3 ms·

i've experienced something (vaguely) similar. i once had a nasty accident on a bike. initially, i was ok. a car had stopped and the driver asked me how i was

i've experienced something (vaguely) similar. i once had a nasty accident on a bike. initially, i was ok. a car had stopped and the driver asked me how i was, and i answered that i was in pain, but otherwise fine. then, as the passer-by started talking to someone else, i had to call out to him "excuse me - but i can't see". because i couldn't see. so he put me in his car (he was actually an extremely nice chap - i found out later he also took my ruined bike back to where i was staying; i never found him to say thank-you) and drove me to hospital. on the way there i started to realise that i could see shapes - although i couldn't actually "see" anything, i could make out moving cars (imagine white cars against a white background, but somehow you can see them moving). and then my sight started to return, first at the centre of my vision, and then spreading out. i related all this to him as we drove, and what with the blood dripping from various places, i suspect he thought i was delirious. anyway, eventually everything returned to normal and i was checked by a gorgeous doctor (i was 18 or so at the time...) and sent home to rest, but went to work because i was working away from home and no-one i knew would be at the house i was staying at. at work they were impressed by the various bandages and sat me in a corner til end-of-day. never experienced anything similar since, although i do get (painless) migraines from time to time (like, once a year or so - i can't see properly, but it's not interesting).

naner 14y ago
i do get (painless) migraines from time to time What is a painless migraine?
- beagle3 14y ago
  One kind is called "visual migraine" or "ocular migraine". A simulation can be seen here http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73/ http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73/ . I tried to explain this 15 years ago to a doctor, without success - and then one day I read about it in a website, and apparently, I'm not crazy and also not alone in the world with this phenomenon. See also: Restless Leg Syndrome.
- andrewcooke 14y ago
  when your sight goes, basically :o) (maybe that's not the correct term - i once tried to find out if there was anything when wrong with me, and when i explained the symptoms that is what i was told it was). [beagle3's link is a very accurate description of what happens; it makes it really hard to use a computer, otherwise it's not a big deal, since it doesn't hurt]
- samstave 14y ago
  A migraine that someone else has.
- gbladeCL 14y ago
  I'm guessing he is talking about this: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ocular-migraine/AN01681/ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ocular-migraine/AN01681/ I get them from time to time; the only down side is the inability to read until the flashing zig-zag hallucination moves out of my field of view. Generally much preferred to a migraine headache.
- simonster 14y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acephalgic_migraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acephalgic_migraine
- jganetsk 14y ago
  Some people think the definition of migraine is "very painful headache". This is wrong. Migraine is a class of very specific neurological events, usually involving one side of the head (hence the name migraine, which comes from the Greek hemikrania). There are many potential symptoms, one of which is pain.
- jholman 14y ago
  Case study! I've been getting mostly-painless migraines for maybe eight years now. An area of my visual field stops reporting data. It doesn't look like anything, I just get no data. This is a relatively rare form of "aura"; most people who get aura report some kind of positive phenomenon. It starts as a few-degrees-wide field near my focal region; later in the cycle it gets bigger as it moved farther from the focus. I can only locate the region by moving my focal point and watching for bright objects to disappear. I discovered it when trying to figure out why reading was suddenly very difficult. My blind-spot episodes last about 30 minutes. When I first started having them, there was no pain at all. Since then, they've started to be followed by mild headaches, and sometimes by a cognitive stupor. If you read up on migraines, that's consistent enough that I almost wonder if I've tricked myself into adding these symptoms psychosomatically. More generally, I've met lots of people who have migraines who think they don't, because their headaches don't debilitate them. When they also report aura, I tell them to go look up "migraine".

naner 14y ago

i do get (painless) migraines from time to time What is a painless migraine?

beagle3 14y ago
One kind is called "visual migraine" or "ocular migraine". A simulation can be seen here http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73/ http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73/ . I tried to explain this 15 years ago to a doctor, without success - and then one day I read about it in a website, and apparently, I'm not crazy and also not alone in the world with this phenomenon. See also: Restless Leg Syndrome.
andrewcooke 14y ago
when your sight goes, basically :o) (maybe that's not the correct term - i once tried to find out if there was anything when wrong with me, and when i explained the symptoms that is what i was told it was). [beagle3's link is a very accurate description of what happens; it makes it really hard to use a computer, otherwise it's not a big deal, since it doesn't hurt]
samstave 14y ago
A migraine that someone else has.
gbladeCL 14y ago
I'm guessing he is talking about this: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ocular-migraine/AN01681/ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ocular-migraine/AN01681/ I get them from time to time; the only down side is the inability to read until the flashing zig-zag hallucination moves out of my field of view. Generally much preferred to a migraine headache.
simonster 14y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acephalgic_migraine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acephalgic_migraine
jganetsk 14y ago
Some people think the definition of migraine is "very painful headache". This is wrong. Migraine is a class of very specific neurological events, usually involving one side of the head (hence the name migraine, which comes from the Greek hemikrania). There are many potential symptoms, one of which is pain.
jholman 14y ago
Case study! I've been getting mostly-painless migraines for maybe eight years now. An area of my visual field stops reporting data. It doesn't look like anything, I just get no data. This is a relatively rare form of "aura"; most people who get aura report some kind of positive phenomenon. It starts as a few-degrees-wide field near my focal region; later in the cycle it gets bigger as it moved farther from the focus. I can only locate the region by moving my focal point and watching for bright objects to disappear. I discovered it when trying to figure out why reading was suddenly very difficult. My blind-spot episodes last about 30 minutes. When I first started having them, there was no pain at all. Since then, they've started to be followed by mild headaches, and sometimes by a cognitive stupor. If you read up on migraines, that's consistent enough that I almost wonder if I've tricked myself into adding these symptoms psychosomatically. More generally, I've met lots of people who have migraines who think they don't, because their headaches don't debilitate them. When they also report aura, I tell them to go look up "migraine".