Very interesting to read about all these migraine stories - it is worth playing around with diet before/after and also keeping warm after the event. Good luck!
Very interesting to read about all these migraine stories - it is worth playing around with diet before/after and also keeping warm after the event. Good luck!
I suffered with similar symptoms i.e. migraine with visual aura for about 15 years but appear to have almost "grown" out of them now. I occasionally get one but can't be more than one or two per year. I almost never had a headache with them, but sometimes could feel a bit weak and nauseous for about 20-30 mins afterwards.
You describe almost exactly what I suffered with and it's the first time I've come across anyone else who has suffered with this.
The only slight difference with my symptoms is that the aura would start as a "small, dense ball" or dot in my vision and gradually grow, radially outwards. As soon as the "ball" appeared part of my vision would be missing, so that the image in the centre of my vision would be removed and the peripheral edges would close up, as though I was looking at a picture with the centre part cut out and the outer edges joined together. I first noticed this while travelling into Nottingham on the bus and passing a snooker club called "Top Spot" all I could see was "Toot" and the centre of my vision had gone.
I never did figure out what caused it, but I always took very little salt in my diet and my consumption of sugar was high. In the last few years I have massively reduced my sugar intake and it is interesting that the migraines have almost petered out. I hadn't made that connection before.
I experimented with cutting out other foods such as cheese, chocolate and caffeine but found that these made no difference.
One relatively common theme was that I would often be tired when the migraine occurred, usually through lack of sleep rather than hard exercise, and during the time I suffered most heavily I was doing a much greater amount of exercise than I do now.
Like you I am also an evenings/ night person and find the mornings hard work, sitting up working until midnight has been a common theme for me and I seem to feel more alert and awake as the evening progresses, but I did notice that I would almost certainly get one after a prolonged period of late nights and sleep depravation, but not exclusively.
I hope this is of some use.
Do what you like, like what you do
Thanks so much for the post Fellgazelle. Your description of your migraine aura is what I experience too. It starts with the blank spot and then develops to the wavy zigzag line of lights. It is very odd to lose the middle part of your vision and sometimes it takes me a while to realise what is happening. Very disconcerting.
I've known for a long time that I need to cut down on my sugar intake and I must try harder (mainly the sugar in tea/coffee is my downfall). I hadn't really thought about the salt thing but I'll experiment with adding a bit more into my diet. I sometimes wonder if I feel so tired first thing in the morning because my blood sugar is low due to not eating for eight hours and if I wean myself off of the sugar a bit, that might help with that. I know that it is vital that I get plenty of sleep and I have to balance my late night working with that. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience, its helpful.
'The birds are the keepers of our secrets'
No worries Hes,
Yes this was the same for me. I had always drank tea/coffee with two sugars and lots of it until last year when I just stopped taking sugar completely. I was surprised how easy it was with just a little bit of determined effort.Originally Posted by Hes
I've had quite a long illness (longer than anything I've ever had before) this year and have practically cut out caffeine and changed my diet in a number of other ways and I can't describe how much better I feel for it.
Do what you like, like what you do
I get these Hes, I've never been a migraine sufferer and never get a headache with them (or certainly not one that would warrant taking anything) but occasionally they crop up. Mine often starts when smelling something unusual like solvents or cleaning products and it starts with a few coloured flashing lights in one eye (I think) and it then spreads to the point my vision is badly affected. I usually go lie down in a darkened room and take a paracetamol and it goes away. They never last long and aren't frequent. When it first happened I was quite worried but went to my doctor and he said the same thing. Migraine.
It's really odd. I sometimes get flashing lights and darkened vision if I'm racing very hard but it's different to these and I think it's probably blood sugar related or similar.
@Hill_Runner on twitter
Whilst there are many causes of migraine with aura and still some confusion around them, 1 known cause is related to having a Patent Foramen Ovale or hole in the heart. 25%of the population have a hole but often dont know about it.
Originally they were believed to be pretty benign but latterly there have been increasing links between PFO's and cryptogenic strokes, so it might be worth getting it checked out.
I found mine by getting bent whilst diving and the symptoms were as you describe, caused by bubbles in the venous side passing across the hole into the arterial side and affecting the optic nerve. I have since had it filled with a titanium plug, not to dive again, but to minimise the stroke risk.
The key specialist in the UK Dr Peter Wilmshurst had strong views on the link between migraine and aura and PFO's.
I'm just starting out so don't know about migraines when running but I do get the auras that you describe, I used to get them followed by the headache but now I get them on their own and get the headaches separately, I take beta blockers now so don't know if this is because of that. I tend to be worse when I'm out of my usual routine, if I don't eat regularly or have a few late nights/early mornings, as well as the usual triggers of coffee/wine/chocolate and, bizarrely, pork!
would nearly guarantee dehydration!you can run through it as aura usually passes after 30 mins max. symptoms lightheaded more than headache and after 10 mins or so aura usually starts moving to the side..
I suffer the aura since age 13, maybe 5- 10 times a year, generally in early spring or autumn when the sun is low. It starts as blank spots, then centre of vision breaks up like a kaleidoscope, which obscures central vision for 20. Minutes clearing as an arc of flashing light out to the periphery. Tend to feel wasted for some while before and a day after.
Some foods act as triggers (eg yeasty things , hot cross buns( no idea why)) -
I think but cannot prove that days with bright metallic reflections can also make it worse. They were certainly more prevalent when I trained hard efforts, and years before that when I wasted my youth as a half decent golfer! Can't help with a solution.
Last one annoyingly on my mountain bike on the C2C route a fortnight ago. Hard to steer when you can't see!
Last edited by alwaysinjured; 31-05-2014 at 11:20 PM.
I've suffered with migranes for a long time as well and like most people they have got fewer the older I've got. Personally I've found dehydration is one of the major causes for me so that could be linked as well. I try to eat little and often as well as I've found hunger can affect them too. I'd start tracking what you eat and drink and see if you can find a link. It might not be related to that but at least you can rule it out.
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