Visual Field test??
 

anyone have this silly thing?

I have been having visual migraines lately, and there is a change in my optic nerve thickness, so they sent me for a visual field test. Since I am having visual migraines, I cant tell which is their white light, and which is my visual migraines flashing! She kept telling me to do my best to see all I could see.

by the time I was done, I was half blind from staring into the bright white field searching for blinking lights. I know I would wait long periods without seeing any lights! that made me worry. Then I think I click off on a few that I think were my own flashers. They are going to get my results back and think me drunk!

anyone else ever do this?

Is it the thing where you look into the big plastic box, they put a patch over one of your eyes and every time you see a light blink somewhere, you click the little computer mouse-like thingie??

I've done that a bunch. I call it the Blinky Light game.

I've fallen asleep before while "playing" the Blinky Light game...sooooo booooooring!

Oh, and I cant always tell what's a blinky light, or if it's some weird eye thing going on.

I had a visual field test last year. I missed over 60% of the flashing lights in the lower 1/4 of my vision. It showed my peripheral vision is deteriorating as well.

Funny thing about the test... I noticed I was hearing a slight zzzst sound just before a light flashed. I told the tech that my hearing was better than my vision! She covered my ears! :o

yes, they put a patch over my eye, and we played the blinkie light game. I couldnt tell if it was a blink or my visual field, and by the time I guessed, the chance had gone by. *sigh*

Just got a call from the eye guy who said I had a high enough fail rate that he wants me to see the cheif eye surgeon to make sure that its ok. Said it wasnt a "glaucoma" style issue, but it appears to be an "optic nerve" issue, and warrents follow up.

I HATE THIS STUPID DISEASE! :mad:

I have had this test a few times due to a pre glaucoma dx -- eye pressure is a bit high. Since I have been having problems with my right eye, my neuro just scheduled one for me at the neurology office. Depending on the results, I may be seeing their neuro ophthalmologist. I have occasional pain in my eye, a floater that will not go away (long black line), and a feeling of cobwebs in the outer right side.

I have had that test two, and thought for sure my one eye was going to not pass well... as it kept blurring out from staring in there... but both eyes were within normal but one was slight abnormal... in report... but they told me normal lol.. sarah

I had a field vision test when I started going to my new eye doctor a few years ago. I was not having any visual problems at the time and suffering no migraines or headaches. He just wanted it for a base test. I had difficulty seeing the lights and it bothered me quite a bit to do the test. I could only imagine how difficult it was to take the test while suffering from a migraine.

I've had 5 or 6 visual fields tests. I'm not sure how accurate they were. I had trouble coordinating the clicks I was supposed to do with the appearance of the lights on the screen.

By the time I would get around to clicking, the test would have gone on to the next light.

The charts for this test can be interesting. One of mine showed almost no peripheral vision, and others showed considerable loss of central vision.

I had all of these visual fields tests done in an ophthalmologist's office. At least they aren't painful or uncomfortable.

I agree! by the time I was figuring out if it was a flash, and I clicked, we have moved on to the next light, and I have to play catch up. I was frustrated and working hard. I would go a loooong period with NO clicks, and then think to my self about how long it had been since I clicked! then I got worried, and then frustrated and thought "now its been even longer!" I kept thinking I knew I should have seen a light in that time, but couldnt find one!

It wasnt painful, just annoying to look into a bright white screen while having a visual migraine. I asked if we could wait to do it, but since my visual field is so screwy anyway, we decided to just do it.

I have an appointment with the lead Eye Surgeon. She is quite careful, thorough, and will comb thru my eyes with a fine tooth comb.

What I hate is when they dilate your eyes, and then use that hand held magnifying glass like a lazer beam! eeek! :eek:

I went to a Neuro-Opth and they did it backward. They dilated my eyes, had me wait until full dilation, then did that eye test.

It was cruel. When you eyes are dilated, bright lights hurt. You may where sun glasses going home,right?

Any way they did the visual test and the bright lights in the box hurt my eyes so bad. The pain was awful. Tears were streaming down my cheeks from the too bright light and the pain of it. The water just poured out of the corners of my eyes like I was crying.

I had this test before.They should not have dilated me first. She just gave me tissues, but my eyes felt blinded and caused a headache.

Dej, I, too, thought I had missed some of the lights since is was so random and I was not too fast on the clicker. Apparently I did okay, but he found a Vitreous detachment in one eye that caused my cobweb black floaters.

They went away in two weeks so he said to just watch it annually since it just tore a little bit away from the back of the eye, not a full detachment.

This is not a retina detachment, this is a vitreous detachment, a little different, but not good either. If it gets worse they put a frozen thin tiny steel rod into the center of your eye and freeze-scar the back of the eye ball to the wall again. So the fluid doesn't leak out. It doesn't sound pretty.

Ok, Lady wins! Yours sounds much worse than mine. My eyes were not dialted, and while visual migraines are not painful, they are distressing. Its after the visual stuff stops that the real painful migraine comes along.

Ever have someone stand too close to take a flash photo? all those dots and spots after? That is what a visual migraine feels like. Not painful, but annoying! its when the flashers and wigglers stop that the real fun begins. I tried to tell them I didnt have enough visual accuity to be able to pick out their flashers from my own. They said to just do my best.

I can't believe they did that!:eek: They should have known better and I am so sorry you had to go through that.

I went to the ophthalmologist last week to get my eyes checked. Good news was, my vision is getting better as I get older.:confused: But, I do need a wee bit of a bifocal. I have my visual field test coming up this week. Part of my peripheral vision is gone in my left eye. Then I have to go back for the dilation part of the testing.

Dej - Thanks for starting this thread and I hope things work out for you.:hug: Let us know.

I'm recovering from a bout of Optic Neuritis - and it's slowly getting better - but the past few days I've been having episodes of seeing green and blue in my field of vision. I can be sitting at the computer typing on the keyboard and look down and I see a blue or a green hue. Is this a visual migraine?

yep! thats a visual migraine. They said some folks see colors, and others just see black and white.

Keep a journal of when it happens, how long the colors stay, and if its followed by a regular migraine. you have a 50/50 shot of not having a regular migraine follow it.

If its only in one eye, its an eye thing. If you see the colors in both eyes, its a brain thing. It needs to be recorded, and reported. Hang in there. :hug:

My visual migraines (or at least vision issues I've had that have definitely linked to migraines) have been seeing a slowly emerging crescent moon shape in my left eye, which almost looks prismatic, then it fades away (the rest of the eye's cloudy gray, which also comes and goes) - all within the span of 20-30 min.

Otherwise, seeing a seemingly centered halo of white light with a black center. THAT was scary.. and came immediately following a horrible charlie horse in my leg (that was during my 3 month stint on Yasmin - evil pill).

I've seen these flashes of blue/green hues that you're referring to though as well, I just never linked them to the MS, I thought they were related to looking at TV/PC monitor too long (white background to darker area, for example). I noted them within the past couple days happening with more frequency, and last night my left side (arm/hand) started the tell-tale pins & needles, and I ended up in bed with a left side migraine throbbing in my temple, that spread a good portion of my forehead. It took everything to think about something to distract from the pain and nausea. Luckily I was able to sleep, but I still have pins & needles a bit in my left side and fingers today, and a bit of a headache still left.

So that's interesting that the flashes of 1 color can also be migraine. Good to know!

I am impressed with my recent research and proof of how many MS patients have visual migraines. i suppose its an optic nerve thing. I have an appointment with the big eye surgeon on Friday. The MS center also is talking about an MRI to check for new lesions on my optic nerve.

Is anyone else having panic/anxiety attacks with theirs?

Im tired of this! :cool:

I used to get all freaked out when things happened that had never happened before....like this visual thing. For some reason I just don't anymore. Now, if I were to wake up one morning and not be able to see anything I think I might panic! :eek:

Since I have no medical insurance until Medicare kicks in I tend to just notify my Neuro of any changes (so he can update my medical chart) but I usually just ride the sx out till they resolve themselves. And they have all resolved by themselves so far. He gets irritated that I don't take his advice of IVSM or other drugs but I try to tell him that I just don't have the resources for it right now. He doesn't understand. :mad:

What Kitty said... but I've also had visual migraines for so long now that I'm past the freak out stage (except that halo one I had... but the charlie horse added to that entire experience).

I had my first probably 10 years ago (that I can remember). I don't know if it's MS related, but I think the 2 can work together (or against us).