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44 Comments
- digitalsol, on 12/05/2007, -0/+13I suffer from migraines.... :( I just get aura's before, so I know I am getting a migraine right before. I see blurred vision on one of my eyes. At that point I just take some advil and go to take a nap or go to bed. I hate the after effects though. They last ALL day!
- RonSpeirs, on 12/05/2007, -0/+9I suffer from migraines also.
My vision gets really messed up, like looking through runing water for half an hour and then the pain hits. Light and sound affect me pretty bad.
Man! I would not wish migraines on my worst enemy! - gidd, on 12/05/2007, -0/+7Luckily I very rarely get migraines anymore, but back when I did, I'd be out of commission for about three or four days each time, and that would happen every month or two.
The auras and other weird visual symptoms were the oddest, though. I'd be watching TV, and after an hour or two, I'd realise that although I could see the TV and the image on it, I couldn't comprehend it. It was like I was seeing everything like peripheral vision, but in front of me. Then, half an hour later, I'd go mostly blind, and it felt like someone was squeezing my brain with oily hands.
Once, I left an hour-long interview for a contractor role at HP totally unable to see, and then puked up in their shrubbery. I hadn't been able to see their faces. Fortunately, I managed to keep it together and hide what was happening. I got the job.
Migraines really suck. Far worse than "a bad headache". - MacGyver2210, on 12/05/2007, -0/+5I had (what I assume was) my first migraine ever the other day, and I couldn't even open my eyes it hurt so bad. I'd say lack of color is second to lack of sight.
- infecticide, on 12/05/2007, -0/+4When I was in high school I had 3 migraines and fortunately they have not returned. I went blind in the sense that all I could see was static like somebody pulled the cable out of the TV. A couple times I had to get a friend to walk me to the office because I couldn't see anything. 4 Ibuprofen, a cold cloth and downstairs into the pitch black basement where I had to lay on my back and breath very shallow in order to not feel like killing myself.
- loquax, on 12/05/2007, -0/+4As a migraine sufferer myself, I can only imagine the weird stuff that can come from a full-on migraine attack. Those of you who do suffer from them, please be aware that migraine-based strokes are some of the most leading cause of strokes to us under 40. You need to take them seriously and see a doctor or read up on the condition (see http://www.migraine.org/). God bless!
- inactive, on 12/05/2007, -0/+3This is why Steven Colbert "doesn't see color"
- Aspire36, on 12/05/2007, -0/+3I've never noticed it before, but now that I think about it, everything does seem blacker when I have a migraine.
- thefandango, on 12/05/2007, -0/+3i used to get those same effects, and did the same thing. 3 advil, then try to sleep through it.
did you get the pain that sat in the back of your head and hurt whenever you moved your head too quickly? - vhammon, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2As a former migraine suffering, I was intrigued by the ones that I could identify with and the ones that define the migraines of others.
- sarazen, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Colors would have been nice. Having just spent the day weathering a healthy migraine, I missed out on the lights part this time. This one was sneaky and came on in my sleep. I hate it when they do that.
- BOFH2, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2I think I would rather have the removal of color sometimes instead of puking.
- frijoles, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2I had migraines when I was younger. I knew they were coming when I'd lose vision in one eye. I'd look at my family/friends and say, "I'm going to be out for the rest of the day. Don't bother me." CRT monitors could set it off, as could perpendicular lines. It was very strange. What I don't see mentioned above, however, is the loss of feelings. The whole left-side of my body would go numb, including my tongue and lip. The pain of the migraine hit right after that.
I remember it happening on the cable car going up the side of the Tetons. This was before I learned to recognize when they were coming. Sucks getting one while being stuck on a mountain. - breckinshire, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Migraine sufferer here, also. My doctor recently prescribed beta blockers and I am down to maybe one migraine every other month. It's amazing. At the risk of sounding like a commercial, talk to your doctor today! Also, they are significantly cheaper than Imitrex (I pay about $4 a month with insurance vs about $20 PER PILL for Imitrex).
- kooft, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Sorry, please link to a peer reviewed empirical study on aspartame/migraine correlation. Until then, I'm going to rely on these fellas:
In fact, aspartame, known as "NutraSweet" and "Equal," is safe. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested substances in the U.S. food supply. Numerous authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the FAO/WHO, the European Community, and the American Medical Association have concluded that aspartame is a safe product, except in the rare cases of phenylketonuria. For more information on aspartame, please refer to ACSH's peer-reviewed booklet Low Calorie Sweeteners. And beware of Internet health hoaxes.
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.265/health ... - kooft, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2leoedin, that's sounds like a good choice of action if you ask me. I've always heard that different foods can trigger migraines and you have to find your triggers and eliminate them. My triggers have always been eating related (lack of) and stress. I don't see many migraines these days and in general I'd say my life is pretty low stress and I have a stable diet.
Your trigger could very well be aspartame, I just loathe aggressive medical advice backed up with no facts (i.e., "...cease and desist on use!!"). I justed wanted to issue a rebuttal so that anyone who would follow pulkpull's link, would possibly see my link and attempt to educated themselves. - kooft, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Color is a perception. It's the result of specific neural activity, hence why the article mentions synethesia. Some people perceive numbers and characters to have specific innate coloring, regardless of the font/typeface color. As an example, take the common Ishihara colorblindness tests:
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Color25.jpg
Everyone should be able to discern the letters 2 and 5, but those with synethesia who have no color blindness or deficiencies might only see the number '2' and not the '5'. Clearly they're the same color, but their brain is perceiving the '5' as being a color that matches the background. This indicates that our retinas sense wavelengths of light and send the data to our brain. Our brains take that information and perceive it to be a color. - Homerr, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Migraines suck, here's what I've learned to avoid: Trigger foods (for me red wine + dark chocolate=migraine), certain exposed fluorescent light bulbs, high-contrast light situations (dark inside facing a bright window), over-prescribed eyeglasses (this started it all)
- kooft, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Quick correction, it's our brain that interprets the impulses from our taste buds as what we call 'taste'.
Is what I see the same as what you see? Tough to say, but we do know that we each share nearly identical DNA and thus our visual systems and even our brains are virtually identical. Because of this, I think it's safe to say that we perceive the same colors as one another (i.e., my purple is your purple). - kooft, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2Sounds similar to scintillating scotoma:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintillating_scotoma - ajaxfontura, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2is this why the movie "Pi" is black-and-white?
- chedabob, on 12/05/2007, -0/+2For me, the auras usually get in the way of things. Like I'll be reading some text, and I won't be able to read one of the words cos part of the aura is over the word. I guess I'm pretty lucky though, because I know that the only thing that triggers them is marshmallows, so I know to stay away from them.
- gudnbluts, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1My migraine eyesight problem's a little different, and pretty tricky to explain. I lose fields of vision about half an hour before the migraine hits. It's like if you take a photograph, cut out a couple of sections, and stick the rest back together. My first check is always to splay my fingers and look at my hand. If I can't see all my fingers, I need to get home quick.
- mactrix, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1I'm too nervous about jinxing it for myself to explain, so all I will say is see your doctor about taking Verapamil. (knock on wood)
- ponstars, on 12/05/2007, -1/+2Doesn't sound too fun!!
- cfuse, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1When I get migraines my vision improves (I'm normally short sighted) - which doesn't make a great deal of logical sense to me, but what are you to do when reality interferes with your assumptions?
- gudnbluts, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1Except that I don't actually see anything in place of the bit that's missing (like the flashing thingies in your link there) - I don't even see a blank space. It's like if you put two folds in a banknote (folded like a 'Z') - you can't see the bit hidden by the fold but there's no visible gap.
It's not all that uncommon. i've met other people with the same symptom. - kooft, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1I didn't say it was, but that it is similar to, scintillating scotoma. Either way it's probably closely related. Obviously migraines can affec the visual system (e.g., visual cortex, optic nerve, retinas, etc).
- brianala, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1I'd rather have that than go completely blind. Having migraines sucks when it means you can't see for a half hour or more.
- Gunsotsu, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1Ah ocular migraines, how I suffer from thee. They started in the Army and plague me to this day. Was always fun when the eye that my PVS-4 was on would strt getting one and I'd go blind. Good times.
- wavenger, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1Oddly enough, my blindness migraines are more mild than normal ones.
Just FYI, if you get blindness/colorblindness effects with your migraines, you should mention this to your doctor if you're trying to get something prescribed. A lot of the newer migraine meds can have bad interactions with this type of migraine. - andycr512, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1It's the same as taste. Do foods have a certain taste? No, it is our taste buds which interpret the foods as tasting certain ways. As such I sometimes wonder whether colors are the same for all... Is my purple the same look as your purple? We both know that it is purple, and that it is the only purple we have ever known, but we have no way of comparing the two, so perhaps there are differences between our perceptions of color. Perhaps my purple looks like your blue, but we would never know...
- wavenger, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1The way it's been described to me is like this:
You have good color vision only in a very small portion of your field of vision, but your visual cortex paints color onto the rest of your vision based on memory. It does pretty much the same thing with your blind spots.
Migraines can interfere with your visual cortex in such a way that it causes temporary blindness. This is most noticeable when it's large "blind spots" typically on the periphery of your vision. The trippy thing is that your brain naturally tries to fill in gaps in information, so unless you wave your hand in the area that is experiencing blindness you may not notice that you are, in fact, partially blind. Similarly, if your color vision is experiencing a deficiency, your brain still attempts to color your vision, albeit imperfectly. - TrickiWoo, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1My sister loses her power of speech from her migraines. She can still talk but uses the wrong words (think Alan Shore's 'word salad') It's pretty scary.
- OwdenBowden, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1Been There. Done That and it is NOT FUN.
- leoedin, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1I am not a scientist, and I am not a major migraine sufferer - in fact, I had the only visual migraine I've ever had yesterday. However, I have repeatedly found that after drinking some sugar-free drinks (I don't know what concoction of sweetners is in them though), I have suffered headaches. I'm generally quite a healthy person, and probably get a headache a year. I don't like to draw conclusions with no data, study or anything but anecdotal evidence to back me up, so I won't. I will however say that I avoid sugarfree drinks as a) they leave a nasty metallic taste in my mouth and b) I have repeatedly got headaches after drinking them.
- gudnbluts, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1I'm sure you're right and it is closely related. People's nervous systems aren't identical, and there are probably many different kinds of visual disturbance, even if they're all fundamentally the same effect and caused in the same way (which isn't certain - not much about migraines is).
- wishninja, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1I had one of those a few weeks back. Freaked me out because it was the first and only one I ever had. It was like you said I'm sitting at my desk working then all of a sudden my vision was messed up blurred like I was looking thru a sheet of plastic. No pain or anything I was almost eurphoric feeling for like 30 minutes. I was thinking like LSD flashback or something. Then all of a sudden the visual distortion left and I had a throbbing headache. The lights felt like they were burning my brain and face. Only time I ever had it and if it happens again I am going to the doctor because thats pretty ***** up. I think I drank one too many Dr. Peppers.
- restaurantlar, on 12/06/2007, -0/+1Chocolate is very harmful for migraine
http://benvarim.blogspot.com/ - wishninja, on 12/05/2007, -0/+1***** dude I was looking up your aspartame and under a page outlining the History of the chemical I found this.
"January 1981-- Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle, states in a sales meeting that he is going to make a big push to get aspartame approved within the year. Rumsfeld says he will use his political pull in Washington, rather than scientific means, to make sure it gets approved."
/cue dramatic prairiedog/
what the *****???!! Wrap me in tinfoil and call me sparkles but I am never touching the ***** again! Water drink water! - pulkpull, on 12/05/2007, -0/+0If you don't mind doing some reading of the ACTUAL reports, you may be surprised at what was really found. here's a document containing e-mails from our "peers" about the use of aspartame effecting their health.
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/adverse.txt
i'm really not trying to claim that i know for sure that aspartame 100% causes migraines or any other related problems, however, there are too many people that i have talked to and met that have found on stopping use of diet products their health has dramatically been improved.
so by all means believe EVERYTHING you hear from corporations that would happily sacrifice their loyal clients to add $1 more a share for there stock holders. (not directed towards any ONE company).... though i don't understand why it would have taken a safe product over 10 years of testing, and would require a politician to come in to actually get it approved.
but then again what do i know, i just read this stuff.
thoughts?
This is ALL just food for thought.. just don't take any one persons word on it.
Really my whole point was, be aware of what you consume. generally chemicals are more harmful than beneficiary. - ChromaVita, on 12/05/2007, -1/+1No, Pi was in black and white in an attempt to be different and stylish. Sorry, just not a fan of the movie.
- pulkpull, on 12/05/2007, -2/+1If you are a migraine sufferer and you drink or eat any kind of aspartame products, please cease and desist on use!! this is a strong cause of many serious migraine/brain related issues.
for info please visit... http://dorway.com/
just because it's sold at a store does NOT make it a safe product.
thank you, and for the love of God, pay attention to what you put in your face! - Vvolf, on 12/05/2007, -3/+1Light is not necessarily a wave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave-particle_duality
So how can they say color is not in the world but only in our heads when light is not fully understood?
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