Strobing / Halo Lights at night
 

Has anyone else experienced the issue of strobing lights coming from car headlights or strobes/halo's around street lamps at night? Some nights (or an hour or so before it gets dark) it seems worst/more noticeable; and is always present when i barely squint my eyes.

Not sure if this is just a normal symptom from a concussion related to potential nerve damage or possibly eye damage? I've had my eyes checked by a sports MD for double vision (diplopia) issues a couple of times over the past couple of weeks and they didn't find anything wrong.

Any insight/experience with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

After suffering a concussion, the brain often loses its ability to ignore sensory information that previously was not a concern. These visual sensations may have been occurring previously but you just did not notice them because your brain filtered them out. If the doctor is not concerned, I doubt there is a problem.

By doubt there's a problem, do you just mean that they should generally just fade with time?

lights
 

I still have trouble with car lights at night soecicfically the new bright LED yiu see on newer cars - I either get a headache trigger or nausea type feeling so I try to limit any exposure

Thanks for the response jinga--sorry to hear you are still having trouble with car lights.

I did some research and the term i am referring to is seeing lights as "starburst". Generally, yours appear to potentially be caused from ocular migraines. But common belief is they are due to nerve damage that is impairing blood flow in the back of the head to the eyes.

I have suffered from ocular migraines since my first concussion back in 2005. NOBODY could diagnose it. This website seems to have the best information on it that I've seen:

They won't let me post links so google "implications of ocular migraine" and click on the ** link

I personally don't think it has anything to do with the eyes, that it has more to do with misfirings in your occipital lobe, the vision center in your brain. If you do a brain scan, or fMRI (?), they might be able to detect impairments in the various lobes from your concussion. Ask your doctor about the brain scan as I hear it is relatively new and it sounds super interesting. I should have done it myself.

For now, your best bet is to drink A LOT of water, get cardiovascular exercise 30-45 minutes at least 3 times per week to increase blood flow into your brain, get on an anti-inflammatory diet, take Brain Vitale which gets rid of nasty free radicals that build up in your system from accidents/drugs/alcohol use/other toxins (brain vitale also promotes hair growth and helps with moods), get cranio sacral therapy on a regular basis (the bloodflow into the brain is key, and it helps rid the body of trauma), and get most of your busy work done in the mornings rather than at night. Everybody is affected differently by concussion, but if you start these things, you may find that your stress is lessened, and your ocular migraines diminish. Walks in nature help reduce stress as well. Yoga also helps.

I'm not sure where you are in your recovery but I highly recommend a book published by the Brain Injury Hope Foundation. Google it, and buy it on their website or on Amazon. It is called " Understanding Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI): An Insightful Guide to Symptoms, Treatments and Redefining Recovery". It lays it out in Layman's terms and is amazing for you and your family if you haven't found appropriate treatment. Good luck and feel well!

HealR2,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your experiences. Some of the issues you mention have been discussed here in the past.