Visual Disturbance

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Am a bit freaked out by this..

Am very very tired at the moment due to not sleeping for weeks, and got cystitis, also had very strenuous day.

Was out in bright sunlight then came on and was talking to DH on MSN when suddenly I realised I couldn't read all the words on the screen..bright spots were obliterating them like when you have looked at the sun.

Suddenly my vision had more and more sparkles like I was going to faint.

I lay down, then everything started swimming in my left eye until I could not see out of it.

it eventually passed then i felt off colour for a while. Has been fine since.

I was due to go out so didn't get checked out, probably stupid but i suspected it was migraine-related although I have never had a migraine and I didn't really get a headache.

Could it be an ocular migraine?

Should I be rushing to get checked out or just see GP next week?

Does sound a lot like a migraine with aura. Did you get headachey and feel nauseous afterwards?

The visual disturbance stage lasts about 20-30 mins usually. Does that fit?

Yes it lasted about 20-30 minutes..but I didn't get headachy, I felt quite ill afterwards though.

just a bit worried as I have never had a migraine before..however looking at the checklist for migraine inducers I had them ALL..stress, tiredness, been using a computer, unwell, bright sunlight, hormonal, you name it!!

Sometimes I get them and just feel like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards for a few hours, if that makes sense. Just want to go to bed and lie down for a while. Not always the classic headache

Best way I can describe the vision thing is like a hole in your vision, you just simply cannot see certain things. This is then accompanied by funny lines which get bigger and bigger until they leave the corner of your eye.

It's a hard thing to describe isn't it?

Yes..i had little bright spots everywhere so I couldn't read text, then wavy lines, then everything went totally wavy in one eye.

So I am now worried about what it is, and also worried I am suddenly going to become a migraine sufferer out of the blue at 38.

And you feel totally normal now?

i feel tired and a tiny bit headachy, actually left eye is sore now reading screen.

Sounds about right. Go to your doctor just to rule out anything else but my bet is migraine.

If so, try not to worry, it's not necessarily a frequent thing, though they're not nice. I get them once or twice a year now.

Thanks lots for listening and giving advice will see GP next week.

yep, tis an aura without a migraine. I have had them since my early 20's. You just have to go with it, wait for it to pass then perhaps take a ibuprofen to get rid of the headache.

I get them if I am particularly stressed. They have not progressed into a full blown migraine for me ever, just this weird out of body light thing, which passes and leaves me feeling washed out.

I always equate the jazzy eyes to seeing the outline of my eye getting bigger and bigger and then disappearing. It starts with a blind spot and a fuzzy head.

Hope you are OK

No probs, Fanjo.

Just googled aura + migraine in images and this is what came back. Makes me feel migrainey just looking at it!

www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB365GB365&tbs=isch:1&q=migraine+aura&revid=1580682118&sa=X&ei=BDd4TPPxC8324gb0uYDxBQ&ved=0CCUQ1QIoAg&biw=1139&bih=517

Can't do links am afriad.

Thanks, this is very reassuring!

At the time I thought I might be having a stroke and was thinking "I knew I should eat more healthily"

i didnt see any coloured lines or anything though, just what i was seeing was swimming and wavy..very strange!!

yes it sounds like a visual migraine

jsut a quick post but it is important that you know that the oral contraceptive pill is contraindicated if you've had one

I get migraines and the visual disturbance always start as a kind of ice crystals pattern at the side of my field of vision, and I can't read words on a screen / page. It's very wierd.

I always used to get classic migraines, the visual aura, nothing for 20 mins, then a banging headache that would not be shifted by anything. These happened maybe one a year.

But when I was pregnant I had three months were I was getting up to 4-5 a week (yup HORRIBLE!) but the more I got the less the headache became and often it was just the aura and feeling woozy.

They are very odd things but they are pretty harmless (ie no brain injury!). Just take yourself to bed if you get another and sleep till it goes away!

I never knew this happened to other people too - if I'm really tired and stressed out. The last one was in a supermarket - was v.v.tired and they'd changed layout - couldn't find anything I wanted, suddenly felt crappy and couldn't see! Had to slump over some baked beans - not a life highlight

Just felt bit of a nobber - at least i know why it happens - Dr & optician made me feel like I was imagining it as i had no headache with it, just a messy head if that makes any sense! Thanks for the sympathy tho

I am an optometrist and most of the people I see with the aura don't actually get the headache.

Fanjo, can you confirm whether you take a combined pill oral contraceptive?

I started getting quite serious migraines suddenly aged 28. I was losing both sight and speech for up to a couple of hours. Turns out it was a reaction to Yasmin and I was taken off the combined pill.

Thanks all.

No I don't take the Pill...

yes, it sounds like ocular migraine. I've had this for many years, as well as migraine with the headbanging headache. it comes on more when I am v. tired or stressed.

I prefer it to headache migraine because if you go and lie down it passes in about 1/2 an hour, unlike other one which can last for days and leave me completely incapacitated.

Minxie, you have my sympathies. I'st horrible when it happens when you are out and about and just have to find a place to collapse.

i am tired and stressed today and eyes feel a bit woozy again...can't even get a GP appt quickly next week, have got loads of appointments and another one just popped through door on my first free day (Wednesday) GRRR

I suffer from this when I pregnant. Starts of with blind/sun spots and turns into really weird visual disturbances, which last about half an hour before settling down. I ended up in A&E the first time as visual disturbances are an indicator or pre-eclampsia (thankfully it wasn't that). I get no pain at all, just the funny visual problems, and it's never happened when I'm not pregnant.