What can cause sudden blind spot?!

[Cikomyr]

Hi fellow playgrounders.

I was walking home, minding my own business and reading A Song of Ice and Fire when I noticed a blurred spot in my field of vision, making reading very difficult.

While unlocking my entrence door, I noticed that half of the door's handle disapeared. While typing on my iphone, I couldn't see a third of the virtual keyboard.


I think I have been really stressed in the past few days, tho. And I have headaches. recurring ones. And I am tired. So I have been told this might be what caused my temporary blindness, but if people here could just tell me that's normal.. like it already happened to you with no consequence, I'd feel a lot better.

(Don't worry, at the first sign of re-occurence, I'll go immediately schedule an appointment at the hospital or with an optometris. This is mostly a reassuring demand :-P )

[Serpentine]

Congratulations! You have a migraine! :D

Everyone's migraines are different, but yours sound a lot like mine. I find that if I can get a look at the blind spot, it looks like static on an old TV. It's often one of the first signs that I'm getting one, and tends to grow and change shape and move around. Another common sign for me is localised and moving numbness, often starting in one of my fingers and moving around my body - the weirdest was probably that time the tip of my nose and the inside of my mouth went numb.
The other usual symptom for me is a dull headache that often lasts for several days. Many other people, though, get really nauseous, and I think fatigue is often one, too.

[The Underlord]

Is having recuring headaches normal for you? They are for me, so I was just wondering. The worst I have had with the conditions you described is sudden, pretty much total loss of vision and dizzieness. Is the blind spot in the same place every time you noticed it, or did it move around? edit:

Congratulations! You have a migraine! :D
Not true really, my doctor describes my headaches as migraines, and I don't think I ever had a temporary blindspot.

[Cikomyr]

Is having recuring headaches normal for you? They are for me, so I was just wondering. The worst I have had with the conditions you described is sudden, pretty much total loss of vision and dizzieness. Is the blind spot in the same place every time you noticed it, or did it move around?

It's the first time I ever have had this problem... So I can't answer those question.

Serpentine, thanks a lot! :smallamused:

[Serpentine]

Not true really, my doctor describes my headaches as migraines, and I don't think I ever had a temporary blindspot.As I elaborated, everyone's migraines are different. Mine and my mothers' have blindspots, I have no doubt many others don't.

[pffh]

I wouldn't wait for it to happen again before contacting a doctor. You never know if those symptoms just faded but something else that you can't feel right now is happening. Also migraines are most often hereditary and if you haven't heard of either of your parents getting these blind spots it might not be migraine. So see a doctor.

[Jack Squat]

Not true really, my doctor describes my headaches as migraines, and I don't think I ever had a temporary blindspot.

I don't think she means that every migraine has blindspots, but they're generally the type of headaches that do.

I just get nauseous with migraines - which sucks, since if I'm going to be on the verge of puking while feeling like my head's in a vice, I should have had a good night beforehand to show for it :smalltongue:

[Serpentine]

pffh: well, true, I wouldn't want him to turn out to have a tumour or something and I'm certainly not a doctor and it definitely wouldn't hurt... Pretty much guarantee that's what it is, though.

Hey Cikomyr, how old are you? I think often they don't turn up 'til around puberty or a bit after.

[Cikomyr]

pffh: well, true, I wouldn't want him to turn out to have a tumour or something and I'm certainly not a doctor and it definitely wouldn't hurt... Pretty much guarantee that's what it is, though.

Hey Cikomyr, how old are you? I think often they don't turn up 'til around puberty or a bit after.

I'm 26... :smallbiggrin:

[pffh]

I'm 26... :smallbiggrin:

That's a bit late to develop a migraine. Go go gadget doctor.

Although it wouldn't be that late to be diagnosed with a migraine (I for example was diagnosed at 21 but I had suffered from them for over a decade by then). So it might be a migraine.

[Serpentine]

Not necessarily.

edit: Not to say seeing a doctor is a bad idea. For one thing, they can get really bad so you might want some advice on managing it. However, just because they often turn up in puberty, that doesn't mean you can't start having migraines later.

[Cikomyr]

Migraines only develops in puberty?

[Serpentine]

No, not only. Often.

[pffh]

Migraines only develops in puberty?

Not at all you can develop it anytime but it is most common to get it during childhood (6-11 iirc).

Also it's probably nothing serious I just have a tendency to assume the worst :smallredface:

[Cikomyr]

Not at all you can develop it anytime but it is most common to get it during childhood (6-11 iirc).

Also it's probably nothing serious I just have a tendency to assume the worst :smallredface:

Kk... I'll just take it easy, relax tonight, sleep and drink to hydrate myself.

If tomorrow, the problem are recurring, I'll go see a doc. In the meanwhile, let's take it easy

[Serpentine]

I guess the idea of going to a doctor for it just seems weird to me because, when I first got mine, I was living with a doctor so I didn't have to go anywhere to find out what was going on.

[Cobra_Ikari]

I'm 26... :smallbiggrin:

Oh, this makes me feel better. For some reason, the first thing that came to mind when I read "temporary blindness" was "TIA", but you're waaaay young for that.

[Eldan]

As I elaborated, everyone's migraines are different. Mine and my mothers' have blindspots, I have no doubt many others don't.

Yeah. I had a friend who said usually the first sign that a migraine was coming was, for him, that he couldn't read anymore. The letters would get blurry and concentrating on them hurt.

[Gnoman]

Could also be a retinal scratch. They tend to make your vision go odd for a few days before the screaming starts. At least, that's my experience.

[Thes Hunter]

What pffh said.


It's probably a migraine and nothing serious, but the point is, it could be serious.

Contact your primary care provider tomorrow, and hit the urgent care/ER if this happens again before you can speak to your provider.

If it does turn out to be migraines, they can help you with treatment options there as well.


(Standard disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and even if I was, I am not your doctor. I am some random person on the internet. One should never take medical advice from the internet, expect that bit about talking to your actual doctor.)

[Dr.Epic]

How 'bout this? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0655.html)

[veti]

Random people you happen to sort of know on an internet forum...

... are not the best source of medical advice available to you. Heck, even if you live in Antarctica or somewhere, there is better advice than we can offer you out there. See here (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003029.htm), for example.

Ask someone who knows what they're talking about.

[Soylent Dave]

Congratulations! You have a migraine! :D

Only if the aura (in this case blind spots) is accompanied by pain. Another good hint that it's a migraine is that the pain is localised (or focused) in that sort of area - i.e. around or behind one or both the eyes - and it's likely to be considerably more acute than a 'headache'.

Other common symptoms of migraines are nausea, vomiting, a throbbing or pulsing headache and extreme sensitivity to light or sound.

Migraine aura blindness is hallucinatory in nature, and as such is more likely to express as tunnelling (vision narrowing) or the more clichéd bright lights dancing across your vision. An actual 'blind spot' - a hole in your vision - is not a typical migraine symptom.

Other kinds of hallucination are not uncommon with severe migraines - that's flashing lights, strange smells, sounds etc. (although some of these you may not have noticed - sometimes it's a bit hard to tell it's a hallucination while it's happening...)

The vast majority of migraine sufferers are women, and migraine attacks are most often tied into their monthly cycle in some way (other triggers are stress and diet - cheese, caffeine, red wine and chocolate are the most popular triggers)

(use all that stuff as an 'is it likely to be a migraine?' checklist - if you've not got at least a couple of those, it's probably not a migraine. If you've got lots of them, it probably is)

OP - are you diabetic (or is there a history of diabetes in your family?) - blood sugar spikes can cause something that is symptomatically similar to macular degeneration.

That's something that often expresses as not dissimilar to what you describe - blind and blurred spots which most noticeably affect your ability to read, 'missing' bits of your vision etc.

(on the other hand you're also pretty young for that, and it would stick around rather than coming and going - so you'd still have that blind/blurred spot now)

But yeah, go see a doctor, get him to look at your eye - if only to set your mind at ease.


How 'bout this? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0655.html)

If it feels like that would be a relief from the pain, then it's quite possibly a migraine.

(not that I've ever seriously considered plucking one of my eyes out or anything, no, because that would be insane...)

[Keld Denar]

sleep and drink to hydrate myself.

These 2 are kinda interesting. Your body reacts in very funny ways to being deprived of these 2 very awesome and crucial aspects. If you say you are stressin, you might want to take a looksee to see how much sleep you are getting per night, and exactly how you wind down to prepare for sleep. I find I sleep BEST if I haven't been playing highly competitive computer games right before I climb into bed, since my blood pressure and heart rate are generally up higher than is conducive to going to sleep.

Water is another key thing. Most people don't get enough of it, especially when they are stressin. I find keeping a glass of water near my computer helps me unconsciously sip. Barring EXTREME cases, the only drawback of consuming too much water is the need to pee somewhat often.

Its kinda funny how much better a body can perform when you take the time to take care of it. This can manifest in all aspects of your physical being, from blood pressure to weight management to the health of various body bits and pieces.

(also, exercise blah blah blah blah)

[Zeb The Troll]

(Standard disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and even if I was, I am not your doctor. I am some random person on the internet. One should never take medical advice from the internet, expect that bit about talking to your actual doctor.)Troll Patrol: This is why we have a rule prohibiting requesting or providing professional advice, explicitly including medical advice, here.