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dragonlady7I had that thing happen again. That thing I used to have happen back in late winter/early spring I think-- where I'd be seeing weird blinking colored lights in an odd quarter-circle line zig-zag pattern across the upper left quadrant of my vision, and then I'd have a blind spot in the middle/lower left. Tonight it happened while I was driving home from practice, which I left half an hour early because my left foot, for reasons unknown, is fucking killing me. (It's been hurting off-skates for like a month now, pretty constantly, and doesn't hurt less if I stay off it-- it only hurts when I'm on it, mind, but having rested it does not affect how much it hurts when I move it. But tonight it hurt so much while I was skating that my toes went numb and I couldn't move, and after about an hour of this, it started making a palpable grinding noise every time I exerted sideways pressure with that foot. So I said Fuck this! I'm done!
And drove home. Halfway home I noticed the dancing colored lights and said, "... Bzuh?"
By the time I turned down my street, I was having real trouble telling how far away cars were. I could only see one of their headlights clearly. It wasn't that the other one was blurry, it was, I eventually realized, that I could only see it with one of my eyes, even though I was looking right at it.
The colored lights, I ascertained, were visible from both eyes, in the same place. But the weird swimmy blind spot was only visible in the left eye, not the right.
I had a very slight headache, possibly like a muscle-tension kind of headache. Nothing I'd even really notice-- I've realized that I have a stupid pain tolerance, in that I actually don't notice pain up to a certain middling sort of point, after which I am completely obsessed with it and can't deal. V. annoying. I may have always been like that, and it may be new-- I don't know, I'm not that self-aware most of the time.
So I, feeling increasingly clumsy, stripped off my clothes and took down my hair, and got into the shower. I had only the 5-watt nightlight on in the bathroom, which was lovely-- not that light hurt, mind, but the absence of light was very soothing.
After a middling shower, not really long but not as short as usual, I felt completely better. Then I walked into the well-lit living room and the headache came back.
But not the blinky lights. (They had a really distinctive zig-zag pattern. I could draw them pretty accurately-- they were vivid, but familiar. I think they've always looked like that.)
Anyway. I have a mild headache now, which again, I wouldn't notice except that I'm all paranoid and obsessed about it now. So I'm sitting in a dim room and trying not to focus my eyes too hard. It's not serious pain. So when this happened before and people said it was a migraine symptom-- I'm pretty sure that if I had a migraine, I'd know by now.
Right? Knock wood this doesn't get worse.
Chita is not helping-- she's tearing around like somebody stuck a suppository of crack in her butt. Yo, cat. Skin-Mama's sick. Go bother Skin-Daddy.
On the up-side, I bought a box of cupcakes at Wegman's late last week, and still had two left, so I had one. And lots of water. It didn't help, but it made me happy, which is a different kind of help.
Oh, I also popped two ibuprofin immediately when I got home because of the grinding in my foot, so I don't know if they kicked in while I was in the shower or anything-- ibuprofin usually doesn't help headaches, for me, but then, I almost never medicate headaches because I so rarely get bad ones that aren't obvious dehydration headaches.
Oh Christ, knock wood.
Mostly I'm writing all this down so that when it happens again, since it seems to be recurring, I'll be able to remember just what happened last time.
Anyway. Joys. Raptures. Etcetera.
In other news I started work on my first embroidery project-- free embroidery, not counted. I bought a water-soluble marker at Jo-Ann's this morning-- along with no less than sixteen colors of floss, for a counted cross-stitch I am determined to do and to enter into the county fair next summer. For realz.
If this psychs you up any, one of the colors I bought was a glitter-metallic thread.
Yes.
Anyway, I drew on a bit more of the details of the pattern. But the marker says to leave it on no longer than two weeks, and shorter is better! So I'd better not set this pattern aside, or if I do I'd better rinse it out first and figure on drawing the pattern back on.
So, better get a move on.
I love doing it-- it's nicer than counted work because I'm shit at counting. But I can draw, and I can follow a line. It totally rules.
I just wish I understood the difference between the stitches. I seem to switch between a backstitch, stem stitch, outline stitch (which is like stem stitch but the other way, right?) and more or less a running stitch kind of freely without paying much attention. And I've still not figured out how to do a chain stitch or any of the cool/funky ones. I borrowed a comprehensive but slim book on every possible stitch, but the directions are actually for shit. Example: "Bring thread up. Pass through working line on the way down." What the hell does that even mean? (I made that up, I'm in too much pain to get out of bed and go find the book. But basically. I've been doing a lot of Googling. At least I know where to start, which is important.)
OK, headache is getting worse, though I still wouldn't describe it as really bad. So I'm going to go to bed. It better not keep me up. Though I think it won't-- I'm sleepy as hell, man.
And I think I'm coming down with a cold, which I really do not need.
And drove home. Halfway home I noticed the dancing colored lights and said, "... Bzuh?"
By the time I turned down my street, I was having real trouble telling how far away cars were. I could only see one of their headlights clearly. It wasn't that the other one was blurry, it was, I eventually realized, that I could only see it with one of my eyes, even though I was looking right at it.
The colored lights, I ascertained, were visible from both eyes, in the same place. But the weird swimmy blind spot was only visible in the left eye, not the right.
I had a very slight headache, possibly like a muscle-tension kind of headache. Nothing I'd even really notice-- I've realized that I have a stupid pain tolerance, in that I actually don't notice pain up to a certain middling sort of point, after which I am completely obsessed with it and can't deal. V. annoying. I may have always been like that, and it may be new-- I don't know, I'm not that self-aware most of the time.
So I, feeling increasingly clumsy, stripped off my clothes and took down my hair, and got into the shower. I had only the 5-watt nightlight on in the bathroom, which was lovely-- not that light hurt, mind, but the absence of light was very soothing.
After a middling shower, not really long but not as short as usual, I felt completely better. Then I walked into the well-lit living room and the headache came back.
But not the blinky lights. (They had a really distinctive zig-zag pattern. I could draw them pretty accurately-- they were vivid, but familiar. I think they've always looked like that.)
Anyway. I have a mild headache now, which again, I wouldn't notice except that I'm all paranoid and obsessed about it now. So I'm sitting in a dim room and trying not to focus my eyes too hard. It's not serious pain. So when this happened before and people said it was a migraine symptom-- I'm pretty sure that if I had a migraine, I'd know by now.
Right? Knock wood this doesn't get worse.
Chita is not helping-- she's tearing around like somebody stuck a suppository of crack in her butt. Yo, cat. Skin-Mama's sick. Go bother Skin-Daddy.
On the up-side, I bought a box of cupcakes at Wegman's late last week, and still had two left, so I had one. And lots of water. It didn't help, but it made me happy, which is a different kind of help.
Oh, I also popped two ibuprofin immediately when I got home because of the grinding in my foot, so I don't know if they kicked in while I was in the shower or anything-- ibuprofin usually doesn't help headaches, for me, but then, I almost never medicate headaches because I so rarely get bad ones that aren't obvious dehydration headaches.
Oh Christ, knock wood.
Mostly I'm writing all this down so that when it happens again, since it seems to be recurring, I'll be able to remember just what happened last time.
Anyway. Joys. Raptures. Etcetera.
In other news I started work on my first embroidery project-- free embroidery, not counted. I bought a water-soluble marker at Jo-Ann's this morning-- along with no less than sixteen colors of floss, for a counted cross-stitch I am determined to do and to enter into the county fair next summer. For realz.
If this psychs you up any, one of the colors I bought was a glitter-metallic thread.
Yes.
Anyway, I drew on a bit more of the details of the pattern. But the marker says to leave it on no longer than two weeks, and shorter is better! So I'd better not set this pattern aside, or if I do I'd better rinse it out first and figure on drawing the pattern back on.
So, better get a move on.
I love doing it-- it's nicer than counted work because I'm shit at counting. But I can draw, and I can follow a line. It totally rules.
I just wish I understood the difference between the stitches. I seem to switch between a backstitch, stem stitch, outline stitch (which is like stem stitch but the other way, right?) and more or less a running stitch kind of freely without paying much attention. And I've still not figured out how to do a chain stitch or any of the cool/funky ones. I borrowed a comprehensive but slim book on every possible stitch, but the directions are actually for shit. Example: "Bring thread up. Pass through working line on the way down." What the hell does that even mean? (I made that up, I'm in too much pain to get out of bed and go find the book. But basically. I've been doing a lot of Googling. At least I know where to start, which is important.)
OK, headache is getting worse, though I still wouldn't describe it as really bad. So I'm going to go to bed. It better not keep me up. Though I think it won't-- I'm sleepy as hell, man.
And I think I'm coming down with a cold, which I really do not need.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 01:51 pm (UTC)Last time this happened someone suggested cluster headaches, which is something to do with tension-- I was under so much stress at the time that it seemed to make sense. Last night I wasn't really under any stress-- I've actually been fairly mellow and happy lately. So I don't know...
But if it was a psychic message-- I didn't get any psychic messages! I had some cool ideas about creative things I wanted to do, but nothing really out of the ordinary.
Maybe I don't know how to listen to psychic messages?
I don't know, but I like that idea. I think I'll call it that instead. And listen closer next time. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 09:41 pm (UTC)Also fwiw, I've had migraines that make me feel like I've woken up out of a dead sleep and sat straight up into an anvil, and migraines that make me lie in bed with tears running down my face but NOT crying, cuz that hurts worse, and then migraines which merely suck but find me at my desk. I also stopped getting them as often when I went off of hormone pills - although I still get a hormone headache that lasts for about 3 days just before I get my period.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 02:49 pm (UTC)"This may be called an optical migraine or optic migraine--the technical term is scintillating scotoma. It is the most common visual aura preceding migraine and was first described by 19th century physician Hubert Airy (1838–1903). It may occur as an isolated symptom without headache in acephalgic migraine. Although many variations occur, scintillating scotoma usually begins as a spot of flickering light in the center of the visual fields, which to some degree obscures the field of view. The scotoma then expands into one or more shimmering arcs of white or colored flashing lights. An arc of light may gradually enlarge, become more obvious, and may take the form of a definite zig-zag pattern, sometimes called a fortification spectrum, because of its resemblance to the battlements of a castle or fort seen from above. It may be bilateral or unilateral."
They also say (but we KNOW this already!),"It may be difficult to read and dangerous to drive a vehicle while the scotoma is present. Normal central vision may return several minutes before the scotoma disappears from the peripheral vision."
It's scary as hell. But benign.
Hope this helps you feel better and calm about it. We find that after a person takes a steroid (such as asthma inhaler) or gets into blindingly bright sunlight to drive without glasses or is otherwise stressed, it can happen.
[edit] Prognosis
Symptoms typically resolve within 15-30 minutes, leading to the headache in classic migraine, or resolving without consequence in acephalgic migraine.
Some people experience flashes of light that appear as jagged lines or "heat waves" in both eyes, often lasting 10 to 20 minutes. These types of flashes are usually caused by a spasm of blood vessels in the brains, which is called migraine.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 04:18 pm (UTC)That's good to know.
A bit creepy and weird, but I guess I can be glad I'm not having a stroke or something.
The first time I ever had anything like that happen was after I fell and hit my head, so I figured maybe I'd gotten a concussion. (That was about two, going on three, years ago.) But the other times had no particular injury associated with them...
Huh. Weird.
Well, migraines it is, then. I don't like the sound of it, but if it's benign, then I'm glad.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 04:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 04:20 pm (UTC)The headache, I sometimes get and sometimes don't, and I wonder if it's mostly a tension headache from how nervous I get about the blinkenlights? Dunno! We'll see, if it happens again now that I know there's nothing awful going on.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-17 04:24 pm (UTC)