An aura is the perceptual disturbance experienced by some migraine sufferers before a migraine headache, and the telltale sensation experienced by some people with epilepsy before a seizure. It often manifests as the perception of a strange light or an unpleasant smell. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO). ... // G00-G99 - Diseases of the nervous system (G00-G09) Inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (G00) Bacterial meningitis, not elsewhere classified (G01) Meningitis in bacterial diseases classified elsewhere (G02) Meningitis in other infectious and parasitic diseases classified elsewhere (G03) Meningitis due to other and unspecified causes (G04) Encephalitis, myelitis... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The following is a list of codes for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. ... Look up aura in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article is about the medical term, epileptic seizure, as distinct from a non-epileptic seizure. ...

An aura does not necessitate the onset of either a migraine or a seizure and not everyone who suffers from migraines or seizures will experience auras. Though auras tend to be an unpleasant and irritating sensation, they can be beneficial. Most injuries from seizures occur when there is no warning. Auras allow epileptics time to prevent injury to themselves. The time between the appearance of the aura and the onset of a migraine or seizure can be anything from a few seconds up to an hour. Most people who have auras have the same type of aura every time.

An aura sensation can include:

• Visual Changes.
  • Bright lights.
  • Zigzag lines.
  • Distortions in the size or shape of object.
  • Slowly spreading spots.
  • Curtain like effect over one eye.
  • Tunnel Vision
  • Kaleidescope effects on visual field
  • Shimmering, pulsating patches, often curved.
  • Blind or dark spots in the field of vision.
  • Total temporary monocular (in one eye) blindness. (in retinal migraine)^[1]
• Hearing voices or sounds (auditory hallucinations).
• Strange smells (olfactory hallucinations).
• Feelings of numbness or tingling on one side of the face or body.
• Feeling separated from one's body.
• Feeling as if your limbs are moving independently from your body.
• Anxiety or fear.
• Nausea.
• Weakness, unsteadiness.
• Being unable to understand or comprehend spoken words during and after the aura.
• Being unable to speak properly, despite your brain grasping what you're trying to verbalize. (Aphasia)
• Feeling of power or sense of euphoria (this symptom has been associated with discontinuation of seizure treatments - the sufferer may enjoy the experience and think it worth the seizure or migraine that follows)

The specific type of sensation associated with an aura can potentially be used in an attempt to localize the focus of a seizure. Look up aphasia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

See also

• Hallucination
• Paresthesia
• Synesthesia
• Simple partial seizure
• Complex partial seizure

A hallucination is a sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ... Paresthesia or paraesthesia (in British English) is a sensation of tingling, pricking, or numbness of a persons skin with no apparent long-term physical effect, more generally known as the feeling of pins and needles or of a limb being asleep. // Transient paresthesia is the temporary sensation of tingling... Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek (syn), meaning with, and (aisthēsis), meaning sensation—is a neurological condition in which two or more bodily senses are coupled. ... Simple partial seizures are seizures which affect only a small region of the brain, often the temporal lobes and/or hippocampi. ... Complex partial seizures are epileptic attacks which involve a greater degree of impairment of consciousness than simple partial seizures. ...

References

External links

• About.com aura summary
• Epilepsy.com information
• Migraine Aura Foundation
• MAGNUM, the National Migraine Association
• Epilepsy Action information