Ouch (sort of)

[gategrrl]

Oh, god, I'm having what nialla42has called a visual migraine this morning. I was at the grocery store picking up some milk when I noticed that my sight was feeling *painful* - not pain, exactly, but distracted and glowing. I thought I'd somehow looked too long into a bright light outside. It happened while I was inside, though. Crap.  And I know it's not in my eyes, because it's the same thing in *both* eyes. It there in both. It doesn't hurt but... damn, I wish it go away.

Update: I went into the other room to wake up the boys (the Guy and Little Guy) and after a minute or two I noticed that the snakey glowy thing was gone. Just like that. Weird. Just too weird. I'm hoping it doesn't come back.

Comments

[nialla]

Most visual migraines follow a set time line -- mine last a half hour from start to finish on visual disturbances, and you can practically set a clock by them.

Hope you don't have what I half-jokingly call the "hangover headache" afterwards, where it's not a full-on migraine, but just hurts like crap for a while. I hope it doesn't come back either. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I did develop a sort of sinus headache pain afterward, for about forty five minutes, but it did go away. It's hard for me to tell if it was a mild short migraine. I'm convinced that not all of my tension headaches have been tension headaches. I'm starting to think that once in a great while, I get a genuine migraine, but since I've gotten severe tension headaches for so long (although not so recently in the past ten years, although they do still happen, like the two day one I had last year) it's difficult for to me tell what's what. They're ALL so painful, you know?

I have to remember to track my headaches so I can start telling when they happen, and how often.

[nialla]

It really is difficult to tell what's going on sometimes. Like when I went to my doctor not long ago about the migraines becoming more frequent, and she told me I had an ear infection. I couldn't tell, because some of the symptoms I have mimic those of ear infections, so unless someone looks down my ear and says it's red, I have no idea anymore.

I've been using private posts in LJ to track my migraines. I may be expanding that to cover the tension headaches, but those are harder for me to describe, because I have them so often and for so long, I get to the point where they don't really register like they should.

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

I had one of those about a month ago. It's hard to describe why it's so disconcerting, but for me there was both the distraction of the snakey glowy thing and a sort of... weird mood that went beyond just freaking out wondering what was happening. Everything was surreal.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I remember that post of yours, and was thinking about it as my eyes were doing a pole dance on their own.

Bright bright lights that leave impressions on the rods and cones in the backs of my eyes (like a camera flash, or a flash of sun off of a car, or a car headlight coming toward me) CAN hurt, depending on the strength of the light flash - so it was like a phantom pain, almost. The aftereffect was there, but not the *reason*.

On top of that, it's happened before to me - on average about two to three times a year, and I think I've been getting them for a long time, but didn't know what they were, because it WAS so much like the other light effects. I think it does affect the brain, or rather, how I feel while and after it's happening. I did get a semiheadache afterward, but it felt more like a vicious sinus headache. That went away pretty quickly, though. And then I felt back to normal.

Brains are weird, man.

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

*nods*

I'm not sure if I've had this before or not. I've had migraines where whites were terribly bright and the edges were blurry. It's all very annoying, at best.

[alessiana.livejournal.com]

I haven't been on LJ much. I didn't know you had this. You didn't get a headache after the disturbance, did you?

.

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

No, I felt fine once it went away. It only lasted maybe half an hour, as Nialla described. Haven't had one since.

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

That's always how my migraines start with the visual thing. It's like a weird rip in my vision wherein I can't really see anything. It starts on one side of my vision, just out of the corner of the eye, and then it proceeds to 'travel' all the way across my field of vision to the other side. Is this TMI? It's very disconcerting and I could not drive while in the midst of one. After my vision's cleared up the headache sets in. It's not terribly severe, but I really like curling up in a dark quiet room while the headache lasts.

Oh, and hey ;-)

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey semi-stranger, how've you been? (no, I've been reading your entries)

The "sinus" pain headache hit me hard enough I told my kids I'd have to lie down for a few minutes. I did, and it went away a little while later, which is NOT usual for true sinus pain headaches that I get.

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

Yes, I always read all of your entries. I love reading everything, I'm just terrible about responding!

I know that people with only occasional sinus headaches and pain are complaining that it's worse this year. I know I've sure had more and worse sinus headaches this year than I've ever experienced before!

*hugs*

[alessiana.livejournal.com]

Did this appear as if you were seeing crystals in a snakey or curved form, and could not see around the disturbance/distortion?

Did it block your vision?

It might not be a visual migraine if this is the case.

.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Well... hmm.

The "snake" was crystally looking, sparkly, but I could see around it (except at first, when I was rubbing my eyes, mistakenly thinking I'd looked at something overly bright).

I do get those floating things in my eyes - sometimes I can see those very clearly (though I haven't *looked* for those in a long while, I know they're there). But that's a different kettle of fish.

Thing is, it was *identical* in both eyes. I closed one eye, and then the other to make sure I wasn't seeing things. It had the same shape, same action going on...it didn't block my vision enough to keep me from driving. It was more of a nuisance, really, and annoying as hell.

What else could something like this be? I'm up for explanations!

[alessiana.livejournal.com]

I just read that you did get a headache afterwards, which does put it into the migraine category. Forgive my poor reading skills. I am a little stressed.

.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

That's okay. When I'm tired or stressed, even when I've read someone's entries, I can still get their meanings or statements *wrong*, and then I feel like a twit. It happens all the time. No worries.

But I *am* curious. Are there any eye nerve problems which cause similiar reactions within the eye? If there's anything I'm truly neurotic about, it's my eyes.

[alessiana.livejournal.com]

Have you been to the doctor? If not, go. Another person's diagnosis may not be yours. This "effect" is one described by people who are about to have a seizure (it's an aura) centered in the optic lobe or by people who have more serious issues.

Nialla has migraines. When I went through this, migraines were not brought up as a possibility, however I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there was a relationship.

But you need to go and get this checked out. It's potentially very serious.

I hope I haven't scared the shit out of people. Really. I don't want to do that. But you need to get checked.

.

[alessiana.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, it's not an eye problem. It's a brain problem (epilepsy - definitely, or migraines - I'm sure) or something interfering with signal transmission along the optic nerve.

It's odd you could see around it. That wasn't the case with me. I could only see where it wasn't. Maybe we're describing the same thing though. Seeing around is not seeing through. I could not see through it. The crystals were blind spots for me. I could only see them.

It was terrifying. I started at the eye doctor and ended up with a neurologist. The eye doctor went no further with me than a description and a drawing of the effect and I've never been seen by a specialist and gotten a cat scan faster than I did for this.

.

[ldyanne.livejournal.com]

Now you've scared *me!* I've had this type of 'migraine' for years. I told the doctor about it, but she didn't seem concerned and gave me a prescription for Imitrix. Of course they have increased in incidences over the years. Hm.. Maybe it's time to bring it up again?