Comments on: Do you REALLY have Ocular Migraine?

By: kay

kay — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:43:09 +0000

the office recently changed the lighting into those yellow lights, my! Migraine strikes me and i get these terrible headaches and oftentimes vomiting, was just discharged from the hospital now. These attacks are costing me my job.. can anyone give me a few things to do and consider to get rid of these attacks?

By: Nat

Nat — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:22:36 +0000

Tabitha – Sounds like we have similar migraines. Vision loss (for me it is in my right eye – retinal migraine), then severe pain and depending on the severity of the migraine numbness in my right hand/arm and the whole right side of my face. I have never vomited from a migraine and am usually not light sensitive. I am now 29 years old and have suffered from these migraines since I was 10. My advise – get your eyes checked. I was told a couple years ago that I have a vertical alignment problem. This means that my right eye is not properly aligned with the left (although you would never know it to look at me). It took optometrists over five years to discover this problem, and after going through lots of blood work, MRI’s, blind spot checks, etc., etc. To correct this problem with my eyes I now wear glasses that have a prism in the right lens. Although this has not completely gotten rid of my migraines, they are now A LOT less frequent (i.e. from twice a week to once every 5 to 6 months). I was also switched to a birth control with very little to no estrogen (deproprovera) which has also made a HUGE difference. To deal with the pain when I get a migraine I take anaprox but usually the best medicine is to sleep it off and drink LOTS of water. Hope that helps…

By: Tahir Razvi

Tahir Razvi — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:25:14 +0000

Sharon Fibromyalgia has nothing to do with Migrains, these are the signals going from your brain to your muscles and creating those uncomfortable pains, there are some good medicines available now for these pains and aches connected to Fibromyalgia.
Migrains with or without Aura is a mystery till date there are different theories and no one is still sure what triggers it. I personally suffer from Migraine with Aura, The interesting thing is that Migraine is not just a headache, even Aura’s are of different kinds, stiff neck is very common in Migraine during or after the attack, even before also, its really very painful event , you can have all kind of pains and aches in Migraine, Aura are visual, there are people who have these weird sounds before during and after attack for a short period like thirty minutes, numbness, difficult to speak, one side totally numb etc etc, weird things but they all llast for 30 minutes or little more. But my advise to you is to make an appointment with your doctor before you start any medication, I have gone through it a lot but what makes me easy is that I know what I have. So once you will see your doctor he will ask for some tests.
If it Migraine than maybe you have to live with it for a while, they automatically goes away after a period of time and than comes back for sometime and again vanished.

By: marlene

marlene — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:25:33 +0000

Migraines are real, whatever the cause. I so far have the aura first and keep tylenol with me at all times. Once many years ago, I did not have anything with me and got one while driving, got so sick. I wish everyone could get the aura first and know when it was coming. I do not know what causes mine, and I can go for long periods of time without any. I had one yesterday and also today, took the ty lenol right away and the aura lasted about 30 minutes. I sympathize with anyone with migraines

By: marlene

marlene — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:20:39 +0000

I read your story and mine is so similar. I got a strange sensation when I was 26 years old. I had the eye aura, then by the time I got home I had a terrible headache and threw up. I had to sleep and felt like I had been run over by a truck. It took me a while to realize that if I took tylenol at the time of the eye aura I did not get the headaches. The eye aura usuallly lasts only 30 minutes. I still dont know what causes them or why I can go for years without one and in the past 2 days I have had one a day. But I am glad I found out about taking the medication a while ago.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:49:25 +0000

I just started getting them, both eyes, several times a day. Sometimes, the zig zag lights are so many they blot out my vision! I used to have regular migraines without any aura, so I found this rather entertaining, with all the little dancing lights and the occasional blank spot.

I’d never heard of it being related to a person’s age. With all my other pain issues, it’s kind of nice to have a thing that’s harmless and doesn’t cause any pain

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:43:32 +0000

Keeping a log is a great idea. What worked great for me for migraines was Paxil, but I gained 60 pounds in 6 months on it, so if you take it, be VERY AWARE of the side effects – I have had doctors that just refused to prescribe it for anything, saying it should have never been allowed on the market, it does have other strong side effects. Also have used Inderal, which is a blood pressure medicine, and Caffergot, and Midrin, which are both caffeine + sedatives. Blood vessel constrictors + something to calm you. Currently I take a lot of pain meds for my back (in a nutshell, my spine is disintegrating) and fibromyalgia, but I think what helped more than that was the nerve blocks and the trigger point injections I got from pain management. Those thermocare heat pads stick to your face as well – the shoulder ones are just the right size to stick to your temple on one side and behind the ear on the other! (great for sinuses as well)

Keep up with the doctors, I know I spent 20 years dealing with it before we got it stabilized…..and now it’s my daughter’s turn It’s a different treatment for everyone, and even for you at different stages of your life. Always be an informed patient.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 03:32:42 +0000

I just found this site. I used to have awful migraines, and I seem to have traded them in for awful Fibromyalgia. Not sure I got the better deal lol.

I have a history of severe low back spinal problems, and my neck has some disc issues as well, and lately, I have been noticing a huge increase in the “zigzag” and “bracket” lights when I get up from laying down, to the point where I sometimes can’t see around them! I’ve also had the blank spots now and again, and the optomitrist was the first to suggest optical migraines.

I’m going to go with the most obvious choice and say that the increase of aura (I never had auras when I had normal migraines, just the pain) is because of something in my neck degenerating more, and I do feel more stiff in the morning, with the stiffness and the aura wearing off together. Should I be concerned? Or only if it doesn’t go away?

By: Tabitha

Tabitha — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:15:39 +0000

I am 25 and have got migraines since puberty started around 11 or 12, they also run in my family; my mom gets them as well as my younger brother. My migraines started with flashes of light and hand or finger numbness followed by a severe light and sound sensitive migraine usually lasting 5-8+hours. (Mostly triggered by stress) I noticed once my weight increased the migraines decreased, my husband and I recently lost 70+ pounds each and I have noticed a huge increase in migraines again. I have had 12 migraines from 5/10/10-1/6/12! This is a large increase considering I maybe have 1 a year/2 years. The past 3 weeks I had one every week! After about the 3rd of 4th migraine I consulted a doctor and was started on a preventative 25mg of amitriptyline and bulbital for the onset of a migraine…which I take as soon as I notice an aura..the terrible flashes followed by vomiting. 2 months after being started on the amitriptyline I had a check up visit and had 1 migraine in that time frame. My doctor decided to increase the amitriptyline to 50mg, since then I have had 3 migraines in 3 weeks like I said earlier. I will now be seeing a Neurologist in a few weeks to hopefully see why this is happening. With the large increase in migraines I have a constant anxiety and worry day to day if I’ll get a migraine…where I’ll be. Lately they are sporadic and often come at any time of day. My vision is commonly effected first with the aura, when I was younger I got spots of lights that flashed, recently I’ve started to have zig-zag flashes appear with half of one of my eyes going numb. I must say that the medicine I’m currently taking has made my migraines less intense, but I’ve noticed they are more frequent. So I don’t really see any benefit. I keep track of when I get them, intensity, time of day, how the aura was as well as the duration. Having migraines since I was 11 or 12 seems like this will be something I will struggle with as I grow older. I hoped I would grow out of this migrain phase. Please offer any advice or stories, its helpful reading how others handle these darn migraines!

By: Tahir Razvi

Tahir Razvi — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:26:04 +0000

JoAnn this is a very normal reaction which you have, I still have them but I have come to terms and take it easy, if I am at work I just try to go to a place where there is little light, its just makes it better, although I know after 20 minutes there will be nothing but the feeling of having that severe headache scares me because sometimes it goes for 2 days , I am not afraid of this aura’s anymore I am scared of the headache and that makes me really down but once the pain is over I feel extremely fresh and full of energy, the migraine pain can stay as little as for an hour and can go upto 72 hours, I had such long headaches but very seldom.
So take it easy remember you are much more stronger than this Migraine.
Wish you all the best.