OpticalLimits

Ocular auras .... weird ones!

davethebirder

Hi guys, for probably around 8-10 years I have been living with, (rather than suffering from) "Ocular auras"
They manifest themselves as visual patterns much like that of a kaleidoscope producing highly detailed colourful attractive semi flashing patterns that start almost unnoticeably somewhere my eyesight's FOV, increasing slowly in size and transitioning slowly across my eye's FOV .....the complete process takes around 30-45 mins until they fade away ..
The first time it occurred I thought .... Hey, what the hell is going on here? ... it didn't take long to realize the patterns remained visible even with my eyes shut .... ah it's a brain issue ... a little worrying!
I tried to find out on line if this was a known problem and found nothing at that time, however some years later I was telling a friend about it and she replied that these were know as "ocular migraines". When I Googled it turned out that I actually have "Ocular auras", the difference being confirmed by that fact that OAs are visible in both eyes even when closed.
They are apparently associated with migraines and migraine activity of which I had suffered from only three times many years ago .... seemingly many years later the process transformed itself the ocular aura variety.
The incidences are very variable, I can go for a few weeks without any, only to be followed by two in a day ... it's got to the point now where I barely take any notice of them, I notice them as they start and often as not I haven't even remarked when they've finished.
Although they are associated with migraines, I never get headaches when the auras are happening.

Any of you guys out there encounter OAs?

me

Never heard of it ... sounds strange.

davethebirder

Here is a video about it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTBbRqv05Hg&t=219s

stoppingdown

Hello Dave.

My mother (now 87) has been suffering from this since she was young. In the past years the frequency of the phenomenon has increased, still it disappears after about 20 minutes and no consequences. The doctors always say not to worry. She also doesn't have headache during the phenomenon.

In the past two years I started experiencing it. Two episodes: one the past year (I'd say a “regular" one, with all the “bell and whistles”) and one a few months ago, which aborted at early stages.

In general, I think it's harmless.

davethebirder

stoppingdown wrote
Hello Dave.

My mother (now 87) has been suffering from this since she was young. In the past years the frequency of the phenomenon has increased, still it disappears after about 20 minutes and no consequences. The doctors always say not to worry. She also doesn't have headache during the phenomenon.

In the past two years I started experiencing it. Two episodes: one the past year (I'd say a “regular" one, with all the “bell and whistles”) and one a few months ago, which aborted at early stages.

In general, I think it's harmless.

Hi SD ....... are you having migraine auras where you see the effects in both eyes, even shut?

My nephew suffers badly from regular migraines, sometimes lasting a couple of days ........ migraine sufferers have my sympathy as it is extremely debilitating .... the three migraines I had were preceded by blurry vision which lasted about half an hour before a heavy headache set in ..
if the auras have replaced the migraines I can't complain!

stoppingdown

If I translate well, I've suffered from mild migraines when I was young (university time), but later they disappeared. It was probably stress. Later I've suffered from headaches caused by cervical spondylosis, that is mechanical causes. It's one of the things that pushed me to go mirrorless twelve years ago. The problem disappeared for a few years, now it's slowly returning due to aging, which is normal.

Yes, auras are better than migraines. The first time I experienced it was really annoying, because at first I wasn't understanding what was happening — and the previous years had an initial retina detachment that fortunately was immediately fixed, but I feared it was happening again. My doctor said that the first time I experienced the aura I needed to have a check up (to make sure there wasn't anything more serious), but if the check up is fine auras should not worry (unless at a certain point they change in nature or frequency, in which case a further check up might be recommented).