Ocular migraines

Bassmansam · 16 Jan 2019 at 07:40

ci_newman said:
What you just describe sounds like eyefloaters. I notice them occassionally too

I didn’t think eye floaters were like bright dots/flashes?

I see normal floaters occasionaly too.0

wolfie138 · 16 Jan 2019 at 07:45

i get something like this very intermittently - can be years between them. i get a splodge of flashy lights for no given reason and they slowly drift across my vision, spreading themselves out into a curve of triangular shapes, then drift off out of vision and vanish. can affect focus a bit, but no blindspots. been told its a migraine precursor, but i've never had the headaches.

Feek · 16 Jan 2019 at 08:14

Yup, I get migraine with aura from time to time, it seems to be sudden flashes of very bright reflected sunlight that trigger them. Symptoms are exactly as described but I don't have any pain at all. If I get one, I generally know that I'm more sensitive and will probably get them again over the next couple of weeks.

When this first happened, I was at work and when I described what was happening to our first aider, she immediately put me in her car and drove me to A&E because she was so concerned.

jamief · 16 Jan 2019 at 08:19

I had very bad migraines, with an aura, as a teenager, which suddenly stopped. They returned in my 20s, almost one a week at a point. Turned out, after eliminating everything I could, my trigger was oranges (orange juice in my case). Completely cut it out, and have only had a handful of migraines in the 15 years since. They do happen occasionally (one a year maybe), but sumatriptan works wonders for me.

AndyT · 16 Jan 2019 at 08:22

robfosters said:
Im not asking for medical advice, I have already had it.

Who else gets these? They are so random. Suddenly I’ll get a small blind spot in my vision, then slowly over a few minutes, my vision gets worse and I get horrible swirling kaleidoscope patterns in my vision. After about 20 minutes they start to move into my peripheral vision and then eventually disappear. I sometimes get a mild headache after it.

Spoke to my doc and he just said it’s nothing to worry about and totally harmless. They are bloody annoying though. Lately been getting them quite a bit. They seem to be aggravated by bright LED light. Mum gets them too, so they may be hereditary.

I've had one, once, at work last year. Exactly as you describe. I had no idea what it was and completely #### myself when it started happening. Mercifully, after it faded I had no headache. I had to cancel a rare visit from the office onto the worksite at the time as I would have been working at height and thought there was no way I could safely climb ladders etc. with vision like that and I didn't know how long it would last. It was about 40mins from start to finish in the end.

It ending up setting my OCD off a bit (I have a tendency to attribute any minor symptom to something catastrophic), so I was little shaken for a while after. I'd never heard of them prior to the experience and it was quite worrying at the time. I've no idea what triggered it - never got to the bottom of it, but haven't had one since. I think if I got another one it'd be more of a nuisance now, knowing what they are, but I feel for you having them semi-regularly as it was quite hard to focus on anything else during that time. People at work just thought I was being weird.

thegreysquirrel · 16 Jan 2019 at 08:40

Get them probably once or twice a year and they are always followed by an awful migraine which pretty much knocks me out for 12 hours. Not 100% sure what my trigger is but I think it's a high contrast (walking into a bright room or out into the sun from a very dull building). Not had them since I got tinted glasses though and I no longer get headaches staring at screens for extended periods of time.

MookJong · 16 Jan 2019 at 10:14

Yep, alcohol is a huge trigger now and I can basically no longer go on a "big night out" or i am crippled next day. Banging head, blind spot and close my eyes and see all kinds of patterns.

One of the first ones I had was on holiday in Cape Verde about 8 years ago. I was playing puzzle quest on a Nintendo DSi and it just started. I was absolutely crippled and remember going to dinner in the restaurant and every reflective surface or piece of jewelry or anything sparkly was just super triggering and unbearable. I was unable to play a DS after that and sold it. iPad does not trigger me luckily.

bertybenno · 16 Jan 2019 at 10:24

Have had these once or twice last couple of years, scared the hell out of me at first but then had my eyes tested, fine, looked into it and there fairly common, mentioned in to my sister and she gets them to, same as op start blind spots in centre then drift to blind spots on the outside like tunnel vision last about 30mins

darkgen · 16 Jan 2019 at 10:59

Suffered migraines my entire life and what you describe is more or less what I experience every-time I have one.

As a kid I suffered migraines usually once a week with residual headaches in between. I was an utter mess with wailing and driving my mother and school up the wall. I was sent to specialists, prescribed all sorts of different types of medication, ordered to change diet or avoid certain types of food and even urged to seek herbal remedies.

Nothing worked.

Through my teens, the frequency of migraines reduced from weekly to bi-weekly, to monthly and my brain continued to filter out the residual headaches. Today, in my forties I experience migraines perhaps 4 or 5 times a year. I can usually taste when one is on its way and when the visual stuff hits, I sit down in a quiet room for 20/30 minutes until it passes. When the secondary headache hits, which can last for several hours, I shrug that off and continue working.

glenimp617 · 16 Jan 2019 at 12:22

I had one this morning!! They are pure evil. I maybe get them twice a year.

I've found a bit of sugar sorts it....well, when I say sugar I mean a kitkat chunky and a bag of popcorn :cool:

Django x2 · 16 Jan 2019 at 12:55

My 38yo OH has had migraines since she was little, no known triggers, and no tablets or pills (migraine specific) seem to help. It can put her in a dark room for two days or longer. More frequent and harder to manage now she is pregnant too as she can only take paracetamol

FTM · 16 Jan 2019 at 13:04

Duke said:
I've had about 3-4 of these but only in the last 12-18 months. Luckily don't get a headache with them.

same as me....only last about 10 minutes or so

troops · 16 Jan 2019 at 18:24

I get this quite regular, as soon as you see the kind of blind spot take some codamol and ibuprofen and close your eyes till the aura disappears.
If i don't i have a lingering headache for 2-3 days. Mine is usually brought on by stress and with bright lights such as the lighting in most supermarkets.

stoofa · 16 Jan 2019 at 19:42

I'm 43 now and I've had them on & off since I was young. Unable to find a trigger as of yet. As long as I get a couple of paracetamol as soon as I notice the first flashing light, I can usually get away with just a dull ache for a couple of hours after the eye part.
So flashing starts in one corner, slowly covers my entire vision and then recedes and then the headache starts. 30-45 minutes for the flashing to start and stop.

Diddums · 16 Jan 2019 at 20:05

TheOracle said:
I had one this morning!! They are pure evil. I maybe get them twice a year.

I've found a bit of sugar sorts it....well, when I say sugar I mean a kitkat chunky and a bag of popcorn

What kind of popcorn? Pick your answer wisely :mad:

robfosters · 16 Jan 2019 at 20:18

Diddums said:
What kind of popcorn? Pick your answer wisely

The only choice is sweet and salted.

Diddums · 16 Jan 2019 at 20:19

robfosters said:
The only choice is sweet and salted.

We can no longer be friends, sorry Rob

Parky · 16 Jan 2019 at 20:22

I used to get them quite frequently when younger, most definitely related to stress in my case. If I hadn't gotten to a nice dark place and taken a few paracetamol by the time the aura had cleared then I would usually have a banging headache for the rest of the day, usually feeling groggy the next day as well.

One of my friends who I work with gets them frequently as well, he has specific tablets to tackle them when the auras set in. A couple of months ago he took a couple too close together and was like a zombie, he didn't know where he was, what was going on and was speaking complete nonsense. I had to drive him home and call his family to come around and look after him, he was out of commission for a good few days, again speaking nonsense when he called in sick.

robfosters · 16 Jan 2019 at 20:23

Diddums said:
We can no longer be friends, sorry Rob

You're one of those toffee popcorn weirdo's aint you?

Diddums · 16 Jan 2019 at 20:26

robfosters said:
You're one of those toffee popcorn weirdo's aint you?

Salt or gtfo.

In Saffrican cinemas you get your popcorn plain and can add various flavours that are on a little table, sort of like a hot dog stand. Caramel, toffee, banana(!), and more. Some people are just mental and need sectioning. They'll let women vote next :mad: