Comment on They'd just appear out of nowhere
MehBlah@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Nope but I see these when I’m getting a optical migraine.
Do you happen to have astigmatism or relatively poor vision, by chance?
I used to get these every month or so since I was like 10 until a few years ago, when I finally pulled the trigger and got LASIK. Have not experienced one since, which is a Godsend given that they would usually last for an hour or two and be accompanied by a gnarly headache which would otherwise render me useless.
I’m a little far sighted with perhaps a slight stigmatism. Mine are triggered by the seasons as far as I can tell. I get them mainly when the pollen drops in the spring and when the mold comes in the fall. They were particularly bad last year but some years they are just a minor annoyance.
My ocular migraines always come with a pretty strong headache. Last week I had my first one without the headache. Very difficult to try to concentrate when you cannot see.
Also when I get both types of migraines, I can’t remember names or do any sort of math.
I typically get a song or something stuck in my head and cannot let it go while I have the headache, it sucks.
Glad I’m not the only one! I had one a bit ago that was weird. If my right eye could see my right hand but my left eye couldn’t, it felt disconnected from me. Like it was someone else’s hand. Once my vision came back I still couldn’t read for about 2 hours without sounding out each word. Migraines can be wildly scary sometimes.
I had one once, a decade ago, no pain, but mine was black and white squares, some had x’s in them, it looked like some unholly mix of Apple and Xwindows just righ there in my vision in just about that overall shape you displayed. I also felt SUPER disconnected at the time. My wife and I were picking stuff up at storage, I just ignored it, got what i needed from storage and it went away in less than 5 minutes. I was thankful to not have the oft associated headache
I just ignored it, got what i needed from storage
This is the most American Male statement I’ve ever seen. You probably had a fucking stroke or something bro, dang. Good luck out there, try to take care of yourself.
It’s not uniquely American. Estonian men are the same. Despite the free healthcare. The saying goes (and I’ll try to translate the Russian swears to English words to keep the meaning intact, but they’ll lose their colorfulness): The Estonian man never visits the doctor because he only knows two diseases: “whatever” and “quite fucked”. Whatever passes on its own and there’s no cure for quite fucked, anyway,
I had this a few times when I was working an extremely stressful job. Changed jobs and voila! No more ocular migraines. Mine was more silvery and blue than red but otherwise your pic looks just like it.
I don’t get ocular migraines so I have never seen something like this. I can see subtle multicolour flashes if I close my eyes and do things like looking around quickly or apply pressure to my eyes. Would you describe what you see before an ocular migraine like that, but 1000x more intense?
It is called a scintillating scotoma or ocular migraine. Scintillating is accurate; this clear crescent shows up in your vision and It is rippling with rainbow fringes. It starts off as a point somewhere in your vision, slowly expanding into a visible crescent that continues to expand. After about half an hour the crescent expands beyond your field of vision (FOV). For me it is paired with a loopy slightly lightheaded feeling that goes away with a whoosh once it leaves my FOV.
They are often triggered by bright light and may be correlated with migraines. I’ve had three of these happen but never had a migraine headache afaik.
No I’ve seen what you describe. What I see when I’m having one is most often a shimmering electric zigzag. Sometimes it take different shapes and the colors vary. Its always at the edge of my vision and moves when I move my eye. Its better to close your eyes when they are happening. At least for me. I have had them in both eyes at once and its really freaky since normally I only get them in one eye at a time. They don’t merge well and the combined blind spots have rendered me almost complete unable to navigate. I’ve pulled over while driving more than once and waited it out.
YO that’s a gnarly aura!
Same. Took me a while to figure out what it is cause I never get headaches.
I’ve seen that exact same shit. Well not exactly, but as you describe elsewhere, shimmery. No pain whatsoever, just that strange visual artifact
I read if you see lightning bolts you should go to the doctor immediately.
First time I had one of these I was so stressed out. I thought I was about to have a stroke.
Same! I was on a road trip in Ireland and it came out of nowhere. Freaked me out. I’d never had one until a few months after my first bout with COVID. Now I get them but usually only if I’ve not been drinking enough water for a few days, and ONLY when I stand up. It’s preceded by a weird sort of throbbing where it feels like sound is turned down in time with my heartbeat.
phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Yikes, you’re actually seeing that?
MehBlah@lemmy.world 2 days ago
It doesn’t do what I see justice. They are often beautiful. When they first occur it causes a blind spot. The zigzags are a rainbow of shimmering color. They go away after a hour or so and I feel lousy if I don’t have a headache. If I do get the headache with it I have to find a dark room and try to sleep.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Wait, there are people who get migraines without the headache‽ I just get the agonizing ocular pressure and occasionally nausea
banazir@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Yes, my migraines are mostly “silent” these days. As a teenager, I just had the headaches without aura, but that changed with age. Nowadays I get all kinds of weird and uncomfortable pre- and postdrome effects, like ocular aura, but rarely pain. I have a family member whose only migraine symptom is a crippling stomach ache. Migraines are super weird.
phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Sorry to hear that, it sucks
Well at least you get pretty rainbows
MehBlah@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Its a pretty rainbow that is forever at the edge of your vision. You can’t look directly at it.
untorquer@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yusssss
untorquer@lemmy.world 2 days ago
That’s the shape. But it’s constantly oscillating and the colors shifting rapidly.
Vision gets obscured but for me my visual processing/reasoning gets cloudy too. I can still navigate the world but finding a door handle is difficult.
I get sore behind my eyes after and real tired. Happened a few times in the last couple years, anxiety I think.
Youtube mostly has classix migraine aura but this is close enough if you imagine the zigzag image.
Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yeah and it has the best name, Scintillating Scotoma. The first time I experienced one it was terrifying.
phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Yeah, that names sounds about right for what you’re describing
Zink@programming.dev 2 days ago
I occasionally get them and mine feel more black & white than color, the the jagged shape and the arc around the center of your vision is spot on.
And remember the jagged arc is always in your peripheral vision. You can’t look directly at it and study the details because it moves when your eyes do.
MehBlah@lemmy.world 2 days ago
This is what I have. I’ve had them my whole life.
Dreaming_Novaling@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
I don’t know what it was like when my sister was young, but I also got occular migraines as a kid, and it’d be like a static spot in my vision where things just disappear behind it. Once that static appeared, I only had 10-20 mins or so before an awful headache would set off, and I ended up needing meds for it. They went away after 13 though.
0ops@piefed.zip 2 days ago
Yeah I get those every once in awhile, it starts with a blurry spot in the middle of my vision (like if I'm reading something, half of the word is blurred out no matter where I look) then half an hour later it goes away but is replaced with a migraine that lasts a few hours. Taking a bunch of ibuprofen helps. I've noticed it usually happens when I overexert myself without drinking enough water. Also seems to happen more in cold weather, like maybe it's something about breathing cold dry air. Luckily it's not chronic, it only happens once a year or so, but often enough to recognize the pattern.
banazir@lemmy.ml 2 days ago
Well, yes and no. It’s kind of an area you can’t see, but it’s there. Also, it starts as a small dot and them starts expanding/moving. It’s also flashing, kind of like static noise on an old TV. Luckily those things usually last like 15 minutes or so. Still, not a fun experience.