Visual Migrane

[decodelighted]

Hey ... has anyone else had one of these? They are KKRAZEE! I had my first one last week (after a tough week w/o much sleep & mucho stress) and by the time it happened I thought I was hallucinating. I called DH in and was like "I think I''m hallucinating" and he''s all .."No way" ... and I couldn''t even read or focus at all on the computer screen so I asked him to look up my symptoms on the internet and sure ''nuff ... visual migraine. I treated it as if there might be a regular migraine on the horizon (took Excedrin & went to bed immediately in a dark, cool room) ... but I never developed the headache. Maybe just because I fell asleep. Who knows.

But now I''m fascinated by that crazy rainbow zig zag lightshow thing that happens. I found some animation online that was a pretty good interpretation of what it looks like. Shimmery zig zaggy staggery weirdness that keeps going even if you close your eyes. W-I-L-D!

Anyone else??? Stories???

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

FI has visual/painless migraines. Basically he loses the peripheral vision in one eye.

 

[Burk]

I get it as the first "phase" of a migraine. Then it gets to the headache and nausea part. I sometimes get loss of feeling/numbness in my mouth, hand, or arm (it changes) sometimes during the visual weird part too. I HATE migraines!

 

[lurkinglurker]

yes! I am not normally a headache sufferer, but starting having these several times a day for a few weeks. Basically the rainbow zigzags would slowly cover my entire field of vision for about 30 minutes (but with no pain). It was very weird and concerning enough that I went to a neurologist. It turns out that for me they seemed to be triggered by a new cheese that I had started eating. Cutting it out cleared it right up. So strange!

 

[Mandarine]

Hi Deco!!!

I''ve had it a few times and it is definitely crazy!

I went to a specialist and he told me that''s the time to take the migrane medicine!. So as soon as you start having crazy eye visions, pop those pills and hopefully you will avoid the massive migrane!. It has worked for me!

 

[ladyciel]

Yep! Definitely experienced it, and it isn''t fun. I used to get migraines back in highschool, and the pain was almost always preceded by vision symptoms. They usually hit in the middle of the day while I was at school. The first time it happened, I asked the teacher if I could go to the nurse because I couldn''t focus my eyes all of a sudden. By the time I got to the nurse''s office, the pain was setting in. The nurse said she had no doubt that I was telling the truth because I looked exactly like her daughter did when she got a migraine - white as a ghost and rather disoriented.

The second time it happened, it was the last period of the day and I tried to sit it out so I could just go home on the bus with everyone else, saving my mom a trip to get me. It became harder and harder for me to see the words on a worksheet we were doing in groups, and eventually, even when I could make out the words, I couldn''t remember what the first half of a sentence said by the time I got to the end of it. It turned into this really strange sensation where I couldn''t distinguish my blurred vision from my quickly-blurring mind. I felt like I was completely high/drunk/drugged or something.

I know now that if/when my vision starts to go, it''s time to take some painkillers, stop whatever I''m doing (especially anything potentially dangerous, like driving), and get to bed. I''m glad to hear you didn''t end up with a headache, Deco!

 

[Clio]

I''ve been getting ocular migraines for years. I also get regular migraines. For some reason, though, I rarely have vision disturbances with the regular, painful migraines.

My ocular migraines always manifest as a series of silver flashes the converge on the center of my field of vision in a circular pattern.

 

[Pandora II]

I have migraine with aura as well - it's a handy warning to take the tablets before the headache hits... I get numbness in one side of my face and slurred speech with it which is quite frightening the first time.

Some people get migraines without any aura at all - they're apparently quite separate beasts.

The only thing to be aware of is that migraine with aura gives you an increased risk of stroke so you shouldn't take the combined BCP and certain other medications.

 

[lisamarie84]

I''ve only had it happen once while I was driving...it was a very strange experience. Silver zig zags and a blind spot in my vision for about 5-10 minutes.

My BF gets them every few months. His last anywhere from 10-30 minutes. He never gets a headache afterwards, but it still isn''t very pleasant to deal with. We still aren''t certain what triggers his. We thought it was wine at first, but since he hasn''t had wine in a long time we''re thinking it may be certain sweeteners.

 

[Anastasia]

I have been getting them on and off since college, (25 years or so). I don''t get any "rainbow" effect, just a white dot that slowly overtakes the vision in one eye. I always take advil and drink coffee, and I have never gotten a headache. I drink the coffee because it has always helped my mom with migraines. There seems to be a difference of opinion on this, some seem to think that coffee makes the headaches worse, some seem to think it helps. I asked a neurologist about it, and his response was, "hey, if it''s working for you, keep doing it".

I can usually relate the occurence of the headaches to periods of extreme stress.

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 4/23/2009 2:44:10 PM
Author: Burk
I sometimes get loss of feeling/numbness in my mouth, hand, or arm (it changes) sometimes during the visual weird part too. I HATE migraines!

I got a little tingly numbness in my fingertips and the tip of my nose too. I''ve never been diagnosed with migraines though I do sometimes have bad headaches. Never as bad as people who have migraines have described to me though, so I figured mine weren''t *it*. (Mine are mostly with weather changes, fronts coming in etc).

Must be a kinda cool way to tell its a''comin though -- so you can RX on up asap!

 

[decodelighted]

Date: 4/23/2009 3:11:45 PM
Author: lurkinglurker
yes! I am not normally a headache sufferer, but starting having these several times a day for a few weeks. Basically the rainbow zigzags would slowly cover my entire field of vision for about 30 minutes (but with no pain). It was very weird and concerning enough that I went to a neurologist. It turns out that for me they seemed to be triggered by a new cheese that I had started eating. Cutting it out cleared it right up. So strange!

WOW!!! Several times a DAY!! That would be trippy! What cheese was it??

Mine was immediately preceded by staring at a bright light while I was zoned out. So I thought it was floaty sun spots at first. But then it grew and moved & went all psychedelic on me.

 

[Burk]

Date: 4/23/2009 7:15:57 PM
Author: decodelighted

Date: 4/23/2009 2:44:10 PM

Author: Burk

I sometimes get loss of feeling/numbness in my mouth, hand, or arm (it changes) sometimes during the visual weird part too. I HATE migraines!

I got a little tingly numbness in my fingertips and the tip of my nose too. I''ve never been diagnosed with migraines though I do sometimes have bad headaches. Never as bad as people who have migraines have described to me though, so I figured mine weren''t *it*. (Mine are mostly with weather changes, fronts coming in etc).


Must be a kinda cool way to tell its a''comin though -- so you can RX on up asap!

Exactly. My first sign to pop the pill. Isn''t the tingly numbness weird?

 

[Inanna]

I too have migraine''s preceded by very intense visual auras. It''s crazy! I hate having to concentrate talking to someone at work while its going on... I just want to scream at them "You should see what I''m seeing right now!!!"

Here''s a pretty cool simulation of an aura I found: http://www.migraine-aura.org/content/e27891/index_en.html
My auras don''t have a rainbow effect, but are just "silver zigzag vibrations" that eventually take over my entire visual field.

I have had an MRI to rule out blood clots, as brain aneurysms run in my family.

I''ve noticed that artificial sweeteners are a definite trigger for me, so I avoid them at all costs. Flickering lighting and bad florescent lighting can trigger a migraine for me as well, so I avoid government buildings

.

 

[musey]

No!! How weird/cool/fascinating!

I don''t think I''ve ever had a migraine. I''ve had really bad headaches with light sensitivity, but I''m told it''s one of those things that "when you have one, you''ll know." So I guess I''ve never had one.

 

[Catmom]

Date: 4/23/2009 4:53:23 PM
Author: Pandora II
I have migraine with aura as well - it''s a handy warning to take the tablets before the headache hits... I get numbness in one side of my face and slurred speech with it which is quite frightening the first time.

Some people get migraines without any aura at all - they''re apparently quite separate beasts.

The only thing to be aware of is that migraine with aura gives you an increased risk of stroke so you shouldn''t take the combined BCP and certain other medications.

Ditto Pandora. I''ve had these since I was 6 or 7 until last year when I had my stroke and they found the hole in my heart. I haven''t had a migraine since they did the closure procedure.

 

[AmberWaves]

Oh Deco, I used to get the "look at the coloooooors" vision extravaganza before the killer pain began. It was kind of handy because when it''d happen I''d pound caffeine and chocolate and try to get rid of it. After staying inside the office during a painting job, now my migraines are notifying me with a completely dead arm and hand, fun times! It''s like I have mini strokes every time I get a migraine. Yaaaay! It''s truly enjoyable when the tip of your nose falls asleep and you can''t see out of your left eye.

 

[monarch64]

Yup, that''s my "phase 1" of a full-on migraine. Always happens to me in the morning, sometimes before driving to work, sometimes after sitting down at my computer. It sucks, and makes me quite nauseous.

Something I want to bring up to those of you who have migraines with aura: All through my late teens and twenties I was on a phasical birth contol pill (ortho tri cyclen), but when my health insurance lapsed once after I was married I went to Planned Parenthood and had to fill out another questionnaire for their records. I checked the box "yes" where it asked if I had migraines and if so was my vision affected. When I spoke with the nurse practitioner about going back on the pill, she said she would NOT put me back on a phasical pill due to some study that suggested that women who experience aura with migraines and who take a phasical bcp have higher propensity towards stroke!!! She put me on a progestin-only pill that is typically given to mothers who are breast feeding instead. I''ve never done any further research on the topic, and maybe it''s not even that big of a concern, but I was grateful that the NP caught that and brought it to my attention.

 

[lurkinglurker]

Date: 4/23/2009 7:19:16 PM
Author: decodelighted

Date: 4/23/2009 3:11:45 PM
Author: lurkinglurker
yes! I am not normally a headache sufferer, but starting having these several times a day for a few weeks. Basically the rainbow zigzags would slowly cover my entire field of vision for about 30 minutes (but with no pain). It was very weird and concerning enough that I went to a neurologist. It turns out that for me they seemed to be triggered by a new cheese that I had started eating. Cutting it out cleared it right up. So strange!

WOW!!! Several times a DAY!! That would be trippy! What cheese was it??

Mine was immediately preceded by staring at a bright light while I was zoned out. So I thought it was floaty sun spots at first. But then it grew and moved & went all psychedelic on me.

Yeah it was very weird and unpleasant. The first time I thought I was going blind or something else equally dramatic.

It was one of those low-fat (non-fat?) string cheese sticks packs from the supermarket. Basically I was eating them 2-3 times a day and like clockwork would have these afterwards.

Thank you for the information re bcp and stroke risk! That is really helpful and something I didn''t know. I''m going to ask my dr about it at my next yearly.

 

[cnspotts]

I''ve had two Ocular migraines lasting about 20-30 minutes, painless, just visual and were in the right field of vision of both eyes for me.

I saw a specialist because it freaked me out, I''ve only had a few true migraines in the past. He says that typically they do not treat this kind unless I want to because it happens a lot. Obviously it does not.
I thought it was interesting and figured it was stress related.

 

[Pandora II]

Stress can be a major trigger, as can foods (especially caffeine and coffee) and hormones.

I used to drink coffee everyday at work and would then get migraines at weekends when I wasn''t having the coffee. Nowadays I don''t drink coffee at all - except if I feel a migraine coming on when it can stave it off! I''m fine with normal caffeine (Red Bull, Coke etc and decaff makes no difference so it''s definitely a substance in coffee itself)

I see a headache specialist at the main Neuro-hospital here in London as the migraines were getting really bad and I was starting to take Zomig like smarties. I had to track them for around 9 months and it became really obvious that they were hormonally linked - appeared like clockwork two days before AF. However it wasn''t until I started charting prior to TTC that I realised I always got one the day before O, so basically everytime I got even a minor dip in oestrogen levels.

There''s pretty much nothing you can take for migraine in pregnancy that is safe and I have been incredibly fortunate that I have only had 3 - all in the 2nd Tri - in the whole pregnancy as many women find that they either get migraine for the first time then or that they have a lot more migraines than normal.

Now that I know my main trigger, there are lots of treatment options where the oestrogen drop can be blocked and prevent the migraine.

I took Cerazette after coming off the combined pill and had a horrible time with it - and it didn''t help the migraines - but as always it''s horses for courses... ditto with migraine remedies. The only one that has ever worked for me is Zomig and I''ve done the guinea-pig routine over the years with most things on the market!

Some doctors will still prescribe the BCP even if you do have migraine with aura - it depends on other factors such as your age, your BMI, your BP, family history and whether or not you smoke. I was allowed to take it up until my early 30''s (my father was one of the doctors who was prescribing it for me, so I know that my best interests were definitely being considered.)

 

[April20]

I get these occassionally. The very first time I got one, I had been at the gym and stopped in at the library on the way home. It was sunny outside and when I got inside, I noticed my eyes were not adjusting to the dimmer light. I also could not focus in on any of the titles and read the print clearly. 45 mins later I got a whopper of a headache. It happened the next couple of times at work. All of the sudden I could not focus in on the screen. I immediately left for home because I knew I had 45 mins to get comfortable, take some drugs and ride it out. I haven''t had one in about a year now. I''m hoping I don''t get one anytime soon.

 

[Skippy123]

I have learned something from this thread about the aura and stroke, yikes. I should mention it to my doc the next time I go in.

I first got what I call tv vision (weird aura) at the age of 6 or 7 yrs old; my parents took me to the emergency room because my head hurt so bad and I could hardly see. The doctors did not know what was wrong with me; I threw up and then felt better soon after. It took a few years to figure out I had migraines. One of my close friends is an ER doctor and he said my symptoms were what they study in med school straight out of the textbook so he was surprised they didn't realize it was a migraine.

I remember one time I was at my grandma's ranch at the age of 10 and it was a family reunion and I was looking at the horses and one of the horses didn't have hind legs. I knew I was getting a migraine so I went in the house told my mom and I was so pissed off because my aunt was putting away silverware and (she suffers from migraines and needs dark and quiet when they hit). The sound of the silverware was horrible and I remember wishing the pain would go away.

I do get the tingling on one side of the body too. I also can't be on the computer or watch tv when the strange aura hits. Now I don't get them as often; I realized my were caused by stress and I now do things to help with that. Also, as soon as the aura thing hits I take medication and that helps.

 

[SparklyLibra]

Date: 4/23/2009 4:53:23 PM
Author: Pandora II
I have migraine with aura as well - it''s a handy warning to take the tablets before the headache hits... I get numbness in one side of my face and slurred speech with it which is quite frightening the first time.


Some people get migraines without any aura at all - they''re apparently quite separate beasts.


The only thing to be aware of is that migraine with aura gives you an increased risk of stroke so you shouldn''t take the combined BCP and certain other medications.

I suffer from both kinds as well. Migraine with aura, and without. I used to get auras more but now I just get a full on 10 ton axe in the side of my head....
The aura was my que to pop an Amerge. Once I started seeing dark grey circles close off my peripheral vision and flecks of dancing light, I knew it was time to drop everything and pop some pills. Now? No warning whatsoever

 

[Erin]

Yep, had two of them, both in the last year. My are painless and both lasted 20 minutes while at work looking at my computer. The first one sure freaked me out though. This picture on the internet described mine pretty well. Except the zigzag line was rainbow like Deco said.