Ocular Migraine

[winniesanderson]

I've just had what I think was an ocular migraine for the first time (I'm 40). It was like a rainbow coloured lightning bolt that flashed and kept getting bigger and bigger. Absolutely terrified me - thank god for Google. But I was wondering if anyone else has had them did/do you feel really cold afterwards? I'm not normally one for feeling the cold but even now 20 mins later I'm shaking and can't warm up.

Also any idea on what triggers them? It's been an insanely stressful day here and I've had about 3 hours sleep since 3am Saturday morning so I'm guessing this might be what's caused it. But I've been sleep deprived plenty before and never experienced anything like it.

Had them scince l was five years old ( remember first one banging my head on play ground floor and thinking l was seeing heaven with the flashing lights) l went to the migrain clinic when l was 21 ( I'm now 65) kept a diary of foods l ate.. the weather and my daily life on the day l got one.
Mine happen with a sudden change in weather..so l get them more in Spring and Autumn.. sometimes they last an hour sometimes three days.. my hands and tongue go numb. I see white zig zag flashing lights.
The pain is horrific and l usually end up vomiting. Unfortunately for me the only pain medication l can take is paracetamol. So it's a dark room and cold forehead flannel until it passes.
Yes l go very cold and shivering.. drains me for days afterwards.
Migraine are very deliberating for some.
I hope you don't start getting them too often.
They can also be hereditary. My Dad had them and my daughter does too.

@MargaretThursday yes to the hair washing m! I thought that was just me. It’s the weirdest thing I just suddenly realise my hair is making my head awful and can’t focus until I can get in the shower. It’s always though, cause I’ve been camping and not showered for a week and been fine so I’m not sure what it’s about. Never wanted to ask a doctor in case they just thought I was clarty.

@Tilllly how did you get diagnosed? Were there any specific tests?

I have retinal migraine - don't know if yours is same
GP diagnosed and sent me to ophthalmology to confirm. Also spoke to my optician.

There's no test, it's based on symptoms described

This has been happening to me for years. Always hormone or sleep related and they seem to go through phases. The most recent ones have been vestibular migraines so I get terrible vertigo with them. Makes you feel awful. The scariest ones were ischaemic migraines. I’d get the zigzags but then I wouldn’t be able to speak properly. I couldn’t get words out and would just be talking drivel. On these occasions my family thought I was having a stroke and so did I. Really strange

Yeah, I've been having aura migraines for 20+ years.
For me, they are mostly hormonal sometimes they are triggered by food (when I was younger in was greasy foods like fish and chips from the takeaway) and then in my adult life it's been things like garlic, lavender, some perfumes even the sun when I'm tired.
I've tried many preventative treatments, and some worked for quite a while. Some only a couple of months some made me gain like 20kgs, and some made me really sick.
I have to have mris regularly for them as I have a large amount of white matter in my brain, so they want to keep check on that.
I had an oophorectomy 7 years, and that made them worse. I was getting them every day or every 2 days I'd just recover, and they would come back. I got put on a preventative, and that worked for nearly 5 years it helped me sleep and with the migraines I would still get one once a month but had a string pain killer for that though I had to wean off them as I had gained so much weight and desperately needed surgery for something else and they wouldn't do it unless I lost the weight.
Nowadays, I'm not on any preventatives but still have my strong painkillers and take asprin if it's a smaller migraine, and that helps somewhat.
Hope you feel better soon.