Migraine aura anyone? Or does the cheese stand alone?

[Margot]

I have had auras and flashes also - in fact have experienced two occasions of complete gray-out in one eye. All of this is post AVR two and a half years ago.
Everything else is fantastic but the visual migraines are odd. Thank God they don’t come with pain.

 

[JaneBerm]

I'm ten years post AVR and still experience occasional auras and flashes! I've never had actual headaches with these, and they certainly happen less frequently than the almost constant experiences I had immediately after surgery.

 

[Solar Rays]

I was getting around 12 auras a year from 2006 to 2018. I had mitral valve repair in Oct 2018. I have had 45 since then. They last 20 minutes. Sun fluorescent lights glare and television are triggers. My surgeon and cardiologist have never heard of this. I have seen many posts online. Many have seen neurologists with no results.

 

[Paleowoman]

There's a whole other thread going about this almost parallel to this one - 'Vision Disturbances and Migraines': https://www.valvereplacement.org/threads/vision-disturbances-and-migraines.884398/

 

[starrman]

I'm ten years post AVR and still experience occasional auras and flashes! I've never had actual headaches with these, and they certainly happen less frequently than the almost constant experiences I had immediately after surgery.

Absolutely - 11+ years out and still they come. Bright sun, fluorescent lights, road glare seem to be the triggers. I get my sunglasses with maximum darkness and use them religiously. Florescent lights in stores sometimes make me dizzy as well.

 

[Protimenow]

Margot - I get auras. On a few occasions I got the temporary blindness in one eye, often accompanied by numbness in the tongue and one side of the mouth, and sometimes numbness or tingling in an arm. I know of two others who've had this happen to them -- in all three cases, these were caused by taking Zyrtec. Is it possible that you're the fourth person who I know of with this reaction to Zyrtec?

 

[Clippy99]

No joke? I used to get migraines as a younger person and they started that way. Then all of sudden just the visual stuff and no migraine. Thought I was gonna have to give up red wine LOL

 

[Protimenow]

Mine started with pain and visual disturbances when I was 16 and doorman at a movie theater. The bright light outside the doors seemed to trigger the auras and pain.

After a few years, the pain stopped and I only got auras.

If 'No joke?' was in reference to my comment about Zyrtec, it wasn't a joke. I know of three people (including myself) that react to it with short term blindness, numbness in the mouth and lips, numbness in the arm and fingers, and generally some pretty scary symptoms.

 

[Margot]

Margot - I get auras. On a few occasions I got the temporary blindness in one eye, often accompanied by numbness in the tongue and one side of the mouth, and sometimes numbness or tingling in an arm. I know of two others who've had this happen to them -- in all three cases, these were caused by taking Zyrtec. Is it possible that you're the fourth person who I know of with this reaction to Zyrtec?

I don't take Zyrtec, so that's not my trigger. I'm glad it's only happened twice - it's very disconcerting!

 

[Paleowoman]

My only trigger was open heart surgery. Since the day after surgery I have been getting migraine auras, without headache, and double vision several times a month, and flashes of light every day. Day or night they can happen, no relation to food or not food, no relation to medication and no relation to what I'm doing - I can wake up and find I'm halfway thorugh an aura, I can tell from how much the aura is filling my vision at that point.

 

[Paul1972]

My only trigger was open heart surgery. Since the day after surgery I have been getting migraine auras, without headache, and double vision several times a month, and flashes of light every day. Day or night they can happen, no relation to food or not food, no relation to medication and no relation to what I'm doing - I can wake up and find I'm halfway thorugh an aura, I can tell from how much the aura is filling my vision at the point.

Hi Palewoman, I’m exactly the same as you with completely the same symptoms since surgery.I never had a migraine or vision episode before my two surgeries.There must be something in the two comparisons don’t you think

 

[Paleowoman]

Hi Palewoman, I’m exactly the same as you with completely the same symptoms since surgery.I never had a migraine or vision episode before my two surgeries. There must be something in the two comparisons don’t you think

Yes. And I think there’s just too many of us get these post OHS for it to be coincidence. What’s a pity is that this is not documented by the medical profession so that we aren’t all surprised by it.

I don’t mind the migraine auras or the flashes, but the double vision can be disconcerting.

 

[Protimenow]

The medical community doesn't seem to care about the auras. I'm sure that many of us have reported them to our doctors (or, alternatively, haven't because we worry about losing our driver's licenses because the auras may interfere with ability to see the road). I get them intermittently (I had one this morning), but driving is no problem for me because the auras don't mess with my center of vision.

As far as 'double vision', I'm not exactly sure what this means. Does it mean that lights appear one above the other? (This could also be a cataract forming, or a reaction to digoxin). Or do your eyes not fuse the image?

It would certainly be good if the medical professionals took the issue of auras seriously enough to look into what they are, what causes them, and, perhaps, practices during surgery that can prevent them from happening at all.

 

[Paleowoman]

As far as 'double vision', I'm not exactly sure what this means. Does it mean that lights appear one above the other? (This could also be a cataract forming, or a reaction to digoxin). Or do your eyes not fuse the image?

Double vision is seeing two overlapping images of everything instead of one (not slightly overlapping as in astigmatism but much further apart - I mean crazy apart !) - it seems to be related to migraine aura as are flashes, however, double vision makes me personally feel instantly very dizzy. It only lasts a minute or so thank goodness. I shut my eyes and sit or stand still, opening eyes to check till it goes back to normal. I don't drive otherwise I would think that even a minute or less of double vision could be dangerous when driving, same with the aura as it interferes with vision.

It would seem these are all phenomena of changes in vision related to migraine: https://migraine.com/migraine-symptoms/vision-changes/ even if many of us here do not get headache and even if many of us here have never had these symptoms until right after surgery. I would guess these 'migraines' are a neurolgical side effect of being on bypass.

 

[Protimenow]

Does your double vision go away if you close one eye? I get this once in a while, but can usually make it stop. In my case, it feels as if my brain isn't combining images from the two eyes and is viewing both independently.

I'm not sure if this particular phenomenon happened post-op, or if I had it before my surgery in 1991. It's certainly disconcerting. For me, closing one eye helps. In my case, I'm right eye dominant, so closing the left eye takes care of the superimposed images. Shifting focus to just one of the eyes (for me, usually the right eye) resolves this issue.

(Of course, yours may be entirely different).

 

[Paul1972]

Yes. And I think there’s just too many of us get these post OHS for it to be coincidence. What’s a pity is that this is not documented by the medical profession so that we aren’t all surprised by it.

I don’t mind the migraine auras or the flashes, but the double vision can be disconcerting.

Me

Does your double vision go away if you close one eye? I get this once in a while, but can usually make it stop. In my case, it feels as if my brain isn't combining images from the two eyes and is viewing both independently.

I'm not sure if this particular phenomenon happened post-op, or if I had it before my surgery in 1991. It's certainly disconcerting. For me, closing one eye helps. In my case, I'm right eye dominant, so closing the left eye takes care of the superimposed images. Shifting focus to just one of the eyes (for me, usually the right eye) resolves this issue.

(Of course, yours may be entirely different).

I will give that a go next time I have it, as I usually try closing both eyes and then open them again but when i do I still can’t focus properly. I just sit it out till my vision comes back to normal.Cheers Protimenow

 

[JLSW]

I have had ocular migraines for years. Oddly, they got worse when I was going through radiation therapy for cancer. They have subsided a bit but road glare and sudden light flashes set them off. No pain but I cannot see past it until the pulsing crescent moon shape passes out of my vision. I have had every test under the sun and my docs are not concerned. They can be annoying.

 

[Owenall]

Although I had Migraines before my heart surgery in 2013, originally classic migraine with pain starting when I was 18, they had changed to Aura only in my mid 50's, but since my op' I have had an increased number of them, probably about 5 or 6 a month and also as Paleowoman and Paul1972 I have episodes of double vision lasting anything from a minute to perhaps 5 minutes, and occasionally total loss of vision in one eye for a few minutes and flashes in my vision on other occasions.

Closing one eye does put my vision back to somewhere near normal, but I usually sit it out until it returns.

So there must be something in this post Op thing

 

[Paleowoman]

I haven't tried closing just one eye when I get double vision, I'm usually so dizzy and stunned that I simply shut both eyes quickly to stop the sensation. I'll try closing one eye next time this happens and see how it is.

 

[doclewis]

follow up on my ocular migraines. 4 years post op. Initially averaged about one every day or two. Now down to one every eight or nine days. I do not feel well for a day afterwards. I guess the brain fog thing. I have tried many dietary manipulations (eliminating alcohol, wine, nuts, cheese, artificial sweetners). Initially I was convinced that exercise caused them. Most were occurring with exercise. I have kept a log for 16 months. Quit exercising 5 or six months ago. Still walk or ride a bike most days but slowly and not nearly as far as I was and I don't time it any more. The four months that I have logs for before and after stopping exercise I find that the frequency has not changed. Still get about half while I am outside walking, biking. I live in Florida so it is hot and usually sunny. Some occur when I first start walking and some a few minutes after I get back. Sunglasses don't help and taking water and drinking while outside does not help. In the past when I was walking five sub 15 minute miles, I found that if I continued walking in spite of migraine that I would get a second one either before I finished or immediately after. Still looking for something I can do to decrease frequency. I am interested if anyone has found a trigger that helps. Others have said that beta blockers have helped, but I have been on beta blocker continuously since before surgery. I think that I may start exercising more aggressively again to see if they get worse.