Ocular Migraines (OM) - I have had traditional migraines before (usually without auras), but had never experienced this phenomena, or even heard of it, prior to my strokes! It isn't often a "stroke-issue" because lots of people without brain injuries get OMs and I don't yet know anyone else who started getting them post-stroke, but the strokes seemed to be the trigger for me! When it started happening, I didn't have any idea what was going on, I presumed a per-seizure aura from descriptions other had told. It freaked me out! (There is a fairly good graphic presentation of what an OM kind of looks like at AllAboutVision.com/conditions/ocular-migraine.htm though I describe mine more as a kaleidoscoping, prism effect, similar to the photo below, but impacting full visual field.)
As it turned out most of mine are quite painless, have lasted between 20 minutes and at the most up to two hours, eventually cause temporary blindness in most cases, and just leave me feeling rather disoriented and shaky for a day or so afterwards. I have only experienced pain and traditional migraine symptoms in conjunction with an OM about 3 times, in fact usually I feel good enough to continue regular activity in the midst, if only I could see. (I once walked into a wall while trying to carry on with my house cleaning activities during an OM, because I couldn't tell where I was going. I now know to lay down quietly and wait out the annoying vision distortions.) Now that I know what is going on, they really don't rattle me, I just wish I had at least had some idea of what to expect the first time it happened!
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| Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Migraine_aura.jpg |
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