ER Visit.....possible trigger

Well, had my husband drop me at the ER today. I had a headache earlier today, took my medicine and was fine. Then I was playing with my son and looked up and suddenly to the right side of my right eye, I was seeing lights and rainbow colors. If I closed my eyes, I was seeing the same thing. It went on for about half an hour and then panic set in. I couldn't deal anymore so I had him take me.

Basically I was there for 2 hours, they took blood and said things seemed fine. They said it was an aura from the headache. I was ok with that answer and the lights had gone away. Then....the doctor says, I doubt you had a stroke.

I'm sorry, what?? Where did stroke come from? As I'm sure most of you know, my friend had a stroke recently and it's been on my mind very much. So yes, I was sent away with a good diagnosis of just having a headache with an aura and being told to follow up with my neurologist. You know that all I'm thinking about is stroke now.

What a yucko day.

I hope the ER was being pro-active about what your greatest fear was about .
:( sorry you had to be there alone....
I think you are OK Park and sorry hubby is not able to support your fears.
I can't blame him either...it's hard to walk in someone else's shoes
I'm wishing you all the best and putting you in my prayers for your health anxiety.
It's very real for you- but I think you are OK and want only the best for you. I have had visual problems & lights proceeding migraines.

Thanks, everyone.

In all my years of having headaches, I've never had an aura. It was so freaky and I am really anxious to follow up with my neurologist tomorrow.

John, they did all the whacky face checks, show your teeth, stick out your tongue, etc and I passed. I'm sure I did not have one; I just don't enjoy having that seed of doubt planted...

I'm not sure what it is, but my health anxiety is high right now.

MG, I have a fear of ocular migraines that I will not share with everyone, but it's all the more reason that I want to follow up with my doctor tomorrow. While I don't want to get carried away with tests, I'm not opposed if he wants me to have the MRI.

P.,

OH jeez...could that doc have made a worse comment to you?!?

I think it is pretty common for doctors to regurgitate all of the possible dx's they study in school, for a while after getting their MD titles.

Was this a young doc by any chance?

You've seen the medical shows where the attending dr. is listing symptoms to a group of med students and they have to come up with the the diagnoses...well I think that kind of thing sticks with them for awhile...hence him mentioning all of the possibilities...even the completely unlikely. ..

I have the visual disturbance with my migraines like the world is rotating, or like the vertical flip that old t.v.s used to get...so weird!

You are going to be fine.:) Let us know how your appointment goes tomorrow.

S.C.

S.C.,

I saw 2 doctors. 1 was supposed to be a bit more senior, but he couldn't have been much older than me. He was not my favorite at all.

I'll call my neurologist today and see what he thinks. I think the only part that really scares me is that I've had migraines for years and never once has this happened to me. The other part is that it really never became a migraine because I caught it with medicine and the visual changes didn't happen until after the headache was basically gone, which the doctor said was a little unusual. However, I did Google aura's and headaches and looked at the Mayo Clinic site and it said that an aura can happen before, during or after a headache so that was comforting. My PCP has told me that if I choose to google that I look at Mayo Clinic or occasionally WebMd, but nothing else!

Larry,

You just described my experience perfectly! Still there when I closed my eyes, broken glass, all of it!! Interesting that you mentioned sugar. That was one of the things the ER doc said he was looking for.

I'm still waiting on a call from my neurologist. I'm in no pain, but I'm still a little concerned. My eyes have been twitching for a little over a week and my vision just feels fuzzy, even though I passed an eye exam at the hospital. Both eyes feel very dry and tired. I Just can't get past the feeling that something isn't right.

Ugh, Larry. Your reply just made me laugh and cry at the same time! You're so right. What am I doing?! I don't know why I can't just trust the doctors that I saw! I think I'll feel better hearing from my own doctor. I definitely trust him.

All kidding aside though, it has caused me some additional worry that my eyelids have been twitching! I've read though that this can be caused by stress or sleep deprivation. Hello two things that describe me!!

In other news, I've decided I'm tossing all the diet rules in the garbage tonight and eating a deep dish Lou Malnati's cheese pizza. If any of you are from the Chicago area, you know why this will comfort me.

Well, spoke to my neurologist and he said very simply, oh, that's an aura from a migraine. I said, but I didn't have a migraine; I had a headache earlier and it was gone. He said, that's just an aura with a migraine that has no pain; nothing to worry about. He did say if I started having them regularly, but that I'd had a CT scan in the past 5 years and things looked good, so he wasn't concerned.

I guess I'm supposed to relax now, right?

The giant piece of pizza did calm me down temporarily.