I’ve had occasional migraines for the past 30 years or so. Pounding, violent pain, one lasting ten days. They’ve lessened considerably since I started taking feverfew several years ago. I alway had just the pain, none of the visual effects some people have.
Until Sunday. I was working at the computer when I suddenly noticed something weird going on in my lower left peripheral vision. It was a circular area of distortion, rotating slowly, like a wheel, with about a dozen irregular “spokes.” It was golden and glowing. I closed one eye, then the other, then both . . . the wheel remained. I moved my eyes back and forth, but the area remained in the lower left periphery. I could still see what was behind it, but it was like looking at reality through a kaleidoscope.
Then I remembered having read this threadseveral months ago. And that thread, itself, was a response to a previous thread. Wow, I was having an ocular migraine! I decided to lie down for a while, and eventually dozed off. When I awoke, about an hour later, it was gone.
I was able to see my opthalmologist today (I was overdue for an exam anyway), and he confirmed the diagnosis. He said he gets them himself. I’ve gotta say, this sure beats the hell out of the painful migraines.
Welcome to the wonderful world of scintillating scotomas, the most glamorous-sounding of all the migraine symptoms.
Mine usually look sort of like an amoeba floating through my field of vision… I think yours sounds much more interesting and attractive than mine. Hmph.
I haven’t had one in months, but I used to get them with some regularity, rarely with any pain at all, though they tired the dickens out of me. Mine start out really small in one corner of both eyes and as they get bigger, they moved across the eye. I got one once while I was driving in rush hour and it made me very nervous because I can’t anything behind the circular lightning bolt.
So that’s what it was! I’ve had a couple of those recently. It appeared that the computer screen was defracting the light around the sides. There was no pain, but it was so odd I felt faint since it wasn’t the screen at all, the edge of everything was a multitude of prisms.
I got my first one in 1996. It scared me half to death, but didn’t come with any symptoms except the swirly colors. I’ve probably had less than 10 of them ever. Once or twice, I’ve had a mild headache afterwards, but that’s about it.
I’ve always been afraid I’d get one when I really needed to have good vision (“while driving” tops the list of potential occasions).
Yes, I know I’m lucky not to have regular migraines and only occasional ocular ones.
What’s nice is that even if you do get the headache version in addition, the ocular part gives you enough of a headstart to gulp down meds and hopefully get it early enough.
I had my first one last week! I was teaching class and had to look at my lesson plan. I then realized I couldn’t read it because there was this floating flashing blind spot in my right eye. This spread until it turned into a mass of multicolored crystals, and then I couldn’t see at all in that eye.
Managed to teach right through it! Completely terrifying though.
I must be weird. I get ocular migraines, I do have headache pain associated with them, but nothing a few ibuprofen won’t take care of.
And I HATE that ocular distortion. It’s annoying and disorienting and uncomfortable. It’s the worst part of it for me. I have to lay down until that distortion passes and then I can trudge through my day with the pain. If I could get that pain without the distortion, I would be the happiest person in the world.
I get them occasionally, although far less frequently than I used to. I only get them in one eye, usually my right eye, and they start as a pinprick that spreads out into a ring of prismatic distortion that expands until it disappears, usually in about 15 minutes. Since it’s just in one eye, I can still mostly function, although it’s a bit disconcerting if I’m trying to read.
But I agree, it’s definitely better than the painful kind! I had a few of those going through menopause, and I hope never to again.
Wow. Good question. I assumed it was that they wore me out on their own, but maybe there is a stress factor. I don’t know. Next time I get one - if there is a next time - I will see if I can pinpoint it. It’s not that big a deal if I get only one. A few times I have had three or four in one day and I was pretty much worn out for a couple days.
Well, since I started that earlier linked thread, I had never really had what I would identify as a migraine headache. But I’ve been prescribed a higher-estrogen birth control pill to help me through some nasty mood swings associated with menopause, and when I’m on the inert week of pills I’ve been getting some doozies of nighttime headaches. In fact, last Thursday, I had what I suppose was a full-blown migraine. Nausea, photophobia, the whole works. And yes, I believe I’m going through menopause right at the moment. Ain’t it grand how hormonal fiddling (whether in pill form or naturally, like in young women) goofs up your other bodily functions? So far, I haven’t had another scintillating scotoma, but this time I’ll remember right away what it is.
Luckily, some coffee took care of last week’s migraine. Four ibuprofen didn’t make much of a dent, but some good ol’ fashioned espresso kicked the migraine’s butt in about 15 minutes.
Mostly I get the prismatic versions. Sometimes it can be almost headache free, but other times I get the headache too. About two years ago I got one where my vision was completely obscured in both eyes by what seemed to be transparent worms crawling across my range of vision. I was very freaked by this. As soon as I could manage it, I phoned my optometrist and was in her office very shortly after. Having never had that extreme a set of symptoms I was worried that it was something else. Fortunately I’ve not had that extreme a symptom again.
I’m puzzled by some of you who have experienced this in one eye only. Does that mean that when you close that eye you don’t see it? With mine, I could close one eye or the other, or both, and it didn’t make any difference. When I lay down, I was in a dark room with both eyes closed, and the “wheel” was still there, glowing in the darkness, almost as if on fire.
And those of you who’ve never experienced the painful type of migraines, it’s like taking a sledge hammer to the head, neck and shoulders every second, day after day . . . magnified by any sound or light. I will happily accept the ocular ones instead.
When I was in my late 20s I used to get really horrible migraines. Three of them had me running to the ER for something strong. Thankfully I haven’t had one of those in about 15 years.
Then about 5 years ago I would have this thing where I would wake up in my totally dark bedroom and see all kinds of flashing lights. I would actually look outside for a cop car, or a school bus with a strobe on top. I live right next to a school, and see them go by a lot. It happened about 5 times when I finally mentioned it to the Dr. whose children I cared for. I just mentioned it in passing, not expecting a diagnosis, but he is a nuerologist, and said, “Ah, sounds like an ocular migraine!”.
Hmmm finally an answer. There is NO pain. So I don’t mind them at all, but it does make me wonder what else is going haywire with my health at the time.
I’d like to refer you to Oliver Sacks’ book Migraine. Although it is written for a scholarly audience (rather than a general audience like his other books), it is quite readable and may prove useful.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the scotomata, if not the migraine itself. They say that the visions of Hildegard of Bingen were migrainous scotomata.
Wow, I just posted in a thread about weird dreams and mine sounds a lot like this…is there any evidence for people who get regular migraines being more or less likely to get these? (I get the regular variety, well I did before I dropped caffeine, havent had one in about 10 years)
I thought it was some jacked up dream but the effect was still there even with my eyes open…no headache though, I just went back to sleep.
Mine felt very dreamlike the first few times too. But I finally got out of bed and looked out windows after experiencing a few of them. So I knew I was totally awake. I was always able to fall back to sleep fairly fast, and never really thought much about it until I mentioned them to that Dr.
Also, I have read that both regular and ocular migraines can have the same triggers, so there probably is some link to people who get one kind, getting the other. I found this informationhelpful.
One thing that is consistant will both kinds of migraines that I have had, is that I don’t seem to get them while I am awake. In almost every case, except when I was pregnant, I go to bed fine, and wake up with one at some point during the night.
