Weird Visual Disturbance

I also posted this in headache forum.

Age 15 to Age 28 - migraines without aura, age 28 (pregnant) to now - migraines with and without aura.  Two retinal artery occlusions causing loss of central vision at age 45. Migraines reduced by 50% after hysterectomy. Question: the other night I woke up in the middle of the night, felt uneasy, watched t.v for a few minutes then saw about 10 seconds of stars in my upper vision in both eyes then loss all sight. It was as if someone had drawn a horizontal line throught the middle of both eyes and I could not see a thing above that line.  Lasted five or six minutes then vanished. No headache.  Five minutes later, Raynaud's in right hand and swelling/aching of right arm.  Raynaud's lasted about 15 minutes, swelling and aching lasted for a couple of hours.  No headache ever appeared although 12 hours prior to episode I had a minor migraine that went away after I took nap.  

I have had the blind holes in vision - one eye only -- for years but I have never had a virtual horizontal line drawn through both eyes and not be able to see above the line.  And the stars preceding the event lasting only a few seconds was also unusual, they usually last several minutes, then rainbows, then blind holes. One other thing - under serious amount of stress right now but blood pressure only 105/60 (normally 85-90/60).

Scared me half to death.  Any thoughts or ideas.  Do I call neurologist or opthamologist or call no one - just a migraine?

Thank you in advance for your help.
Alaina

[AnnaE]

I am a community leader here, not a doctor. I am also an experienced eye patient. Welcome to our community.

You should call an MD right away. You could call your interninst, and he could refer you. Call your ophthalmologist, and he can tell you which MD to see.

Please call now,

Dr hagan will be with you asap.

Anna

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

Yes, do be concerned. I would share the information with both your ophthalmologist and your neurologist this weekend.

JCH III MD

[Alaina49]

Thank you.  I did leave message for neurologist, he called back twice and I missed both calls - he left message that he thought it was a migraine but he did want to talk to me.  I called him back but he was with patients and unable to come to phone.  I have not heard anything since. HMO - no way to contact him over the weekend.  

Note: I did see the him (the neurologist) in April because I had become uneasy about blind spots appearing in left eye, dizzy spells, increasing Raynaud's attacks. It was time for check-up anyway. He said he thought I was all right neurologically at that time.

The neurologist is a terrific doctor and he knows my history (migraines, CRAOs, CREST syndrome signs and symptoms in 20's and 30's) and I can only assume that if he was really worried, he would have called an ambulance to take me to hospital E.R. -- which is what he did when I had CRAO.  At this point, I guess I'll just wait for him to return my call.  Unless you believe it is not safe, I will just keep an eye on symptoms symptoms and get to E.R. if anything doesn't feel right.  I did feel fine today and tonight.

Thanks so much for your concern and help. Eye symptoms can be pretty scary.

Alaina