Very freaky migraine
 

I've had migraine with aura before (2000/2001), and only a few episodes during that time in which I experienced the auras. They were the glittering circle that comes on in 1 eye gradually over 20 min and dissipates on it's own. In each case I experienced this, I never experienced the migraine pain afterwards (painless migraines).

Skip to this last Saturday, when I woke up with a charlie horse/leg cramp in my right calf. I jumped out of bed, literally, and planted my foot on the ground as quick as possible.

After a few seconds the spasm began to calm down, but I felt extremely faint and my skin went completely clammy (my boyfriend was there to actually witness it, and could feel my skin change almost instantly and get clammy).

What this event lead up to is what I'm writing about. I laid back after this occurred, closed my eyes, and there it was. A bright, hazy white circle in the centre of my vision with my eyes closed, with a dark circle in the centre. Ack. It was quite large as well. I opened my eyes and it was reversed. The white circle was dark in my opened eye vision, the dark inner circle was white.

It faded away after 5 min approx., but while I've seen the twinkling, glittering crescent moon shaped auras from migraines illustrated before and have actually been able to look and say "Bingo. that's exactly what I experienced!" in this case, I've never seen an oval-shaped (sideways) white hazy perfect structure, with a dark centre.

It wasn't related to 1 eye either. I tried closing 1 eye and then the other to see if it only appeared in 1 eye. It was in both.

I didn't end up with a headache/pain after either.

Has anyone experienced this type of visual disturbance? Do you think that this was related to having a really terrible charlie horse that nearly caused me to faint, or was the whole 'event' related to migraine :confused:

I think you should discuss this with your doctor.

There is a link some believe to migraine with stroke.

Also blood pressure changes may provoke strange feelings/perceptions.

Do you have a blood pressure cuff? Taking your pressures and logging them in a journal may show something, that you can then discuss with your doctor.

People with very low magnesium levels, often have blood vessel spasms. Magnesium has been used in migraine prevention as well.
This subject has just exploded in the past few years. There are two well known doctors who have written books on it.
I have a magnesium thread on vitamin forum:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread1138.html
This thread helps you choose a supplement that is safe and really works (not all do).

If you Google migraine magnesium you will find many sites today like this one:
http://www.thedailyheadache.com/2007...ium_migra.html
(the statement on that tho about magnesium oxide being bioavailable has been shown to be questionable however. Other forms are generally more absorbed).

Some magnesium daily (I use almonds most of the time myself) willl help with leg cramps too.

Thanks mrsD. I did plan on bringing this up with my doctor/neurologist, but it may be beneficial to do so as well with my nutritionist. He had me on magnesium a while back with a few other supplements, and in recent times the only 2 that my doctor/neuro have mentioned to be diligent about taking are vitamin d3 and calcium.
My nutritionist did at one time mention a possible relationship with magnesium and headache/migraine prevention. Definitely worth looking into.
Thanks for the links :)

I'd talk to the doctor if it was an unusual event.
Hard to say if it was just a different type of aura. You wrote "It wasn't related to 1 eye either. I tried closing 1 eye and then the other to see if it only appeared in 1 eye. It was in both."

I've had migraines since my mid 30's. These days they are few and far between. I often wondered if mine were related to homonal changes as well as some other more obvious things like stress, predisposition etc..

I sometimes get migraine auras without the migraine headache. Weird thing is I get an aura/weird feeling prior to the actual visual scotoma beginning.

I used to have this amazing website that showed heaps and heaps of different types of visual auras. It was astounding. I'll try to find it later if I can.

I have a great book too called "Migraine" by Oliver Sacks. It's got some great pics in there too. There are so many different types. I get a zigzag scotoma that lasts about 20 minutes. During that time the zigzag starts very small and over the time gets larger and larger. It is pretty scary and sometimes in the beginning, I thought I was having some sort of stroke myself. I can't do anything while that is happening. If it comes on when I'm driving, I have to pull over and wait till it's gone.

There are circular scotoma and tunnels and some people notice a change in perception... e.g. objects appear to be larger than usual in a room. Some people get a mosiac vision... like everything is pixelated.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that I had a bubble on my retina once. It wasn't caused by an injury or anything. I was pregnant with my first child when it happened just out of the blue. It caused me to have a flashing light constantly just off to the side of my vision... but that was only in the one eye, not both.

I need to get some more magnesium into me too. Thanks for the reminder. :)

If you can find the website with the pictures of auras, that would be cool to see :)

This is the site I meant.

from the Migraine Aura Foundation

I'm sure there are many other ones though.

Edited to add:
Also check out the "Visual illusions" and "Visual hallucinations" in the symptoms area.

Very awesome, thanks a bunch :)

I have had similar experiences. i was labled with "visual migraines" it can come on with just visual stuff, and last from 5 to 60 minutes. Mine starts like someone popped a flash bulb in front of my face. I cant see past the dancing dots. I get clammy, cool, and feel weak as if I have been digging ditches for a week with no break, and no water. I dont feel like my legs will hold me up. I have had ON in the past, and since no sx of ON could be found, we settled on "visual migraines." really scary when it happens. I hope you feel better. :hug: