Migraine vs. Photosensitive Epilepsy

So, I am at a lost, is it a migraine or something else???

I have been suffering from “migraines” since adolescence (mother and brother are both suffers) and I have become desperate for help.  My migraines are usually triggered by stress, certain foods (chocolate, grapes, etc), and visual disturbances (flashing lights).  Since I have been able to wean out the specific foods that trigger my migraines and I have been fairly good with regulating my stress, the only thing I CANNOT seem to control are the visual issues I encounter in the environment.

Now, I say I suffer from migraines, because that is what the doctor diagnosed me with.  BUT, I have grave concerns that there is something else going on.  I am in my late 20’s, very active, and I work in a school setting.  Every since I was in my early teens, doctors have tried many different medications to help me with my “migraines”.  I have never had any success with medication and the only solution I have found that helps over the past 20 years is to isolate myself from the world for about an hour and pray that it goes away.  My first reason why I think I am not having migraines is that I have never found medication that works and I have tried many different brands, types, dosages, and over different time.

My second reason for suspecting that I may be having more than just migraines is the way they develop.  I am extremely sensitive to any glare, flash, bright light, and/or odd pattern that can come directly into my vision or even get into my peripheral vision.  The light can be direct or bounce off of any reflective surface (tile, tops of desks, dry erase board, shiny paint on walls, windows, computer screen, etc.  The result is either an immediate blinding (starts off small and then the blind spot increases over time to where I am completely blind in both eyes) or a day or two later I will get the same result.  Or sometimes, it will continue to reoccur both immediately and then days later.  The blinding aspect is very debilitating and heaven forbid if I am driving or in public, because I become nonfunctional.  I usually can tell that an onset is going to occur by either a blind spot in my vision OR I have a deep, big yawn.  I know that migraine suffers can have “auras” but the intensity, frequency, and feelings I get seem really debilitating.  I often feel panicked, confused, exhausted when the visual occurrence begins, and like I mentioned, migraine medicine does not have any impact on decreasing this.  What is also strange is that sometimes I will get the migraine pain 30 minutes into the blinding episode BUT sometimes I do not and my vision will come back and I can move on with my day.

 I hate that I keep going doctor-to-doctor (never seen a neurologist, only family doctors) trying to find help for this but it is getting extremely exhausting for myself and husband (who has to shield me and plan an escape if there is any visual disturbances in my environment).  Does anyone have a suggestion? Should I continue to waste my time and money trying to find out what is going on? OR is it just simply a typical migraine and I should deal with the process and put my life on hold until it returns back to normal after one of these episodes? I just want a solution and want this to stop impacting my life, either way.