'Migraine With Aura' Moves the Web

Why 'Migraine With Aura' Moves the Web ?

This past week, a CBS correspondent's on-air reporting that devolved into incomprehensible speech went viral on the Web. The scary episode had viewers turning to the Web to watch and wonder what medical condition had befallen reporter Serene Branson.

Turns out, Branson suffered from a very nasty kind of headache. Searches immediately surged on "migraine aura," "serene branson migraine," and "migraine aura symptoms."

The Mayo Clinic describes "migraine with aura" as mainly characterized by visual disturbances like flashes of light, but adds, "A migraine with aura may also be accompanied by other sensations, such as numbness or tingling in parts of your body and speech problems."

Once other dangerous possibilities were ruled out, like stroke or neurological problems, doctors took an extensive family history, and learned the journalist had experienced migraines as a child, without the aura.

Dr. Andrew Charles, director of UCLA's Headache Research and Treatment Program, who treated Branson, gave her a clean bill of health, telling the Los Angeles Times that Branson "is completely fine now. She has no residual symptoms. I expect this not to be a significant problem for her moving forward."

Pain medication is advised to treat a migraine with aura. And we're betting, not going to work that day.