“This is more then just being tired.” CBS correspondent Serene Branson knew something was wrong.

 

How many times have we all felt that we just KNEW something was wrong. We know our bodies, we listen to that little voice in our soul that tells us when something isn’t right. But how many times do we ignore it? Unfortuntaly for Serene Branson this happened live on television as she experienced a severe migraine aura which impaired her speech and thought process.

Thankfully, the reporter will be ok. Although it is quite an unfortunate way for the media to be talking about such things, I am glad it brought to light the topics of

  • Taking care of yourself
  • listening to your “inner voice” when you know something isn’t right
  • migraines as well as other symptoms can be signs that something more serious is going on
  • Many times people “laugh” at the thought of a migraine comparing it to a regular headache. Just expecting a patient to take 2 asprin and move on. Hopefully this incident will show that pain is a powerful thing that can do more to the body then many of us realize.

Here is a link to more information, an interview with the reporter as well as footage of the live incident.

Remember to take care of yourselves and if you KNOW something is wrong, tell someone and do something about it.

-Christine

©2024butyoudontlooksick.com
  • Rene

    I’ve had these type of migraines before, been to the hospital with them three times now… The last time I was in, the neurologist told me that the fact that mine came on over a period of 20 minutes instead of near-instantaneously was the differentiating factor in his diagnosis.

    It IS scary, and I will continue to go to the ER every time I have one of these, but I’ve been told that the best thing I can do immediately before I even go there is take two aspirin. That way, if it IS a stroke, I’ve given myself the best chance I have.

    The comment above about migraine and epilepsy looking the same on a PET scan makes it so I can finally understand why the neurologist put me on an anti-seizure med to help prevent the migraines. It does help, but now it makes sense WHY… I too get classic migraines, cluster headaches, and those ice-pick ones that drop me to my knees…plus these atypical complex migraines that nearly paralyze one side of my body, make me lose words, give me tunnel vision, though I could think almost clearly. It’s horribly frustrating to have an above-average intelligence working normally except for being able to express what’s going on in words.

    Hang in there, everyone–hopefully they’ll find explanations for it and then maybe better ways to prevent these!

  • Diane

    I saw the broadcast the day it happened; CNN aired it and some follow-ups. I thought she was having a stroke because I used my DVR to rewind and watch several times, and each time I carefully watched the dimple disappear and the skin visibly sag on one side of her face. I could also see profound fear in her eyes and felt so bad for her. I thought she was having a stroke. My husband had Bell’s Palsy once many years ago and that was scary until we found out it wasn’t a stroke.
    I have lived with chronic migraines for nearly 35 years and I thought I had experienced them all. I’ve had classic migraines, migraine with and without aura, cluster migraines, and the occasional ‘stabbed through the brain with an icepick’. I’ve tried dozens of medications over the years, and have learned what situations and what foods and drinks trigger migraines for me. The only triggers I can’t control are the weather and hormones. I’ve been in clinical trials and I have researched the conditions ad nauseum. So how is it I have never read, heard of, or seen a migraine do this? I get auras where I’m nauseous, ubersensitive to light and sound, and I have trouble with my vision; blurriness, tunnel vision, even temporary blindness. I have even occasionally lost consciousness during migraines, but never anything like that poor reporter. I have days (ok, weeks) where I have problems finding the words I want to use and my memory fails me, but have always chalked that up to fibro-fog, and that frustrates me alot. 15 years ago I used to read about a book a day, and I could remember everything I read. I had a huge vocabulary which I was able to pass on to my children before mommy’s brain turned to swiss cheese, and now sometimes I have to think about what my children’s names are, and I only have one left at home!
    The point I’m trying to make here, I think, is this: People who have chronic migraines have a 40% higher chance of having a stroke than the average person. I read an article in a medical journal a few years ago that compared migraine to an epileptic seizure, and they showed side-by-side PET scans of a patient having a seizure and a patient experiencing a migraine, and they looked exactly alike. The writer suggested that migraine and epilepsy created the same kind of storm in the brain, but that with a seizure the effects present outwardly, while with a migraine the effects present inwardly, and that either patient could have a stroke during an episode. I have two close relatives who died of stroke; 1 within a day and the other after 5 or 6 years. It scares me, and I cannot understand how I missed this information after researching for so many years.

  • Candy

    Saw the clip of her online and it was disturbing. Can’t believe some people actually made fun of it…I mean, seriously…autotune???

    My older sister said she has had a “migraine aura”. I have been having headaches lately myself…but I don’t think it willescalate to that point (crossing fingers).

  • I went to the link and watched her interview.
    She goes on to describe numbness in her face and hand (singular, sounded like one side only semi-paralysis) and also says that, when speaking to her mother, she was told that her mom also believed she suffered the same thing before.

    To me, laygirl that I am, this sounds very much like a mild to moderate familial hemiplegic migraine. My experience for tossing this possibility out there is that I suffer them, and have since my late teens/early twenties. So with two decades of hemiplegic migraine experience under my belt, I can say that what she describes (and what I saw) FITS. Mine range from mild to incredibly severe. These migraines have a type of aura that mimics a stroke, right down to the confusion, slurred speech, blurred vision, numbness and partial paralysis on one side of the body. It is terrifying, particularly the first time or two it happens to you. Most people have never heard of this type of migraine aura. Even many doctors are not familiar with it. They often diagnose a simple ‘migraine with aura’ (not that auras are ‘simple’ – they are severe compared to plain migraines without aura – but hemiplegic migraine auras are the KING of severity).

    What also makes sense to me about this (a hemiplegic) being what happened..at the Grammies, lots of camera flashes and bright lights (combined with an array of ladies’ overdone perfume) could have triggered it. Those things would trigger me, absolutely.

    I hope she finds relief. The best relief I have found is trigger avoidance.

  • Elspeth

    Suffering aphasia and numbness must have indeed been a scary experience, especially since she had never experienced a migraine with aura before. Thankfully now she knows and has the appropriate information and medication needed to treat this should it happen again in the future.

    The one thing this reporter didn’t do and which she should have done was to allow the paramedics take her to the hospital rather than dismiss them “against medical advice.” If it had been something else like a TIA (mini-stroke) or an aneurysm, she might not have woken up the next morning, or possibly have been so impaired to the point she could not summon paramedics or other help (like family or friends).

    It’s better to go to the hospital and be find out it’s something relatively easy to treat than not go and suffer severe consequences as a result. It’s also better to insist the paramedics take you rather than let them say you’re fine and say there’s no need to go to the hospital.

    I’ve been in the position where I knew I had to go to the hospital and the paramedics wanted to blow me off. I had a severe nosebleed that wouldn’t quit despite all my efforts to stop it. I called the paramedics who were seriously annoyed that they had been called for a mere nosebleed. As it turned out, I needed minor surgery to stop it, and needed to a have a transfusion due to the blood loss. If I hadn’t called 911, who knows what might have happened.

  • I suffer from migraines and on valentines eve, I went into the ER at LIJ for this exact reason. I was rushed through to get a CT scan, for they thought I had a stroke. I was talking out the side of my mouth, slurring my gibberish words. I had been dealing with short term memory loss the whole weekend as well. Turns out, like this reporter, (around the same time, the same day…weird) I also was experiencing a complex migraine, my first. It’s a very scary feeling when you can’t speak what’s on your mind, almost like being trapped in a dream, you know the ones where you know it’s a dream but you just can’t seem to wake yourself up? Terrifying and confusing. My poor husband and mother witnessed the whole thing happen at the triage desk in the ER. They were scared to death! The hospital staff apparently doesn’t see many of these either, but with the help of the neurology team they were able to figure it out. I’m glad it’s over!

    Miranda

  • My husband had this exact same thing about two months ago. It was very scary. They gave him the very same diagnosis because of the lack of neurological evidence of any stroke. I’m still pretty skeptical, but he’s been fine since.

  • mer

    I feel like something bigger is going on. like she might have lyme or something i really feel for her as i work in broadcasting
    but marble mouthed, i have not been called in