Hello Piper,

I do not think there is an easy way / rule to determine when you are
suffering from a migraine headache or a simple partial. As a rule of thumb,
a person having a migraine headache never looses consiousness which means
that migraine does not interfere with complex partial symptoms.

Migraine is a common, chronic, and painfull condition. Migraine headaches
-blinding, temple-pounding events that may be preceded by an aura and that
may last for hours- are only the best-known manifestations of migraine.
Many migraine sufferers also experience stomach pains, nausea, sudden
sensitivity to light and sound, and other intensely uncomfortable
sensations.

Migraine is more common in people with any type of seizure disorder, and
vice versa. It is highest among those people with epilepsy that's secondary
to a head trauma.

Furthermore, almost half of people with epilepsy who have migraine symptoms
are never diagnosed, possible because epilepsy diagnosis and treatment have
taken precedence over looking at other details at other health concerns but
also because the symptoms can be similar.

Migraine treatment requires a combination of lifestyle changes (similar to
persons having epilepsy) and avoiding migraine-triggering food and
medication. When all other medications have failed to prevent debilitating
migraine attacks, anti-epilepsy drugs are often tried. It is likely that
these medications help by preventing the migraine kindling process, even
though it is not identical to the seizure kindling process.

Any questions? Just let me know!

Stuff I've noticed between the two in myself.  Seizures haven't' caused
headaches.  Migraines in my case caused headaches on one side of the
head/face (especially behind/around the eyeball).  Certain movements, like
bending over, will make a migraine worse but doesn't play any role in
seizures or seizure symptoms.  Natural outdoor light if it's bright,
doesn't seem to bother my epilepsy (although I have photosensitivity), but
natural light sure makes a migraine worse.  The need to sleep is completely
different between the two.  With seizures, it is sudden, always starts
immediately after a seizure, and is very intense.  I've always had mental
things going on with seizures but not with migraines.  The mental things
would include some type of paranoia/fear, really hypersensitive to
unexpected movements and sounds, etc.  I think being able to recognize the
paranoia/fear thing is pretty difficult sometimes.  For myself, partial
seizures (I've had both simple partial seizures and complex partial
seizures) always have a 'funny' feeling as the seizure starts (that has
never happened with a migraine).  There are probably a half dozen other
little minor things I've noticed (actually, I think there are more symptoms
with seizures than with migraines).

My daughter has been diagnosed with migraines, and I didn't know my
headaches were migraines until we compared notes.  I told you what MY
experiences with the two problems are, and other people probably have
different experiences.

Barb

Hi,
As in my case, the migraine itself can often be the aura! Do you have "dots in front of your eyes" before a migraine? Classic symptom of migraine sufferers.
The year before my Tonic/Clonic seizures commenced, I suffered terribly fom migraine; often being sent home from school because it was so bad?
The following year:BANG! The Tonic/Clonic seizures commenced!
Wow did I know it then, but you all know the story; and my case is no worse, so I won't bore you!
best regards, Rich.

P>S: I am copying this to you in case you don't look in here each day?