Ocular Migraine?

Towards the end of January I was reading a book for class and my vision became very blurry, letters in words would disappear from my view. I also felt as though I had no peripheral vision. My right hand went numb. I had never experienced anything like that before, so I went to the emergency room. They drew blood and gave me a Catscan. They said everything was fine and diagnosed me with an ocular migraine. A week later my vision was still blurred, I had trouble reading, especially on the computer. I have also gotten an MRI which came back negative. I saw an eye doctor, they did a thorough exam, she said that my eyes were fine and that I didn't need glasses, she thought perhaps I was straining them. I went to a neurologist, he thought that I had a migraine headache that would not break. He prescribed me topomax (topamax) and while it relieved my headaches, it has not relieved my eye troubles.

Currently, while I no longer suffer from blurred vision, and my vision has improved in the past two months, I still find it difficult to go on the computer or read. I work long hours on the computer so I was wondering if that could contribute to my problem? Also, my right eye feels like it gives me the most problems, it sometimes hurts or feels "tired" while my left eye does not. Sometimes when I close my eyes I get dizzy, and I often feel lightheaded. Overall, I feel cloudy, unable to concentrate, and disoriented.

I don't really know where to go from here. Hoping for some additional insight.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Ask your neurologist to refer you to a neuroophthalmologist.

JCH MD