Any Idea What This Might Be?

[hholmes13]

Hi All!

Hope you're all doing well. I've been having some odd episodes lately that don't follow my normal POTsy fun. I've had a few episodes in the past days where I get these weird visual disturbances. It almost feels like flashing light in a circular pattern. It starts in the middle of my vision and goes out to my peripheral vision and back again. It almost reminds me of when I see stars from standing up too quickly but this lasts for 10 minutes or more. It really messes up my concentration and vision. It actually starts to make me nauseous and a little light headed feeling. After it passes I end up with a splitting headache and feel kind of drained and sick to my stomach. Anyone experience this? Does this sound familiar for anything? I've read some about migraines with auras, but I don't know if I've ever had migraines before.

On another fun note, I've been noticing lots of random pain that feels like a horrible burning. I'm wondering if it's some kind of nerve pain because it seems to go along the lines of my body. It will be really severe pain that will last anywhere from 5-20 minutes and then go away.

These two things have started happening more and more over the past week. Any experiences people have had would be much appreciated!

[jknh9]

I had an episode of the visual disturbance like you describe, but mine lasted for probably 45 minutes and the shape kind of slowly morphed. I felt awful while it was happening, nauseous, shaky, adrenaline rush, and thought I was going to faint. I talked to my doctor about it and he just kind of brushed it off :/ I had heard about aura migraines too, but the only migraines I've had were caused by Florinef, when I took it a couple of years ago for a while. I still get the stars or "sparkles" often, but I haven't had the other type of visual disturbance in several months. I wish I knew what caused it because it came on out of the blue.

[arizona girl]

I can't answer your question, but it sounds like a trip to an eye doctor or maybe a neuro is in order. These are not normal symptoms. I wouldn't take a chance with my eyes. Opthalmalogist and maybe a neuro that deals with migraines and peri neuropathy.

[HopeSprings]

I get these periodically too. I think these are opthalmic or ocular migraines - no headache. As Arizona said though it's always wise to get any new vision symptom checked out. Here's a little description:

"As mentioned earlier, the most notable symptom of ocular migraine is the unusual visual sensations that block the normal vision to a large extent during the spell. At the earlier stages of an ocular migraine episode, the patient may experience a visual disturbance in his/her peripheral vision, mostly in the form of a jagged, shimmering, semicircular light, pale pastel in color. Within minutes, it expands and becomes more centric to the area of vision, leading to temporary patchy vision loss. Eventually, in another 15-30 minutes, the zigzag pattern travels outwards of the visual field and soon out of the side vision before disappearing completely, leaving the field of view clear again."

[southbel]

They're called ocular migraines. I get them as well, which coincided with my POTS onset.

[ramakentesh]

I have some form of migraine aura all the time prettymuch. I was diagnosed with persistant migraine aura without infarct before I got POTS.

[lissy]

Ohhhh Yes very common for me the migraines with and without the painful headaches and Aura the flashing, swirling designs. Have had them for over 10 years I can usually sense it coming before I become too impaired and they last for a hour at the most but I have gotten the auras to go away faster * I immediately close my eyes and sit or lie very still in a quieter area, and place a cold wash cloth on my face or neck and it lasts half the time...And I have been working on finding my triggers too much sunlight even if its coming through the windows, too much noise, stress, not eating regularly so basically have to watch everything I do...

But as others suggested get some expert advice to make sure exactly whats going on.

Take Care.

[hholmes13]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll probably be putting a call into my neuro doc on Monday.

[Angela]

i dont get headaches but i see colors & a zigzag type appearance line when I close my eyes sometimes. can't quite explain it correctly. like looking at a screeen that turns entirely orange and then you see a line that appears like a bunch of stars, misc. forms and connecting the dots, conselation type. it's weird. and the background and lines change colors at the same time.

[smo]

Hello, I have been having Aura for 2 years. Before I ever knew what's POTs was! Very scary. Sadly the neurologist blamed it on the pill and social smoking, even though I had it well before the contraceptive pill, and migraines did not follow, also sometimes had weird pupils dilation with it. Gutted I got fobbed off and it could of been an early diagnoses of POTs and now my pots is worse. Only just in the process of diagnosis but everything suddenly adds up. Interested to hear about others aura issues.

[Katybug]

Hi smo. Welcome to the forum! Aura is not typically a symptom of POTS. However, a very large percentage of POTS patients have some form of migraine according to my POTS neuro. It is possible to have something called silent migraine where you experience aura without the headache.