Posted by Barbara Herr on June 06, 1999 at 09:57:17:
In Reply to: Does anybody know... posted by Bill C on June 05, 1999 at 21:48:19:
Bill, I have never had a migraine but about a year before my first seige of clusters (about 30 years ago), I began having occasional "eye problems". At the time, women were having serious eys problems with the then new birth control pill. Since I had four pre-schoolers and a husband Viet Nam bound, I chose to ignore the eye problem but was truly afraid I was going blind. It continues to this day. I have always referred to it as dancing neon rick-rack. It appears on my cluster side (left) and slowly works it way across my whole field of vision and disappers in the upper right side. If I close my eyes, the dancing lights ARE STILL THERE! My Optometrist calls them optical migraines and said they often signal the onset of a headache. For me, there is no connection. I have had cluster remissions of 6-8 years. I get the rick-rack during remission as well as during a siege of clusters. There is no pain -none- with my dancing ligths and if I sit quietly they will pass in less than a half hour. I learned years ago, if I try to ignore them and go on reading - cooking - whatever I'm doing, I become very nervous and sick to my stomach. One thing I know for sure - this is stress-related. I will get as many as four a day if I am under stress and will go for months without the "eye problem" if I am stress free.
I realize I have rambled on here, but I wanted to give you as many details as possible. If your problem is the same as mine, there seems to be no cause for deep concern.
Hope this helps.
Good luck and good health.
Barbara H.