Yesterday evening I experienced a very classic “scintillating scotoma.” I didn’t know what it was at first. I thought my eyes were temporarily screwed up from having looked at a bright light, but before long I realized this was…different. It wasn’t a dark/blind spot, it was a roiling, slithering distortion overlaid wherever I happened to look.
I knew that visual aura often preceded migraine headaches. I’ve never had either of those before, but my sister has, so I was aware of the connection. I googled “visual aura,” and ended up at the Wikipedia page for same. After a brief skim, I clicked through to the page for scintillating scotoma. Damn, that’s it. Just like the page said, it kind of started in my central vision, and slowly progressed outward to (and beyond, I guess) my peripheral vision over the course of maybe 20 minutes.
I was worried that this foretold of a miserable headache to come, but fortunately no; it appears to have been ancephalgic migraine. In other words, just a mind-bending visual artifact, nothing more.
I’ve had them a few times, usually in tandem with stress, fatigue and being in front of a computer for a long time. The first time there was no subsequent headache, but the next time there was. After that, I took some OOC migraine medication just in case.
My daughter has also had them a few times, and she does tend to get the headache.
Neither of us is otherwise a chronic migraine sufferer.
Yeah, I get them from time to time – my doctor called them ocular migraines. Supposedly harmless, but the first time I had one I was pretty worried (though it went away after 20 minutes, so I figured it wasn’t too terrible).
I sometimes get a headache, most commonly if I try to fight it by looking in the distance. If I let it run its course, I’m usually OK.
My father had the same issue. Considering what else is going on with my eyes, it’s the least of my worries.
I get them maybe three or four times a year, usually when I’m stressed more than usual or functioning on very little sleep. Mine tend to pass quickly, two or three minutes being usual, and I have no headaches with them.
Weird, huh? I was glad for them because they were the only warning I’d get for impending migraines.
I recommend not doing anything for about 20 minutes when you start getting one, just because of the visual impairment, but yeah, otherwise they can be mostly just annoying.
I get them, too, frequency varies from one a month to several times per year. 20 minutes seems to be the magic number for my vision to get back to normal. As Machine Elf describes, the swirly, watery scintillation seems to gradually move out of my line of sight.
I usually take a break from work. Can’t decently operate a computer or read.
Both my mother & her mother suffered from BAD migraines. I feel fortunate if this is the only symptom I get.