Oct 042011
A kind of migraine also called
Migraine with aura
There are no actual cures, because the conditions that trigger the actual migraine are not completely understood. There are some claims, that it is caused by:
- Stroke-like condition.
- A spasm of the ocular nerves.
- Brain blood vessel clutter.
- etc.
The aura 10 minutes after onset.
But the actual conditions that trigger the migraine, can also be external:
- Specific strong odour.
- Very bright light.
- Loud noise.
- Stress or shock.
- Medications.
- Not enough sleep.
- Irregular eating.
- Low blood pressure.
There are lots of speculations of what does trigger the migraine. They are most probably different in all people that suffer from it. The only common thing in the migraine with aura is the effect it has on your vision. It starts like a small point of disturbed vision and spreads in a wide area in front of your vision. Often you see only part of the person in front of you or only half his face.
What to do when ophthalmic migraine starts?
- Don’t panic. It’s not life threatening condition.
- If you are driving – stop. Pull over and turn off the engine. (part of your vision will soon be useless, don’t kill another person because of your condition)
- If you are speaking in front of people – ask them politely to excuse you and walk away. (You don’t want to embarass yourself. As soon as the aura starts to spread, you will probably forget basic words and start speaking a bit slow and incomprehensible. It is a condition that mimics a stroke)
- If you are at home, go to a dark room and lay down. You will need some time to calm yourself. It just happens. Some people get migraines twice per week. Some happier people only once in the hot summer months.
- If you can, grab a wet towel and put it on your forehead or behind your neck while laying down. The cool towel will constrict some of the blood vessels in your brain and the pain will be milder.
- Once the aura starts spreading in front of your eyes, you can’t prevent it. Don’t struggle. It takes 20-30 minutes. Be patient. Just rest a bit. No need to burst in anger and dilate your brain blood vessels even more. Any exercise is bad. Just rest.
Soft tissue between thumb and index finger
What can you do to lessen migraine pain?
- Wet towel on your forehead will calm the pain
- Put your feet in a basin or laver of warm water. The big blood vessels in your feet will dilate from the warm water. This way the blood pressure in your head will be less and you will feel less “pounding pain” on every heartbeat.
- Avoid bright light and loud noise.
- Tender massage with round motions on both temples of your head. *(the temples are the soft area between your eye and the top of your ear) Keep massaging until you feel calm.
- Apply pressure in the soft tissue between your index finger and your thumb. This is a (supposedly calming) acupressure point LI-4 that will suppress the headache and calm you if pressed firmly. I am not a real acupressure believer, but at least once have tried this and it did make the pain go away. It does not hurt to try it yourself. *(to find the exact LI-4 point location, press your thumb in the base of your index finger as if you are making “salute”. The hardest point of the small muscle that bulges between the two fingers is the LI-4 point).
- Put pressure with thumbs on the two points where the back of your neck and your head meet. *(on the two sides of your uppermost spine bone)
- Drink herbal teas. I’ve found Camomile and peppermint to be very calming and pain relieving after the aura has gone away and only the pain remains.
- Use pain relieving medication only in case the pain is very strong and you cannot do anything else to relieve it. (see below for a list of pills I’ve seen to help)
- Use aromatherapy incense sticks or oils. I’ve tried with success Eucalyptus and Peppermint oils in oil lamp. Few drops and some water to make the vapors mild. Just stay in the room and let the smell of forest soothe and calm you 😉
- You may also use one drop Eucalyptus and Peppermint smeared on your chest to inhale the aroma directly. It helps not to vomit when the pain is severe. Just don’t touch your eyes with the hand you used to smear the drops. The sensation will not help you at all.
- If you don’t have those 2 oils, you may try breathing over a glass of water with 1 tbsp of vinegar. This also helps nausea and constricts brain blood vessels.
- Another way to calm the pain in the hot summer days is to put your face in front of a slow fan. The air flow will cool your head and the humming noise will help your mind turn-off for a while until the pain starts fading.
- And I can’t stress this enough – VISIT A DOCTOR if you are not already!!!
Some migraine prevention lifechanges
… are always welcome.
The healthy migraine menu.
- Enough liquids. If you feel bloated by mere tap or mineral water – drink tea. At least 8 cups per day.
- Calcium and magnesium rich foods (or supplements). Various types of seeds such as pumpkin seed and peanuts. Calcium rich foods are all the green leafy vegetables.
- B12 (folic acid) rich foods. (most of the nuts again) Fish, caviar, crabs, oysters, red meats. Avoid eggs and aged cheeses. Sometimes they trigger migraines.
- Most citrus fruits and pineapple are said to help.
- Caffeine may OR MAY NOT be good for you. Some people say a coffee triggers migraine. Others (like me) say that a coffee + Coke help to suppress the pain and focus.
- The same is valid for Chocolate, bananas and turkey meat. They are very rich on the enzyme L-tryptophan. This enzyme is a precursor of the neural transmitter Dopamine. Some say that those foods help greatly. Some say that those foods are the actual enemy. You should decide it yourself.
- Red Wine is also controversial. If your migraine is triggered by low blood pressure – the wine helps not to have another migraine. But it also is reported to trigger migraines. It is again – up to you.
It is something specific for everyone. Be aware. Explore. Have a diary. Write down every time you have migraine onset and try to remember what you eat and drink before it started. If it is a food – You will figure it out.
Some medications that help migraine pain go away.
- Aspirin, if your migraine is triggered by blood clot in the brain – Aspirin will dissolve it. (again – visit a doctor if you have that kind of migraines, you may be prone to strokes)
- Ibuprofen or Paracetamol = no pain.
- Most sodium metamizole based analgesics such as Benalgin, Analgin, Sedalgin, Paracofdal etc. They help only after the aura is gone.
- Some herbal Butterbur and Feverfew extracts claim to help. I’ve never tried them, because they can’t be found in Bulgaria – but give them a try. Most of the forums I’ve read say they are good.
- Ergotamine based drugs. This has to be prescribed by your doctor. Don’t take them on your own. They have so many side effects that actually beat the benefits. I’ve tried this injection shot only once. The effect is a complete abortion of the migraine, but you have to pay after this. And my M.D refused to prescribe a recipe.
- If you have high blood pressure, the beta blockers such as Atenolol or Propranolol that you take for high blood pressure, can actually make the migraine disappear for months. Again – Speak with your doctor. Don’t self medicate because of the pain. This is side effect of blood pressure pills. Not the exact effect you seek
You are not alone in this. Explain to your beloved one and your relatives you have this condition. They may panic if they hear you speak slow and unintelligible and collide with the furniture while walking half blindly.
Find other people with this condition and share experience. You may find something new or save someone’s life with a good advice.
Share!
18 Responses to “How to cope with ophthalmic migraine”
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The funniest, yes, the funniest advise is “see your doctor”. I would say- if you don’t know what to do with your time and money- see your doctor.
Well, if the pain is debilitating and too strong – a medication can reduce it. And a medication *that strong* can be prescribed by a doctor only in some countries.
But a visit to a doctor is not always possible if you are having migraine attack. You may not have the strength to go there.
You still need to see a specialist to rule all possibilities out. Blood pressure, back neck injury, head injury can all be a cause.
Sam,
The best comment ever. “If you don’t know what to do with your time and money, see a doctor.” Priceless!!!
Mick
I have to agree with the alcohol and cafinated coffee – it brings it on in less than one hour. Cool darkplaces, eyes closed and slow deep breathing helps me, but still takes a long time.
DF
Unfortunately your triggers are my favorite daily “poisons”. They never trigger a migraine with me.
The smell of musc, dehydration and bright lights are my enemies and I try to avoid them.
I sometimes need to puke few times, until I am totally empty and helpless.
Otherwise I can’t lay down to sleep at all.
I have had three of these “ocular migraines” over a period of ten years. So they are very rare for me. And, unusually, they are not accompanied by pain. I feel no pain at all. But the visual disturbance is quite spectacular.
Mine start with a single little point of pulsing light, somewhere in the periphery of my vision, and usually (I think) it is my left eye. This point starts to grow into a zigzag line that curves around the outside periphery of my vision. Within minutes, it is a puling rainbow coloured jaggy line, arching around the periphery of my field of view.
But no pain.
pulsing, not puling. Sorry
You are lucky one.
Pain with me is sometimes so debilitating, that I need to lay down in dark cool room and stay there like a vegetable for 20-30 minutes.
Worst episodes I have in hot summer days when I dehydrate and exhaust myself too much.
I have had these migraines off and on for probably 15 years, some worse than others. There is no pain involved, they just scare the bejeesus out of me when they progress to aphasia. I know they are coming on when I realize that a piece of my vision has disappeared. First time it happened I was watching baseball on TV. I could see the batter’s head, but not the umpire’s. Completely missing like someone erased it out of the picture. I also have the jaggy crystal lights occur. Over the years I think I have isolated a related cause: poultry meat, which would probably mean the amino acid tryptophan. When the symptoms appear I have tried aspirin and the homeopathic remedy Arnica, plus sitting or lying quietly with my eyes closed. Most times it cycles fairly quickly (within an hour.
When the symptoms first appear, I stay away from reading any print. Instead, if I’m using my eyes, I look at nature scenes, such as a field or the sky so I don’t have to force my eyes/brain to focus on anything. I have glaucoma, and that is probably a precipitating factor.
You are lucky you don’t have the sharp pain in the head after the ocular phase passes. It takes few days to get away and even small effort like tying a shoe lace brings sharp stab in the head.
Aspirin helps me too. It’s a miracle pill. I use filmed ones so I don’t get upset stomach.
A coke almost always helps. In my case of I drink it when I start seeing lights, it stops developing. If I can’t get a coke on time it certainly helps shorten the duration.
+1 to this. I think Coke was initially developed as a migraine treatment.
I always carry two 300 mg dispersible aspirin tables in my wallet. They work miracles if I feel an ophthalmic migraine coming up. Where it used to last more than half an hour, it disappears in 10 minutes when I take the aspirin. I take 75 mg aspirin every day anyway but that does not seem to keep the occasional bout of migraine away. It is often claimed that propanolol beta-blockers help prevent migraine. Ironically, in my case the frequency of ophthalmic migraine attacks appears to have increased since I started taking those blood pressure pills. Live holds many mysteries.
Then probably your migraines are triggered by lower blood pressure (mine are too as well). I take 75 mg aspirin everyday too. Never actually tried to get it when the eye-lightnings start to form.
Thanks for the tip!
I have been having ocular migraines for ten years now (I’m 23). I used to get them once a year, but the frequency has increased to (approximately) once a month. I stopped eating meat after my first episode, but that hasn’t stopped the migraines. I get nervous every time I have an imprint from a bright light in my vision as it is difficult to tell whether or not it is the onset of an ocular migraine. I take ibuprofen immediately, even if I did just look into a bright light, as that seems to help with the duration of the attack. If I don’t take ibuprofen right away, the migraine will sometimes last for hours. After the initial ‘spot’ of light, the visuals expand to the upper right portion of my sight. It almost looks like television static, or perhaps a diamond reflecting light. Sometimes my tongue goes numb, sometimes my right arm and leg go numb. I used to vomit–likely due to the dizziness–but that hasn’t happened to me in awhile. I think because I no longer focus on the visuals, and I try to ignore them. The most frustrating and embarrassing part is not being able to speak. I can think just fine, but the words don’t come out right. For instance, I could say the word “book”, but not in conjunction with “store”, and I said “brian” instead of “brain”. Very, very bizarre and unsettling. Especially for someone who is as articulate as I am.
Yes Kayla, I feel your pain. Migraines look like a stroke in the beginning, while the ocular part is still in action.
I sometimes get a day off if the migraine kicks in the morning, just not to embarrass myself in front of my boss and coworkers.
If the day is already half done, I may hide in the conference room, dim the light and listen to some calming music until the visual aura goes away.
Analgesic and then skipping lunch/snack, just to be on the safe side.
Some time ago, I used to have “ocular” (visual) migraines–that is, no painful headache, but my field of vision would become very distorted, I felt weird, and I would have to stop driving, pull over, to rest for a while, until the migraine stopped happening. Here’s what helped me, to prevent ocular migraines:
1) Avoid going hungry–in other words–“graze”–eat a little bit all day long–don’t skip meals. Doing this could avoid low blood sugar (called “hypo-glycemia”), which I believe can “trigger” (bring on) any kind of migraine. I think this was a factor, in my ocular migraines.
2) On the other hand, avoid eating or drinking anything that has “added sugar” in it, because eating a lot of sugar can make the pancreas produce and secrete too much insulin, and then: Too much insulin causes low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), causing fainting or feeling faint. Eating sweets that have sugar added, was a factor for me.
3) Drink a little water all day long (to avoid “dehydration”), because I believe getting dehydrated was another migraine “trigger”. I recommend well water or spring water, not chlorinated, and not fluoridated. (Bottled water is often better than “tap” water, because spring or well water doesn’t have chlorine or fluoride.)
4) Don’t stand up too quickly. Get up slowly. In some people, standing up too fast, can cause a dizzy feeling, and can even cause fainting. This is called “orthostatic hypotension”–meaning one’s blood pressure drops below normal, when standing up too quickly. I’m sure this was one factor in my case, that caused ocular migraines. I’m sure that this too was a factor, in my own case.
5) Avoid “additives” in foods & drinks, such as NutraSweet (also called Equal & Aspartame), which is an artificial sweetener in “diet” drinks. NutraSweet breaks down into Methyl alcohol (methanol), which is toxic (poisonous), and causes headaches of various kinds.
Avoid eating foods or drinking beverages containing ingredients (read labels!) that are unknown, mysterious, or hard to pronounce. In other words, eat real foods, drink water &/or fruit juices diluted with well or spring water, and avoid processed foods & drinks (avoid soda pop).
6) When taking any medications (and even when taking health food “supplements”), read about possible bad side effects and possible interactions, to prevent health problems. If taking medications (prescribed &/or “over-the counter”), first read the “paper package inserts”, re: side effects.
I hope this helps!
As soon as the visual disturbance starts take 2 paracetamol. Takes about 20 minutes to work but hasn’t failed me in 20 or so years.