A 22-year-old woman reports a scotoma progressing across her left visual field over the course of 30 min, followed by left hemicranial throbbing pain, nausea, and photophobia. Her brother and mother have similar headaches. Which of the following is present in classic migraine but not in common migraine?
a. Photophobia
b. Familial pattern
c. Visual aura
d. Hemicranial pain
e. Nausea
c. Visual aura
. ( Victor, pp 180–181.) Classic migraine, but not com- mon migraine, is preceded by an aura of neurologic dysfunction. The aura is most often visual in nature, consisting of bright flashing lights, scintillat- ing scotomas, or field cuts. Both kinds of migraine are most often charac- terized by a hemicranial throbbing headache associated with nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and phonophobia (aversion to sound). Familial patterns are not unusual with either classic or common migraine, although with classic migraine the probability that another family member will have a similar problem approaches 80%.