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April 30, 2007: Near-death experiences associated with migraine attacks

Seven case reports collected by Migraine Aura Foundation (www.migraine-aura.org) provide evidence that some migraine sufferers may be subject to a near-death experience as migraine aura symptom heralding or accompanying the headache of a migraine attack. According to Klaus Podoll and Markus Dahlem, the occurrence of these weird experiences in not life-threatening situations as symptoms of common neurological disorders such as migraine is a strong argument for the notion that they represent are a purely naturalistic phenomenon, a preformed functional response of the human brain. The study of such aura experiences may cast a little more light on that mysterious entity, human consciousness, and contribute to current studies of fundamental issues of the mind-body problem as jointly addressed by neurosciences and humanities.

April 15, 2007 - New section: Persistent aura symptoms

Persisting migraine aura symptoms are rare but well documented. "Visual snow" or "tv static", tinnitus, visual loss, increased afterimages and other varieties of visual perseveration being the most prominent symptoms, they are often bilateral and may last for weeks, months or years. Both remissions and permanence of symptoms have been described. On the basis of an internet survey initiated by one sufferer, artist Sofia Greene, the clinical features of persistent aura without infarction are described here.

April 15, 2007: New section - The psychological experience

The varieties of psychological experience associated with migraine aura phenomena include both negative (a guided tour of aura's hell) and positive emotional and cognitive reactions (a glimpse of aura's heaven); mystical, religious and magical interpretations as well as appreciation in terms of psychic experiences; zoomorphic and anthropomorphic interpretations, likening migraine auras to animals, humans or human-like forms; and the experience of an increased creativity during varying stages of the migraine attack.

April 15, 2007 - New section: History of migraine aura

The section History, jointly edited by Markus Dahlem PhD and Klaus Podoll MD, provides a selection of historical descriptions of migraine with aura from the Anglosaxon, French and German literature, ranging from ancient Mesopotamian texts 3.000 B.C. to 20th century writers such as Sigmund Freud, Bernhard Hassenstein or Marvin Minski.

April 15, 2007: New webpages on painters

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