Anyone suffer from visual migraine ?

[AnyFucker]

I used to when I was on hormonal contraception and when pregnant. Thought to be linked to hormones so advised to stop the Pill after having a brain scan that showed some "white patches" (increased risk of CVA ?) and haven't had any episodes for years

recently I have had a couple of recurrences for no reason I can tell

it starts with a pulsating silver dot in one eye which spreads until the whole field of vision is a mass of wavy silvery tram lines. I cannot see properly to read, drive or work for approx 20 mins then it goes as quickly as it appears

anyone else ?

That sounds very scary, Natalie

I'm similar age to you AnyF. I have visual migraines that have started up over the past couple of years. It looks similar to this

followed by a 2 day hangover.

Painkillers don't work, so I don't bother.

Dr says mine is definitely hormone related, but can be made worse by lack of sleep, stress, missed meals or any wild blood sugar fluctuations

wow, that YouTube video almost captures it

except the flashing lines are silver/black not brightly coloured and take up a bigger portion of my field of vision

I have had these since childhood, flashing arcs across my vision and bits of the picture missing. Like it's been cut up and put back together in overlapping pieces. Before the visual disturbances I can't speak properly, my words come out all scrambled.

Half an hr after the visuals, I used to get agonising pain and terrible vomiting (being sick 40+ times). The vomiting tailed off after about 20 yrs.

No medication has ever been affective against the pain, thankfully, the last few I've had, the pain has been much milder.

That video is good but mine are black and white, narrower and I don't get the grey bit, just overlapping parts of my vision.

i say mine are like looking through bathroom glass....it's all there, just shimmery and impossible to focus on.

They used to scare me AF but now I am able to manage them a bit better and with the security of my meds they aren't so scary. I really hope you are able to find something to help

thanks Natalie

I am on nothing to manage them atm, I will see how it goes

at one time I was having them on a weekly basis...I couldn't cope with that again

I suffer from them, they are a pain in the arse. First off my vision goes wobbly, then I sort of develop a blind spot, then my mouth or hands will go numb then comes the headache. My speech can also go a bit weird too..

If I take painkillers early enough I can avoid the headache.

I don't know what triggers mine.

Any, your post is interesting.

I used to get visual migraines. I didn't have one at all until I was pregnant and gave birth - then I had a week of horrendous classic migraines. Awful.

Then, from when DD was about 1 and a half I'd have the visual ones. I had no idea what was happening the first time, I was in charge of a toddler and I was blind!

I didn't get them often, so didn't bring them up with my GP, but when I finally did he took me off the combined pill and I've not had another visual migraine since.

What I find interesting is your reference to the white patches. I have had an MRI due to suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia. It showed the cause of my neuralgia, but also several white patches in both sides of my brain. I've since been referred for a lumbar puncture (ouch) and other tests to rule out MS.

If the white patches are possibly caused by migraines (not something my neurologist asked about before he referred me for the tests, he just referred on the basis of the white patches and told me that MS was the most likely cause of the scan results) then hurrah!