Migraine - vision disturbance but not pain

[Wonderbug81]

Went to the GP who thinks I'm having migraines. I do get painful ones usually but yesterday I just started to see swirly patterns and colours in front of my eyes (no head pain or nausea) for ten minutes which is new.

I've been asked to keep a headache diary. Forgot to ask what I should do if I get them. Assume there's no point in taking aspirin so is it just rest??

Anyone else get these?

Yes, the aura is a thing for me. Sometimes with pins and needles in my fingers and nose first. Aura alone can happen or before or with the head pain. Migraine is a weird beast.

I have triptans for mine which will zap it if I catch it early enough.

They are unnerving that’s for sure. I get the aura too then usually follows a dull ache of the headache. Nut often thankfully but horrible.

yep, ocular migraines.

i rarely get actual debilitating headaches, i get the aura, which for me mimics a TIA, aphasia, pins and needles, blind spot that expands until i lose my vision for about 10 minutes, then i get smacked with the post-drome, which feels like a hangover.

Ocular migraine or aura migraine; look on YouTube for examples.

tiggers could be perimenopausal premenstrual tension, coffee, tiredness etc.

ibuprofen helps, feeling knackered afterwards, for me, is normal too.

Ocular migraines. The optician checked my eyes and said they are fine. The migraines are typically a middle aged woman thing she said.

Does your whole vision go? Thats terrifying. Mine goes in the centre but I can still see

I get these exact things too, have done since my late 20s. Tend to get a few over a few weeks, and then they can disappear for long periods. No idea what causes/triggers.

OP I would lie down as soon as you feel any signs and rest till it goes away.

pretty much, if not all, then well over half, i tend to lose the entire right side field of vision to what i can only describe as wobbly TV static snow.

mine are better recently, but i think that's because i'm on Naproxen for some other pain issues, so i do get the 'start' with that bright spot that's like i've been sun flashed in my centre field of vision, but they don't mature.

I used to take ibuprofen the moment that spot appeared, if i timed it right, it didn't develop any further.

Yep, I get aura with mine and a bizarre feeling of being "spacey" and not quite there

Whole pregnant I also got a few where I couldn't remember words properly or express myself. They were scary. I remember thinking, "if this is something serious I don't think I could explain what's going on to anyone at the hospital". I couldn't even remember the word hospital though tbh.

Yup, same. The only solution is to keep my eyes shut for a while so either sleeping or sitting on sofa listening to music. The more I try to use my eyes (reading, TV, peeling veg), the more the sight will disappear. Fun times.

I had a couple of these about ten years ago - then no more until a couple of months ago when I had another one.

So they do seem to come and go.

I think for me they may be triggered by particular patterns on a screen - occasionally I've felt that one is about to start but if I turn off the screen immediately it doesn't develop.

They are known as silent migraines. I get all the horrible build up of tiredness, yawning, struggling to remember things but ibuprofen can stop the headache. I still feel all the associated awfulness though. I hate migraines.

If you're on hormonal birth control and get these, go chat to your GP. They can be caused by changes in oestrogen levels which increase your blood pressure. If you're on an oestrogen based contraceptive like the combined pill and get these auras you're at increased risk of strokes etc and should switch to a different contraceptive.

I get them at various points in my cycle due to hormone fluctuations, even after coming off the pill.

I get scintillating scotoma sometimes which produces symptoms similar to yours. No headache though.

I also get occasions where I am unbelievably cold, think shivering, icy cold even in a room which is 24C or more. It goes if I go to sleep - even if just for a few minutes. Apparently that too is linked to migraines, although I only found this out recently - for years I just thought I was odd!

Migraine is not a headache, it is a neurological event that may or may not include head pain.

Yes there is a point to taking aspirin.
My neurologist told me to take 2-3 aspirin at onset as triptans don't work for me. I'm not saying to do this as taking 3 at once should only be done under medical advice. But you could try taking two and see if that helps you.

(I feel the need to add he did also say not to take three aspirin more than twice a week without protecting my stomach with omeprozole.)

I’ve had aural migraines for over 30 years. Mine start as zigzags from the outer corner of one eye and work their way over the other eye until they disappear. I also get blind spots, I can have 3 in one week and then nothing for a year. I think mine is caused by stress.

Migraines are so horrible.

Mine give me a wooly head sort of feeling, I feel spaced out and have trouble forming words, the worst is the vertigo feeling that comes with it - I liken it to having the spinning room feeling when very drunk. They make me very clumsy and nauseous and the bad ones often make me vomit the entire contents of my stomach. Then there is the migraine hangover and that is horrible too, a whole day of feeling dopey and tired.

Mine improved a whole lot once I stopped taking any form of hormonal contraception.

I get them too, starting with a blind spot in the middle, with the edges flickering and rippling. Over the course of 20 minutes or so the spot expands as it dissipates, so that I can see in the middle but not round the edges. I don’t take anything for it, just have to wait it out.

There is a type of Denby pottery that I can’t look at because it looks like a migraine.

This is my experience too.

Surprised the optician said that. I know teenagers that suffer with them. Think the opticians comment wasn't accurate. A sweeping generalisation there.

Yes, I’ve had these as well as the painful ones. For me, the aura, spaceyness, tiredness are the worst things. I’m also very confused, mix up my words and can’t read - as in can’t actually decode words for half an hour or so. I then sometimes get a bad headache which feels like I’ve been hit over the top of the head with something and some nausea, but not always. I now take a big dose of aspirin (twice what it says on the packet was what my GP told me to do but, obviously, I’m not prescribing this to anyone else) and it stops it from developing.
I was prescribed Triptans but they actually made me feel more out of it than the migraine. My triggers are tiredness, dehydration or skipping meals.

And not a ‘middle aged woman thing’ - I’ve been having them since I was 18 and my 15 year old son gets them too!

I get blind spots - its very scary as that's the only symptom I get and it can last 24hrs. Then I get the mild headachey/spaced out feeling for a couple of days afterwards.