People with migranes: What kind of auras do you have? What ARE auras?

Question

I have bad headaches very frequently so I'm suspecting that they could be migranes. I don't want comments like "go to a doctor" because I have been, and I am going to go again. I'm just wondering, what are auras? They are hints that you are going to get a migrane, right? So what kinds of hints? How would I know if I have them? (Doctors have asked me if I get them and I usually say no, but I don't know.)
Thanks...

Answer 1

I will describe mine are dancing rainbow lights, which usually start out as a small circle in the middle and spread out to the edges of my vision. If you have ever seen those pennants hanging in a used car lot flapping in the breeze they kind of look like that last about 15 minutes with me. Sometimes my migraines are triggered by flashing lights, stobe, flashbulbs etc, and sometimes have no triggers or auras, since going menopausal my headaches have almost stopped.

Answer 2

I have suffered from migraines since I was about 12. I am extremely light sensitive and experience all sorts of visual phenomenon. Sometimes I see grainy spots in my field of vision, like a channel with bad reception. Sometimes, I lose my peripheral vision, or lose sight in one eye. On the lesser side of severity of my migraines I'll see like an aura around whatever emits light in my field of vision. It looks a lot like the moon behind thin clouds. Migraines are usually associated with nausea, dizziness, and intensely painful headaches. They are brought on commonly by fatigue which renders the individual in a stressed state, thereby trapping blood in the tiny capillaries in your scalp and tissues. Migraines are then perpetuated because they keep the individual from sleeping. Treatment can include the use of narcotics, sedatives, and basal dilators. If you have at least one of these headaches a month, you should be examined.

Answer 3

For me they are a white fuzzy light. I can't see through it, like a blind spot. Kind of like when someone takes a picture of you with a flash, you know how when you blink afterward you can't see things in your field of vision. Usually on one side or the other, sometimes they have been right in the middle of my vision. But I can still see it even when my eyes are closed.
The first time it happened my parents thought I had a detached retina. It is always only on one side of my head and I throw up every 15 min.