I have had migraines since I was in my late teens. I'm one of the relatively few migraineurs who get significant auras before a migrains starts. I generally lose peripheral vision on one or both sides, I can see but can't make out letters or numbers, both fields of vision sort of blur together, I get numbness in odd places (like the tip of my nose). and I have a hard time saying what I am thinking. I may be thinking, "where is the cat?" but I'll come out with, "I just wore a chicken." On hearing such things, I'll try to say what I mean but it requires intense concentration. I get very anxious. After this part, the headache starts, which others have tried to describe. I also get very nauseated and end up throwign up for hours. I used to get really severe headaches that lasted most of a day. One of the worst I had put me in the ER where I was given compazine, which made me even worse. I've never had any medication work for a migraine.
After the initial few, I haven't gotten that many migraines. Sometimes I'll have the auras and only a slight headache, or I'll have the headache without the auras. It's really not tied to any food I consume and I haven't found any real triggers yet except possibly hormones.
Since starting an anticonvulsant drug for other reasons, I've been migraine free. I don't know if that's why I haven't had one, but I know anticonvulsants are often used to treat chronic migraines. However, migraines have, thankfully, never been something I have often anyhow.