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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it was a migraine

28 replies

notnow2 · 06/01/2014 20:15

I had an episode of broken vision and flashing lights in one eye only. It lasted 30 mins. Now I have a headache (moderate), feel nauseous, lightheaded, weak and tired.

Called my mum who said as the aura was only in one eye it wasn't a migraine and is freaking me out about tumours, and strokes.

I feel like it must have been a migraine even though I have only had 3 in my life.

OP posts:
sillywoman · 06/01/2014 20:18

YANBU: I get migraines and have always had the 'aura' in one eye only.

Silvercatowner · 06/01/2014 20:19

Me too.

WilsonFrickett · 06/01/2014 20:21

Sounds like a migraine to me. Mine are always different (and I've also only ever had three) but my second one was single eye aura.

Happydaze77 · 06/01/2014 20:21

Are you definitely sure that it was just in one eye? Sometimes, if something is seen on one side only, we mistakenly think we are seeing it with one eye only (if that makes sense?)

The fact that you have a headache now does point more towards migraine than anything else. A tumour is unlikely to present like this.

Are you short sighted? How old are you and how is your health in general?

HootyMcOwlface · 06/01/2014 20:22

Sounds like an ocular migraine. I had one once on a very stressful day (day I was completing on my house purchase).

I had this zig zag pattern across one eye that started out small but over about 30 minutes grew to completely obscure the vision in that eye. Then it just went and I felt a bit weird afterwards. Its never happened since.

Try looking up ocular migraine.

onepieceoflollipop · 06/01/2014 20:22

I have the aura in one eye only. Sometimes other odd symptoms like not being able to speak clearly or find the right words for things.

Lots of people think a migraine is a bad headache, sometimes people get them with no head pain or not a serious headache/pain.

Does your mother have medical training? (genuine question)

ReluctantBeing · 06/01/2014 20:23

The nightmare that is a migraine comes in a plethora of forms, and what you describe certainly sounds like one to me.

Imnotaslimjim · 06/01/2014 20:23

Yanbu. I never get the aura in both eyes. Please ignore your Mums scaremongering

Original poster
notnow2 · 06/01/2014 20:23

I am short sighted, am 33. The weird vision happened after a spell on the lap top. I am also very pre menstrual

OP posts:
Original poster
notnow2 · 06/01/2014 20:25

No my mum is not medical just a migraine suffer who obviously only has double eye aura!!

OP posts:
WilsonFrickett · 06/01/2014 20:27

onepiece I've also had speech confusion and it scared the living shit out of me. Flowers god I hate migraines!

Queenofknickers · 06/01/2014 20:30

Sounds exactly like my migraines.

MsAspreyDiamonds · 06/01/2014 20:33

I have ovular migraine starting in my right eye that usually starts a few days before my period is due. It is connected with the dip in oestrogen experienced before a period.

However, flashing lights can indicate a detached retina as well. I am at risk of this due to my extreme short sightedness, it might be worth booking an eye test to check the general condition of your eyes.

babybythesea · 06/01/2014 20:34

Migraine can show so many symptoms you can't definitely say it's not a migraine!
I mostly get a thumping and unbearable headache together with a raging thirst.
However, I also sometimes get an inability to speak coherently - for some reason I think I've said something and am happily carrying on a conversation, when in fact most of what I think I've said I only thought and didn't say out loud. And I struggle to find the words for things so I sound like a drunken lunatic, as I utter half-sentences and stutter for ages struggling for the right word.
I also get a vision thing which isn't interference as such. If I stand on a uniform surface, like grass, it appears to be rolling towards me in waves, like standing on the edge of the sea. And I know the ground is solid so I end up trying to step over the waves (although in a distant part of my head I know it's not really moving, but the illusion is so convincing I can't stop myself) which gives me a very odd walk. If this happens, the headache is almost always negligible. And if I try to go up a step, it moves backwards and isn't where I think it's going to be so I can trip up easily. I've never read about these symptoms but they are definitely migraine related. I'd not read of anyone else having trouble with speech either until I read a previous poster!

onepieceoflollipop · 06/01/2014 20:36

Wilson I don't get the speech thing every time, but I hate it. I am a real chatterbox and to be in pain and not be able to talk properly makes me frustrated. (if you knew me in rl that would make you laugh probably).

Sympathies to all of you who get horrid migraines.

WilsonFrickett · 06/01/2014 20:38

I think babysea that speech problems can be a symptom of strokes etc so the health service don't want to put the message out there that speech problems can be a migraine iyswim? But if I'd known what I had could have been a migraine I wouldn't have been so scared? Difficult balancing act I think...

onepieceoflollipop · 06/01/2014 20:39

On the subject of vision, do any of you have trouble walking down stationary escalators? I can almost feel this start to trigger a visual disturbance. (I mean if the escalator is turned off or out of order but being used as a normal staircase).

Oh and I can't iron shirts with small checks or narrow stripes. Same effect.

Also I have to be careful with flickering lights.

eurochick · 06/01/2014 20:39

I've had this twice in the last year. I mentioned it to my mum and she gets it too - says it is a migraine. I used to get pounding-headache-combined-with-vomming migraines but haven't had any years.

ChillieJeanie · 06/01/2014 20:39

You might want to check with a doctor, just to be on the safe side.

I had what I thought was an ocular migraine earlier in the summer. Mentioned it to the doctor about three months later when I was getting my prescription for the Pill renewed. She referred me to the stroke clinic, which freaked me out. However, the consultant at the clinic, after various tests, agreed that it was probably an atypical migraine rather than a TIA.

A friend of mine was also referred to the stroke clinic after an odd migraine which was very like mine. In her case, the MRI scan found a brain tumour. Fortunately it was benign and in a relatively easy access place for removal - she was in surgery the Monday after it had been spotted and is now recovering well.

WilsonFrickett · 06/01/2014 20:39

Thanks onepiece I've only had it a couple of times and not for a couple of years now so fingers crossed. I remember phoning DH to ask him to bring in medication for me and getting so cross that he wasn't understanding me Blush in retrospect. He was petrified too!

MsAspreyDiamonds · 06/01/2014 20:47

Ocular migraine not ovular migraine!

MrsTerryPratchett · 06/01/2014 20:51

Check with a doctor. All very well, could be a migraine, could be a detached retina or a tumour.

Jinty64 · 06/01/2014 20:51

Yes onepiece I have problems with checks and stripes. My Mum used to get it too she called it "the dazzles".

I rarely get a headache but my head goes tight and I get altered sensation in my fingers, toes and sometimes legs. It's horrible.

GlitzAndGiggles · 06/01/2014 21:34

I've had one migraine in my life and it was torture. I was walking into walls because I couldn't see properly. Both my eyes were fuzzy. My sister was diagnosed with chronic migraine after suffering for 6 weeks! Heavy meds sorted it though

maddy68 · 06/01/2014 21:46

I get it in both eyes. I also have the speech problem. I feel like I've had a stroke or something. Sometimes I just can't make sense Really worrying

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