Does anybody else just have the aura, but without a headache. Been happening on and off over the last year, possibly every couple of months. Just wondered if it’s another part of this lovely thing called MS!
I have been getting this for quite a few years, but about ten years before I was diagnosed with MS.
First of all I get the patterns and can only see half of everything and this thing grows and grows until I cannot see anything else in the room also my speech becomes unintelligible. Gradually my sight goes back to normal and I get pins and needles up my arms or in my hands, but no headache.
The very first time this happened to me I was on my own and I did not know what was happening, I must admit I did think that I had had a slight stroke. I rang the GP surgery, but I could not talk properly and had to ring them back later.
I was sent to see a Neurologist who told me that these were the classic symptoms of migraine.
The first 10 years of ms I had a lot of aura and vision problems .not so much now . Sometimes the odd time but nothing Luke in the Early days of it
Had just one, back in my 30s - not diagnosed with MS 'til mid-40s, so I’ll never know if it may have been connected.
I didn’t bother going to the doctor, as I recognised almost at once what it must be, from descriptions given by relatives who get migraine.
In fact, once I’d got over the initial shock that something “very strange” was happening, and realised what it was, I found it very intriguing and beautiful - especially as I had none of the attendant pain or nausea I’d been led to expect.
With hindsight, it’s lucky I didn’t go to the doctor, as any record of a pre-existing “neurological issue” might have invalidated my critical illness insurance - which I later claimed successfully.
Whether or not it was in any way linked to my later diagnosis with MS, it has never happened again. I was rather hoping it might, as it’s pretty much the only neurological oddity I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed. For a while afterwards, I even tried to trigger it on purpose, by recreating as closely as possible my routine on the day it happened (it had involved working hard, eating little, and then drinking red wine and strong coffee on a nearly empty stomach). I’ve never been able to reproduce the exact conditions, though, and gave up trying a long time ago. But I wouldn’t be scared if it happened again - and probably still wouldn’t go to the doctor - unless it became frequent enough to interfere with life.
Tina
I used to get this, but not since I’ve had MS
It was a sort of coloured rippling effect around the edge of my visual field.
I used to pop two Paracetamol tabs as a preventative measure, and not drive until it went away.
Interesting effect though.
Geoff
and there were all the flower power children of the sixties paying good money to dealers to see something like that!
groovy man!
same aftereffects too - you feel sick, have to go to bed and walk around completely out for it for at least 24 hours
JBK x
Yes, I get them too. I used to get full on, two day migraines but I take topirimate tablets daily and don’t get the full migraines now. I sometimes get a dull ache in my temple for two days but I can still function and I often get the aura. I don’t drive, obviously, and I’ll turn off the TV and sit quietly until it passes. I often find fluorescent lights trigger them so I work in natural light at work as often as possible and if I’m in a shop and it happens I have to sit in my car until it passes.
The patterns are very pretty but can leave me feeling nauseous and tired.
Tracey x
Hi
Yes, I get migraine aura but no headache. Starts off as a fuzzy sensation in the centre of the vision in my left eye and gradually expands out and dissipates after about an hour or two. When it first happened I freaked out and thought I was going to go blind. My neurologist explained about migraine aura and now when it happens I’m just like hey ho here we go again.
He said there’s no link to MS but it only started happening after my MS symptoms started so I think there’s a link. So says Dr Jake!
All the best
JZ