[nofearonlyheart]

I gave been having visual disturbances on and off for the last ten years. The recent episode has lasted about a week and a half SO FAR.

When I am driving and a car passes me by I begin to see everything frame by frame in a strobe or stop motion fashion. The term cinematographic Vision was coined by Oliver sachs in 1970 something and perfectly describes it.

I have bipolar disorder and take several medications. Risperdal, trileptal, ritalin, luvox.

What could be causing these visual disturbances?

My only leads are non conspicuous or transient akinetopsia and also persistent aura without infarction?

Does anyone else experience this?

[Jomar]

You might also ask on our Bipolar forum- in case it is med related-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum38.html

[Snoopy]

Hello nofearonlyheart and welcome to NeuroTalk.

You might do some research on the medications you are taking, some of them list double vision and blurring vision as side effects. You may want to discuss medication side effects and your visual symptoms with your prescribing Dr.

[Lara]

Oliver Sacks wrote about something similar in his book Migraine (I own it), and The Island of the Colorblind and again in the article below.

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/111F04/16882.html
Review
In the River of Consciousness
By Oliver Sacks


In the section after Zoetropes in Section 1, it begins "There is a rare but dramatic neurological disturbance"...

mentions intoxications, migraines and certain types of seizures etc.

[DejaVu]

Hi nofearonlyheart,

Welcome!
Your screen name brought a huge smile to my face and further opened my heart. Obviously, I am touched by your awareness.

A fan of Oliver Sacks, as well? I deeply appreciate his work and the ways he had compassionately treated his clients, as well as his devotion to sharing his knowledge with anyone interested. (He could have simply written textbooks or textbook entries; instead, he'd offered knowledge through his books, related movies, etc. He felt much of this info would never make it out to clients/patients, if handled otherwise.) His willingness to share information made it possible for me to advocate for myself when doctors (including some neurologists) were lost in properly diagnosing (relatively uncommon) manifestations of migraine.

Your description of your experience reminds me of some of my experiences with migraine aura. Some of my migraine experiences have seemed to be partly migraine and partly some form of epilepsy. We were never able to clearly find epileptic activity. As you may know, migraine preventative medications are often also epilepsy meds. (AEDs).


Lara has touched upon interesting information.
Great book, also on my bookshelf.

I agree with Jo*Mar and with Snoopy, you may be experiencing side-effects of meds, or a combination of meds. It's possible these episodes are being triggered by a med, or meds. Some meds trigger auras for me. I am very sensitive to ingredients, including certain "inert" ingredients.

Have your recent episodes been of the same nature as your past episodes?
Have you ever noticed/suspected any "triggers" or patterns to any form of the episodes you've been having over the past ten years?

Thanks again for lighting up my day with your screen name.
I hope to see you around NT.

Warmly,
DejaVu

[DejaVu]

Originally Posted by Lara

Oliver Sacks wrote about something similar in his book Migraine (I own it), and The Island of the Colorblind and again in the article below.

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/111F04/16882.html
Review
In the River of Consciousness
By Oliver Sacks


In the section after Zoetropes in Section 1, it begins "There is a rare but dramatic neurological disturbance"...

mentions intoxications, migraines and certain types of seizures etc.

Lara, Awesome reference. We were writing at the same time. I could not see the link until after I'd finished my post. I just want to say: Brilliant! I enjoyed the read, very much.

DejaVu