What to do about severe aura symptoms

Some migraine patients are more disturbed and disabled by migraine aura symptoms than by the headache itself.  Some people do not even have pain but only auras.  In the majority the aura is visual and consists of squiggly lines, flashing lights, distorted vision, or partial loss of vision on one side of each eye.  Less often people experience numbness of one side of the body, dizziness, or vertigo.  These symptoms are sometimes more difficult to treat than the pain.  Anecdotal reports suggest that a blood pressure drug belonging to the family of calcium channel blockers can help.  Another medication that has been reported to be effective (also only in case series and not double-blind trials) is an epilepsy drug, lamotrigine (Lamictal).  The effective dose of lamotrigine varies from 100 to 500 mg day, while verapamil is usually effective at 12-240 mg, although in some patients only much higher doses are effective.