I’m new to the migraine community on here. But I had a question. I’ve been battling with migraines since October of 2017. They have progressed and gotten worse since. I didn’t have any visual problems with the migraines at first, but since December of 2018 I’ve been having floaters, wavy lines, and flashes of light. I always see the wavy lines & floaters every time I go outside during the day & when I’m around bright lights. Well I’ve gotten a MRI done since then because it started freaking me out, & everything came back normal; and I’ve also seen my eye dr which everything was normal as well (besides finding out I now have an astigmatism). I just wanted to know if anyone else experience these visual disturbances daily, no matter what... even without the migraine?
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Beautifulgirl01
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Not sure where you live, but was the doctor a Neuro-Opthomologist? They really are the ones that Specialize in this area and can guide you so you can when you should be alarmed. Good luck
Yes I was referred to a Neuro-ophthalmologist. I haven’t been seen by him yet due to not being able to get off from work, but my normal eye dr just gave me a prescription
Yes, I get visual disturbances all the time, my neurologist says it’s part of the migraines. It reduced while my migraines were better, though it never went away completely. I did take lamotrigine for a while and it helped with the visual snow. Because I’ve had them so long I can now distinguish between the lights that herald a full blown migraine and the ones that are just annoying.
Do you know about the migraine world Summit? It has changed my life. It is all online workshops/ suppport/ treatment options from the Leading Specialist from around the world. They also have a support group and it looks like the best chart of meditations.
I have been dealing with migraines for 30+ years and have not learned as much from anyone as I learned from them. Please go on the website and see if they have in workshops on visual disturbance before and during migraine.
What I learned is that I am doing everything wrong as far as my treatment. So this is what I am changing. I will loose weight ( higher BMI can cause Migraines). I am going to increase my water intake daily. I am going to eat something as soon as I feel the migraine ( almonds might be my go to or almond paste). I am going to change my triptan (I use Imitrix and "most of the time" I see some effect, not good enough, I want a sublingual pill. I am going to change my sleep ( to same time and more).
I have already changed my preventive and it is working. Last attack, I eat and then slept ( never done that before) the migraine went away!! The hosts both are long time migraine suffers. I am also going to seek a migraine specialist out to go to. I will warn you then is a cost for the membership, but it will be the best $$ you have ever spent!
Yes, absolutely, in fact, visual disturbance was the main problem - the one sided headache usually occurred separately at other times. The visual disturbances got much worse over some years, and became so frequent (2 or 3 at least daily) they became a real problem and made me feel unwell, as well as making driving difficult. And yes, lots of floaters and black bits in my field of vision most of the time - I had to keep going to the emergency Eye unit every time to make sure it wasn't a problem with the retina in the eye - which it wasn't. But then I got cancer, and after surgery, I gave up all dairy completely (and meat,fish and eggs other than very occasionally) because of the cancer, and here I am, 14 months later, and I haven't had a single visual disturbance, not one. I still occasionally get migraine headache, but no visual disturbance. So the likely culprit was actually dairy... so if you eat dairy, maybe try cutting it out completely for a while, just to see if it helps... I am now able to occasionally eat a very small cheese sandwich as a treat, maybe every 2/3 months, but I won't ever go back to regular dairy, so generally, no cheese of any sort, nor dairy yoghurt, cream or milk or products made with those ingredients. Thank heavens for soya/nut milk...it is wonderful to be free of the visual disturbance.
Oh, I haven't overcome it at all - its a very rare form of ovarian cancer and it was already stage 4b when diagnosed, so in the last stages. Had the surgery, got all visible cancer out, refused chemo; so far, although its back again, its only in one lymph node, so it hasn't got me yet...I made the diet changes to slow its return down. Seems to have worked, or something has - the other 19 cases of this cancer were all dead within 14 months, even the stage 2 ones, and they all had the surgery plus chemo... I've just gone past the 14 month stage. I'm old anyway, and don't mind actually dying, but had more stuff to do before the damned thing killed me off, and I wanted to be well enough to do that stuff rather than be unwell from chemo... thanks for asking.
But I can't tell you how great it is not to have those horrible visual disturbances all the time... I no longer worry about getting in the car and driving and one starting, such a relief! But, I still miss cheese...
So sorry you have to go through that but I’m glad it’s actually getting a lot better for you! Will pray for your full recovery! Maybe I should make dietary changes & see if that helps! My diet is not so great right now lol
I honestly think you should cut out dairy - if it doesn't make any difference within 3 months, start eating it again...no one was more astonished than me when I realised they'd gone, and it was someone on here who told me it was likely the removal of dairy that got rid of them. Give it a try...
Yes, I have had migraine aura for most of my life and I’ve been able to control them, but I do notice the things you’re saying about the eyes. Wavy clear lines and seeing a star or two once in a while. Also my eyes are Super sensitive and feel like I lose focus a lot. Dr said my eyes are perfect and scans all normal.....🤷🏼♀️
Wavy clear lines & black dots is mostly what I see, they are there all the time & get worse around light. My eye dr said everything was perfect as well & was due to the migraines
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