Help! Medical type question!

[Sarah428]

This morning I was in the shower after working out. I was washing my hair and had my eyes closed. When I opened them I could see a diamond pattern and it was flashing like a strobe light. If I tried to focus on something it became more intense. It seemed to last forever but it was probably just a minute or 2. I was freaking out because I couldn’t get it to stop on my own by blinking, etc and all I could think of was it was going to stay like that forever, My heart was racing, I could barely see where I was going when it was happening and then it just stopped suddenly.

Has anyone ever experience anything like this? Nothing in my morning routine was out of the ordinary but now I’m hesitant to close my eyes for a long period of time worried that it will come back.

[erinl]

Could be a form of migraine--my uncle gets them like that. I'll try to remember what exactly it's called and get back to you with more info.

Okay check these out:
ocular migraine 1 (http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3200/3266.asp?index=11253)

ocular migraine 2 (http://www.eyeguys.net/ocularmigraine.html)

[Silvery Moon]

Was it a large flashing area?

I get that once in a while. It's called an ocular migraine. It usually goes away in a few minutes, but while it's happening, I can't focus enough to read the computer screen!

[LakeMartinGal]

If it's what I'm thinking, it's an aura migraine... all the fun of the visual aspect, with no actual headache pain! ;)

[Cookin4Love]

Migraine with visual auras was my thought, too. I had one driving home one night, and the strobe effect was so strong I had to pull over until it let up (the aura--the headache lasted for two days). My central vision was fine, but it was like I was looking through a round tunnel with a strobe light surrounding it--top, bottom, and sides. It's the first time I've had a visual aura that manifested that particular way, but it was frightening.

I've heard that you can have a migraine with the aura, etc. but not the actual pain. If you've never experienced it before and don't have any other symptoms, I would probably just try not to worry about it. If it continues to happen, I'd check in with the doctor.

[zwieback]

I can see a squiggly line and sometimes a squiggly ball that starts out small and grows when I get migraines. I then get a headache. If I take some kind of medication (Imitrex, ibuprofen, etc.) when I get that aura (erinl, is that what you were thinking?), my headache won't be too bad, mainly just a dull headache throughout the day. If I don't take anything, my headache is more severe.

[Sarah428]

Thank you so much!!!! I feel a thousand times better already.

Erin your links described it perfectly, off to do some research!

[LA98]

Very scary, isn't it?? I've had two of these, years apart. I happened to have an eye doctor appointment the day after the first one, I mentioned it and he called them ocular migraines (I had no headache either time). He said it's nothing to be concerned about unless they happen frequently. The link erinl posted for ocular migraine 2 looks to be what I was told about them.

[stacy7272]

I've had these ocular migraines since I was a teenager. I remember the first one because I asked my boyfriend to see if there was anything in my eye. He insisted there was nothing in my eye but I was sure there was!

I then got it a few more times. I have a colored line in the middle of my vision and then the left hemisphere of my vision is blurred. I would get this and no headache so it wasn't until college that I learned that this was a migraine.

Many years later I started getting the extreme headaches following the visual auras. When I get the auras it's like, Sh!t, I better go take a nap or I'm in for some serious misery.

I think in the beginning they were caused by extreme sunlight but I've been in extreme sunlight recently a lot of times without getting the headaches. Now I think I've pinpointed the cause to be nitrates. If I have prepared lunchmeat for a few days in a row I'm sure to get a migraine.

[summer02]

Those are so scary :eek: I had my first one in an airport and thought I was going blind. My peripheral vision seemed all pixelated and the "tunnel" of normal vision that I had left kept shrinking.

I've always had the usual painful sort of migraine and had no idea that that there was any other sort. I've had a couple of more since then, but it's not so bad now that I know what's going on and that it's not permanent. I don't know what the trigger is for me since there's no pattern. Everyone (except the doctor) thinks that I'm making it up...I was starting to think I was the only one who'd experienced these things.

[cocoa'smom]

Wow - I've had a few of these in the past year or two - no pain. The first two, I had just drank a cup of tea on an empty stomach and I thought it might be a combination of the caffeine (don't have caffeine regularly) and my staring at my computer monitor. The 3rd one, there was no caffeine involved. They didn't last very long (a few minutes) and I almost thought I had imagined them. I hadn't been too worried, but I did wonder what was going on. I'm glad to know I wasn't crazy!

[wintersummer]

Sarah - Sorry that I'm just now seeing this thread. I would encourage you to see an ophthalmologist. I don't want to frighten you, but this can be a symptom of a detached retina. The sooner you seek care for this, the better. I'll send you a PM also.

[scudgal]

Just wanted to say I've had an occular migraine and it is very scary. I thought I was having a stroke. But do check with an opthalmalogist to be sure.

Leslie

[wallycat]

If I look into a bright light, like when I open the garage door when the sun is on that side, I see the bright-light effect. It will last at least a minute then clears up. You see patterns depending on arterial flow and vitreous matter in the eye.

I also have had posterior vitreous detachment (which happens with highly myopic people and those getting older :mad: ) which causes a blinding flash of light that lasts for 30 seconds or so.

I've never (that I am aware of) had a migraine....give me time though :D

[slawrence]

With my more intense sinus headaches, I would get lightening bolt flashes in my one eye. In my case it was too much sinus pressure on the optic nerve. (And now....the mass I had up there has eroded some of that bone around my eye and I need to have a surgery to fix it!) Fun times ahead! Just make sure you have someone look at all the possibilities. The extent of my sinus problems were overlooked, mostly by me not wanting to whine about a little 'cold' for so long. :( Sue

[Chefzhat]

Sarah, hope you're doing okay! My DH gets aural migraines like that every once in a while.

Debie

[Sarah428]

We left for a family camping trip friday but I called my dr office and left a message. Hopefully I'll get in there this week but nothing happened while camping TG.