Quote:
Originally Posted by Vowel Lady
I had a bout with very bad blurry vision after taking Exedrin the other day. It lasted for 1.5 days.
By coincidence, I had an appointment with the neuro the second day. He treats me for headaches/ migraines.
Tylenol and such never works for me. Imitrex sometimes makes me tired and I had much to get done. Instead, I took two Exedrin. Shortly afterward, I had a lot of blurry vision. The next morning, it was better...but still blurry. By afternoon (the next day) it was gone.
Blurry vision really bothered the neuro. He did a visual field/color brightness test using a little organge ball and said things were a little "off."
He concluded a few things...I might be at big time risk for stroke and my tiny pituitary tumor could have grown. So, he ordered an MRI with and w/o contrast to be done within a week. He also gave me baby aspirin which I'm to take daily for at least one month. (I have a medical condition that prevents me from taking baby aspirin all the time...daily/regularly).
Has anyone heard of Exedrin causing blurry vision? Stroke? I'm thinking it has something to do with the pituitary tumor or it is some unsual reaction to the caffeine and headache. Thoughts? Thank you.
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VL, I have had migraine without aura since childhood. About a year and a half ago, I started having episodes during which I can't talk. My doc was also thinking stroke and I had several imaging studies and an eeg. Everything was normal. My dx was complicated migraine.
Then several months ago I had 2 episodes about 6 weeks apart that included extreme confusion, visual disturbance including double vision, and I lost control of my legs for 2 day. A week after the second event, I had an episode where I couldn't talk for several hours and my legs also gave out.
Again I had an eeg and several imaging studies and everything was normal. Eventually my dx was basilar migraine but it was puzzling because it is unusual to have onset at my age (56). It turns out that oral contraceptives can trigger basilar migraine. I never took oral contraceptives but I had been taking Tamoxifen for 3 years. Both oral contraceptives and Tamoxifen contain estrogen so my neuro figured that the Tamoxifen was triggering the symptoms. I cut out the tamoxifen and except for the speech problem, the episodes have stopped. My severe depression also lifted when I stopped tamoxifen.
Now back to your problem. First, it would be a good idea to have imaging studies: mri and mra of head and neck, Carotid doppler, and eeg. If you have had a stroke or TIA it will show up. If not, the visual disturbance might be migraine aura. One of my doctors noted that it is good if the imaging studies are normal. It doesn't mean everything is all right but it does rule out the most serious stuff.