[parpfish]

Sounds similar to me.

I get migraines without the aura that are painful, but the ones with an aura never hurt but are very distracting.

The auras always start the same way - at first I think I just have an afterimage from looking out a bright window or lamp. But after a few minutes I realize that’s it’s not going away and moving into the periphery so I decide to go sit in the dark.

[tmm84]

For me my most powerful migraines have an aura attached to them. The visual distraction is nothing more than an omen of the pain I will be in for when it goes away. For me my auras always have some hippy 60s trippy oil smear going on in them which is just scary to me.

My first one happened at work during a very stressful period in my career. It was very scary and I took a sick day to go to the hospital where they hadn't had much experience dealing with this. Bright lights, many questions later and finally getting here's some migraine medicine I was let go to research this on my own.

[swatcoder]

Same here on all counts.

Mine tended to happen in clusters, with weeks or months with none before the first in what's usually a series.

Based on some research, hunches, and a sense of harmlessness, I started taking magnesium when I notice a first one and rarely (never?) have another anytime soon thereafter.