Migraines – Ocular or Other?

Is your visual disturbance caused by an “ocular” migraine? What is an ocular migraine? Studies have shown that ocular migraines are quite common and are believed to be attributed to the same triggers or causes as traditional migraine headaches.

An ocular migraine is also caused by vascular spasms, again like the classic migraine headache however; affect the area that carries the blood supply to the visual region brain. This is what causes the disturbance or the aura that often precedes an ocular migraine.

Various symptoms have been reported to include peripheral vision disturbances, dancing spots, zigzag like patterns, flashing lights, and the like. It is often said by the sufferer that these patterns dance across their visual field, before slowly going away, normally only affecting one eye at a time.

How long does the visual disturbance last? Typically, an ocular migraine can last between 15-30 minutes and very rarely goes beyond one hour. Sometimes it is followed by migraine headache pain, and sometimes not. It has also been reported that some episodes are followed by what is described as fatigue.

But, is your visual disturbance caused by an ocular migraine or something else? A trip to the doctor or ophthalmologist is the easiest way and safest way to determine the answer to that question. It might take a test or two, but if it helps alleviate ocular migraines following diagnosis, it is well worth it.

In addition, if you are able to determine that you are having ocular migraines, you can then work on identifying what trigger is causing it in the hopes of eliminating them in the future. With the triggers and causes basically shadowing those of classic migraines, and if you are one of the lucky ones who does not suffer pain following an ocular migraine, you can work on becoming free of the ocular migraines altogether.