Migraine

So I'm looking for any hints here... I experienced something new last night. It was a bit of a rough day for me, I was very stressed all day, and I was with a large group of people in the evening, the noise was difficult, which is to be expected. It didn't seem that the pain was particularly bad, probably about a 6 or so, but I felt a little extra sensitive.

I started to notice things as soon as I started driving home, not liking all of the lights from the cars, feeling a little overwhelmed at the task. I then noticed when I would ht a little bumpy area (rural area...our roads aren't the best) I could see my speedometer in my peripheral vision, and I was getting some double/triple vision of it... which I've had before, but only when my pain level is really intense and everything gets really hazy and yucky. I continued to have a really hard time with oncoming headlights being really intense, and tailights seeming fuzzy to me, getting a little bit of star--vision with both.

When I came to the stop light (I told rural... I only encounter two on my way home!) at the turn near my home, the street lights, gas station and cars lights on the outside of my vision all seemed to be causing some really weird kinda geometric type things in my vision that came and went very suddenly. This continued when I got home... I think it's related to light, and appears just on the edges of my vision, I think it might be a double/triple of things... on my way home I saw up to five of some things on the edges of my vision. It was very disconcerting to me... These were like long lines, almost light, but not quite, like refracted light. I tried to study them so I could explain them better, I'm really just hoping someone else will know what I'm talking about. I went to bed about an hour or two later, but no horrendous pain followed... so if this was an aura, it should it have been precipitating an attack? I still don't know if I am existing in a constant state of migraine, or what.

Ok sweetie, here's the deal. With your throbbing, pressure-like Migraines (or headaches as to be determined) and the added visual component it is time for a Migraine specialist. Check our list out http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/doctors.html?ic=4019.

Have you had your eyes examined lately by an ophthalmologist just to make sure everything is ok?

You could be experiencing Migraine with aura, acephalgic or silent Migraine or even Migraine without aura. These different Migraines can be found HERE.

I hear you voting for a new doctor already!? I've looked at the list... I was kinda figuring I'd go see Jerome Goldstein if this newest doctor didn't work out for me. I haven't confirmed if he's a migraine specialist yet, or rather if he has the classifications that Terry listed in a post once... but he was neurologist recommended to me that seems knowledgable/helpful...

I had my eyes examined a few months ago (I covered all the bases I could think of when the head pain started up) and he said my discs and whatever else you check for... was fine.

I'm following you, the possibilties for my diagnosis in terms of different types of migraine... I'm comfortable with the idea of any of those. The new doc and I didn't get into talking about specifics yet... I meant to, but we covered so much in the over an hour appt that I felt a bit overwhelmed to try to do more.

So that would be an aura symptom though? It just hard to put my finger on these things when they are so new and foreign to me! I guess when I hear other people explain it, it sounds like it takes over your vision... whereas this seems like something that is almost "not there"... just around the edges... I get the urge to turn my head to see it, but then it's gone. Very geometric, like a long line of faint refracted light with a right angle near the bottom... oddest thing to see... and before, everytime I would have a visual symptom it came in times of great pain, so that was another surprise.

Candace,

I couldn't agree more with Nancy about seeing a migraine specialist. I had to quit my job last August because I was in bed more than I was at work. I would get a migraine every three days and be stuck in bed for two or three days at a time and then end up in the ER.

In January I started seeing a specialist and now I get a five or six day stretch of being 100% pain free. My migraines only last a one day sometimes 1.5 days. The pain is drastically reduced too. He is helping me get my life back. I recommend a specialist with all my heart.

Here are two articles explaining a bit more about migraines:

Anatomy of a Migraine

Pathways of a Migraine

Please take care and let us know how you're doing, k?

Hi Candace,

Here is a "cool" video of aura symptoms and HERE.

These may give you an idea of what some folks experience when they have aura.

I suppose pushing me to get a new neurologist would just be the first push from this board.... now to get me to a good specialist. Something for a few months down the road.

I'm definitely adding these visual symptoms to my doctor list. I have to assume it's related to my head pain, although I didn't find any videos with anything similar in them. It'd be nice to have some reassurance that that's absolutely the case too.

What I did find very interesting, was the fact that the most flashy of the videos on the first page you linked... the black sparkly one actually looked a bit like the visual patterns I saw during my EEG. Odd, eh?

Candace,

I'm so glad you're going to look for a better neuro and then a specialist. It will be the best thing you've ever done for yourself, your family and your friends. I'll give you the link again

Patient Recommended Migraine and Headache Specialists

Good luck and, as always, please keep us posted, k?

Candace--

Getting the right doctor makes ALL the difference. I've been diagnosed with nasty monsters for almost 20 years and have all the different t-shirts. I consider myself to be in actually reasonable control, but am really excited to have an appointment with Dr. Krusz on June 2. I'm hoping he'll be able to help me either fine tune or get into better control.

It can take awhile to find the right specialist. I plan on keeping my very special Dr.W (an Internist) who will manage my day to day care with Dr. Krusz consulting.

Candace, I'm going to poke my head in here for a minute. As you know I've been having a months-long migraine, and in the last month it's started throwing new symptoms at me. Sometimes, late at night, I will have weird visual symptoms. I've never had any sort of visual auras before this current cycle so I'm not sure what it is. (It's on my list of questions for my new doc this afternoon.)

Mine isn't exactly what you describe, but one I had one night was a sort of shimmering to everything, almost like heat waves, but I only saw it in the periphery of my vision. It happened late at night after I woke up from a nap and before I went to bed. I had severe pain that night as I recall.

Not sure if this helps any, but the way I look at it - since migraine is a neurological disease, it can throw weird and unpredictable symptoms at you anytime, especially when you get into a chronic migraine situation. That said, if you're having any new symptoms, you definitely want to call your doctor ASAP and let him know what's going on. Even if you're not up to the point of considering changing doctors, please do that much for yourself. He may want to have you come in sooner, or change something about your treatment plan, or even consider a different diagnosis.

MJ-good thoughts. I had to call my doctor's office about some pharmacy debacle, so I mentioned it in my message.

The more I thought about it though, the less it seemed like a new symptom. Several times in the past, I've had some double/triple vision, just in my peripheral vision... now this would just happen when I'd turn my head. I'd stop moving and it would disappear, which wasn't the case this time, but the double vision was similar. I think because it was night, and I was dealing with lights, it was just a bit more scary.

I did see about five of a road sign on the side of the road as well... which is what triggered my memory to recall this older symptom. I have to assume that being this similar, they're probably related. I don't have the slightest what would trigger it though--why it would happen one time and not another. Or why it would not take place during a time of great pain like most of my odd symptoms.

I have to admit, I'm a horribly negative person naturally... and I am really hoping my new meds help, but I won't be surprised if they don't. So I suppose I'm planning to ask my HA specialist about this when the new meds don't work, and I'm forced to seek better help--lol... I sound like such a defeatist.

Don't give up hope Candace! I'm sending you postive vibes that your new meds will work like a charm.

If they don't, always remember there are over 100 Medications that can be used for Migraine prevention. It's just a matter of finding the right "fit" for you. I know it can be frustrating but once you find the right meds for you it'll all be worth it.

Hang in there!!

quote:

I have to admit, I'm a horribly negative person naturally... and I am really hoping my new meds help, but I won't be surprised if they don't

Thanks for the glass-half-full thoughts, Laura. Just a melancholy here..

Candance do you wear contacts? As my migraines have progressed I have been having increasing difficulty with dry eyes. It is more from other issues (meds I"m not on for migraines, allergies, and fatigue), but as the day wears on my eyes get dry and my vision gets worse. If I am not proactive and use liquid tears all day my eyes are toast at the end of the day.

If this has in fact been going on for a while, something like this could be contributing.

Cindy

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the two cents here... no contacts though. I have 20/20 vision, but reading glasses for work, since I'm at the computer all day and tend to strain my eyes. I haven't really noticed any dry eyes lately, but I'll try to remember to ask myself how they are feeling next time I get this symptom.

Candace,

I have very similar visual symptoms to what you describe. It is especially bothersome driving at night... all lights are too intense and everything has a starlike refraction/aura to it. I have migraine with aura, and used to get the aura right before the head pain.

In the last year though, I have had problems with persistent visual aura. The visual "aura" symptoms persist after the migraine has passed. Or maybe I'm just having a lot of "silent" or acephalgic migraines, I don't know.

In any case, I know what you're going through. I have a horrible time with afterimages and seeing vibrating or flashing in my peripheral vision. I also have 20/20 vision, but I have some lightly magnified tinted glasses that I wear sometimes at work. The fluorescent lights kill me, and the eye strain is bad... I have to turn the brightness on my monitor all the way down. Even now, I have my brightness at about 10%, and I'm still wearing sunglasses.

Anyway, just wanted to throw in my experiences and let you know that there are other people out there who are going through the same

Hope you can find a good specialist and get on the road to controlling the beasties soon!