To many people, a migraine headache is a migraine headache. They assume, falsely, that all migraines are pretty much the same.
What causes migraines?
Researchers believe that migraine has a genetic cause. There are also a number of factors that can trigger a migraine. These factors vary from person to person, and they include
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Hormonal changes in women
- Bright or flashing lights
- Loud noises
- Strong smells
- Medicines
- Too much or not enough sleep
- Sudden changes in weather or environment
- Overexertion (too much physical activity)
- Tobacco
- Caffeine or caffeine withdrawal
- Skipped meals
- Medication overuse (taking medicine for migraines too often)
Some people have found that certain foods or ingredients can trigger headaches, especially when they are combined with other triggers. These foods and ingredients include
- Alcohol
- Chocolate
- Aged cheeses
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
- Some fruits and nuts
- Fermented or pickled goods
- Yeast
- Cured or processed meats
Who is at risk for migraines?
About 12% of Americans get migraines. They can affect anyone, but you are more likely to have them if you
- Are a woman. Women are three times more likely than men to get migraines.
- Have a family history of migraines. Most people with migraines have family members who have migraines.
- Have other medical conditions, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, sleep disorders, and epilepsy.
What are the symptoms of migraines?
There are four different phases of migraines. You may not always go through every phase each time you have a migraine.
- Prodome. This phase starts up to 24 hours before you get the migraine. You have early signs and symptoms, such as food cravings, unexplained mood changes, uncontrollable yawning, fluid retention, and increased urination.
- Aura. If you have this phase, you might see flashing or bright lights or zig-zag lines. You may have muscle weakness or feel like you are being touched or grabbed. An aura can happen just before or during a migraine.
- Headache. A migraine usually starts gradually and then becomes more severe. It typically causes throbbing or pulsing pain, which is often on one side of your head. But sometimes you can have a migraine without a headache. Other migraine symptoms may include
- Increased sensitivity to light, noise, and odors
- Nausea and vomiting
- Worsened pain when you move, cough, or sneeze
- Postdrome (following the headache). You may feel exhausted, weak, and confused after a migraine. This can last up to a day.
Migraines are more common in the morning; people often wake up with them. Some people have migraines at predictable times, such as before menstruation or on weekends following a stressful week of work.
So when one of the 15% of our population that suffers from migraine says they have an ocular migraine, non-sufferers may raise a skeptical eyebrow. The truth is, however, that there are many different kinds of migraine.
Define Ocular Migraine
An ocular migraine is a type of migraine that focuses on that part of the aura in which visual symptoms predominate. There may never be an actual headache.
Symptoms of Ocular Migraine
If you are familiar with regular migraine pain, and now hear of ocular migraine, you may very well ask, “How do I know if I have an ocular migraine? I have no headache.”
An ocular migraine is sometimes called a migraine without headache. It is a migraine that distorts images when you look at them. The distortion usually begins in the image’s center, and then moves to one side. Ocular migraine is likely to affect only one eye at a time. As an ocular migraine progresses, images may turn grey or wavy. You may even lose your sight temporarily.
Doctors differ in their understanding of ocular migraine. Some say that ocular migraine is more likely to occur as you get older. Others say it is typically seen in young adults. It can be quite frightening, as you may think you are losing your sight forever.
Physicians differ, too, in their understanding of ocular migraine symptoms. Some use the term to explain visual disturbances of aura without headache. Other use it to refer to one-sided blind spots in the field of vision, or blindness, that lasts less than an hour and is associated with a headache.
Do you have ocular migraine? With or without a headache, if you have the visual disturbances of an aura in only one eye, yours may be an ocular migraine.
Specific Symptoms of Ocular Migraine:
How do I know if I have an ocular migraine? I will have one or more of the following specific symptoms. See if any of these is true of you.
1. Holes in your field of vision – places where there is nothing. Perhaps you are looking at a flower, and the center of the flower is missing. Or you are watching television, and you can see the outside of the screen, but cannot see the center of the picture. When you close the unaffected eye, you can see that portion of the screen. The affected eye, however, has a blind spot.
2. When looking through the affected eye, you see everything as though hidden behind a shade of gray. It is as though you were watching television and someone slipped a piece of thin gray cloth over the screen.
3. Another test for ocular migraine is to see if the affected eye sees things as though looking through a window with rain streaming down over it. The watery glass effect will be limited to one eye.
Ocular Migraine Symptoms Are Temporary
Although you may feel, during an optical migraine episode, that you will never see clearly again, the symptoms are temporary and will not cause lasting damage to your eye.
While they are present, however, ocular migraine symptoms will interfere with daily activities such as reading and driving.
Why Ocular Migraine Is Not Just Another Migraine Aura
Ocular migraine and migraine with aura are very similar, and some people have difficulty distinguishing between the two. The source of the visual disturbances is the key. even though it is migraine with aura, the source of visual trouble is the brain’s occipital cortex. even though it is ocular migraine, the source is the eye’s retinal blood vessels.
Test Your Suspected Ocular Migraine
A relatively good test for ocular migraine is to cover or close one eye. even though the symptoms remain, cover or close the opposite eye. even though the symptoms stop, you probably have an ocular migraine. even though the symptoms do not stop, but affect both eyes, you are probably experiencing traditional migraine aura.
CAUTION: Although yours may be ocular migraine, it may be something else. You are urged to seek advice from your physician. You will want to rule out serious eye disease, or a blood vessel disorder in vessels near the eye.