Saturday, June 8, 2019

Migraine with aura

As I was reading my friend's blogs this morning, the pinpoint of light in the center of my vision started, a bright whiteness which meant I couldn't see the very middle of each thing I looked at.  I thought, this must be what macular degeneration is like all the time.  But for me, that was a signal that for the next 10-15 minutes, I would loose my ability to see and read clearly.

The pinpoint quickly spread out in a familiar pattern, forming a circle that was ever-widening, but the center of my vision gradually returned.  I left the computer as the little rainbow colored prisms grew, like signal flags shimmering in a glowing semi-circle in both eyes.



I walked into the kitchen to get more coffee, thinking of how my mother had a stroke and lay on her kitchen floor over a day, sometimes shouting out the window to neighbors until they heard her.  But she wasn't taking the blood pressure medicine that I now take.  I do wonder however, if I might end up debilitated.  These parts of the body keep wearing out...and diseases creep in that we don't expect.

I am fortunate that I don't have pain associated with these migraines.  I do have sensitivity to light following them, but if it's not a bright sunny day (like today) I can go about my life after that visual interruption.

They started back when I was in my 40s that I remember. I will never forget the one that came as I drove on an interstate to my doctor's office in Atlanta.  There were semi trucks along side me, and I was trying to stay in my lane, by shifting my eyes back and forth to see clearly where I was.  By the time I got to the doctor I was a wreck, and started crying and said to the receptionist while I waited for my turn that I had gone blind.  That was the worst time I ever had with the visual impediment.  And the doctor referred me to a neurologist.  I was advised to not take birth control pills (which I wasn't on anyway.) I was recommended to drink caffeine.  And later I got some expensive pills for migraines that had to be taken right at the beginning of the headaches.  Since I seldom had pain, I didn't get more than one refill of them.

But where the aural migraines used to be only a few times a year, now they seem to happen more often.  Nothing in particular seems to trigger them, besides a glare of sunlight reflected at an angle into my eyes.  Sometimes having an eye exam would trigger them, from the bright light shown in my eyes.  This morning I was just reading a computer screen, which I do every day...so it's not an abnormal occasion.

As I've shared about having these migraines, I've found more and more friends also have them, sometimes with a very painful headache.  I remember hearing of (mainly in novels) various sufferers who have to go to bed in a darkened room with migraines.  It must be terrible for them.




6 comments:

  1. So sorry you experience these things... I have what they call "Ocular migraines" with bright blinking lights that go across the eye - which can take a few mins to a half hour or more. And I lose my vision wherever the bright blinking lights are. Very strange sensation. I am left with a bit of a dull headache, but nothing that I would call a "migraine." Stress seems to trigger mine. Although it also happened once when I hit my head on the lid of my car trunk. I wonder too if it has something to do with the Retina and aging... They say the viscous can separate from the Retina as we age, causing more flashing lights and floaters. Whatever the cause, it's pretty scary...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Not that getting older is for the faint of heart...we continue as long as we can! Sorry you've got those flashing kinds of migraines.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well shucks...I had another one later in the evening today. There have been times when I have them this often. Not exactly what I wished for!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My sister has been suffering with migraines all of her adult life. As she has gotten older now they seem to be getting much worse and lasting much longer. Sometimes for days. She has spent many a long night in the ER waiting for a doc to give her some medication that will simply knock her out. She's been on so many different migraine medications, and none of them work for very long. I am so sorry that you experience this and hope that you find some relief from that light.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh your poor sister to have all that pain! I am so sorry to hear that. At least I don't have pain, and as I'm a whooze with pain, I guess that is for the best. I spent much of last week in bed with Ibuprofen just from that Novocaine injection! I hope your sis gets some relief!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Because this post has this subject line, I'll add the P.S. to it here. Mon. afternoon I was washed out by another migraine. I think the screen on my computer might help trigger them...or watching movies...whatever, this time took ibuprofen then slept for an hour, and the coughing was awful and gave me even more headaches. Sitting still seems ok, and having air conditioned cool air seems helpful, compared to muggy rainy day all around.

    ReplyDelete

There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.