Occular Migrane

[Roadtrip]

I woke this morning feeling a bit off. I found it hard to wake up like roused from a deep sleep. I'm normally very much a morning person and light sleeper. I was getting ready for work and shook my head (like one trying to clear cobwebs from the head, not a violent shake) from side-to-side, which triggered a sudden numbness / weakness of the right hand and left foot, followed by an aura a few minutes later, partially obscuring my vision in my right eye... Like looking thru a prism of shine light.

It felt like your hand falling asleep or going numb from lack of blod flow. I couldn't comb my hair with the right arm as it just wouldn't be cooperative. The sudden onset of this is what scared me. My mom has a history of migraines and I've experienced the aura before, which was once of accompanied by a speech issue where I found it difficult to form words. Once I saw the aura I was pretty certain what it was.

Strange to have a migrane and no splitting headache. It lasted less then 30 minutes, tho I've been tired today with a low-grade headache, but feeling better which has me less stressed about the whole thing. Has anyone here extreienced similar things??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinal_migraine

Shannon

[malkin]

Yes and have the occular migraine dx or whatever the current term is.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to rule out the possibility of stroke when you have these symptoms. The 9-11- or the Emergency Room will not think you are over reacting.

http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=symp


Stroke symptoms include:
SUDDEN numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg - especially on one side of the body.
SUDDEN confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
SUDDEN trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
SUDDEN trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
SUDDEN severe headache with no known cause.

[Becky]

I get them infrequently, with mostly visual symptoms and little or no pain. For me, the aura looks like a wavy pattern of light off to one side of my vision and only in one eye. It often happens after an evening workout on a day that's been particularly stressful.

There's no numbness, weakness, confusion, or loss of coordination. It's just the altered vision and it predictably happens within an hour of de-stressing. All I can do it down some advil and wait it out.

I've seen my doctor about this, and she's confident that they are in fact occular migraines. It's still disconcerting though.

[indysteel]

I agree with Malkin that you need to rule out a stroke. I've had ocular migraines myself but never experienced anything but visual disturbances. No tingling in my extremeties. No loss of speech. No ill feeling.

[OakLeaf]

I had a migraine episode once. They called it "acephalgic" which I guess is more generic than "ocular," even though all I had was the visual disturbance. It was like there was a line through one of my eyes and the halves of what I saw were offset, if that makes any sense - like it was a photograph that someone had cut more or less vertically and put the pieces next to each other but not matching. Yeah, they had to rule out stroke. That's when I found out I was allergic to IV contrast.

Actually, once in college I had a really awful headache. Took a couple of T3s to tone it down. After I had the acephalgic migraine, I got to wondering whether that might've been a migraine headache. IAE those are the two events I've had in my 52 years. Let's hope it's all.

But I agree - with disturbances in the sense of touch and in strength I'd definitely rule out stroke/TIA. Sooner than later, as in go to the ER if you haven't already talked to your doctor...

[Catrin]

I have ocular migranes, just visual problems but none of the other symptoms you mentioned. I just get flashy lights/aura that starts in the center of my vision and eventually expands. I agree with the others that you should be checked out just in case something else is going on.

[2wheelr]

Yah--pretty freaky, isn't it?
Some people take risks to achieve this effect, and we just want it to stop.

I don't like anything that leaves me feeling less than in control of myself. That's probably why I just lie down until it subsides besides the dizziness.
People are strange, to quote one of the strangest.

[WindingRoad]

Just curious if anyone who has migraines has ever had soft spots on their scalp afterwards. I had a very bad migraine last Friday and it lasted a full day with lots of prodrome after effects. One weird one was the sore spots on my head. They were so sore I thought I hit my head. It's a week later and they are mostly gone however my neck muscles feel like they are pulled. It's an odd sensation almost like neck muscles can hardly hold up my head. It's freaking me out a bit.