Any medics? Symptoms advice
Discussion
Generally fit and healthy, no history of serious medical conditions.
A couple of months ago I had a brief experience of disturbed vision, everything on the right side seemed to blank out, lasted about 20 mins. However I put that down to being a bit hungover and lack of food etc, possibly temporary drop in BP
It happened again today though, with no obvious excuses. I initially noticed that the right side of my vision seemed to be flickering or banding, and this appeared to increase over a period of maybe 10 minutes. The right eye seemed to be more affected than the left, but the effect was evident in both eyes. I also began to feel quite detached at the peak of the effect. I took a dextrose tablet, and started to slowly improve.
I took a BP at the time, but I doubt it's accurace 132/85. My BP generaly is on the low side.
A couple of months ago I had a brief experience of disturbed vision, everything on the right side seemed to blank out, lasted about 20 mins. However I put that down to being a bit hungover and lack of food etc, possibly temporary drop in BP
It happened again today though, with no obvious excuses. I initially noticed that the right side of my vision seemed to be flickering or banding, and this appeared to increase over a period of maybe 10 minutes. The right eye seemed to be more affected than the left, but the effect was evident in both eyes. I also began to feel quite detached at the peak of the effect. I took a dextrose tablet, and started to slowly improve.
I took a BP at the time, but I doubt it's accurace 132/85. My BP generaly is on the low side.
I had a similar thing a year or two ago - it was actually a migraine.
The vision in my left started to play up (right in the middle of a massive deadline for work!).
It was almost like looking through a rippled piece of glass for a while. I found it got better if I covered that eye up, didnt look at any display screens and just sat in the conservatory for a while (apparently looking at lots of green ie: grass helps... but that could be an old wives tale!).
Got my eyes checked though and had a quick word with the doc just to make sure though.
The vision in my left started to play up (right in the middle of a massive deadline for work!).
It was almost like looking through a rippled piece of glass for a while. I found it got better if I covered that eye up, didnt look at any display screens and just sat in the conservatory for a while (apparently looking at lots of green ie: grass helps... but that could be an old wives tale!).
Got my eyes checked though and had a quick word with the doc just to make sure though.
wendyg said:
Generally fit and healthy, no history of serious medical conditions.
A couple of months ago I had a brief experience of disturbed vision, everything on the right side seemed to blank out, lasted about 20 mins. However I put that down to being a bit hungover and lack of food etc, possibly temporary drop in BP
It happened again today though, with no obvious excuses. I initially noticed that the right side of my vision seemed to be flickering or banding, and this appeared to increase over a period of maybe 10 minutes. The right eye seemed to be more affected than the left, but the effect was evident in both eyes. I also began to feel quite detached at the peak of the effect. I took a dextrose tablet, and started to slowly improve.
I took a BP at the time, but I doubt it's accurace 132/85. My BP generaly is on the low side.
Sounds migrainous.A couple of months ago I had a brief experience of disturbed vision, everything on the right side seemed to blank out, lasted about 20 mins. However I put that down to being a bit hungover and lack of food etc, possibly temporary drop in BP
It happened again today though, with no obvious excuses. I initially noticed that the right side of my vision seemed to be flickering or banding, and this appeared to increase over a period of maybe 10 minutes. The right eye seemed to be more affected than the left, but the effect was evident in both eyes. I also began to feel quite detached at the peak of the effect. I took a dextrose tablet, and started to slowly improve.
I took a BP at the time, but I doubt it's accurace 132/85. My BP generaly is on the low side.
Absolutely not glaucoma. Glaucoma is symptomless until the very late stages of the disease, and when symptoms are present, they are persistent and do not disappear after a few minutes.
The fact that it affects both eyes, on the same side, ie is homonymous means that the origin is in the visual cortex. Given the episodic nature of the problem, coupled with your young age, I'd say migraine is by far the most likely cause. If they are recurrent, go and see your GP for some prophylaxis.
I've had this type of migraine myself. Before anyone says it, you don't have to develop a headache to have migraine. It is not uncommon to simply experience the visual symptoms. The one issue you might want to get checked is your blood glucose to exclude hypoglycaemia or a vaso vagal episode.
I had exactly this a year or two ago. I was talking to my mum when all of a sudden, the right side of her face just wasn't there! I couldn't see out of my left eye, everything was just white, so it was easier to just keep it closed. I went upstairs and lay down for an hour and when I got up, things were fine again. A few nights later, the same thing happened, albeit for a shorter time, just a minute or two.
I went to my GP, who referred me to an opthamologist who had a look and couldn't see anything at the back of my eyes that could be causing my problem. But a few days later he phoned me at home to say he had looked at my notes and as I hadn't had a period in over 8 months, he suspected I had PCOS. He said that the periods of vision loss could have been from hormones floating around in a solution and then gathering at the back of my eye! I'm sure he said it a lot more technically than that...;)
Anyway, I went for an ultrasound and he was right, I did have PCOS. They put me on the mini-pill and now I'm right as rain
I went to my GP, who referred me to an opthamologist who had a look and couldn't see anything at the back of my eyes that could be causing my problem. But a few days later he phoned me at home to say he had looked at my notes and as I hadn't had a period in over 8 months, he suspected I had PCOS. He said that the periods of vision loss could have been from hormones floating around in a solution and then gathering at the back of my eye! I'm sure he said it a lot more technically than that...;)
Anyway, I went for an ultrasound and he was right, I did have PCOS. They put me on the mini-pill and now I'm right as rain
catmartin said:
I had exactly this a year or two ago. I was talking to my mum when all of a sudden, the right side of her face just wasn't there! I couldn't see out of my left eye, everything was just white, so it was easier to just keep it closed. I went upstairs and lay down for an hour and when I got up, things were fine again. A few nights later, the same thing happened, albeit for a shorter time, just a minute or two.
I went to my GP, who referred me to an opthamologist who had a look and couldn't see anything at the back of my eyes that could be causing my problem. But a few days later he phoned me at home to say he had looked at my notes and as I hadn't had a period in over 8 months, he suspected I had PCOS. He said that the periods of vision loss could have been from hormones floating around in a solution and then gathering at the back of my eye! I'm sure he said it a lot more technically than that...;)
Anyway, I went for an ultrasound and he was right, I did have PCOS. They put me on the mini-pill and now I'm right as rain
Blimey, I am an Ophthalmologist and can't imagine ever diagnosing anyone with PCOS! Hat's off to him/her.I went to my GP, who referred me to an opthamologist who had a look and couldn't see anything at the back of my eyes that could be causing my problem. But a few days later he phoned me at home to say he had looked at my notes and as I hadn't had a period in over 8 months, he suspected I had PCOS. He said that the periods of vision loss could have been from hormones floating around in a solution and then gathering at the back of my eye! I'm sure he said it a lot more technically than that...;)
Anyway, I went for an ultrasound and he was right, I did have PCOS. They put me on the mini-pill and now I'm right as rain
The one difference here is that wendy's symptoms affect both eyes. This makes it very unlikely to originate in the eye, as very few diseases affect both the eyes at the same time. It's very likely that this is the visual cortex however.
wendyg said:
Generally fit and healthy, no history of serious medical conditions.
A couple of months ago I had a brief experience of disturbed vision, everything on the right side seemed to blank out, lasted about 20 mins. However I put that down to being a bit hungover and lack of food etc, possibly temporary drop in BP
It happened again today though, with no obvious excuses. I initially noticed that the right side of my vision seemed to be flickering or banding, and this appeared to increase over a period of maybe 10 minutes. The right eye seemed to be more affected than the left, but the effect was evident in both eyes. I also began to feel quite detached at the peak of the effect. I took a dextrose tablet, and started to slowly improve.
I took a BP at the time, but I doubt it's accurace 132/85. My BP generaly is on the low side.
It sounds migrainey to me (a migraine sufferer) zig zags, flicky lines, 'holes in vision', ripples, are all visual effects I've had. They last between 10 and 30 mins then disappear, The only thing that is odd is that you say you get it in two eyes - which may mean it's something else, but if you're experiencing them for the first time it can be quite hard to describe or even figure out what is going on. I also feel very 'detached' and spacey. Often the aura (visual disturbance) is followed by vomiting, then a banging headache.A couple of months ago I had a brief experience of disturbed vision, everything on the right side seemed to blank out, lasted about 20 mins. However I put that down to being a bit hungover and lack of food etc, possibly temporary drop in BP
It happened again today though, with no obvious excuses. I initially noticed that the right side of my vision seemed to be flickering or banding, and this appeared to increase over a period of maybe 10 minutes. The right eye seemed to be more affected than the left, but the effect was evident in both eyes. I also began to feel quite detached at the peak of the effect. I took a dextrose tablet, and started to slowly improve.
I took a BP at the time, but I doubt it's accurace 132/85. My BP generaly is on the low side.
You should get it checked out fully though to eliminate eye problems and other potential medical problems.
Good luck!
parakitaMol. said:
The only thing that is odd is that you say you get it in two eyes - which may mean it's something else
It's not odd, that's quite typical of migraine in that it can affect both eyes at the same time (as it affects the visual cortex, half of which on in each hemisphere, supplies half of the visual field). In fact, I have had migraines myself, and it affected both eyes symmetrically.968 said:
parakitaMol. said:
The only thing that is odd is that you say you get it in two eyes - which may mean it's something else
It's not odd, that's quite typical of migraine in that it can affect both eyes at the same time (as it affects the visual cortex, half of which on in each hemisphere, supplies half of the visual field). In fact, I have had migraines myself, and it affected both eyes symmetrically.[quote=IL]
either one should do the same assessment. The guy in the hospital may seemngly have the same tests but would be more likely to have seen and treated more patients with this condition.
Ideally they should dilate your pupils, lie you down and look into your eye with a large lens and an odd miners hat-like thing! They should also press on your eyeball to indent the edges inwards and into view.
either one should do the same assessment. The guy in the hospital may seemngly have the same tests but would be more likely to have seen and treated more patients with this condition.
Ideally they should dilate your pupils, lie you down and look into your eye with a large lens and an odd miners hat-like thing! They should also press on your eyeball to indent the edges inwards and into view.
Thanks to everyone for your advice. The atypical migraine symptoms do seem to be the best fit, but I'm surprised by the link, given the short duration. I was a bit panicked at the time, but only because I was in the middle of treating a patient (don't think she noticed!).
Are there any other candidates though?
Other symptoms that I didn't mention before, I have a recent cough (infectious) bad enough to cause neck, chest and abdominal pain from the coughing (muscular). I don't think these are related to the eye thing, but I thought worth mentioning.
Are there any other candidates though?
Other symptoms that I didn't mention before, I have a recent cough (infectious) bad enough to cause neck, chest and abdominal pain from the coughing (muscular). I don't think these are related to the eye thing, but I thought worth mentioning.
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