2 questions about migraines (and driving)

First up:

One of my WORST Driving Nightmares happened yesterday - basically I was driving to work, minding my own business, when BAM! the whole of my vision on the left hand side just vanished. No warning. So I’m stuck in LONDON rush-hour traffic (eep!), going rapidly blind (I loose all my vision and only have little shifting “windows” of clear eyesight left. And add to that the zig-zaggy flashing lights…) and getting the monsterous migraines that I occasionally suffer from.

THANKFULLY I was less than a minute from home, so I was able to VERY CAREFULLY AND VERY SLOWLY get myself safely home.

But that got me thinking: what the HELL are you supposed to do in circumstances like that? If I was further away from home, I could in no WAY be able to drive home! Apart from anything else, if I crashed, I would surely be liable for a “driving-while-unfit-to-drive” kinda charge. I would in no way be in full control of either me (I get disoriented and would turn left instead of right, etc.) or my vehicle. I would feel VERY unsafe abandoning my vehicle and getting home on a train or bus coz a. I can’t see and b. I go “word blind” too! (i.e. I’d probably read “Fulham” as “Flumahmn”!) So I would be feeling VERY vulnerable to say the least!

So… What is a person supposed to do if taken ill suddenly while driving? Do I phone the emergency services (police?)? Or the AA (Automobile Association)? None of my friends or family live near me so THEY couldn’t help… (And I freelance, so I kinda doubt a client could be asked to help out…)
Secondly:

Although I’ve had migraines on-and-off for most of my adult life, I don’t fully understand the “mechanics” of them. (I know it’s the restriction of blood vessels, but that’s about it…) What makes migraine sufferers blind? I can only imagine that the “washed out” watery blindness is the brain trying to interpolate SOMETHING useable from the information that it (isn’t) getting, but what makes - for example - the centre/peripheral vision vanish in the first place? How does it happen?

The only person I know who can understand what I personally"see" during a migraine is my mother who has lost her peripheral sight due to Glaucoma and therefore has damage to her optic nerve. So is the loss of vision in a migraine due to something similar? Albeit temporarily?

Any help and advice would be SO much appreciated!!!

:slight_smile:

If this ever happens to me I would pull over ASAP, park the car and get a taxi home. Keep a receipt from the cabbie as evidence if you are pinged for illegal parking.

This is my contingency plan, since I also suffer aura in the migraine prodrome.

I also would not advocate driving with a migraine if it affects your vision.
But it’s really no different than getting sick to your stomach or some other annoying medical crisis.

You want to avoid having an accident of any kind because of any kind of neurological condition because that is a quick way to lose your license.