Oh. Good diagnosis for my recent case. Wait. You said "may". OK. For me, aphasia was just a temporary, so far unique, symptom of my irregularly scheduled ophthalmic migraines -- the light shows without the headache. Fascinating.

I was in the grocery when I noticed I was in somewhat of a dream-like state, unable to focus, finding it difficult to get my brain's attention -- which seemed to be more interested in repeatedly adding up some imagined column of 3-digit numbers. I also quickly recognized in the background my own typical classic opthalmic migraine symptoms -- crescent-shaped blind spot, zigzag auras, yellow color tint, so my only concern was whether the new experience was also a migraine symptom or if I had hit some loser's jackpot of having a stroke coincidentally with a migraine.

I broke through the infinite loop just enough to conclude my shopping and check out my goods, even marveling that my own brain, in its hobbled state, was able to do arithmetic and provide exact change before the register presented the total plus tax. (Great. When my higher functions fail, my brain wants to be a calculator. Something to look forward to in old age!)

I could only grunt at the checker though. I understood, but couldn't meaningfully respond except with gesture.

Outside I explored this partial disappearance of verbal skill. I found that while I could think in words, and of words, I couldn't say words out loud. Not a good feeling. I could float a word in my mind's eye, see the spelling, like PSYCHOLOGY (I found my brain wanted to experiment with long words that had unusual spellings) and wind up pronouncing it aloud like, "Blxshuurrp."

XYLOPHONE. CHARTREUSE. PARADIGM. "Broosh. Fubble. Thwath."

I jogged (what? a mere stroke wouldn't stop a runner!) home a mile thinking up random big words and muttering incoherent gibberish. And, I wondered what was the word for when you can't say a word. I ran extra-carefully, moving my blind spot frequently to make sure there wasn't a car or biker hiding in it, impressed at my heightened responsibility to take care of me while my brain was malfunctioning. It was the first migraine for me out in the world, not at safer home or work (out of maybe a dozen ever).

A few blocks from nobody-home home, I recalled "aphasia" but still couldn't say it. I thought: as soon as I get home it is very important to see if aphasia can be a migraine symptom -- or else I'd better get on the phone and tell emergency services I was stroking out... Wait. I couldn't tell anyone anything! How embarrassing.

Got home, rushed to the computer, clicked on Google -- mousing skills: OK -- and typed "aphasia migraine".

Yes! Finger output was working! Yay! I couldn't say words, but I could type them. That's good! Search complete. Indeed aphasia can be a migraine symptom. Relax. Calm down. Read all about it. Aphasia has many facets, with different areas of the brain yielding different effects. Cool. OK.

Ten minutes later the migraine light show was mostly over and my friends, the words, were suddenly at my beck and call. Checked in with the doc.

And before long I was back in BAUT. Too bad for all of you...

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