Ocular Migraine (Retinal Migraine) vs. Migraine Aura EXPLAINED | How to treat and prevent

In my youth, I would sometimes get an aura, with the zigzag lines, flashing lights, etc. The first sign it was coming was a blind spot, like looking at a face, and I can't see the nose. The aura would get worse, going across my field of vision. I'm also feeling "out of it". Once the aura subsided, then came the hammer; an awful migraine. Now that I'm older, I still get aura's occasionally, but once it goes away, no migraine! I still feel sleepy, a bit dizzy, etc. I saw a neurologist, and he told me that can happen as you age. People who don't have migraines have no idea. "Take a tylenol" they say. No idea what they are like. Your life stops. Only a dark, cool, quiet room with a cold, wet cloth on my forehead would work, and max tylenol dose. I have only vomited a couple of times during a migraine, and its the worst thing imaginable; having a throbbing headache, and retching hard over a toilet...you just want it all to end. 59 yo male.

My teenager has had “migraines” for several years now that mimic a stroke. One time, one side of her face was drooping, she lost sensation in her left sided hand and leg, and while she was talking to me, she was no longer speaking in a language I could understand. I raced her to the hospital, and because she had “migraines” on her previous chart, the triage nurses labeled it a headache and by the time the doctor got to us, it was too late for a CT or MRI and the event seemed to be correcting itself (much like a mini stroke). It’s horrifying every time it happens. Often, she loses all peripheral vision on one side or the other. I wish I could fix it for her.

I get the jagged lines in both eyes (not 2 sets of lines…if I close just one eye, either one, it’s there in my vision in the same spot) and slight problem focusing straight ahead in the area of the lines. Usually takes about 20 minutes for the lines to slowly move across my vision until they’re gone. No headache or migraine ever follows. Happens a few times a year.

I get an aura that starts as a tiny spot and then grows into a jagged kaleidoscope that blocks out the centre of my vision. I was diagnosed with ocular migraines, but it is in both eyes. I do not get the headache nor any other symptoms. The episodes last almost exactly 20 minutes and then completely disappear. Started about 5 years ago, happens a couple of times per year, sometimes while hiking or trail running especially in cool weather. Can also happen spontaneously.

Excellent information presentation. I wish more YouTube channels would stay on point the way you do. Thank you.

This video really helped me yo be less scared about what is happening when I experience this. Thank you.

After watching this video and reading these comments I realized I am not alone! I found out after 15 years that it’s called migraine aura. It’s a thing and I am not crazy!! Sometimes you gotta search the right words to get the specific information you need. Thank you so much for sharing this video. Very eye opening! The moment I get migraine aura, I get a warning of severe headache coming which will lasts for a week or two and then sensitivity to light for a month. I recently called in sick last minute from job and there’s no one to cover. They were pissed as it was only migraine and how come it happened last minute? Little did they know that it’s not just migraine. Blurry vision, nausea, dizziness, severe headache. People can’t understand how hard it is for us. You can’t study for your exams, you can’t go to work. Your life stops, and then some people say it’s just a migraine!

I had the auras, but I never had the headache. I went to my eye doctor, and he told me what it was. I figured it was stress. I haven’t had them for a very, very, very long time. I’m retired now, but it was when I was working and I’m going to say it was stress.

Love this. Such clear explanation of both types of migraines

This was so helpful! I experienced my first ocular migraine a few months ago, and it freaked me out. I have a long history of migraines with visual aura. But this was completely different, and I had no idea what was happening. I was scared. It hasn’t happened again, but I did discuss it at my annual eye exam.

I was here after a swear attack of migraine with aura. But on seeing your smiling cute face i forgot all my tension. God bless you dear . I think you have some healing power for others.

Well I'm glad someone knows about these migraines. I feel like I know more than most of my doctors about migraines. One nurse straight up just thought I was having a stroke and wouldn't believe that it was a migraine.

I’ve been getting them lately after riding my peloton really hard…thank you for this video. Made me less stressed, and I feel like I need to work on my hydration and turning down the headphones while I ride . 🙏🏼

Thank you for posting this and clarifying these conditions; very helpful- eduction is key.

These can be very hard to describe accurately. I was misdiagnosed with ocular migraines because of intermittent blurry vision. Turns out it's Multiple Sclerosis. Because of varied symptoms, each specialist diagnosed me with a condition in their specialty, without putting them all together until i saw a neurologist.

Thank you that was a fantastic explanation and walk through!

Very informative. I began suffering migraines, with aura, 60 years ago after suffering a compressed fracture of the skull and have lived them ever since. In the early years they were full on. I dreaded them, nausea, violent headaches etc. over the years I found that if I took ibuprofen painkillers at the onset of the aura, which usually last some 20 minutes, I would be pain free and no nausea. A friend’s daughter who suffered with them now does what I do and can now deal with them as I do. It does make me smile when I hear someone say, “I have a blinding migraine headache”, for any old headache. There is nothing like a migraine headache and I used to be out of it for a couple of days. I now manage my migraines pretty well thankfully.

Bright lights can be a trigger for mine.

Great vid, ty!

I had migraines from the time I was six until I was into my mid thirties. They were aura migraines. I also got v vomiting with these headaches. I tried prescriptions nothing seemed to work. On a occasion I went with a friend for a drive when she rent to see her chiropractor, not for a treatment. When she was getting her treatment she explained to the chiropractor that I had severe migrains. He explained to me that he found free me of my migraines. I thought okay I will give it a try. I had my first adjustment that day. He told me to come back in a week for a second adjustment. The day if the first treatment I had the worst migraine I had ever had. I went back in a week and had the second adjustment. To this day, thank the LORD, I have not had another migraine, I still get the auras from time to time and still to this day wait for the migraine but it does not come.