backgrounds could be diagnosed with the condition.

Symptoms

• Symptoms of a complicated migraine include confusion, visual disturbances, slurred speech and paralysis of the eye or portions of the body.

Causes

• According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, doctors are moving away from the idea that blood vessels in the brain cause migraines, toward a theory that "nerve excitation" by environmental triggers such food, weather, smells or lights may be responsible.