Ocular Migraines and Simple Partial Seizures

I have been having this problem since I was 7 years old, I am now 34. I have had at least 30 of these headaches if not more. When I was a kid they would give me vicodin. It NEVER helped. Last year I had an increase in these headaches and missed a lot of work because of them. I went to a neurologist who prescribed every medication in the migraine world to no avail. Finally she said she gives up on conventional medicine and told me to take a vitamin B complex daily. It worked. The funny lights in your eyes are called an aura. Sometimes I will get an aura, but I will try to ignore it. It will go away now. Someone told me vitamin B helps with stress. I never knew I was stressed, guess I was, cause now I'm ok. I encourage anyone with these symptoms to go to a doctor right away. My symptoms have gotten worse over the years. Most recently I was getting an aura, losing depth perception, vomiting violently, had numbness in my extremities, loss of comprehension, loss of ability to speak. Bad stuff, but also common symptoms of stroke. So take this very seriously. It is better to be cautious and seek help than to try to fix it yourself and have it be something more serious than a headache. My grandmother also get these, and she has been hospitalized twice in the last 5 months because they thought she was having a stroke. Hope this helps.  

I just sort of came across this and was shocked.  I have intractable Epilepsy. I take 5000mg Keppra a day, 900mg Lamictal a day, and 550 Zonagran a day.  But a few years ago I started having what the neuro-eye doctor called occular migraines.  I dont have any pain when I get them.  But I get double vision and lose my balance; definately cant drive home from where Im at.  They are worse in the summer when its brighter.  Riding in a car triggers it a lot of time.  If I turn my head too fast it triggers it.  I wear sunglasses as much as possible.  Once it starts to get less sunny they seem to ease up.  I was recently put on some medicine that helps, strangely it is a blood pressure medicine.  I take 80mg Propranolol ER in the morning and 40mg Propranolol in the evening.  I also have Maxalt to take when I actually feel one coming on and if I get one ASAP Im good if I wait too long the rest of the day is spent sitting or laying in the dark.  I have been told these have nothing to do with my Epilepsy but I have my doubts.  It seems to me they might be connected to some photosensitive seizures... Hope this helps someone.

I get ocular migraines from time to time.  The most important thing for me is to always carry around two 200 mg ibuprofen tablets.  AS SOON as I see a blindspot, I take both tablets with a full glass of water.  This will prevent the migraine from turning into a headache later.  If I don't take the pills immediately, the blind spot gets more noticable, then I see the bright neon-type lights (kind of like the neon glass lights on a Ferris wheel) but more sparkly.  It can continue into partial numbness of my fingers/hand, and possibly into slurred/scrambled speech.  I've only had the scrambled speech a couple times.  I also seem to feel some strange heart fluttering, especially if I take a deep breathe and exhale slowly, but that could just be related my anxiety over getting a migraine.  So, after you take your two ibuprofen, try to lie down in a dim room and just breathe and relax.  You need to make sure your clothes are a bit loose as well.  I've noticed I seem to get migraines when I am hunched over for a period of time and I'm not taking in full breaths.  I haven't found any food triggers, but I seem to get them after a really lousey night's sleep, or perhaps a couple nights in a row.  Also, if I go too long without eating, I am more likely to get one.  Of course, if I have all my triggers together, it is almost definite that I will get one.  As far as the two 200 mg dose of ibuprofen, I'm not sure how ibuprofen works to halt the progression of my ocular migraines, but that is what works for me.  I never get headaches or take medicine so I might be able to get by with less than that.