Don't Know What's Going on to Be Honest

silver

By silver

August 21, 2020

I had my first migraine aura in 1999 when I was 45. My husband was dying at the time and I saw it over his hospital bed.
I didn't know what it was, and it lasted 5 minutes, and never came back. It looked like the shimmering effect in that movie "Predator".

Fast forward.... nothing like that happened again.
So, in 2018 we'd had a lot of snow in the spring, and I was on a long walk in the countryside. I got scintillating brilliant zig-zag lights on one side of my field of vision. It was quite beautiful, with silver shimmers and rainbow colors. It lasted maybe 10-15 minutes and disappeared. I still had no idea it was a migraine aura. I thought it was stress on my eyes from being in the snow for so long without dark glasses.

What to do when nothing happens

Nothing happened for 10 days. Then I felt suddenly a bit unwell with a fluey feeling, slight nausea, slight head pains (very very mild) over the right eye, exhaustion, emotional disturbances. This feeling lasted, and on the 4th week, I got slight gut disturbances (loose stools) which lasted four/five days and went away. I went to the doctor. Everything checked out OK. blood work, blood pressure, everything.
Because of my description of the "aura", he referred me to a neurologist. I waited for 5 months for the appointment. I had no more auras during that time, just felt shaky sometimes, weak and weary, exercise intolerant, a bit off my food sometimes, emotionally upset (tearful) for no reason sometimes. Couldn't focus on heartfelt happy things that had meant so much to me before. Like I was separated from dear things.

My doctor was still unsureneurologist was stumped. I passed all the tests and a head CT was normal. He said it was "likely migraine phenomena" with a guarded diagnosis (meaning he wasn't sure.) I wasn't showing any migraine classic symptoms. No headache, except a very distant, vague, tiny twinge over my right eye occasionally. Loss of appetite sometimes. No dramas. But a feeling of exhaustion more than before all this happened. Growing old? Had I got ME/CFS??My energy had started to improveI got Covid-19 in April...recovered really well....yet it was followed by gut disturbance again, a lot like mild IBS, with no obvious cause/triggers. 2/3 of the time normal and 1/3 of the time upset belly in the intervening months. Lower abdominal swelling, coming on later in the day, and gone every morning, loose-ish stools, had to adjust diet and lower fiber intake.I had tests. There is no cancer and no gut inflammation throughout the whole GI tract.Then the auras started happening again 3 weeks ago (late July 2020). I managed to trace triggers: Exercise, always when after breakfast in the morning. I liked to go for a 1-hour walk soon after a light healthy breakfast. The auras have been happening when I get home. Scintillating silver zig zags, like beveled glass. In three weeks I have had four now. One thing I start to feel first is way too hot and a bit sweaty, but put that down to circulation from a walk. Temperature is just below normal.I get the splendid auras and they last about 15-20 minutes. They are unilateral. If I cover one eye I don't see them. Not followed by a headache at all, but definitely followed by feeling very sad, like wanting to cry, uncoordinated, slightly light-headed, ominous feelings, shakiness, hollow and lost feelings, popping in my ears, "windy" lower gut, and slight jaw pains.Heart rate is pretty normal but with ectopic beats while this happens. I don't get numbness on one side of the body, loss of vision, or anything like that.Does anyone else have any ideas? I am not sure what's going on. It's atypical for a migraine attack -isn't it? Is this a "silent migraine"? Would silent migraine cause symptoms of exhaustion lasting over 2 years....suddenly start happening more....(yet now my actual physical energy is much improved generally from what it was before, even though the auras have suddenly increased.)I am a bit mixed up as to what is going on. IBS?....atypical Migraine?.... "Silent" migraine?....or retinal migraine? I don't know.It's hard to get a decent appointment with the doctor right now due to the pandemic. I don't want pain relief. I am not in that kind of pain. I just want to understand.

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