Ocular migraines

[ghostrunner]

Anyone else get these? I had a monster today.

Basically it starts out as a vision impairment - you partially lose sight in one or both eyes. Best way I can describe it is that if you're looking at a face, you can see the left eye, but the right eye is gone and part of that side of their face. You can't read since you can't move on to the next word with any kind of flow. In place of what you should see, you have what appear to be colorful wavy lines. But they're always just off to the side, so it's hard to describe them with any accuracy. That goes on for anywhere from 10-30 minutes. Then sometimes, but not always, it's followed up with what feels like intense pressure behind one of the eyes. I rarely get them and usually I have minimal or no pain, but today I had to leave work early and thought I might vomit on the way home.

Saw an eye doctor about 5 years ago about it, and apparently they're otherwise pretty harmless and you just have to ride them out. They think stress may be involved, caffeine, but ultimately they don't seem to know.

I have yet to have one happen while I'm driving, but that part worries me a bit.

[TimeForGuinness]

Yup, I get them every once in awhile...horrible.

[stlouie_lipp]

Not to make light of your ailment, but when I saw the thread title I immediately thought of Phil Hartman a/k/a John Johnson a/k/a Vicky.

[IMADreamer]

Very rarely. When I was younger I would get them maybe once a month but as I've gotten older they've gotten less and less. In fact the last time I had one was 2008. We were trying to move everything off the farm because the river was getting dangerously high. I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep in about three days. On that third day we were cleaning out a bin of beans and I was inside scooping. All the sudden I started seeing flashes in my eyes and about 20 minutes later I was puking. I just crashed a little after that. My head was pounding and I slept for about a day.

For me they are generally caused by lack of sleep coupled with stress.

[ghostrunner]

I don't get anywhere near the recommended amount of sleep, so that might contribute a little. Stress-wise, kids always create some but ever since I changed jobs last year that's gone down a lot.

Seems to come in spurts for me. I had one with no pain Sunday night, and then the big one yesterday. Could be months before I have another.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I get them every now and then. Sometimes I'll go years with out one. Sometimes I'll get two in a month. Mine seem to be caused by exhaustion and/or dehydration. I do everything I can to avoid them, they're terrible. But, mine are basically what Ima and ghost were describing. I see bubbles and tunnels and spots out of my right eye, which sucks, and then it is followed with a massive headache/pressure behind the eye. I see ophthalmologists pretty regularly and he said it was this. Said it was no big deal other than they suck terribly.

The last one I had, however, I was able to fend it off. Went into this alternative medicine guy who used some cold laser thing in a dark room and he massaged my head. Oh, and some pemf as well. Can't remember as I was basically blindfolded and not thinking. That, in combination with some pill, really worked and it went away before I got sick. I've tried the pills before without it doing much, and they're super expensive.

Man, they suck.

[CT Defector]

Yes, I get them very rarely, with mine, I see a light straight on, I can see if I look off to the side but not right in front of me.

[heyzeus]

Not to make light of your ailment, but when I saw the thread title I immediately thought of Phil Hartman a/k/a John Johnson a/k/a Vicky.

That makes two of us. Perfect cameo. "Then,as if that wasn't retribution enough...."

[ZigZagCardsFan]

I've had ocular migraines throughout my life. Got the first one when I was around 10 years old or so. I was sitting in class and we were reading out of a social studies text. I noticed I had blind spots in my line of vision, kind of like a ghost white blur. I was called on to read out of the book and I could make out the words, but I what came out of my mouth was slurred nonsense. The teacher yelled at me for messing around. Eventually convinced her to send me to the nurse.

I had them a lot more when I was younger. I still get them now, but there was probably a 5 year period where I didn't have one. Sometime last year I was sitting in my office and noticed the blind spot again. I've learned that when I start to have the warning signs that it's time to get home, hydrate, and go sleep in a dark room. Thus far I've been able to avoid the lengthy painful migraines by doing this.