Aura migraines

[Afternooninthepark]

Not sure if this should go into women’s health or menopause??
Does anyone experience ocular migraines/migraine with aura? For me, these must be hormonal related because I first experienced them during pregnancy, now I get them during the first few days of my period. I’m 46 and they seem to be getting more frequent (I track them and seem to have had more this year). They start off as a small ’blob’ or blind spot in my vision and then turn into a zig zag flashing light which gets bigger across my vision. Lasts about 20-30 mins then sometimes I get a headache but sometimes not. I always feel weird and washed out after (I had one last night and still feel tired and spacey this morning). Even though I’ve had them for 14 years on and off and my mum suffered from them they scare the life out of me. I’ve had my eyes tested numerous times and been to the doctors and mentioned this but none of them really seem to understand what I’m talking about, one optician even said it was floaters🙄.
Anyone else get this? Do they get worse in perimenopause?

I used to get these, mainly before my period or if I was very tired. As soon as I noticed the blank spot in my vision, I would take a migraleve tablet that you melt under your tongue. I would get the multicoloured prism sometimes - had to pull in once when driving until it passed. The doctor did not seem to bothered about it but it may mean you can't have hrt. I haven't had one for a few years now so think peri/menopause would hopefully put a stop to that (just swap for other annoying things like night sweats!)

Thanks Crumbly I’m really hoping they won’t get worse during perimenopause but I’ve definitely had more this year!

Yes, those are what I call 'Visual migraines''..
Always suffered with sick headaches as a child, but the first time I had an aura..started as a tiny dazzle/blind spot that I could still 'see' with eyes closed, and that spread into a wide, shimmering oscillating arc that was impossible to 'see' through.
then, 30 mins later, it disappeared and a headache began.
Migraleve really helped the nausea if taken in time.
To call a migraine aura ''floaters'' is just dotty...that optometrist clearly has no idea about migraines :)

yes, here too!

Also interesting that you said "sick headaches" @oakleaffy ....my mother always said that about me. That and "bilious turns" ...which both describe my migraines perfectly

I am getting more of these odd auras, and not so many full blown full day jobs, but recently my migraines are changing to out of the blue but shorter duration. I am definitely menopausal...very very VERY late forties. (=53) :o

The one thing that triggers an aura is bright light, especially reflected sunshine, so I have sunnies on hand at all times and especially when driving and I have to be really careful about not looking at the light

@Afternooninthepark
Sorry, didn't answer your question...
Mine {mercifully} eased with middle age {45 plus}...prior to that I had such appalling headaches they were unbearably bad.
Still get headaches, usually one 'visual' {ocular} migraine every six months to a year..
A female GP [my age] at our practice suffers visual migraine and swears by Tesco soluble aspirin and a prescribed anti sickness medicine...taken immediately the symptom is first noticed.

GP says she never pays full price for pain meds and says the cheap ones are just as good for migraines as the expensive 'Migraleve'
However, if you pay the prescription charge for the anti nauseant, it makes it less cheap.

@MsMightyTitanAndHerTroubadours...Oh yes...the ''bilious turns''....does one here that term any more?...so accurate though.

I remember having a bad sick headache {aged 6 or so} at a sunny hot school sports day, and having to sit beside ''miss'' while she fed me tiny sweets and I dry heaved into the grass endlessly.
The visual disturbances came at age 20, and did scare me..
Oh I am older now 50's! :) but the migraines eased off at middle age.

The bright dazzle you speak of, that can be bounced off chrome on a sunny day is very migrainous.... ugh.

OP, I do. I had my first migraine in my early 30s and am now mid-40s so similar timing to yours (nothing to do with pregnancy in my case though, just one of those things). I have "migraine with aura" (along with about 1 in 5 migraine sufferers) which simply means we have some additional neurological symptoms which occur before the headache part kicks in. Most commonly these "extras" take the form of visual disturbance, which like you is what I get. My visual disturbance sounds very similar to yours - a blurred area in the vision which becomes a squashed double semicircle of zigzag lines. It lasts 20 minutes and the headache starts 30 minutes after it ends (occasionally I get to skip the headache, but still have the slightly out-of-body migraine spaciness you describe).

As my GP explained it, the visual disturbance associated with aura migraines is neurological, it's basically a hallucination - there is nothing physically wrong with the eyes themselves.

There is a different condition, called retinal migraine, which your GP or optometrist ought to have considered and (hopefully) excluded, in which the eye is physically involved - there's temporary decreased bloodflow to the eye, which causes the visual symptoms. www.nhs.uk/conditions/retinal-migraine/ This is different condition from migraine with aura.

I was advised that in aura migraine, the (neurological) visual disturbance may appear to be only on one side of the visual field, but it "affects" both eyes in that if you shut one, you can still "see" the disturbance from the other eye. In retinal migraine the visual disturbance only affects one eye, usually the same eye - if you shut that eye the vision in the other eye is unaffected.

Hope that helps.

Aargh...wish I'd proofread...hear not ''here'' for bilious attacks....predictive text is so annoying.
Can't even blame a migraine aura for not being able to see the keys..

Mine laugh in the face of migraleve, but sumatriptan generally sends them packing, if taking in time. If over the counter medications like migraleve aren't working for you, see your GP about prescription options like triptans - there's quite a battery of different drugs so if one doesn't work, there'll be another that might.

@Ceara..Accurate description of being able to 'see' the aura with both eyes.

However, recently I had what I thought was an 'unusual' migraine beginning, a dark ( shape in my left eye, and this would 'flash' suddenly in dim conditions.

I noticed more floaters {very different to migraine aura}...and left it three days hoping it would 'go away'.

I had only just had an eye exam at opticians. I googled the symptoms, and was terrified by what I read....it could be a detaching retina.

Hotfooted it to the Eye Hospital and they said it was a 'PVD' posterior vitreous detachment'...luckily {so far} without retina damage.
Then, six weeks later, another bizarre 'visual' migraine that was different to the usual shimmering type.....another trip to eye hospital to check...and a PVD in other eye.

If you get strange 'flashes' {Photopsia} in the temple side of your vision, and are aged 40 plus, it could be a possible PVD.
Get to an optometrist or even better, an Eye hospital asap.{damaged retina can be repaired if caught early}

I mistook the symptoms of PVD for a migraine..but migraine doesn't 'Flash', it scintillates and shimmers..and passes after 30/40 minutes.

@oakleaffy, scary stuff, glad you caught it in time. I guess the moral is that any change to how a long-standing condition is behaving, warrants getting it checked out by the professionals?

...as it's easy to assume it's the long-standing condition up to new tricks. but might actually be something else going on.

I have extreme visual disturbance which means I can't see my full field of vision for the duration of the migraine and my hands and tongue can feel numb too, I don't always get the headache
I'm pregnant now and hormones make them worse and mean I can't take anything but migraleave used to shorten the attack.
I can't take the combined pill now because of them, I'm worried to hear hrt might be out in future too

also had a PVD, it's something to be aware of if you are even moderately shortsighted, statistically much more likely in shortsighted folks.

I caught the second one, but on examination at the eye hospital, they noted there was already one in the other eye, which luckily had not progressed! (We won't mention that I am a dispensing optician.!!)

Any unusual increase in floaters, movement/shape/quantity
any haze/shadowing/webby vision
any flashing lights/arcs

can all be warnings of eye issues, and not migraines and as @ceara said one eye is more worrisome than both

Yes, PVD is scary I did once get checked out at the hospital as I do also have strange vision at times.
weshouldopenabar I had many migraines during my pregnancies it’s horrible when you can’t take anything. I’m at the perimenopause age and am frightened to take HRT incase it exacerbates my aura migraines.

Yes, had my 1st ever ocular migraine last year in April. In the July I had my 1st ever missed period (apart from when I was pregnant). I've since had 3 missed periods and 1 more ocular migraine, so come to the conclusion it's all hormone related and i'm now peri menopausal (I'm 45).

My 1st ocular migraine was scary as hell, I was on my own, kids in bed, thought I was going blind. It lasted an hour. Started with blurred vision on one side then coloured zigzags which grew wider, to the point I couldn't see out of one eye.

My 2nd recent ocular migraine started with a blind spot in the middle, exactly like when a camera flash has gone off and you see the imprint in your eye afterwards. It then started to expand, got the coloured zigzags and it lasted for half an hour.

I don't get any headaches or pain but definitely feel weird afterwards, but I think that's to do with the shock of it happening, panicking whilst it's happening and it's the adrenaline comedown kicking in afterwards and the relief.

@Ceara ' ' Scary stuff, glad you caught it in time. I guess the moral is that any change to how a long-standing condition is behaving, warrants getting it checked out by the professionals?''

Spot on...Yes, any change that is somehow different does warrant getting checked out.

The Eye hospital were great, and one of the nurses said ''You googled your symptoms...but please always come and get concerns checked out''....It seems people {mainly those who haven't access to NHS services} ask for advice from unqualified people on the internet. Medical stuff does need checking out, in person...Especially eyes where time is of the essence if there is retinal damage.
The nurse seemed to be speaking from experience.

A person on a You Tube comments section said they wished they'd gone for treatment ''before all Hell broke loose'' with their eyes.
Another person described similar symptoms to mine...I said ''get to an eye hospital asap''....turns out they weren't having a migraine as they thought, but a PVD.

Not wanting to hijack Migraine thread, but do the new and huge webby floaters improve with time?
My vision is like looking through a dirty cobweb that whips about with assorted peripheral speckles..recently it has changed into what I assume is a Weiss ring.
Eye hospital doctors said 'nothing can be done' and ''neuroadaption'' might occur so they become less disturbing with time.

I have some peri issues that seem to have brought on aura migraines, maybe a couple every 6 months or so for the last 5 years. I haven't have had my hormone levels checked out and I have a mirena so no periods anyway. My mum said she got aura migraines when she was peri so I think the hormone thing is definitely linked.

I hadn't had one in a year but did yesterday. For me they last 20 minutes starting with not being able to see at the centre of my vision then over the 20 minutes spans out as a zigzag to my left side. I am lucky in that there are no headaches attached to it.

@oakleaffy mine improved completely, I was beginning to get a bit worried about lowlight/night driving and dreading the onset of winter...live in the far north so it's always bloody dark up here unless you are out for lunch! 8) But when it came to, it wasn't so bad and the obscure bit seemed to just vanish , not suddenly, but one day I realised I hadn't felt like I was looking round/through anything.

...must be three or fours years ago by now.
Having said that I have always had so so many floaters, and I can see them if I concentrate esp on bright days, so maybe I am just immune to noticing anything now?

Ive only had one, and it was scary. My husband thought i was having a stroke as i was slurring and confused. Ended up in a and e . thankfully never had another

@MsMightyTitanAndHerTroubadours
thanks so much for that uplifting hope!
My left eye all of a sudden improved...I thought ''wow...the huge ring has gone''....then it came back, then went again...maybe it is out of my line of sight?..
The right eye however is still very floatery...Weiss ring &c...Just being out in the bright light is annoying, as it makes therm so very visible.
Re driving, I know how that feels, but for some reason when you focus into the distance, they 'fade out' more.
It is close work...or focus that is so irritating.

Migraines are also linked for some obscure reason to travel sickness, people who suffer migraines are much more sensitive to motion sickness.

I think morning sickness might share the same link. I suffer from all three yay me

I get them, they came on for me early 40s, I'm 50 now and hadn't had one for a couple of years until last week. I got the zig zags, and my fingers went numb. I've had the weird speech before too. Mine last about 30-40 mins and I don't get a headache. They are freaky.

Used to get these as a teenager, they stopped in my 20's/early 30's, then had one a few days after giving birth 3 years ago. Nothing since. Think it can be hormonal. Either way they are horrible! Think they can make you slightly more prone to stroke as was told I couldn't take the combined pill.