Ocular Migraine

I have  had floaters since Dec., which I have had checked twice before by my eye dr.  I  am 38 weeks pregnant. Last week I was at work and had an ocular migraine. I went in right away to  my eye dr which examined me and said my eyes  look good and then told me that it was an ocular migraine and said I may or may not get one again.  Now I have anxiety so  everything just makes it worse and one of my fears is a brain tumor.     I asked him if this was a neurogical thing and he assured me it was not. Iwent home feeling good. Then today I  read someone on medhelp.org (I can't  quite remember where) that ocular migraine stem from more serious things (blocked arteries in the neck/brain, heart cond.,etc.) Is this correct?  And if I had my eyes examined (3 times now since Dec) should Iworry?

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

Hello AJPTRF  I believe you misinterpret what we've said here before. Disease of the head, heart and blood vessels can cause symptoms that resemble ophthalmic migraine but they do not cause ophthalmic migraine.   Think of it like this, you can get chest pain from a heart attack or you can get chest pain from doing 500 push-ups.

The more serious diseases cause transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) which resemble migraine.  TIAs generally occur in older, sicker adults with multiple risk factors: smoking, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, history of stroke or heart attacks, etc.

Ophthalmic migraine often occur or increase in women when hormonal changes occure: ie when they start to menstrait, go through menopause, get pregnant (you) or go on birth control pills or estogrin pills, shots.

It is by far the most likely thing that you have ocular migraine caused by hormonal changes associated with your pregnancy.

Only if these persisted or worsened after the baby came would you need a extensive work-up.

I would say relax and not to worry. Good luck with the pregnancy and delivery.

JCH III MD Eye Physician and Surgeon