I’ve already made an appointment with my eye doctor…
But I’m curious if anyone can explain what happened… I was at work, doing computer stuff, and saw a little “sparkle” in my field of vision. Looked like the Star Trek transporter effect. It didn’t completely block me from seeing through it, but it was distracting.
And…it grew. Slowly got bigger. After a while it was as big as my hand at arm’s length. Then it turned into a ring, and kept growing, until, at the end, it was a ring around the edges of my field of vision. Then it went beyond the edges and seemed to be gone. Whole affair took about 30 minutes.
Half an hour later, it all happened again.
But…nothing more and nothing since. What would possibly do such a thing? Right now, best I can tell, my vision is perfectly normal (well, normal for me: I still need three different pairs of eyeglasses…)
That’s sounds just like a visual migraine. It’s common and generally not dangerous. Your eye doctor will check for retinal issues just in case, as detachments can cause sparkles in the field of view, but not generally like that. I get visual migraines all the time. It was freaky the first time!
Are you prone to migraines? And after, did you feel a bit off- vague headache or tired?
I’m inclined to agree. I got the classic horribly painful headaches as a kid (from about age 12 -25). I still get painful headaches that are migraines, because to medication touches then other than a medication specific for migraines a (triptans), but they are not debilitatingly painful anymore.
Anyway, when I got the Can-only-lie-in-a-cool-dark-room-trying-not-to-move types of headaches, they were precedes by “auras,” which involved a particular odor hallucination (which is to say, there was no external stimulus, but I was really experiencing it-- it kind of smelled like fresh sawdust and rotting wood together). I also had a restricted field of vision, and everything looked yellowish at the edge of my vision.
It was concerning enough to my doctor that he sent me to an ophthalmologist, who sent me for some imaging, but no one saw anything, and the conclusion was that is was all part of the migraines.
What is your age? That can be a big determinant in how serious it might be potentially. Retinal issues in younger folks can be urgent but rare. In older folks, like approaching 60, chorionic/vitreous issues are very common, but essentially benign and usually resolve in a few months. Retinal issues are also become more common with age but less so than chorionic/vitreous. Migraines certainly could be an explanation-they manifest in so many ways.
Good that you were able to get an appt so quickly with the doc. If it gets more dramatic before you see the doc consider going to an ER. If it stays the same, waiting is unlikely to be a problem.
I agree. Something similar happened to me not long ago. I would describe it as a flash of light whenever I moved my eyes to the right (the flash appeared on the left). It came out of nowhere and scared me a bit.
I coincidentally had an appointment with my glaucoma specialist the next day. It was apparently a small retinal detachment that resolved itself.
It’s not uncommon, especially if you’re not a youngster, but it could also be something more serious. Don’t wait too long to have it checked out.
Bet you a dollar right now that’s an ocular migraine. I get them way more often than I’d like and that’s just what they’re like for me. It’s a crapshoot whether or not I just feel a bit weird afterward or get the hammering head pain that makes me need to lie down with a pillow over my head for several hours.
Sounds like the auras I get before a regular migraine, too. The next step is traveling numbness in parts of my body, then being quite tired, which is my cue to get to bed and get to sleep before the actual headache starts.
It may be a visual migraine aura. (Ocular migraine can have different meanings.)
This video is almost exactly what mine are like, except what is shown in one minute takes about 20. I’ve had two in a row like you describe, as well, and for me, they are followed by a headache, or a migraine strength headache only around 25% of the time.
One thing that makes it clear that it is a brain, and not an eye phenomenon is that, although it is usually on one side of the visual field, it does not matter if you close the eye on that side, or close your eyes altogether. It is occurring in you brain’s visual center.
I’ve also had an experience in one of my eyes, where I’ve lost partial or complete vision for just a few minutes. It had some similar qualities, but was clearly occurring in my eye, not my brain. That experience has not been definitely diagnosed, but was either a true migraine of the eye, in that blood vessels there were constricted, or some kind of transient ischemia.
Both experiences were very frightening the first time they happened. The blindness in one eye remains so, because it could be much more serious.
One thing I learned after the transient blindness: For a new visual disturbance, go to the ER. I assumed it was migraine related, and my doctor when I called the next day, and every doctor I saw when I was getting checked out afterward, basically yelled at me about waiting.
I had a similar experience when i was about 25. I called the ophthalmologist in a panic while it was happening, and got an appointment for that day. It has ended by the time he examined me. He asked if i had a headache. I said i didn’t. He replied, “that’s odd, you just had a migraine.”
So I’m on team, “sounds like a migraine”. But i agree that new visual disturbances warrant seeing a doctor asap.
I get a similar experience once in a while, but I’ve never had a migraine headache. It has been happening to me, rarely, for years; I’m 71 now. I’ve never talked to an eye doctor about it because it seems basically benign, and I’ve had lots of eye exams with never anything unusual being noticed.
I am agreeing with the armchair diagnosis of Ocular or Visual Migraine, I also agree that you do need to have it checked out. The first time I got one, I was very frightened because what if I had a brain tumor or something?
Mine usually stop me from being able drive, read or use the computer and sometimes if I try to force it the flashers get bad enough that I end up puking and getting a nasty headache.
I hope we are all right and that your eye doctor will confirm our diagnosis.
Yup, that’s the identical description of the auras I get before a migraine. First one I remember was in high school, and then occasionally since. Sometimes I’ll go years without getting one and then one week I’ll have three in a row and then none for another year. If you only get the aura and not the following migraine, you are very lucky! I know as soon as I see the tiny aura starting that it will get bigger and bigger for about 30 mins until I can barely even see, then it will totally disappear and the headache will start and last for several hours.
I used to get really violent migraines that sometimes lasted for days. Then one day, years ago, I stopped getting migraines and started getting migraine auras. They start with a small scintillating crescent shape in gold and black and sometimes pale green. It grows until it’s too large to see.
Turns out my mom got them too, but hers were diamond-shaped.
Just in case no one suggested an ocular migraine ( ) I think that’s a definite possibility.
Other options which I think less likely, but up to your ophthalmologist to decide, include vitreous detachment (common in aging eyes, not serious) and retinal detachment (serious, must deal with pronto).
Very much me. Went to the emergency room, got extra testing to confirm that it’s “just” a migraine.
Now I know that if I start seeing something I need to stop working on the computer, take 2 ibuprofen and go lie down in a dark room. If I’m lucky, I’m able to avoid the worst of the pain. If not, I eventually fall asleep and the pain will be gone when I wake up.
I’ve never had an aura, but I’ve been getting (often debilitating) migraines my entire life. You may already know this, but in case you don’t, it’s common advice to take meds (be it real migraine meds like Imitrex or just some Tylenol) as soon as the aura starts.
The sooner into a migraine you take meds, the easier they are to get rid of. A lot of people that take something as soon as the aura starts can abort the migraine before the pain even starts.
TLDR: Try taking some meds as soon as, what you’re describing as an ocular migraine, starts.
Did yours look like these cool paintings of migraine aura by an English doctor in 1870?
The first time I saw those paintings I was stunned–he nailed it. In mine, I had noticed the aura having saw teeth and looking like each face had a Christmas light on it, and that pretty much matches what he painted.
When the topic comes up, I always tell young people I know what a migraine is like, in case they ever get one.
When I was a teen, my boss told me about migraines and described his first one, and the panic he was in when he felt half of his face grow numb. He was working as a draftsman, sitting at his drafting table, and had the exact same visual experience of the OP, accompanied by numbness in half of his body, followed by terrible pain.
Years later, when I started getting migraines, I remembered his story. I tell my own story to the younger generation to try to spare them some panic.
I agree with the ocular migraine diagnosis, but I want to clarify that ocular migraines are not necessarily associated with headaches. I’ve had several ocular migraines but have never had any associated pain.
Since the majority of my ocular migraines don’t come with a lot of pain I don’t have any scrip meds for it and am unwilling to take most NSAIDs as I’m on blood thinners. I will say, though, that when I started taking a beta blocker for blood pressure the incidence of migraines lowered considerably both in frequency and severity and taking gabapentin for shoulder pain has likewise cut them down quite a bit. That’s a nice happy little side effect I’m definitely not mad about–especially since both meds have also reduced my anxiety symptoms markedly.
IvoryTowerDenizen: I don’t get migraines, or headaches of any sort, but, yeah, that does sound like the visual stuff sometimes associate. If there is a “visual migraine,” that might be it!
BippityBoppityBoo: I’m 64… I’ve had – what is the word? – Phosphenes? – for years. I can entertain myself by watching the kaleidoscope in my own eyes.
eschrodinger: re brain, not eye, I thought at first that it was happening in both eyes. I was never sure. I ended up concluding it was only in one eye, but it may very well have been a brain thing. (Wait, wait…one needs to have a brain…)
CairoCarol: I have actually had a vitreous detachment, some years ago. A bright flashing light in my field of vision whenever I moved my eyes. That scared me enough I went to the ER. Seems not to be a problem, hasn’t recurred.
minor7flat5: Yeah! It looked fairly like the first painting in that series! Coo!
Thank you all for your ideas and comments! I’m feeling quite a bit more optimistic now. But I will certainly keep the appointment with the eye doctor!
) I think that’s a definite possibility.