I used to have the aura parr of the migraine with no migraine for years. It happened when I was on birth control pills.
Then, I had a stroke. No more auras. One of my doctors told me that aura migraines might be associated with heart holes called patent foramen ovale. About 10% of Americans have them (including me until 2002) and they’re not deadly unless a clot enters the picture.
FYI: If you have aura migraines on the Pill, that is a stroke warning sign. Tell your doctor.
That particular type of visual disturbance is called a “fortification.”
Flipstrip - that’s EXACTLY what happens to me. The first time it happened I really thought I was having a stroke - I had NO idea that the symptoms could be migraine related.
I call the ocular part “prisms” -that’s what it looks like to me- like someone is dangling prisms or crystals in front of my vision and I can’t see around them or through them - it’s the weirdest thing.
I’ve only had an actual headache-migraine once, and it was horrible. Can’t even remember if it was preceded by the ‘prisms’ or not …
I get the ocular migraines a few times a year, but I cut almost all caffeine out of my diet and perhaps that is helping a bit because I haven’t had one in a few months.
Hmm. My neurologists haven’t mentioned that, but then again, I have real migraines more often than purely ocular migraines (aura only), and only recently started getting auras again. Plus, the timing of not having auras was pretty strongly linked to when I was taking a particular preventative, which lost efficacy and only succeeded in keeping the auras away at the end.
People should mention these to their doctor, anyway, if they haven’t. It’s not 100% certain to be an ocular migraine, and is worth getting checked out.
I get them a couple times a year. Got my first one about ten years ago. Never a headache. Didn’t know what to call them till I read this thread and also this scarier thread.
For something supposedly rare, they seem to affect a whole lot of people. One of my close friends gets these too.
GT
Huh, the second thread is pretty funny (to me anyway) 'cause yesterday when I was freaking out I was trying to think of a way to compose a thread that wouldn’t immedately be locked down as asking for medical advice. But then it started to migrate to my peripheral vision and I found the site talking about the ophthamalic migraines.
Never did get the delayed migraines (knock on wood) some people mentioned and I even went and did my usual evening workout in the 90+ weather. I’m thinking I got it from a combination of reasons: currently hormonal (obvious euphemism), not enough sleep, it was 2 pm and I’d eaten nothing except some peanuts which often give me a headache anyway.
I get them fairly frequently–they tend to come more in times of acute stress. I find that I’m also very sensitive to fluorescent lights (I think because of the flickering), busy patterns with black and white, or seeing the sunlight shine through partially open blinds.
I can usually tell one is coming along because I’ll find myself unable to focus. If I’m fast enough and pop a few ibuprofens and slug back a coke (full sugar, full caffeine), I can sometimes ward them off. Otherwise, the aura lasts anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes. I once had one last almost a full hour–it started with the small little zigzaggy thingie, did the range of motion where it got larger and larger and larger and then smaller and smaller until it was at the other side of my eye. Just when I thought it had ended, it actually started again and went the other direction. Yowza!
Sometimes I have the auras with no headache, and sometimes I get them with a full-fledge nauseated painful migraine. Usually, though, I’ll have the aura and a fairly painful headache that doesn’t go away until I get some sleep, but nothing I can’t work through.
I don’t have headaches but every now and then I get the curved zig-zag and it strobes. Usually lasts about a minute or so.
It’s just time, really. I actually just had one about two hours ago that lasted for maybe 45 minutes. First one in probably a couple of months. I just popped a couple of ibuprofen as it started out and went about my business until it was over.