My Experience with Scintillating Scotoma (Visual Migraine/Aura) 

I remember the first time I had one of those, I was in biology class and told my teacher I can't see properly in one eye. After describing my symptoms she told me I was about to have the worst headache of my life, she was not wrong!

I'm stunned by how accurately you've managed to recreate the Aura, it's spot on, First time it happened to me I thought I was having a stroke, it was so frightening.

Yes, that is exactly what the experience is like, although I never have headaches afterwards.

I’ve suffered with this since my late teens, usually getting a couple a year. I’ve found that as soon as I notice the disturbance of vision, or lack of as I also get that initial strangeness followed by a missing section of vision, putting on sunglasses can really help lessen the extent and duration of the migraine. Not sure if that will help you or not but definitely worth trying. My usual approach is to get into the darkest room of my house whilst wearing the sunglasses and just sitting reminding myself that this is temporary and nothing I need to be worried about, and that getting anxious about it will only make me feel worse. That and some painkillers so far has been my best option, mine usually last 1-1.5 hours but with this approach I’ve managed to get them down as low as 40 minutes. Keeping calm and keeping your blood pressure down seem to make a huge difference. I hope this helps someone, I know it may sound like common sense but initially the fright of this happening sends rational thought out the window and it’s easy to forget that this is only temporary and not anything to get worried about.

You animated a great representation of the phenomenon; it's so hard to describe or show something that's only happening in your own personal head. This is similar to my experience, especially the part about how terrifying the first one was, except that I also get nausea with the headache. Same independently-arrived at treatment regimen, too, although I haven't tried changing focus during. Something to look forward to for the next one! My triggers are the combination of short-term sleep deprivation, stress and (tested) low blood glucose. I've given myself an ocular migraine from getting up early for something I was worried about, then going home and putting that nervous energy to use digging in the garden until whoops, there goes my vision. (I have executed this exact sequence *twice,* almost as if I were following a recipe, so I felt pretty dumb the second time.)

My partner had a head injury when he was young and has had these almost daily ever since. I have tried to support him as much as I can over the past 7 years but seeing this really made me realise what he's actually going through. So thank you, for heightening my empathy. I wish there was more study on migraines. It seems to be a poorly understood and treated phenomenon.

That's an impressive depiction of the visual effect, which I occasionally get but without the headache. In my case it's not severe enough to stop me reading, and usually fades away in half an hour or so, but the twinkling crescent shape off to one side is pretty much exactly what it looks like. I'm not even sure what circumstances bring it on; maybe tiredness but I'm not always tired when it happens. It's reassuring to know that it's nothing to worry about.

Many thanks for this. I never get the bright pattern, but the "blind spot" in the centre of vision is very familiar. I've not found any treatment that works other than rest. Eating and drinking seems to make me feel a little better, but that might just be because I'm doing something other than feeling sorry for myself.

I had a series of these several years ago during a period of high stress. I'd never experienced or even heard of it before and the first time was quite scary so I went to A&E. They were concerned it might be a minor stroke and I was sent to a neurologist. I was fortunate and don't get the migraine head ache and eventually came to sit back, relax and enjoy the 'show'.

Thank you for making this. I have basically these exact symptoms and have struggled to describe them well. I've also through trial and error landed upon almost the same strategy of dealing with it. I got a prescription for sumatriptan but it seems to work about as well as ibuprofen. I also get nausea and dizziness with the headache which makes closing my eyes feel even worse, so I still tend to watch or read something on my phone, just in a dark and quiet room with the brightness and sound turned as far down as possible. It also means my work day is pretty much over.

I was always way too scared to look up what this was in case it was some form of early something-or-other, this video is not only a huge relief but came at a pretty perfect time.

I've had this for years and years, and no one has ever given me this name. I've talked it through with two eye doctors, my primary care, and many other folks. It's mind blowing to me that none of these people had the name for it, or even associated it with my admittedly unusual migraines (they don't seem to follow the expected patterns). Now I have the words for it AND a video to go along! I usually just stop everything for an hour or three when it happens - there's not much else I can do, and the headache doesn't arrive until the next morning.

When I first experienced that I was scared out of my wits. "Vision going from the center, what tf is going on!" I'd have given a lot for a video like yours informing about it. I experienced almost exactly like you. The zig-zag part is eerily in focus and high contrast, given that the rest of vision is so blurry. As for coping mechanisms: I usually just sit it out, avoiding doing anything visually demanding. Thankfully, the headache-type of migraine is not something I experience.

My sister recently got one of these for the first time, and she was terrified and really upset. Once she figured out what it was, she felt a lot better, but we were all really worried about her for a bit. I'll be sharing this video with her in case she gets anymore in the future, thank you for this video!

At work we developed an Augmented Reality simulator for this very thing! (we make medication to prevent it) It was a Vive headset adapted with cameras, of which we adapted the video to simulate the symptoms. It was used to help non-sufferers empathise with people suffering from it.

First time this happened to me I was sure I was having a stroke, scared the living daylights out of me , seems so many people have it ,I'm retired now so can just lay down,harder when you're working to cope though. THANKYOU for bringing this up ,it may help alot of first timers xx

Thank you for sharing this experience. I never usually comment on RU-vid but this is the one exception, I want to share my experiences with migraines with aura; When I was 14 years old, I hit my head really hard during summer vacation on an open window still, it bled and everything. For the next 3 days, I had 3 consecutive migraines with aura. I had never had them up until that point, so it was a really scary experience for me. Over the next few weeks, their intensity kept decreasing, until a few years later I would only get them about once a year. Nowadays, I only get them when I'm extremely exhausted, such as after a long flight (I travel long distances every summer), or after a grueling workout. My migraines are almost identical to the way you describe them in your video, and in fact I believe that the visual representations you provide in the video are excellent for conveying the visual aspect of how it looks. Apart from the visual symptoms, I usually experience a loss of ability to speak or understand for a brief period of time, moving numbness in my arm, leg and/or face, vomiting and very painful pounding headache. Interestingly, this only occurs on one side of my body/brain. Whenever the left side of my body is affected, the right side of my head hurts, and vice-versa. That is just a confirmation of the theory that one side of your brain controls the opposite side of your body. Interesting how the human body works... I believe the proper name for these types of migraines is "Ocular Migraine". As far as I understand them, the way these migraines work and the reason that all these strange effects occur is because of a hormonal imbalance, that causes a wave of increased neuron activity to travel across your brain, starting from the very back. In fact, the reason that the visual symtpoms are the first to be noticed by people who experience this type of migraine, is because the very back of your brain is the center for vision. As the neuron activity wave moves across your brain, you will start to sense unusual activities and/or effects on other parts of your body. As mentioned, for me it includes inability to speak or understand language very well, and numbness. It is extremely fascinating how I can personally feel the neuron activity wave, as the numbness always starts in a certain part of my arm (the thumb finger), and then proceeds to move up my arm, all the way to my face sometimes. I would almost describe it as a ring around my arm. In fact, historically, people with these migraines were used to study what parts of the brain perform which functions, it is an extremely interesting (and painful) subject of the human body. Thank you for this video, and keep up the good work on your channel!

Omg you've illustrated something that I've never been able to describe

Mike. I have to say. Thank you for sharing this. I do not have this, so I cannot share what I do. However, I can thank you for your honesty and frankness about how you deal with it. It takes a real talent to be able to describe the symptoms of a migraine into an interesting video. Keep up the magnificent work.

Migraines are horrible. I've had experience with aura. I've found that if I can loosen my neck muscles and take a decongestant before the pain fully kicks in it keeps it from becoming severe. Feel better shrimp.

This is fascinating! And very useful information for those who might experience this and don't know what it is. Thanks for sharing.

Wow! The visuals you put up, and progression of the scotoma, is exactly how it looks for me! I love being able to "see" it somewhere other than in my head. So great! Thank you!

I've been having these for years and this is the first time I've learned the name of it! You animated what it looks like and described the progression so perfectly, I'm for sure going to be using this video to show people what these are like. Going to have to give your remedies a try, too!

I had one of these in 2017. I thought I was having a stroke. Haven’t had one since. Really scared the crap out of me.

I don't hink I've ever seen or heard of a better description of this phenomenon; it's like you took a 1:1 recording of my experience, and uploaded it to RU-vid. Seriously, GP's would do well to link to this video. As for treatment/symptom management, my routine is very similar, though more pared down. When it starts, I stop what I'm currently doing, drink a cup of coffee, and take a one hour nap, so that the disturbance in my vision has passed when I wake up again. This might not be practical for some/many; I've always had very understanding bosses, who've been able to recognise the worth of having an employee being out of commission for a short while, grossly outweighs having him go home for the rest of the day, and having to find a replacement on short notice. Your milage may definitely vary.

Thank you for this! I've had this happen a few times and it's always been very concerning. Knowing that it's more of a temporary malfunction is very reassuring. Also, as others have said, you got the visual representation spot-on! I was amazed.

This is just about exactly how I've experienced scintillating scotomas, and how I've handled them, except for the snack and coffee. I usually just take some paracetamol, go to bed and close my eyes, and maybe try to sleep, knowing that looking at a computer screen or doing just about anything that requires a functioning vision is out the window for a good while. Thankfully, it's been a while since the last time it happened to me now. Your visual representations are pretty good, if you keep staring at the center of the video. The scintillating zigzag pattern is very hard to illustrate, but even harder is the blindness in the middle of your vision at the beginning. It's very strange to see _nothing_. Several times it started while I was out and about in the city streets and I noticed I couldn't see people's faces … Quite a bizarre experience.

This is almost exactly what I go through every time I get an ocular migraine, and I'm going to use it a resource in the future to help explain to friends and coworkers what it's like. I've been considering making the same sorts of animations you did here for a long time, and you just saved me a lot of effort! I usually catch mine because suddenly faces look distorted and strange, like you would see a face in the periphery of your vision. Every time I get a vision burn, I google some celebrity's face to double and triple check I'm not getting a migraine; mine are getting more frequent as I get older and take on more stressful tasks. Unfortunately, I also get incredibly intense nausea, and my headache is completely crippling even for somebody who deals with daily 7-8/10 joint pain. My treatment regimen is as follows; -Turn off all screens in the vicinity -Turn phone on silent -Take an exorbitant amount of migraine medication(Excedrin or Goody's headache powder have a medium dose of caffeine directly in, and I find them to be very useful) -Drink a couple liters of water -Go sit in the bath for a few hours while opening and closing my eyes occasionally, to try and speed up the visual aura spreading outward; such that I can regain vision in my focal point -Put on sunglasses and do some light hobby work or exercise I've never actually thought about refilling my electrolytes ahead of time, and I'll be adding that to my routine from this point forward! I get these kinds of migraines every 45-120 days so it's good to have some new tips to incorporate. Thanks, Shrimp! Edit: Formatting, clarification

During my adolescence and teen years, I had migraine headaches without aura (I've been left sobbing in pitch black rooms at the slightest sound and been forced to go to the ER for an intramuscular pain killer shot because I could not stop vomiting). Then, a little over four years ago at the age of 29 I had my first ever experience with scintillating scotoma, exactly as you described it. Luckily I was aware that this was a precursor to migraine, I took ibuprofen and had a large cup of coffee, pulled my curtains and went to bed. Amazingly, whether it was thanks to my proactive actions or just luck, I didn't ultimately experience any headache at all, but I was very tense waiting for it. I'll have to remember the toilet tip for next time, I hadn't considered that at all at the time and I would have hated having to drag myself out of bed for it if the pain had come!

Thanks for sharing. You've actually given me some context to problems that I've been having recently that I thought may have been after effects of a scratched cornea from late last year

Blown away by this video. Been a fan of the channel for ages and somehow missed this(ironically?). I've had these for 15ish years and the way you described it was exactly what I've been struggling to explain. First time I ever had one was at a cashier job and they wouldn't let me leave my post despite explaining I couldn't see the total on the screen as I was suddenly half blind. Thanks you so so much for sharing your tips! Some I've found through trial and error, but others completely new. This is the video I will be sharing from now on if I want to explain it to someone!

I have had very mild cases of the scintillation lasting 30mins to a couple of days having no clue what it is, thank you so much for covering it and how you deal with it. I love all your content, keep up the great work!

I get this for between 3/5days, I have tried a number of times in the past to explain it to people and this is a fantastic visual description of it. Cheers Mike.

Hi! Thank you so much for this video. It explains the migraine aura perfectly, although I never knew it had a name other than "aura"! Funny how none of my doctors or neurology consultants ever said "scintillating scotoma"! I've been a sufferer for 27 years now, am on preventive meds that I take daily. My aura lasts 20 minutes to half an hour, with the headache another hour, and "hangover" about 12 hours. Your coping methods are spot on... Paracetamol boosts the action of NSAIDs, and caffeine helps them work quicker. The blood sugar advice is critical, as is keeping hydrated. Ice packs on the back of my neck and forehead are very comforting, it takes down the muscle tension and pressure. Regular stretching and massage also helps keep muscles loose... I once had steroid injections in the base of my skull after a migraine lasting 8 days. Glad you don't suffer too regularly, it's a horrible chronic illness and a legitimate disability... I really related when you said yours had reduced since quitting the job to go full time on YT. Mine were horrendous when I tried to work 5 days a week. Now self employed doing 3-4 days, I'm down to one migraine every two months or so. Hope they stay manageable for you!

I have had this about half a dozen times over the past twenty years. I have never had the headache associated with it but have felt somewhat exhausted during and afterwards. I seldom get headaches at other times. I have been a subscriber for several years and was excited to see this video. Great representation of the visual symptoms!

I'm so happy you made a video of this! I experienced this a bunch of times a couple of years back. My aura looked similar but more of a full circle that expanded. I usually tried to lie down and listened to an audio book or podcast and tried to doze off. The first few times was really scary but I googled and eventually went to the doctor and had a health check up and all was fine. The eye migraine seems to have self healed now and even if it stopped being scary I'm glad to not have them.

Thank you for giving me a name to the migraines I've had regularly every six months for the last few years! I had just called them ocular migraines, but this is exactly what I suffer! They always lead me to having to lay down in a dark room, vomit a few times, and try to nap. Really appreciated to discover others suffer these!

Hi Shrimp, I also had these symptoms starting with my puberty until my early twenties with decreasing frequency. Unlike you, I had a very strong headache after the visual effects and often ending with feeling sick and even throwing up. I experienced that spending the rest of the day in a dark room helped me the most, but there seemed to be a fixed cycle that had to pass no matter my actions (vision, headache, feeling sick). I experienced that a good physical shape (I.e. regular sports), nutrition and limited stress decreased the frequency of these attacks in general. Maybe this helps you too. Greetings from Germany!

Thank you so much for sharing this video. This is now a valuable tool that has proven to be very helpful when I need to explain the symptoms to someone who has never experienced this.

YES! I'm so glad someone has finally made something like this, I have seen pictures of it but it's so hard to describe to people what it's like. One of the most interesting representations I found was a set of drawings made quite some time ago (somewhere in the range of 100 to 200 years ago, I forget when) and a piece of writing about it. It's so odd seeing someone from so long ago describe my exact experience. They also wrote something along the lines of, "despite so many people suffering from this, it is very poorly researched, and I hope there will be more research soon". I think they would be disappointed by the lack of understanding the world has about visual migraines, even today. I still don't know the cause of mine and they affect me about 5-10 days out of the month, sometimes only mildly, sometimes up to a 7 or even touching an 8 on the pain scale. I'm on all the medication I can really be on for it. I honestly think people overestimate how good modern medicine is. We have cracked a lot of things, but there's also so much that we don't know (collectively as a species), and then there are so many things that are known by some but not paid enough attention by a majority of individual doctors.

I remember my first time this happened, it was rather scary! I was in a class at school, working on the computer and my vision felt a little off but I carried on as I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was wrong. About 10 minutes after that, I noticed I was starting to not see anything in my peripheral vision anymore, almost like anything below my nose in my vision didn't exist, as well as the middle of my vision being hard to focus on with some random shiny stuff around it. Then the headache appeared. I was sent home, and my grandfather picked me up. I explained to him what was happening and he immediately said I was having a migraine and that they run in the family. Turns out my grandfather, as well as my mother, are quite prone to them. In regards to your routine for treatment of the scintillating scotoma, I have a very similar one, but I don't tend to eat anything as I'd rather not give my stomach ammunition if I feel nauseous. I find that taking some paracetamol, drinking water and laying in the dark is the best way to deal with it. Keeping my eyes closed as well to stop the scotoma from looking so out of place in reality helps it "disappear" much faster. Love your videos Shrimp, keep up the cracking work!

This is exactly what I've been suffering for the last 45 years. Like you, I have to take painkillers before the point of no return, or I'm down for at least the rest of the day. I also get the groggy feeling afterwords, we refer to it as a migraine hangover.

I had never heard of this condition and I thank you for this video. Had this happened to me, I would have been frozen with fear. Thank you for letting us know your solution as well. I'm glad you are on the mend.

I'm sharing this with my friends and sisters who suffer from migraines. This is how I experience aura before migraines. And I feel like I am seeing things in the corner of my eye. This is an amazing visual representation

I'm just amazed at how many people suffer from this. The first time it happened to me I assumed I was the only one to experience anything like this, and like several other commenters have said, I thought I was having a stroke. Later I read something about it, I didn't know about the technical name, I just heard it called an Aura. For me, it is normally a preview of a coming migraine, so like you I nearly always take pain killer--not for the aura, but because I know it's a signal of oncoming pain. The way I always described it, is like looking though shimmering water, and it seems worse when looking at a computer monitor (which is what I was doing the first time I experienced it) or also watching TV. Focusing on something else does usually help me, and it normally goes away after about an hour. I don't usually get the "feeling bad" part unless I also get the headache. But if I can head off the migraine (no pun intended) I usually am okay in a couple of hours. So I guess yours is worse than mine. It's weird that I only started experiencing this in my 30's and had never even heard of this phenomenon before then. I think that's why it's so scary the first time we experience it, because for so many of us, it's an unknown. I think if it were one of those things people knew were common with migraines, maybe they wouldn't panic when it happens. Thanks for this video. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in this.

Your depiction of it is a really helpful way to explain it to others, thank you. I had these for a short period when I was using the combined contraceptive pill. Since that was the only period during which I ever experienced them it seems likely it had to do with my sex hormone balance (with a little google reserach I see that according to the research there is a correlation between them). Thankfully, since I'd been expecting to have some side effects I made the connection pretty quickly between the pills and the visual aura. I changed over to a different contraception method which doesn't contain oestrogen (Ethinylestradiol, technically) and it completely solved the issue. A bizarre experience but since I had a way to immediately and permanently solve it I found it really interesting and not disturbing (after the first instance!). It helped that I experienced no pain or discomfort at all, just the visual effects. I hadn't realised up til then that you could have a painless migraine.

Wow, this is the best description of this I've ever heard. I've had a few of these episodes over the last few years, Certain lighting conditions seem to trigger mine, as well as tiredness and stress. The first time it happened it scared the hell out of me.

Thank you for making this video. I get these every six months or so, and I have never been able to properly describe to people what it looks/feels like.

I am a blind person, so I have never experienced and will never experience any of this, but even so, I found this very interesting! You managed to describe the simptom so well that even someone who has never seen a thing in his life has been able to more or less comprehend. All that's just to say great job!

That's what that is!? I get those visual effects occasionally, no idea what they were until this video. Glad to know I'm not going crazy. Coincidentally I stumbled into a treatment plan similar to yours on my own. Edit: Your video did indeed remove the fear of it for me. It's nice knowing this is actually a thing and others get it.

This is a great video! Thank you for making it, I'll share it with people who don't quite understand that it's not "just a bit of a headache', but debilitating agony and a full-body issue

You my friend are a legend these are perfect instructions, my mother will love the fact that someone else knows these tools work. Thank you many people will benefit from this info.

thank you for showing us! i haven't had anything like this, but it's always good to know what others "see" when having Aura headaches. I always thought it was more like a "starburst of light / halo" and a pressing headache. I hope you're better now!

Probably the most terrifying symptom i have ever experienced.

Excellent representation of the event. I’ve had this since my 20’s and developed a similar regimen in dealing with its sudden onset. I’ve also found that focusing on muscle relaxation helps move the event on quicker and lessens the headache that follows.

This happened to me for the first time this week but I didn't rest straight away and the visual symptoms got really bad till I couldn't really see to walk around, I was terrified. So weird that you would post this so soon afterwards. Thanks for putting my mind even more at ease

I get these, I find they tend to be caused by dehydration or excessive concentration when working on screens. The last time I had one it affected my memory, I couldn't remember my partners name, was incredibly scary, but after an hour or so it passed and I came back to normal. Migraines can actually scar your brain, but there's a large debate as to whether it increases your risk of stroke or not, as the evidence seems hard to correlate. For me, treatment is prevention, I make sure to drink 3 litres of water every day, get a good amount of exercise, aim to get at least 7 hours sleep every night. If I do get a migraine then the first thing I do is take something called Sumatriptan, its the absolute BEST for getting rid of the headaches from migraines. But you can't buy it off the shelf, you'll have to request it from the pharmacy, it's also VERY strong, so you can only take 1 every 48 hours. Sometimes I'll pair it with migralieve. Rest, but not sleep, no screens and drink water, if the headache is bad then cooling pads for your head are a lifesaver. Feel your pain man!

I have the same thing!! You described my symptoms nearly to a T. I have no idea what triggers them, as I had gone almost 2 years without expercing any and for some reason have now had 3 within the past month, which has made me kind of paranoid to the point where I mistake my brains reflex to disregarding my nose in my vision as an oncoming migrane. When I feel like I have one coming up, I'll initially go outside and stare at something far away (thinking it might be caused by some kind of eye stress) and then lay down in a dark place and hope for the best. For me, it only trasitions in to an actual headache like 70% of the time, but it's still annoying to have what's essentially random temporary partial blindness

Best descriptive video I have seen yet. Explains what happens exactly. I try to show family so they understand and don't think I am crazy!

This is great to have a reference to explain this symptom! Great content as usual!

Thanks for sharing, I've had migraines since I was 12 and I always noticed that this happens on my left eye preceding it. There's a medicine here which contains metamizole and caffeine, it works wonders. Also being in a pitch black toilet helps relieve the strain on my eyes, I just take a yoga mat and lay down on the tiles until the medicine takes effect.

I had this symptom twice in my life - in situations involving a lot of emotional stress, but I did not get a headache afterwards. It is called „migraine sans migraine“ apparently, french for „migraine without migraine“ and as such it was very interesting and also hampering, but not too bad for me.

I really understood this thanks to your animations. Really well explained. I am glad you are able to manage these headaches, I hope they don't happen often

Thanks so much for making this video! I get these occasionally after intense exercise, especially if I don't eat or drink enough afterwards. Stress is probably also a factor too. So many comments - I had no idea that so many people were affected by this! Great visuals, spot on!!

great video for the visualization alone. trying to describe what it looks like to people that have never had one is pretty tough. i used to get these pretty frequently(almost once a month), but lately theyre much rarer(1-2 a year) and usually peak at a small point. i do still sometimes get the ones that cover half my vision though. interesting that apparently people have aftereffects from them. ive never felt a "hangover" from one or had a headache afterwards. i also almost never have headaches normally though, so maybe theres a correlation. and ive never really felt the need to prepare when an ocular is coming on because they never last more than 30 minutes and im only really impaired for about 15 of them.

The only way for me to relieve the symptoms of a migraine is to fall sleep. Your visual warning symptoms are similar to mine but I then get dizziness which makes me throw up 3-10x. As soon as I throw up all the migraine symptoms leave for a few minutes, and it’s in this window where I try to fall sleep, then after that time has elapsed the migraine creeps back and the cycle continues.

Your description of the symptoms (and the visual examples) are absolutely spot on to what I’ve experienced with this. I never knew it had a name though. My mum suffers from very bad migraines that make her very sick, so I’ve always thought myself quite lucky to only have visual disturbances and just a bad headache - compared to what it could be. Often with the blank spot in my vision I’ll lose peripheral sight too, another indicator that a monster headache is on the way. Like you, I recognise when the pain cycle is coming and usually head it off with painkillers before it starts, but I’ll definitely keep the electrolytes option to mind in future. Great video and I hope it’s a while before you experience another of these strange little episodes ☺️

Thanks for this. Exactly the same symptoms, you've done the graphics very well. Very useful to explain to others.

Edit: If you experience migraines with aura, go to a neurologist and he will do a complete check, as it can be a sign of a minor stroke! I experience two to three migraines with aura each month. I also recently found out that I have a condition (apparently common in migraine with aura people) called Visual Snow. During my aura episodes prior to the migraine, my hands will get numb, as well as losing hand-eye coordination. Very intense light and coffeine can be triggers for me, which is why I lay in a completely dark room. Taking the painkillers asap is something I do as well, and right after I try to fall asleep. I have been able to reduce my amounts of migraines by going once a month to a physiotherapist which helps my bloodlow around my neck. I had tried many different things prior to that, like accupuncture. Nothing else has worked so far (although I cannot prove there is a direct correlation between both).

This has happened to me a couple times in the past few years, usually lasts a few minutes and goes away. No headachae for me but it's always very distressing.

You have just blown my mind! I have experienced this same thing before and have never been able to explain what I was seeing to anybody. But your visuals are exactly what I see, to the point that I feel kind of like you were in my head a little. The only difference is I usually only experience a dull headache afterwards, usually lasting for a few hours. I find painkillers don’t seem to do much to alleviate it. I’ll be bookmarking this video for the next time this happens so I can just ‘show’ rather than (attempt to) ‘tell’.

Amazing description and visualisation! i had those since i was around 9 years old, still happening, sometimes i have them more than once aday, and sometimes i go 10 months without any. Noticed they are connected to stress indeed. What i hate that i cant control it, i am always afraid it happens in the wrong time, like when i am in an interview, conducting a training or so!, and mine lasts 40 mins, as you described, evolving and then decreasing.I actually just learned today what it's called! and that lead me to your video. It's been frustrating not being able to describe it, and constantly telling people / doctors, it has nothing to do with your eyes, and they keep telling you to check your eyes!. When it happens i tell my partner (my no-vision attack) started, lol, that was the best name i had. Thank you again!

I was fortunate when I got my first migraine with aura, in that my mother is also a migraineur, and she'd described to me what the aura was like, so I knew what it was. Before I developed _chronic_ migraine back in 2005, I, too, used to be able to prevent the migraine headache from starting if I took painkillers as soon as I noticed the migraine aura. Now that I have chronic migraine, though, _nothing_ will stop an oncoming migraine headache -- none of the medications that prevent or abort _acute_ migraine work on _chronic_ migraine. 😿

Have you ever heard of the Cortical Humunculus? When I get a migraine aura, it starts at my vision with scotomas like you described and then this wave of tingling and numbness goes all through one half of my body. Vision, eye, nose, lips, tongue. Then my hand, arm and then the leg. After this, which usually lasts half an hour or so, headache starts on the opposite site. I don't feel like myself during aura and to be honest I rather have the headaches and tiredness than not being in control of my senses. The hardest part though was to tell my collegues at work. Because I had to tell them that sometimes I can't see anymore and have to stop working for some time and that they don't have to call the ambulance (in fact, it is quite similar to a stroke, but stroke symptoms usually don't "wander" through your body and just leave)

I get this, I've been calling it kaleidoscope vision for years and nobody knew what I was talking about, this video is absolutely spot on, never seen a better representation. Thanks again Shrimp I can now use this video as a reference :D

I usually have aura without migraine but once in a while, these precede mild migraines. The migraines I have without aura are the industrial-sized versions, large enough I'm certain to be visible from space. The looking away, closing eyes, and changing views do seem to help. I think it has something to do with changing not only what's being looked at but the distance you're looking at something. If I look at the coffee mug here, the wall over there and then out the window, it seems to decrease both the intensity and length of the aura. What I find amusing in my case is I can never realize what is happening until it's to the jagged edge state and takes up quite a big portion of my field of vision. I persist in thinking I've looked at the sun, glanced at a bright light - anything and everything comes to mind besides 'aura.' You'd think after having them one and off over decades I'd know what they are. I had one the other night and spent a few minutes blinking stupidly in a rather dim room. When asked by my son what was wrong, explaining that somehow I must have glanced at the sun or bright lights, neither of which was possible. Finally, I said, "Oh, this is an aura."

I have chronic migraine, which is a jolly effect where you get so many migraines, the headache never actually goes. Scintillating scotomas are just a part of the day now. Regular sleep really, really matters. If I can't get enough sleep, I'm overdoing it and need more rest. The days before a migraine can also be migraine, it's called prodrome, and make you more tired and irritable. The important thing for me is to strongly prioritise sleep over all things other than food and water and caffeine in about that order. It's sort of like having permanent concussion. I have a bedtime alarm, I does help me to switch off.

Man U are a true life saver because bro I thought I was going blind…I literally had it happened a few mins before I found your video. That’s what lead me to find this. Thank you!

This was a great video !!! Thanks for sharing and showing very well this phenomena , I have suffered from this for over 35 yrs intermittently,also suffering from scintilations on a daily basis for same amount of time!!! The only good thing about it is that I rarely have associated pain with it!! Plain black and white backgrounds show up the scintillations more intensely! Really good of you to show this to a wider audience tho so thanks for that! Ash

I get these from time to time. The effect on me is purely optical, there's no associated headache and it passes after ten to fifteen minutes. There is a similar condition called retinal (or ocular) migraine which only affects one eye, Scintillating Scotoma affects overall vision rather than the eyes themselves. I've no idea what triggers mine, I suspect fatigue might have something to do with it but they can come without warning on at any time of the day. I used to be worried about them but not any more.

Thank you for making this! These are the same steps I follow as well. And as others have said, the way you animated the visual disturbances was great, very accurate to my experience of it as well. There’s a lot of evidence suggesting a link between oestrogen and these kinds of migraines - so to anyone out there getting these kinds of ocular migraines very regularly, who also takes a contraceptive pill, please check with your doctor! For me personally, changing from combined pill to a progesterone only pill, I went from having aura migraines daily to only getting them a few times a year.

I've had this happen to me once, about a month ago I think. Never knew what it was until now. Videos like this, just general information that's actually useful explained simply are a godsend

I have had chronic migraines since I was around 12 years old, and in my teens used to get them everyday, which obviously made working and school very difficult. I can deal with the pain, but the brainfog really is the worst. I like to take ibuprofen, magnesium, salt, and get some protein in my system. The only thing that I've found that helps the mental fatigue, extreme pain and photophobia is taking some oral CBD (sometimes THC as well) somewhere in the 5mg range, which is such a low dose it is not psychoactice at all (if this isn't legal where you are, please don't take this as advice). I've had medical access to cannabis since my teens for the chronic pain, and it really is life-changing. My migraines are triggered by excessive consumption of carbs (especially grains), sugars, ethanol, and stress. I've found going on a restrictive 'KETO' diet to be helpful in reducing the severity of my migraines. When I get them, I get similar auras, but I also sometimes have my vision go entirely black for a few seconds, and afterwards my vision is blurry and I have a very hard time recognising objects or processing information. Additionally, I've experienced migraines in which my sense of touch is so elevated that the feeling of my shirt on my skin made me want to scream, it hurt so bad. I've experienced similar oversensitivity in regards to taste and smell, and the smell of cooking anything can make me gag sometimes. I chalk it up to my brain being unable to dampen stimuli anymore, and being exposed to the world as it "really" is can feel extremely overwhelming, disorientating, and painful.

What fascinates me is the black and white zig-zags and checkerboard patterns I see. That just seems so "inorganic" to be caused by such a thing. I suspect if we knew why that happens, we'd know something important or at least really interesting about how our squishy lumps function. I get them several times a year. They last about 30-45 minutes and go away with no headache or other symptoms. I also get migraines, but they don't tend to correlate with these weird glitches.

Yes. I get this almost exactly as you described. And the animation is amazing. I’ve tried to explain this to my wife for years but I couldn’t describe it like you did. One eye doctor said it was posterior vitreous detachment but the other drs who checked it out didn’t agree. Bright light causes it for me. Eg. sunshine reflecting off of snow or water. I don’t get the headache you mentioned, but the other symptoms like tiredness etc all go along with it. To help stop it, I try to get to a dark place, and I never go out without really dark sunglasses on. Letting my eyes relax and un-focus usually helps. This was an amazing video. One of your best IMO. Thanks, keep ‘‘em coming.

This visual representation was so good my head started to hurt, so well done. In addition to painkillers what seems to help sometimes is rubbing the tips of my fingers together so they get really wam and touching my (closed) eyes for a moment. Great vid!

I've been suffering from migraines with auras for over forty years. I've never been able to find any common triggers, but the attacks always follow the same pattern: First a blind spot, from my focus point and to the right, but not as you describe it, a blur, more like an area that's been removed from my field of view and the rest then stretched in to cover the missing part. Then temporary aphasia, where I can't seem to find the correct word or sound; I can hear that it's wrong when I say "shirt" in stead of "trousers" or "f" in stead of "s", but when I try to correct myself, the wrong one comes out again. Rather frustrating. Then some of my fingers go numb or feel like they're being squeezed in a vice. Then I (sometimes, not always) throw up - and finally I have a headache for a couple of hours. The next day or two it seems like all my senses are slightly off. As if the world's been cut apart and stitched back up slightly crooked in the seams. This started when I was fourteen or fifteen, and for the first couple of years happened up to six or seven times a month. Once I learned it was migraine (a couple of years later), that changed to maybe once a month, and as I got older to once a year or less on average. The only thing that helps is lying down in a quiet, dark room for a couple of hours while the attack passes. I tried Maxalt some fifteen years ago, and it worked amazingly the first time and then seemed to have the opposite effect - intensifying and prolonging the attack - the next couple of times, so I swore to never touch that again. The upside of these attacks? Well, inbetween them, particularly in the first couple of weeks, I feel incredibly grateful to be able to see, speak and feel normally. "Yay, everything works like it's supposed to!"

I get these frequently. The moment I get the vision issue when reading text I take 2 capsules of Palmitoylethanolamide, known as PEA. I rest for about 30 minutes. After that the symptoms have gone and I can carry on as normal, no headaches, no tiredness. PEA is the only thing I take now. Don't even need paracetamol.

Thank you for posting this. I have never had anything like this before and you can image my alarm, when for the first time ever in my 59 years, this happened to me yesterday, along with a climbing BP. I feel like myself today, but yesterday I thought I had a brain tumor, or was about to have a stroke, or surely was dying! Your post helped ease my anxiety and negative thinking, so thanks again for sharing.

This is the best description of what it looks like that I've been able to find anywhere. Thank you! And, I do pretty much exactly what you do when I get a migraine...stop what I'm doing, take pain reliever even if I don't have pain at the time, drink coffee then water, and use the bathroom. The only difference is I choose a slice of plain bread instead of peanut butter and a biscuit because I always worry about becoming nauseous.

Hey Shrimp, I've had migraines as well lately but they affect first my vision (like yours), then language (it's quite embarrassing to be unable to speak or write properly in the middle of the day without warning.. I can speak but very incoherently lol) and my right hand go numb. This all lasts about 30 to 45 minutes. It screamed "stroke" to me so I went to get checked, the brain scan was all normal and the neurologist told me this can happen when bloodflow to a specific part of the brain is not ideal (they call it migraine with aura also with these 3 weird symptoms). It's strange and causes a lot of worry the first time it happens, adding to the anxiety which causes my worst migraines, oh joy... but now that I know what it is I see it as an order from my body to rest and make more time for myself and pleasant, unstressful activities in the following days. While it passes I have a snack and relax in a dark room when possible. (And for ladies : the neurologist and my family doctor told me birth control pills might make these worse in relation to blood pressure, so if you take some or switched brands lately... another type of contraception might help stop the migraines)

Thanks for the tips. Good visualization also, how did you reproduce that so well? I've had them all my life too and my partner had it once while she was pregnant. It's usually stress, fatigue and dehydration in combination with certain food triggers (googleable). Interestingly I can also rarely get them without the visual disturbance. That general fatigue, irritableness and oversensitivity you get but minus the occular disturbance. These a little more difficult to spot because they affect my mood more than anything else (overlooked aspect of the condition), but usually my partner or my kid notice that 'I'm a bit off'. As for my own approach to treating them, I've only come across one that really works. Hydration and rest are key, but never fully fix me up. The biggest issue with me is that the after effects you spoke of linger for a long time, rendering me practically useless for the remainder of the day. The only thing that helps me is sleep. I think it resets my brain somewhat. A siesta can do the trick, but only after the visual disturbance wears off (in a dark room I get nauseous from the motion of the ocular disturbance because I cannot have a fixed point of reference, kind of like motion sickness). Oh, as an extra measure I did decide to permanently part with red wine, the red pigment in there was just too often triggering ocular migraines for me. Losing red wine stung a little though.

The animation is spot on! I think I've only ever experienced this two or three times in my life. The two times I can remember, the common factors were exercise, a hot environment and a lack of water. Both times ended in headache, but the second time I drank more water, which seemed to help, although the blurred field was also smaller to begin with. I was also skinny, in poor physical shape and spent a lot of time in front of a computer or a book in that time of my life, around when I was 13-14 years old

Thank you for sharing. I get these as well and this was a fairly accurate representation. Knowledge is truly power in this case, as once you learn to recognize the warning signs you can start taking your meds immediately when they appear. As any migraineuer will know, the sooner you take your meds, the lesser the severity of the symptoms

I had my first migraine at age six. It was it's worst during my thirties but has calmed down in frequency now that I'm closer to sixty. People who know know, but people who have never experienced any of these symptoms will benefit from this video. Thanks for sharing your experience!

I get this often without the headache afterwards, I think mine come on from minimal stress, usually sat at a computer. You've done a great rendition of what is visible - I'll have to show others this video when they have no idea what I'm talking about!

This is a very apt description of migraine aura, I also suffer from these types of migraines due to stress. Along with the aura, I also suffer from numbness that starts in my hand and then moves to my tongue and memory loss. It can be quite scary at times especially if I am out. I very much enjoy your channel, keep up the fantastic content.

You have done an excellent job of describing a scintillating scotoma, and that visual effect you created in the video is perfect! I have occasionally experienced scintillating scotomas since I was an adolescent (I’m a grandmother’s age now). For me, they’re sometimes, but not always, followed by about a three-day headache. I recognize that those headaches are probably migraines, but fortunately, so far, I have not found them incapacitating, as some migraine sufferers do. I know my grandmother would occasionally have migraines that would put her seriously out of commission for days at a time. Now that I know what it is, I observe the phenomenon as a curiosity, take a couple of ibuprofen, make sure I’m sufficiently coffee’d up, and take a break from whatever I’m doing until it passes. Fortunately, I’m “retired” now, so I can do that fairly easily. Thanks again for this video. You have, as I said, done an excellent job of describing the scintillating scotoma.

It's good to hear someone else describe this so exactly and the animation you used is a perfect visualization of the experience. It's such a hard and bizarre thing to describe to people that it sounds like you're making it up or have gone a bit mad when talking about it. The first time it happened I thought I might have been having some sort of stroke or aneurysm or something. I've had these pop up every now and again over the last few years, pretty much exactly as you described. Usually brought on with stress, poor sleep, dehydration and excessive time spent focusing on work or a project on the computer. Except in my case I don't tend to experience the migraine (or headaches in general) that follow afterwards for some people. It usually lasts about 20-30 mins and when I see one coming on I just drink lots of water, take a couple of headache tablets and go have a lie down since you can't do much else. It's nice that you've put this video out so that when people experience this for the first time, when they search for information on it, they can be reassured that their brain isn't going to explode or they're losing their mind. Love your work.

That was a bit scary, and very valuable information. Thank you for sharing your experience! Stress is a killer.