Opthalmic Migraines

[Joannela70]

I am a 37year old female in good health. I've recently experienced a cluster of visual auras in each eye - about a week or so apart, alternating in each eye. The last one was about 4 weeks ago. Shimmering, zigzag blob, which gradually gets larger and moves out of my visual field over the course of about 20 minutes. No headache. I saw an opthamologist and she dx'd me with "opthalmic migraines." From what I've seen on the internet, the description matches exactly. She said they could have no cause, but that I should see a doctor to rule anything else out.  What are the potential causes of these visual auras?

[Nancy T]

Yeah, I panicked when I got the first one, too--thought I was having a stroke!! You know, they say if you have a sudden change in your vision or any of several other symptoms it could be a stroke, so I don't blame you for calling 911.

I didn't call 911 but I did call my doctor's office, hyperventilating. The nurse asked me a few questions and must have recognized what it was, but she got me into the doctor's office the same day, where the doctor told me what it was. What a relief! But a very weird experience when it happens the first time.

Oddly, my whole family are migraineurs, from my mother to my siblings to my kids, and they all have visual auras--but I had never heard the aura described like that--I thought it was just pinpoints of flashing light, not the scotoma and shimmering that I had. But when I described it to my sister--whom I had never asked about her auras, because I wasn't really interested before then!--she said mine was EXACTLY like hers.

Migraines are weiiiiird things!

Nancy T.

[Luckygrl]

The first time I had one of these migranes, I called 911. I had one of them the day before I had an appointment with a neurologist, I drew pic. of the silver lines that I was seeing. They are very scary, I found that taking 2 tylenols warts them off. I never knew what a migraine was til I started getting them. I also hardly ever got a head ache with them, and they lasted me about half hour.

[Nancy T]

Periods of hormone changes in a person's life can trigger a spate of migraines. Puberty and perimenopause are two great examples.

My kids both got migraines (with aura) at around puberty. They had them for a while and then they stopped.

I never even realized I was a migraineur until age 42, when I got three visual migraines (without headache) over a period of several months (the first two a month apart, just before a period). That was right when perimenopause came on full blast, with very markedly irregular and changed periods. (Although I'd been getting "irregular" for several years previous to that.)

The type of migraine a person gets may change over their lifetime too. You might get headaches at one stage of your life, visual migraines at another, and episodes of nausea at others. And migraine activity can disappear (or not be a problem) for years or decades. That is what happened to me.

Of course there are all the usual migraine triggers, different for different people: stress, irregular sleep schedule, certain foods such as chocolate, wine, cheese, etc., barometric pressure changes, etc.

If you are 37, it ain't too early for perimenopause! :)

Nancy T.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

Many potential causes of visual migraines and you can read about them- but that will generally not help you get relief fromt them. They are rather mysterious.  You can search this site and google for more information.  See an excellent neurologist to for some possible help with medications that could sometimes be helpful.  Sorry, I can't be more help but if I knew all the answers on this one I would win the Nobel Prize.

MJK MD