# I'm having an occular migraine - the BEST migraine! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719 "2016-06-29T16:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/21 "2016-06-29T19:16:34Z")
I got them worse when I was younger. I’d get them 2-3 times a week. Now I go years in between them. I didn’t know it was called an aura. I call it “colored static.” When I was younger I’d get the colored static, then my right hand would go numb (I went crazy trying to find my pencil one day in class when my friend pointed out I was holding it) then the right side of my tongue would go numb. I was lucky, the headaches were rather mild, but it was a disconcerting series of events. I was never diagnosed as a migraine sufferer and I don’t take medication for it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/22 "2016-06-29T19:33:56Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > I fell cheated. I have never experienced these auras. From what has been described they seem magnificent. > > Can you paint them? Or make a digital representation? Maybe with music? > > Might be profitable, if you want that. Me neither – I get this painful swishing feeling/noise in my right ear, like it’s full of water. I’d a million times rather have the aura. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/23 "2016-06-29T19:34:06Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > In college I had a psychology professor that also experienced auras. She pointed out that the side of vision with the aura and the brain hemisphere with the pain will be opposite due to the left occipital lobe controlling the right field of vision (and vice versa). This has seemed to be my experience, but I don’t know how accurate it really is. I don’t know about that…at least for me. The aura isn’t restricted to one eye or the other. Usually they start in the middle of my field of vision, but sometimes they will start off to the side or even at the edge. Plus, the headache is not restricted to one side of my head. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/24 "2016-06-29T19:46:11Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [Plenty of artistic renderings on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=scintillating+scotoma) Duh, I should have known. Thanks for the links. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/25 "2016-06-29T20:09:29Z")
> [@Latimera](#): > > I don’t know about that…at least for me. The aura isn’t restricted to one eye or the other. Usually they start in the middle of my field of vision, but sometimes they will start off to the side or even at the edge. Plus, the headache is not restricted to one side of my head. Correct, not eye, but field of vision. I can close either eye and my aura will be on the same side of my field of vision. Her contention was that an aura on the left was due to a migraine in the right brain hemisphere. Mine are definitely concentrated on one side of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Latimera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/latimera/32/497_2.png) [@Latimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latimera)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/26 "2016-06-29T20:12:04Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > Correct, not eye, but field of vision. I can close either eye and my aura will be on the same side of my field of vision. Her contention was that an aura on the left was due to a migraine in the right brain hemisphere. Mine are definitely concentrated on one side of my head. That’s really interesting, because, as I noted, my headaches aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/27 "2016-06-30T19:07:08Z")
No, they’re not, they’re a pain in the ass. You’re essentially blind in that part of your eye. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/28 "2016-06-30T19:11:52Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > A curve appeared in the center of my field of vision. The curve appeared to be built of smaller triangles, each of which was filled with a cycling \*\*rainbow \*\*of colors. The colors are muted, like the “oil **rainbow** ” that appears on dirty water. You’re eating too many skittles. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/29 "2016-07-01T22:19:57Z")
I get them too but find them quite debilitating-I can’t really see or think while the circle of light spins through my eye. Luckily it only lasts for a few minutes and I only get them occasionally these days. As a teenager, I had multiple episodes per day which was a bit of a problem. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/30 "2016-07-02T00:04:18Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > My mom used to suffer from incapacitating migraines which meant that she’d have to retreat to her dark bedroom with a wet washcloth and wait it out. She’d know one was coming on by the “aura” effect, seeing sparkling lights in her vision. > > Apparently, I inherited her disposition to migraines, but I dodged a bullet and only get the aura with none of the pain. I’ve experienced “shooting stars,” which is supposedly one of the forms of migraine aura. thankfully I’ve never experienced the headaches. they sound excruciating. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/31 "2016-07-02T01:11:42Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > I get them too but find them quite debilitating-I can’t really see or think while the circle of light spins through my eye. Luckily it only lasts for a few minutes and I only get them occasionally these days. As a teenager, I had multiple episodes per day which was a bit of a problem. Me too, except I get brain fog for 6 to 8 hours. Better than the alternative though, and pretty rare at least. ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/32 "2016-07-02T01:14:10Z")
Oddly, when I was a kid, I remember being “attacked” by pinpoints of dancing red light that burned when they hit my skin, on multiple occasions; in fact, one of my earliest memories is of this odd event, I must have been around 2. This light attack gradually morphed into the wheel of light as I grew older, both the red lights and the wheel on the left side, but since I never get a headache I can’t add to the thoughts about which side the pain is on. And no, the aura is no fun at all. I can drive through it by concentrating but I can’t do anything that requires thinking or reading. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/33 "2016-07-02T01:16:12Z")
Count me in. It’s always been sort of like **levdrakon** described, and with fractured vision. Last time I had one, I also had aphasia, which is speech impairment. That scared me and I went to the ER, thinking I may have had a TIA. False alarm: just another symptom of an ocular migraine. I usually get them if I do something like look out a window at a brightly sunlit reflection, then quickly turn back to a darker area. For some reason, it triggers the migraine (but not always). After it fades away, I usually have a low grade, but persistent headache. Sometimes I can head that off by taking aspirin right away at the onset. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/34 "2016-07-02T03:49:46Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > I used to get those too, also without the pain. Now that I’m older I when I get one of those, a really nasty headache follows that lasts an hour or more. > > My advice, don’t get older. I used to get infrequent severe migraine headaches from my late teens through my twenties, preceded by ocular auras. Then the headaches stopped - but I still have the auras (generally some form of zigzag lines/visual blurring) about a dozen times a year. I haven’t had any accompanying headache for many years now. The auras are just a mild annoyance, which at worst keep me from doing work for up to twenty minutes or so (hard to get see much under the microscope during the light show). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/35 "2016-07-02T17:13:09Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > I have a constant migraine. 24-7. It’s “lovely”, by which I mean a special form of hell on earth. I envy you all profoundly. You should indeed rejoice in the fact that you are getting off light. (Get it? Light?) It may just be that they’re getting off lightly _so far_. I started out with ocular migraines in my mid-20s. Now in my late 30s I get the regular kind. I haven’t had one for about 18 months, though. I don’t know if it’s coincidental or causal, but I’ve been taking stinging nettle for about that long too. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/36 "2016-07-02T17:32:38Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > My mom used to suffer from incapacitating migraines which meant that she’d have to retreat to her dark bedroom with a wet washcloth and wait it out. She’d know one was coming on by the “aura” effect, seeing sparkling lights in her vision. > > Apparently, I inherited her disposition to migraines, but I dodged a bullet and only get the aura with none of the pain. > > Here’s what I’m experiencing: > > A curve appeared in the center of my field of vision. The curve appeared to be built of smaller triangles, each of which was filled with a cycling rainbow of colors. The colors are muted, like the “oil rainbow” that appears on dirty water. Gradually, the curve grows larger and longer, until it occupies the outer fringes of my field of view. And it is there if my eyes are open or closed. > > The whole process takes 10 to 15 minutes to clear. If I drove a car, this would be a huge problem, but I walk or take public transport. > > I’ve been assured by people who should know that what I’m experiencing is similar to one of the effects of LSD. Yeah, I get those too. The first time it happened, I went right to the eye doctor, who gave me the story on what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/37 "2016-07-02T22:04:49Z")
I had actual migraines in the few years surrounding puberty, with the aura followed by headache and vomiting, but they went away until my forties and became the ocular kind. It looks like the edge of a flickering buzz saw that starts low and expands into my field of vision until it moves out altogether. Takes about 20 or 30 minutes. While there is no pain, I am a little “off” for a while afterwards. They seem to come in waves of frequency, and then disappear for many months afterwards. I hate being around flickering fluorescent lights because they are so reminiscent of the serious migraine aura I experienced when the headaches used to follow. And I do wonder what is physically going on in the brain when these episodes happen. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/38 "2016-07-02T23:00:56Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > I had actual migraines in the few years surrounding puberty, with the aura followed by headache and vomiting, but they went away until my forties and became the ocular kind. It looks like the edge of a flickering buzz saw that starts low and expands into my field of vision until it moves out altogether. Takes about 20 or 30 minutes. While there is no pain, I am a little “off” for a while afterwards. They seem to come in waves of frequency, and then disappear for many months afterwards. I hate being around flickering fluorescent lights because they are so reminiscent of the serious migraine aura I experienced when the headaches used to follow. And I do wonder what is physically going on in the brain when these episodes happen. Anyone know? I’ve never seen or heard it adequately explained. Ophthalmologists and others who would know just shrug when asked. Some sort of brain synapse thingy, I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/39 "2016-07-02T23:44:14Z")
I got the aura for years, and always assumed I had a brain tumor growing in there, pressing on an optic nerve. Well, years later I google image searched “Migraine Aura”… and there it was! My exact moon-shaped geometric form! I couldn’t stop saying “It’s nahhht a tumah!” [/ahhnold accent] ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719/40 "2016-07-03T17:29:48Z")
I find it fascinating how completely differently migraines affect different people. In reading through the thread, there were several comments I wanted to quote to say “me too, but slightly different”. I started getting migraines- pain only, usually right behind the eyes, both sides, no aura- in my late teens. They lasted a few hours, and only once or twice a year. Mid twenties, they had stopped completely. Then at work one morning, I suddenly couldn’t see. After conferring with coworkers, they said it sounded like a migraine aura, which I had never experienced before. Mine aren’t like the video linked, but sound more like the OP’s- curves of prismatic light that start at the outer edges of my field of vision (again, both sides) and gradually expand inward so that I really can’t distinctively see anything. I can’t drive, read or do much of anything while this is going on. The aura typically lasts 30-90 minutes, but is NOT followed by migraine pain. I feel hungover- achy, lethargic, sleepy and a bit fuzzy in the head- for the next day or so. I’d say the aura only migraines are far better than the pain only migraines, but they are still not a pleasant experience. When they first started, they were about as rare as the pain migraines, but increased in frequency over about 5 years. At one point, I woke up four days in a row with the aura already present. I was prescribed atenolol and amitriptyline as prophylactics, and they seem to be working pretty well. Only one major episode in the past 9 months, and only 2 or three at all in the same time period. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-having-an-occular-migraine-the-best-migraine/758719.md?page=3)