Migraine Headache Tips

Hi Everybody,

About three years ago I had my first ocular migraine.  It started out as a small blank spot in the front of my vision and then spread out to my peripheral vision.  I had a blind spot and sparkling lights for about 20 minutes.  During this time I also had trouble reading, which scared me, so I went to the hospital.  They told me I had experienced an ocular migraine so they sent me home.

 After about 6 months I had another similar experience and then went another year before having another.  Althogether, I have only had 3 of these migraines.

After my first migraine, however, I started noticing that almost daily I would see a single black dot in the center of my vision when I’d blink.  It lasts about 10 seconds and then disappears.  Eventually, I got nervous enough to go to the neuro about it and she tested me for epilepsy.

My EEGs (30 min and 24 hour ambulatory) came back slightly abnormal, but other tests (MRI, corotid artery) were totally fine.  I am currently taking 500 mg of Keppra 2x day but am still seeing the black dots.  They seemed to disappear when I wasn’t stressed out during the summer, but have reappeared this year (I’m in a one year Master’s program and am job hunting, etc. so I’m really stressed!!)

Does anyone have anything similar to this? I’m going to call my neuro today to see if it’s strange that the dots haven’t disappeared.  She said that it could only be simple partial seizures or migraines.

Ocular Sparkle Vision

Anyone know what an ocular migraine is? Let me walk you through it:

You begin to notice an area of your vision is blocked by a bright sparkly area, sort of as if you’d just looked right at a light bulb, but you haven’t.
As the area expands you grow more alarmed, holding your hands in front of you trying to see around the weird sparkly area.

Then you contemplate the possibility that you may have some exotic fast acting eye disease and you are actually going blind this very minute.
Then as the sparkly area begins to close around your frame of vision, limiting it to an area slightly smaller than looking through a paper towel tube and becomes more “shattery” looking, like mirror fragments,

Ocular migraines make can you slightly disoriented, partly because it’s disconcerting having your vision so messed up,
You know from experience unless you lay down, and, ideally, sleep for about a half hour this will become a splitting headache (think unanthesthitised dental work, somehow performed behind your eyeballs) in about an hour, so you lay down. When you get up about an hour later everything is back to normal .

• Identify and Treat Ocular Migraines - Ocular migraines often start with a small blind spot in the peripheral vision. Over five to ten minutes, the spot gradually increases to encompass the entire peripheral portion of vision. Either complete blindness or object fuzziness …

• Ocular Migraines and Simple Partial Seizures | epilepsy.com - Hi Everybody, About three years ago I had my first ocular migraine. It started out as a small blank spot in the front of my vision and then spread out to my peripheral vision. I had a blind spot and sparkling lights for about 20 minutes …

• Ocular Migraine Treatment - Most ocular migraines are harmless, albeit painful, although it is always worth a trip to your doctor for an accurate diagnosis if you experience these types of symptoms. While an ocular migraine is not necessarily dangerous, …

Opthalmic or eye migraine headaches, commonly called ocular

migraines, are irregularities in vision that may or may not be

accompanied by headaches. These irregularities may be caused by

changes in blood flow to the brain.

Causes of Ocular migraines

Ocular migraines can be triggered by changes in hormone levels,

flashing or flickering lights, chemical compounds in food, or

medications the patient is taking. Visual symptoms are a common

symptom of these headaches.

Some ocular migraine sufferers experience a scotoma, or blind spot in

their central vision. Sometimes the patient sees bright flickering lights,

or scintillations, around the scotoma, and sometimes they see a

shimmering jagged line inside the blind spot. The spot gets larger as the

ocular migraine headache progresses and may appear to move across

the patient’s field of vision.

An ocular headache may also be accompanied by gripping pain on one

side of the head, light flashes, and the impression of sparks appearing in

the field of vision. The headaches also come with nausea, vomiting, and

double vision.

Ocular migraines are usually harmless and do not cause usually

permanent damage or require treatment. That doesn’t mean you can go

on with your regular activities if you feel an ocular headache coming on.

If you have an ocular headache while you are doing something that

requires clear vision, like driving or working, you should stop

immediately and wait until the migraine passes or until your vision

clears enough to safely continue your activities.

Ocular migraines may be caused by a variety of factors. Common

causes include hormonal changes associated with menstruation;

changes in blood flow to the brain caused by alcohol consumption;

consumption of certain foods like red wine, hard cheese, milk,

preserved lunchmeats and bacon, and foods prepared with MSG. Thus

a strict vegan diet, which excludes all meat, cheese, and other animal-

derived food products, is thought to control the onset of the migraine

headache.

For some patients, bright sunlight or flickering sunshine and shadow

can bring on the onset of a migraine.

Ocular migraines are usually treated by allowing the patient to rest in a

quiet, darkened room until the pain passes. Patients who suffer from

frequent ocular migraine headaches should consult with their

physicians to see if, working together, they can identify and therefore

eliminate the cause of the ocular migraine headache.

If prophylactic treatment does not prevent the ocular migraines from

occurring, then a course of drug treatment may be recommended.