Aura without migraine (or at least without the headache)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are talking about an ocular migraine, they look generally like these pictures and typically have no headache accompanying the vision symptoms. Mine last about 10-30 minutes and I can't read or drive until it's gone but otherwise I can continue what I'm doing.

Oh I just looked at the picture and it reminded me how creepy they are. It’s like a headache without the pain.

OP, that's not exactly what mine are like. Mine is like someone put a very thin oil slick over my vision, so it's got rainbows in it, and everything's moving like the surface of a puddle with a light breeze, and of course those things make it hard to see what's behind it, but there aren't any sections that aren't pretty transparent, but driving, or reading or other things are hard. The descriptions of ocular migraines make it seem like there are actual blind spots, which I don't have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old gets them every rare once in a while. It’s usually either a blind spot or squiggly rainbow lines for about 20-30 minutes, and he rarely gets the accompanying headache.

I get the aura for about 20-30 minutes and then have about 15 minutes of clear vision followed by 4-5 hours of super intense head pain (can’t get out of bed type pain) and another day of migraine hangover (bruised brain feeling, nausea, weakness)

Squiggly lines are not a big deal. I have them all the time. Its the ones where you basically lose vision and have lots of flashing lights that are scarry.

It’s a big deal if you’re about to vault in a gymnastics competition, or take a final exam, or just about anything that requires vision. What I get is almost like a broken glass effect and numbness in my kneecaps or arms. I don’t know how I will ever know if I’m actually having a stroke instead.

You sound pretty dramatic. Be grateful you don't have my migraines.

I'm OP and not the PP you're responding to. I also have regular migraines, that include visual auras. I think that for me, other than the pain and throwing up which of course I would prefer to miss, the big difference is that the aura comes on super fast. So, with the migraine, I might get up and feel a twinge, and then go to work hoping it will go away, and realize by 10 it's getting worse, and then by noon that I'm not going to last, and leave, and be at home by the time it gets really bad. On the other hand, with the visual symptoms I can be sitting at my desk doing something that involves reading, and look up to talk to someone, look down and I can't read it at all. Or driving down the road and suddenly I can't see well enough to safely pull over. So, while it's just rainbows and oil slicks (I don't get blind spots), it can be very jarring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old gets them every rare once in a while. It’s usually either a blind spot or squiggly rainbow lines for about 20-30 minutes, and he rarely gets the accompanying headache.

I get the aura for about 20-30 minutes and then have about 15 minutes of clear vision followed by 4-5 hours of super intense head pain (can’t get out of bed type pain) and another day of migraine hangover (bruised brain feeling, nausea, weakness)

Squiggly lines are not a big deal. I have them all the time. Its the ones where you basically lose vision and have lots of flashing lights that are scarry.

It’s a big deal if you’re about to vault in a gymnastics competition, or take a final exam, or just about anything that requires vision. What I get is almost like a broken glass effect and numbness in my kneecaps or arms. I don’t know how I will ever know if I’m actually having a stroke instead.

You sound pretty dramatic. Be grateful you don't have my migraines.

I'm OP and not the PP you're responding to. I also have regular migraines, that include visual auras. I think that for me, other than the pain and throwing up which of course I would prefer to miss, the big difference is that the aura comes on super fast. So, with the migraine, I might get up and feel a twinge, and then go to work hoping it will go away, and realize by 10 it's getting worse, and then by noon that I'm not going to last, and leave, and be at home by the time it gets really bad. On the other hand, with the visual symptoms I can be sitting at my desk doing something that involves reading, and look up to talk to someone, look down and I can't read it at all. Or driving down the road and suddenly I can't see well enough to safely pull over. So, while it's just rainbows and oil slicks (I don't get blind spots), it can be very jarring.

Call your neurologist. Mine was not concerned when I started getting them but its a good idea to get them checked out. Mine sound like yours but I always have the floaters. If yours are chronic - more days than not (mine are all the time) then try some of the new medications. They are a miracle drug for some (unfortunately not for me).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old gets them every rare once in a while. It’s usually either a blind spot or squiggly rainbow lines for about 20-30 minutes, and he rarely gets the accompanying headache.

I get the aura for about 20-30 minutes and then have about 15 minutes of clear vision followed by 4-5 hours of super intense head pain (can’t get out of bed type pain) and another day of migraine hangover (bruised brain feeling, nausea, weakness)

Squiggly lines are not a big deal. I have them all the time. Its the ones where you basically lose vision and have lots of flashing lights that are scarry.

It’s a big deal if you’re about to vault in a gymnastics competition, or take a final exam, or just about anything that requires vision. What I get is almost like a broken glass effect and numbness in my kneecaps or arms. I don’t know how I will ever know if I’m actually having a stroke instead.

You sound pretty dramatic. Be grateful you don't have my migraines.

How dare you judge another persons pain? Migraines are horrific for all. Yours are not worse than anyone else’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old gets them every rare once in a while. It’s usually either a blind spot or squiggly rainbow lines for about 20-30 minutes, and he rarely gets the accompanying headache.

I get the aura for about 20-30 minutes and then have about 15 minutes of clear vision followed by 4-5 hours of super intense head pain (can’t get out of bed type pain) and another day of migraine hangover (bruised brain feeling, nausea, weakness)

Squiggly lines are not a big deal. I have them all the time. Its the ones where you basically lose vision and have lots of flashing lights that are scarry.

It’s a big deal if you’re about to vault in a gymnastics competition, or take a final exam, or just about anything that requires vision. What I get is almost like a broken glass effect and numbness in my kneecaps or arms. I don’t know how I will ever know if I’m actually having a stroke instead.

You sound pretty dramatic. Be grateful you don't have my migraines.

How dare you judge another persons pain? Migraines are horrific for all. Yours are not worse than anyone else’s.

+1

I think this is the same PP who went after a poster inquiring about botox for migraines. That post seems to have been deleted.

[Anonymous]

I get these from stress. I’ve found popping two aspirin, drinking a ton of water and eating a small snack once the vision issues start usually reduces intensity and time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old gets them every rare once in a while. It’s usually either a blind spot or squiggly rainbow lines for about 20-30 minutes, and he rarely gets the accompanying headache.

I get the aura for about 20-30 minutes and then have about 15 minutes of clear vision followed by 4-5 hours of super intense head pain (can’t get out of bed type pain) and another day of migraine hangover (bruised brain feeling, nausea, weakness)

Squiggly lines are not a big deal. I have them all the time. Its the ones where you basically lose vision and have lots of flashing lights that are scarry.

It’s a big deal if you’re about to vault in a gymnastics competition, or take a final exam, or just about anything that requires vision. What I get is almost like a broken glass effect and numbness in my kneecaps or arms. I don’t know how I will ever know if I’m actually having a stroke instead.

You sound pretty dramatic. Be grateful you don't have my migraines.

I'm OP and not the PP you're responding to. I also have regular migraines, that include visual auras. I think that for me, other than the pain and throwing up which of course I would prefer to miss, the big difference is that the aura comes on super fast. So, with the migraine, I might get up and feel a twinge, and then go to work hoping it will go away, and realize by 10 it's getting worse, and then by noon that I'm not going to last, and leave, and be at home by the time it gets really bad. On the other hand, with the visual symptoms I can be sitting at my desk doing something that involves reading, and look up to talk to someone, look down and I can't read it at all. Or driving down the road and suddenly I can't see well enough to safely pull over. So, while it's just rainbows and oil slicks (I don't get blind spots), it can be very jarring.

Call your neurologist. Mine was not concerned when I started getting them but its a good idea to get them checked out. Mine sound like yours but I always have the floaters. If yours are chronic - more days than not (mine are all the time) then try some of the new medications. They are a miracle drug for some (unfortunately not for me).

So you're assuming that OP has a neurologist on call?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get them. Mine are silver flashes moving toward the center of my field of vision in a circular pattern.

I also get classic migraines: nausea, light sensitivity, intense pain on one side. However, the vision disturbances and painful migraines never occur together.

I get them like the PP poster, flashes moving in a circular pattern. They're often so bad, for a period of about 20 minutes, that I'm unable to see well enough to read. Sometimes, I'll get a heaviness in my frontal lobe afterwards, but no pain. Other times, I'll get a painful migraine about an hour after the auras clear. Opthamologist and neurologists say there's nothing pathological. For the painful migraines, I'll take some pain medication and go to bed. Have never thrown up from them.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone get them after flights? or after very intense cardio? (no other migraine symptoms and do not get migraines or even headaches).

[Anonymous]

I've had them several times. I get a zigzag line that starts from a single small blind spot, gradually gets larger over 30-40 minutes and then disappears. Like in this image from Wikipedia, but not as bright:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(symptom)#/media/File:Migraine_aura.jpg

I got really scared the first time I got one and was afraid of retina detachment, etc., was at an ophthalmologist's office within 40 minutes of getting it -- just as it stopped. I've mentioned these since to my GP who was not concerned.

I have not gotten migraine headaches previously or since (and of course really, really hope I don't in the future), and don't have other symptoms together with the aura.

I haven't seen any direct links to stress levels, etc., but I've only had four in the 5 years since first getting one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you are talking about an ocular migraine, they look generally like these pictures and typically have no headache accompanying the vision symptoms. Mine last about 10-30 minutes and I can't read or drive until it's gone but otherwise I can continue what I'm doing.

Both my teenage sons get ocular migraines. I think they are much more common than is generally thought.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm a chronic migraineur. I've had migraines with and without aura. I've also had aura with and without pain.

Migraine does not mean pain. Migraine is a complex group of neurological symptoms, of which headache pain is sometimes one.

Any time you have a significant change in your migraine symptoms, you should check with your doctor. They will perform simple in-office tests to make sure that there is no change to your brain function.

[Anonymous]

First time I had one of these (aura with no headache) it scared me and I went to the ophthalmologist who told me it was an ocular migraine and nothing to worry about. Then a couple of years later I had one every day for five days straight. Back to the ophthalmologist who said that it was still okay - maybe I had changed something in my diet. But no. Don't know what caused it. It's unsettling but apparently it's not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Oliver Sacks's book "Migraine" is well worth reading. You will probably find, as I did, that other people have similar experiences. That made things far less frightening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old gets them every rare once in a while. It’s usually either a blind spot or squiggly rainbow lines for about 20-30 minutes, and he rarely gets the accompanying headache.

I get the aura for about 20-30 minutes and then have about 15 minutes of clear vision followed by 4-5 hours of super intense head pain (can’t get out of bed type pain) and another day of migraine hangover (bruised brain feeling, nausea, weakness)

Squiggly lines are not a big deal. I have them all the time. Its the ones where you basically lose vision and have lots of flashing lights that are scarry.

It’s a big deal if you’re about to vault in a gymnastics competition, or take a final exam, or just about anything that requires vision. What I get is almost like a broken glass effect and numbness in my kneecaps or arms. I don’t know how I will ever know if I’m actually having a stroke instead.

You sound pretty dramatic. Be grateful you don't have my migraines.

How dare you judge another persons pain? Migraines are horrific for all. Yours are not worse than anyone else’s.

Actually mine are worse than most people's. I have them 24/7 except for a few hour break that I take a triptan.