Auditory symptoms

Olfactory symptoms

Gustatory aura symptoms

• Gustatory illusions
• Gustatory hallucinations

Migraine sufferers can experience illusions or hallucinations of taste as gustatory aura symptoms. The differential diagnosis of these symptoms includes temporal lobe epilepsy, now more commonly called complex partial seizure disorder, so that a neurological examination is warranted in each case presenting with such gustatory symptoms.

Gustatory illusions

"I used to smell things that weren't there and have things taste funny, too. This was back when my migraines were much worse. One night I was repeatedly awoken by the smell of freshly ground coffee. The smell was so strong I thought I might go crazy. It had disappeared by morning. [The migraine aura symptom experienced by the sufferer in this night was an olfactory hallucination, see here.] Once I ate a piece of pizza that tasted like blueberries. It was such a curious sensation that I just kept eating it! But the pork chop that tasted like clorox bleach I set aside for half an hour, after which it tasted like pork again, and the cup of coffee that tasted like whiskey I threw out ... Ain't the brain a fascinating thing?"

(Priscilla H. Ballou, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Smelling things, November 29, 1997; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"I've had monthly migraines fairly consistently for 20 years. I believe that mine are hormonally caused. One result which I've noticed more and more over the past 5 years is that my sense of smell, taste and hearing has changed. Smell and taste seem to be different starting a day or two before the migraine and lasts for the duration but returns to normal after recovery. I become very sensitive to odors, particularly bad ones. Often my food tastes different from normal and usually not appetizing."

(Dot Drake, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Smell, taste, hearing changes from migraine, July 6, 1999)

Gustatory hallucinations

"I read a post about someone who has a funny metallic smell before a attack. Does anyone get a funny metallic taste before a attack. This only happened a few times and I'm wondering if it's part of the aura or are my fillings are falling out."

(Jeanette Edwards, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Funny taste, April 15, 1996)

"I have a funny taste before and during my migraines, but I don't think of it as metallic. It tastes bitter and smoky, and feels almost like the back of my tongue is stinging. I don't get a visual aura at all, but I regard my 'migraine taste' as comparable to an aura - it happens every time, starting about a minute before the serious pain begins, and lasting about 20 minutes. (My migraines usually last much longer than that.) I know it's not my fillings falling out because I don't have any fillings. *grin* I thought it might be some kind of learned response to the taste of ergomar [ergotamine tartrate ], like a subconscious warning 'Laura! Take your ergomar!' The tastes are not really all that similar, though both are very bitter. And the migraine taste is still very strong even now, when I haven't used any of the ergot drugs for ten years."

(Laura Tennenhaus Bushnell, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Funny taste, April 17, 1996; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"I also have the funny metallic taste when I have a migraine. I thought that I was the only one. I also get overzeaolous smell sense. I think that it is what causes a lot of the nausea."

(Ellen P., Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Funny taste, April 18, 1996)

"I used to get a funny taste just before a migraine, but only if it was a weather induced one. It was sort of metallic, but bitter is probably a better description. It would go away soon after the headache got really bad. Since I've been on new tablets I haven't had the taste although we've had a few storms and I've had the severe headaches that go with them."

(Callisto, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Funny taste, April 29, 1996)

"The Migraines usually give me a slight warning, an odor of something that isn't there such as glue, or oranges [olfactory hallucinations, see here], and one time I had an overwhelming taste of mustard in my mouth."

(J. Kraft, Newsgroups: sci.med.nursing, Subject: Need help with MIGRAINE headache clinics, September 15, 1996; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

Author: Klaus Podoll
Last modification of this page: Monday March 28. 2005

Auditory symptoms

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