Vision affected by migraine

[Hawk1113]

Hi

I'm new to the site and wondered if anybody has any advice.

I've suffered from migraines for 30 odd years. They have changed over the years.

The last one I had was the worst migraine I've ever had. They always start with the flashing lights followed by blindness in my right eye and then headache. But this time it was like I was looking through a colourful kaleidoscope followed by blindness and onto the painful headache which lasted all night long ( crying in pain and I can tolerate pain) The next day I still had a bad headache and suffered with a headache everyday for a week afterwards. But the worrying factor was that my vision in my right eye has altered. I knew something had changed and have been for two independent eye tests. And my prescription has changed ( only in my right eye) from .50 to 1.00. ( I'd only previously had an eye test 4 weeks before the attack)

My doctor has put me on a mini aspirin everyday until she hears back from a neurologist.

Has anyone got any experience of change of vision? I'm worried if I have another one my vision could be affected further or my doctor mentioned about having a stroke!!

[Cally01]

You describe aura migraine but my vision is blurry for approx 4 days after at least 7 days of unbearable pain.

Welcome 😆this is a great site, hang in there.

[MissZButler]

Hi there,

I too get visual disturbance, known to be migraine aura, however mine takes over my whole vision most times rather than the just one eye. After a migraine I find that my eyes are affected for a while...

Recently I've noticed that I work with lights a lot.. my work has strobe lighting and I use a computer. I've got some shaded glasses and they seem to be helping with the vision side of things - but the migraines remain...

A lot of the time visual tests come back normal, as the eye itself is not the issue, its neurological. I had the same finding.

Welcome to the site, there is great support on here and you are not alone.

[Clairew_93]

My doctor said they can be worsened by a change in eating habits, for example If my mother eats cheese and onion crisps, she will get a worser than usual migraine. Chocolate is also a migraine inducing food apparently.

My whole vision goes funny and I have grey blops floating around everywhere and distortion in everything else, my first migraine was when I was 4 years old and I told the doctor I thought I was going to die, I was in hospital a few days!

Hope you feel better soon

[sun2bright76]

I have suffered from migraines for 30 years. Here is what I do to prevent them:

- daily dose of topimax

- acupuncture and tuina (chinese therapuetic massage) every week or so, but when my migraines were really bad (4 per week), I went twice a week for 8 weeks. For me, teh combo of acupunture and massage was the key. Acupuncture alone did not help

- avoid triggers (mine are alcohol, bright light like direct sunlight, and too little or too much sleep)

- stay hydrated

- have at least one cup of coffee in the morning

When I get a migraine:

- I take 100mg of Imitrex as soon as I get the aura. The first time I tried imitrex, it was like I had met God himself. It took my migraine pain away with very few side effects. If you haven't tried initrex or something like it, go to your doctor and get some. It's non-addictive.

- Sometimes I also take 2 excedrin

- out a cold compress on my neck

As for the topimax for prevention, I tried a lot of different meds before settling in this. The key is to find a good neurologist who specializes in migraines, and ideally one who has had migraines him/herself.

There's a couple of good apps for migraneurs for iPhone: migraine buddy and migraine coach.

Good luck. Many of us feel your pain.

[Hawk1113]

Thank you for all your messages. Knowing what is working for others is good.

I have done some research and now know that I suffer with retinal migraines. No doctor has ever explained it to me so good to finally know and understand.