I had ohs on 5 th June to repair my mitral valve. Whilst in hospital, and since I’ve come home I have had “ wavy lines” and “ shooting lights” intermittently in my vision. I have also had a couple of times a sort of weakness in my left arm, that lasted about 5 mins. Last night my vision completely blurred, I couldn’t focus at all ,& felt very dizzy, it lasted about 10 mins. I was worried enough to go to A&E. they took my blood pressure ( it was ok) tested my vision and looked into my eyes with a light, and couldn’t really tell me what it was.
I am on an asperin, and a low dose of bisodol every day. Plus the go has recently prescribed iron. I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the medication?
Anyone else had this?
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Plum44
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From your description it sounds like a retinal migraine. I’ve had that occur and think the possible triggers in my case could have been one or more of the following, high blood pressure, exercise, bending over, high altitude, dehydration, low blood sugar. (It happened when I was skiing).
I’ve also had a retinal tear in each eye. This causes similar, but not identical, symptoms. When these occurred on each occasion I first saw my optician who examined the retina with specialist equipment after first dilating the pupil with eye drops. The examination is quite detailed and the retinal tear is difficult to spot. Both times I was then referred to the local eye hospital as an emergency where the retinal tear was treated by laser photocoagulation.
If you have an optician I would advise talking with them for further advice.
The local hospital has actually been in touch with me this morning, and I have been referred to ophthalmology as an urgent referral. I do suffer with migraines, but I usually just get the really bad headaches not the visual disturbances. Hopefully they can sort out whatever it is 😊
I hope you get it sorted. When you go to ophthalmology take dark sunglasses and a baseball cap or hat with a rim. I had repeated applications of eye drops and my pupils were like saucers. A bit of challenge in bright sunshine 😎
Like you, my migraines were of the headache only type and then suddenly I started getting visual disturbances which, to begin with, I found scary and wondered what was going on with my eyes, but eventually I accepted them as being part of my migraines. Here's hoping that your eyes are OK and it is down to migraines. All the best😊
the wavy lines and lights were like a migraine, but I’d never had the other symptom, as if I was spinning and my eyes wouldn’t “ stay still” in the sockets! 🤢
Funnily enough the cardiac nurse was talking me through what to expect from my mitral valve surgery on Monday and she mentioned visual disturbance as a possible (temporary) after effect. Not something I'd heard of before.Hope it resolves itself soon
Aura of visual migraine?? I get this in varying degrees. Intensified after first OHS and told registrar who said it was caused by 'debris' from the bypass machine. Well, I imagined small bits of machinery floating around my brain!! I was being investigated for glaucoma at the time, (no signs, just ocular hypertension) and asked the opthalmologists. They all laughed. Apparently the bypass machine does not completely filter the blood (your blood /brain barrier is much more efficient at this) and so blood 'debris' does begin to circulate. Anyway, the shooting stars, odd sensations in your brain, flashing lights and zigzag shapes in my case were ocular migraine. Sounds like the urgent referral is to check on your retinas as damage to retina can also produce similar symptoms. Let us know what the outcome is.
they’ve been very prompt in getting me referred, I have an appointment on Tuesday so I’ll let you know 😊 I get migraines quite a bit anyway, the painful ones without the pretty patterns! 😬 and many years ago I had a “ silent” migraine which I much preferred 🤣 but it did make seeing to work a bit awkward. I just haven’t had the “ spinning eye” symptom before which was very dramatic and quite scary. My daughter said I looked drunk 😬
Hi there,I had open heart surgery in January, double bypass. There are so many things that happen during recovery and one of them is eye problems. I am nearly 6 months post op and have been advised not to have an eye test until at least then. It is getting better but it will take a while to settle back to normal. It is all to do with the neuro receptors in the brain being disturbed and getting back.to normal. Fascinating stuff!! The list is long if all the things open heart surgery affects!! As long as I know it's all OK then I'm fine!! I hope this helps. Good luck with your recovery.
I get ocular migraines which are usually like a circle of zigzags that gradually cover my entire vision. They last about 20 minutes and leave a very mild headache. YOu did right t o go to A&E because changes like that could mean retinal detachment or a tear. I'm glad you've been referred. Good luck.
I think if it had just been the zigzag lines, I wouldn’t have gone, it was the other symptom , I just couldn’t focus at all. And I have x2 since the op, once in hospital and once since I’ve been home , had a mild weakness in my left arm. It lasts about 5 mins. The day I had the not being able to dog us I had the arm weakness about 2 hours prior to that. So I was rather anxious 😬 the A&E doctor didn’t seem concerned 😬 but he did refer me to opthamology department . I’m hoping they can give me some answers
Glad to hear you are getting such a quick Opthalmology review. They will use drops, so don't drive as drops can affect vision for several hours. Expect loads of tests and at least you will know more about everything.
[ Lat year I had what was thought to be another TIA but turned out to be a loss of vision Migraine. Result for me as I saw Opthalmology having been waiting since 2019 for the 3 month necessary check up but no appointment despite repeated requests and complaint ( in meantime had to go private to not lose sight and thankfully had savings to cover frightening cost) but that A&E visit put me back on NHS list!]
thank you for your reply. It sounds like I was very lucky to get such a quick appointment, after reading the troubles you have had. I didn’t want to go into A&E having not long come out of hospital after the op 😬 I was worried they might keep me in, I’m enjoying being back at home 😊 but I honestly thought I may have had a TIA or similar, I’m glad I went in now. I hope that you get an appointment soon 🤞
Hi there I had the same operation almost 2 years ago and I experienced all the symptoms you have regarding vision , I can honestly say I never had any problems with my eyes or migraines. I mentioned to my gp and consultant and was advised that this was temporary vision issues and would go away . After about six months they seemed to vanish but got an occasional episode every now and again , although not had an episode for just under a year now so fingers crossed it goes away itself . Also at time I felt like my eyes where looking out a train window with moving motion if that makes sense
I had valve replacement in December 2021 and since then have had visual disturbance almost daily . I suffered from optical migraines before for many years and this is the same experience. Wavy cracked lines that begin small and grow into a bigger wider pattern like cracked glass . They last about 10-15 mins and I am so used to them I tend to ignore them .
Recently I had a very weird eye experience that started as the usual optical disturbance then it all went black leaving a small hole in the middle . I saw Gp and optician and was referred to stroke clinic and all was well and it was decided that this was all migraine related .
The cardiac care nurse I saw last year did say migraine and heart issues are possibly linked .
However - I too am on bisoporol and I personally think that’s the cause . I too have some serious dizziness bouts and again I think it’s down to the bisoporol .
I am reassured that all the research says optical migraine is nothing serious and nothing to worry about ., and as I do not suffer from the blinding headaches that were associated with them in my younger days feel it’s an inconvenience I can live with .
thank you for this. Yes I do think it may be the medication. I am still only 3 weeks ( nearly) post op, and I am led to believe that I may, eventually , be able to come off the Biosprodol. 🤞 I notice that the wavy lines start about an hour after taking my medication in the morning
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