The Most Distinguished Migraine Sufferer
 It is now generally agreed by skeptics that Hildegard suffered from migraine, and that her visions were a result of this condition. The way she describes her visions, the precursors to those visions and the debilitating aftereffects, point to the classic symptoms of migraine sufferers. Could it be that the religious visions painted by Hildegard (see picture at left) were generated by a medical condition? Although a variety of visual hallucinations may occur during migraine headaches, the more common ones described are the "scotomata" which often follow perceptions of phosphenes in the visual field. Scintillating scotomata are also associated with areas of total blindness in the visual field, something Hildegarrd might have been describing when she wrote about points of intense light, as well as "extinguished stars." Migraine attacks are often followed by sickness, paralysis and blindness - all reported by Hildegard, and, when the sickness passes, there is a period of rebound and feeling better than before, a euphoria also described in the writings of the great German mystic.
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