Does anyone else w/MS get Optical Migraines

I was just wondering if Optical Migraines are related to MS in some way?  Lately, I have had quite a few of them with the most recent being late yesterday afternoon.  It seems that the Optical Migrain affects my left eye.  I have a lesion on my right temporal lobe.  When I went to bed last night I was having stabbing pain in the area of this lesion.  Then, this morning I woke up and my right ear is muffled and kind of roaring.  

Sometimes, I just don't know what's related to the MS and what is not.  I'm a woman with many questions. hahahaha.

Thanks for any help.
Deborah

[MBC3mom]

Hi Deborah.  I had what I thought were optical migraines back when I first began experiencing ms symptoms.  I had previously had true migraines and was just happy there was no headache anymore.  They were always in my left eye - flashing lights that moved diagonally accross my eye and made it impossible to see.  They usually only lasted 30 minutes or so.  I never mentioned this to any of my mds - figured it was stress.

  Years later, I had a severe case of optic neuritis in that eye which left me with very cloudy vision (no vision at all for a couple of months).  I have a high tolerance for pain and ignored symptoms for many years, so maybe I was having minor bouts of optic neuritis all along.

I would mention this to your neurologist next time and to your opthalmologist if you have one.  (If you don't you should probably start seeing one).  Hope you feel better soon.

[HVAC]

I have had them for years. I think they are related, getting a MS Specialist to admit it seems another thing.

Alex

[Udkas]

Hi there,
I get optical migraines all the time but I am not diagnosed with MS.  Sometimes I feel so much pressure and stabbing pain in my eye it's ridiculous and other times it just goes numb.  It is interesting that you mention about your hearing, as I am profoundly deaf in the right ear and I also have palor in the right optic disc and the nerve fibres are split, the jury it out on if I have had ON or not, but the eye specialist seems to think so.

My brain MRI to date has always been normal, but I had one only 3 days ago because of my hearing loss with a new type of protocol, in some ways I hope it shows something to give me answers.

I am diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis and my neuro said my migraines would make my TM symptoms worse but could even be as a result of my lesion in my cervical, but I am not sure about the eye ones, he is aware of this and gave some of my eye symptoms a fancy name...lol, Discuss this with your neuro, I can relate.

I have this daily and NOTHING will get rid of them.
Cheers,
Udkas.

[JemmAus]

Yeah I too have had them. In fact for three years the neuros declared all my symptoms migraine-related. Only now have I had a clear diagnosis of BOTH - migraine AND MS.

It's always mystified me why some drs think it must be this OR that, not BOTH........

[Wobbly]

I get a dull ache behind my left eye at times, lately it's been OK... but there are times it dull but like a headache feeling.  

take care
wobbly

[poorkid]

Optical  migraines was one of the 1st weird things I noticed after I was diagnosed.  I seemed to get one at the beginning of a flair and at the end.  I have never had these prior to MS.  

I am now having them quite often and the last one actually was painful. All the previous episodes had been "silent" with just the flashing light as a symptom.  Classic optical migraine with the moon shape moving across my field of vison until it disappeared in about 20 minutes.  I am really intrigued by these!  I can say that if these happened while I was driving I would have to pull over because they do effect my sight.

My neuro does not agree or disagree that these are related to MS but I really believe that for me, they are.  

[Inny2009]

Can someone please explain what optical migraines are? I get about 2 to 3 a week (this headaches) and they start in my left eye, first it starts out kinda achy and then stabbing and then it makes the entire left side of my face hurt so bad i throw up alot and it makes me so physically ill i have to lay in bed, thats when my vision gets blurry (it just gets blurry but no flashing lights, just two black spots in my left eye) and i get dizzy. Are these just headaches, migraines..or optical migraines..id like to know so i can tell my nuero in Sept.

Deborah I am sorry you are going through this! You have my support!! I hope you dont mind me asking this question on your post. I figured this is a logical place to put it.

Thanks.

Inny

[Udkas]

Hi there,
I think you are best to describe your symptoms to your neurologist and let them decide if they are indeed from migraine or something more,  many MS symptoms over lap or can be very similar to migraine, and some eye problems could be caused from optic neuritis and not migraine, so it's best to either get your eyes checked by an ophalmologist if you are having blurry vision etc., or discuss it with your neuro.

I find everyone's migraine is different and their symptoms might be different too, I think even if this is migraine you need to evaluated especially if they are so severe.  My optical migraines can make my vision blurry and my eye feels numb around the lid etc., sometimes i get stabbing pains and other times I get a real bad pressure, like my eyeball is about to explode, quite often I have facial numbness with this too but rarely a bad headache, but apparently I just get the aura phase, I must admit what you describe is very much like my optical migraines but I am not a doctor, you should get your eyes checked.

Cheers,
Udkas.

[Inny2009]

thank you Udkas...i will definitely make sure my nuero knows about this!