Scintillating scotoma (Part 4)
Thursday August 16, 2007 – 5:23 pmUpdate: I’ve decided to move this conversation to a new place on Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/group/scintillating-scotoma. Any future comments should be placed in the new group rather than here… anyone can post, you don’t have to be a member. The reasons behind the move are explained over here if you’re interested.
I haven’t had a migraine aura in about three years, knock on wood. But we’re up to almost 200 comments on the last post so I reckon it’s time to refresh this thread. I do that every once in awhile so it’ll be less taxing on the system.
Here’s a roundup of previous posts, where you’ll find approximately one bazillion comments from other migraine-aura-havers: Part 0, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Also! We have a new feature in the house. If you’d like to subscribe to an RSS feed for new comments on this post, please do! (Feed links for all of my posts can now be found on their individual entry pages, i.e. the one you get when you click "More…" or "Comments".)
It’s been almost seven years since I first started talking about ocular migraines on this site… in all that time, have there been any really earthshaking scientific discoveries about what these auras are, why we’re having them and how we can prevent them? Not really, none that I can think of. Lame…!? But I’m really glad we’ve been able to talk about it and figure out as much as we can for ourselves. It’s reassuring to hear other people’s stories, and that’s good enough reason to keep talking. :-)
DISCLAIMER: Y’all should probably be aware that from time to time (once every month or two), I do get kooky comments that I don’t allow on this site. I could be wrong but I personally don’t believe that migraine auras are caused by spiritual forces, the government, satellites, space aliens etc. And since this is my site (which I pay for out of my own pocket, not through ads), I feel I’m within my rights to use my discretion in regards to comments that I feel are inappropriate, inflammatory, or just plain crazy. Especially if they’re blatantly advertising their wingnut books and websites — why should I be the one to pay for that publicity? It’s all out there on the internet if you want to look for it, feel free…
August 16th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Thanks again for providing this forum……it’s obviously helped a GREAT many people out there who have few other resources and support such as this place to turn to.
And sadly, there hasn’t been much in the way of medical breakthroughs for this stuff. But at least with a site like this one, and a way to talk with others who have the same problems, we can at least learn to live with the problem less fearfully and more effectively.
Thanks again for all you’ve done, and my best regards,
Scott
(chessgms2@aol.com)
August 18th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
When I was in Santa Fe this spring, I sat down to dinner that had some freshly-picked mushrooms in the salad. Twenty minutes later, I started seeing this twinkly activity in my field of vision. I asked my friend, the chef and erstwhile mushroom picker if he didn’t accidentally pick some of the magical variety by mistake. He replied that they were ok but that people can have psychoactive reactions to any mushroom. I’m thinking, "Oh fuck, I’m tripping my brains out over a mediocre green salad!" Ten minutes later, it was a ragin’ Twinkle-fuck! I could barely make out my dinner companions, their faces obscured by this maestrom of flashing chrystalline lights. But a half-hour later, with steady breathing but no Thorazine, it finally went away. Yep, it was an ocular migraine. I’ve had it only once before. That time, in an effort to diagnose what it was I experienced, the opthamologist asked me if what I saw reminded me of the translucent monster in "Predator"? I said, "Yes!" A very effective diagnostic tool, I thought. Well, that’s my story.
Hey, Edith, happy birthday!
August 21st, 2007 at 1:44 am
So glad to have found your site, and the Migrane Aura site too. I suffer from migranes, have done for years and had always associated the Aura phase with deja vu, my vision would reduce from seeing flecks of light, to going completely white but for a small pinhole. During this dream like period, which lasts about 30 minutes, it would feel just like everything in that period has happened before, and i’d want to collapse, to cry, to just ask for help, i’d want to run away, its quite an emotional time. Its happened on a few occasions, those images during the this ‘dream’, or aura, or whatever it can be called, that they repeated sometime later, days or weeks after, (when migrane free), like knowing exactly what someone is going to say in a certain situation that i’d dreamt during this aura period….even down to knowing who would be in a place, what they would talk of, and what they say to me and i’d finish their sentences for them…….which is why i’d always referred to it as a deja vu thing….and its quiet frightning to be honest when it happens.
After this inital warning that the pain is going to come, maybe a day or two would pass, then it would explode, and i swear i can feel a crack form over my left eye, that i’d then scratch for hours. It can happen the pain never comes….frankly this is quite enough sometimes without the pain.
I get these migranes about every three months or so, sometimes i get a couple very close to each other. Just yesterday i had the first in about a month, i’ve had nausea since then and hope it just goes away…
Frankly, i just got to accept it happens, and ignore it when it comes, harness it in someway…..that is until it comes….then all this trying to harness it goes straight out the window….
Take care.
Pete
August 29th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Thanks for this site. I tried exlaining this to my Optomologist, friends, and family and they all looked at me like I was crazy. I now know that this is nothing to worry about but related to migrains. I’ve been having SS since I was twelve about once a year at first but more often lately. For me this usually happens with bright light, stress, or too much caffine.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I am a 28 year old female and was just made a lot more grateful for my eyesight.
Woah! I found this site within 30 minutes of thinking I was going blind. I was trying to copy something from paper to computer when I realized I could no longer see half my paper. I looked around the room and thought things looked as if I had just stared into a bright light with blotched out spots. I thought it would quickly go away but after a few minutes I started to worry. Luckily I was home and so was my husband. I ran into see him and said "My eyes are f’d up, I think I’m going blind." I was still relatively calm. My husband said maybe I needed to remove my contacts so I did but it didn’t help. At that point I swear I saw a fan spinning on the ceiling behind me (no fan there). My eyes stayed blurry and now flickered. I told my husband that my "Eye Refresh Rate" was messed up which he thought was funny. I then noticed I had Zig-zag ‘floaties’ as he calls them…clear floating threads that move with my vision. I have seen floaties before but never zigzag ones. Luckily it only lasted for about 10 minutes (seemed like longer though)got online and found this site immediately. I’m glad I can see again and I have to say this was the least painful migraine I have ever experienced.
Trying to figure the cause. I have had migraines in past but never these. I did Yoga today (could head stands cause this??) Also drank a sip of caffeinated soda today.I am allergic to caffeine and never have any but I decided I wanted to try taking in a lil to help with water retention (I am on prescribed diuretics)and constipation. Could a sip of caffeine cause this? Headstands? How about wearing a headband? Or am I just grabbing at straws?
Anyway thanks for this site I’m glad to know I am not going blind or crazy…too crazy anyway. ;o)
August 31st, 2007 at 8:27 am
I get these quite frequently - used to be once or twice a year - now several times a month. Sometimes I get them after bending over repeatedly to pick things up off the floor. I was cleaning out from under my bed recently so my head was inverted for a while and sure enough when I looked up - I was at the beginning of an aura. I have no idea what triggers these and have spent endless hours on the internet trying to find out. I am trying to learn to live with it (like everyone else) but I still go in to full blown panic every time one starts. I am especially alarmed at the frequency of mine, but my gp, neurologist and opthomologist do not seemed concerned. Thanks for this website. It has helped tremedously.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Thank you for this site! I suffered from severe migraine’s as a child (pre-teens) and I remember having them often. As I got older they stopped happening as often and I no longer need prescription drugs to treat them, but I still have one or two a year. I started getting ocular migraine’s in February 2007. They started at the same time I started a new job. I had been layoff and out of work for six months before this. Stress or the relief of stress?
Thanks again.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I am a 53 male who never gets headaches but about twenty minutes ago I suddenly saw what looked like small, thin refractive shards of glass arranged in zigzags on the focal point of both eyes. These gradually spread out so that a semi-circle of shimmering shards gradually moved out from my focal point.
I had been playing field hockey 3 days before on Sunday and a young 21-year old hit me with a full-blooded drive across the neck on the right side just under the chin.
A bruise formed, but the discolouration has moved across the right hand side of my chest.
Like other respondants to your blog, I was worried that the impairment in my vision was indicative of a stroke or thrombosis, so I was very relieved to read the experiences of some of your your commentees.
Thank you for posting. I actually found this site from google searching with the following search string: "unable to see optic multicoloured patterns in front of both eyes"
After 40 to 60 minutes, the symptoms have completely disappeared.
Thank you once again.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:39 am
I have wondered what I was experiencing for years. I thought is was blood sugar. I am very healthy and fit. I race road bicycles, trianing hard many days a week. I thought this may be related to several concussions I have had in the past. Any insight? Has anyone tried any natural remedies? I read about stress, and caffeine. I think I have noticed I get them more often when I have increased my coffee or caffeine intake. I am just so grateful to know what I am experiencing. Thank you.
Brian
September 6th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
It looks like Edith’s not the only musician who’s had this experience. It turns out Neil Young also had the migraine aura:
"After inducting Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005, Young suffered what he thought was a migraine when his eyes went blurry. He realized it was something more when he noticed an irregularity in his eye the next day. "I was shaving and I saw this thing in my eye. It was like a piece of broken glass, and it looked like it was getting bigger. I’d never had anything like it before." "
Pretty interesting that Edithfrost.com has become one of the main web-places to go to help demystify this weird phenomenon. Hey, maybe Edith and Neil can do a telethon.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Check out my front page y’all, you’re being evicted! Oh noooooes!! It’s true though, and it’ll hopefully be a good thing all around, for this website, for the commenters, for me, and for the whole Googleverse and its denizens.
Here’s the group, and here’s the post where I explain wtf I’m talking about right now. :-)
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:36 pm
i keep ,going back to your web and reading over and over about these auras, i’ve had aura for 30 years , in the beginning it wasn’t as frequent, well now i’m 52 and i get it almost every day and its still frieghtining i constantly think about it , tried to omit almost everything from my diet, no chocolate at all, maybe thats whats the problem, maybe my body needs some sugar, when i ate a bag of chocolate candies a day it didnt happen so frequent, any suggestion. thank you
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:18 pm
I don’t know, maybe try posting it to the group! http://groups.google.com/group/scintillating-scotoma I eat chocolate pretty regularly and drink coffee every day and I haven’t had any SS in like five years. Not that that necessarily has anything to do with anything. Lotta conflicting info out there for sure. :-|