worried ive had a mini stroke please help

[Jeanine25]

hi people...
well today has been quite an active one for me, im due to move home so i have been packing and shift around heavy boxes.
Anyway, after I had finished I came in the front room and sat on PC... I started to get dots in my eyes- as though I needed to go to sleep or something.
I decided to go and wash my face with cold water to see if it would make the dots go away only it didnt help, infact it made things worse.
The dots turned to wiggles in the corner of my eye:shrug: and I started to really panic...
i was fully aware of what was going on around me but I was convinced I was going blind. this had never happened before and Im so worried....
go a bit of a headache now too.... so even more convinced

[kirstyt]

I think its a migraine hun.i get that alot.wen my mum had a stroke she had no warning or anything.it just happened.no symptoms at all xxc

[Jeanine25]

I think its a migraine hun.i get that alot.wen my mum had a stroke she had no warning or anything.it just happened.no symptoms at all xxc

does the headach not come before the vision problems? I do have a headache now which came on after the wiggly lines stopped- but im really scared.

[kirstyt]

Yes.my headache always cums after the eye problems hun.u may feel abit sick too.just go for a lie fown on a dark room for a bit!that always helps me xxx

[countrygirl]

Could be a silent migraine which i get very very rarely like once every 5 years - I get them when super stressed ( ring any bells!:) its xmas and you are moving house) and I get a wiggly flashing zigzag line that moves from one side of my eyes to the other - lasts a few minutes with me then goes away - may happen a couple of times in a week or so then goes away for years - I don't have any headache or any other symptom at all.

Just one other thought but unlikely is that if you get a shower of dots that don't go away in your eyes or like a dark curtain across an eye then this could be a retinal problem and needs attention asap but if it was this then it will NOT improve at all over a few hours. I am not saying this to worry you but I have severe eye problems and have experienced eye symptoms that thankfully were not serious but I have always been warned about the danger symptoms of retinal problems so thought I would pass it on for your benefit.

One other thing is how is your blood pressure - a sudden spike in blood pressure possibly from lifting heavy boxes could cause a minor blood vessel to burst in your eye - some people get nose bleeds instead and its the bodies safety valve so the pressure reduces in your brain but unless you have a blood pressure problem this is extremely unlikely to be reason much more likely the silent migraine.

As with anything see how it goes - myself if I still have it in a few hours then I would be wanting to see a Dr but if it goes away then maybe make appt with your Dr just to check your bp and ask their advice.

[Jeanine25]

thank you so much...
kirstyt can u describe yours too me please if you dont mind.. the symptoms?

i had a zig zag border around my eyes.. scared the shit out of me... now i have a headache. xx

[Jeanine25]

Could be a silent migraine which i get very very rarely like once every 5 years - I get them when super stressed ( ring any bells!:) its xmas and you are moving house) and I get a wiggly flashing zigzag line that moves from one side of my eyes to the other - lasts a few minutes with me then goes away - may happen a couple of times in a week or so then goes away for years - I don't have any headache or any other symptom at all.

Just one other thought but unlikely is that if you get a shower of dots that don't go away in your eyes or like a dark curtain across an eye then this could be a retinal problem and needs attention asap but if it was this then it will NOT improve at all over a few hours. I am not saying this to worry you but I have severe eye problems and have experienced eye symptoms that thankfully were not serious but I have always been warned about the danger symptoms of retinal problems so thought I would pass it on for your benefit.

One other thing is how is your blood pressure - a sudden spike in blood pressure possibly from lifting heavy boxes could cause a minor blood vessel to burst in your eye - some people get nose bleeds instead and its the bodies safety valve so the pressure reduces in your brain but unless you have a blood pressure problem this is extremely unlikely to be reason much more likely the silent migraine.

As with anything see how it goes - myself if I still have it in a few hours then I would be wanting to see a Dr but if it goes away then maybe make appt with your Dr just to check your bp and ask their advice.
the eye symptoms were like dots, then it went from that to like... i dunno, wavey motions in the corner of my eye.
I laid down for 10 mins and it went away but now I have headache
what sort of retinal prob would the symptoms u described be?

[trev1234]

optical migraine mate....ive had 2 before ...scared the pants of me....

[kirstyt]

Dont worry hun.u havent got retinal problems.u would know if that was the problem!wen mine starts i get the black spots.big and small ones.then in the corners of my eyes i get the wiggly lights.and sumtimes my vision goes abit blurry.then the headache starts and i start to feel abit sicky.so i lay down in the dark fir an hour.my doc said mine are called aura migraines or smthing like that xxxx

[JT69]

Hi Jeanine,

I too think it sounds like a type of migraine hun. I too have these type of wavey motions that pass across my eyes and then disappear....I have had them very occasionally over the years. I was refferred to the hospital whilst pregnant with one of my children and had one and was told it was a type of migraine.

Its all o.k. the stress has probably brought it all on.

Take care
JO.xx

[Jeanine25]

Dont worry hun.u havent got retinal problems.u would know if that was the problem!wen mine starts i get the black spots.big and small ones.then in the corners of my eyes i get the wiggly lights.and sumtimes my vision goes abit blurry.then the headache starts and i start to feel abit sicky.so i lay down in the dark fir an hour.my doc said mine are called aura migraines or smthing like that xxxx

thats exactly what i got...
by the corner of the eyes i assume you meant the side of your eyes and not in the a atual corner near to your nose?

i can honestly say i have never been quite so scared in all my life.
how many have you had? ive managed to convince myself if i go to sleep i wont wake up now.. does ur headache follow when the eye problems subside? mine did...xxxx

[Going home]

Its called a migraine 'aura' and some people get the squiggles and zig-zags without getting the pain. Ive suffered from migraines for many years, one sided headaches that last a few days and I always know the pattern of them. Ive had one or two of these aura episodes before too, where the strange spots and wiggles started off in front of my eyes but then gradually moved to the sides and turned into zig zags and my vision was affected out of the sides of my eyes. The zig zags were actually in vivid colour I remember this, but its been some years since its happened. I asked my doctor about them the following day and he said i was describing a migraine aura, and ive since read about it too. They are very common in some people so i wouldn't worry they are indicaters of anything more serious.

Anna x

[Jeanine25]

Its called a migraine 'aura' and some people get the squiggles and zig-zags without getting the pain. Ive suffered from migraines for many years, one sided headaches that last a few days and I always know the pattern of them. Ive had one or two of these aura episodes before too, where the strange spots and wiggles started off in front of my eyes but then gradually moved to the sides and turned into zig zags and my vision was affected out of the sides of my eyes. The zig zags were actually in vivid colour I remember this, but its been some years since its happened. I asked my doctor about them the following day and he said i was describing a migraine aura, and ive since read about it too. They are very common in some people so i wouldn't worry they are indicaters of anything more serious.

Anna x

yes mine were in colour too.... the colours i had can only be described as the two tones colours you'd get when washing up liquid forms a bubble and reflects off the light.. sorta blue/red/purple- it was as though I had some sort of bubble wiggling in the corner of my eyes... it was dreadful.

thank you all for the replies. xx

[kirstyt]

Yes.the wigglly lines are always in the corners chick.no not the corner near my nose!the headaches are never that bad.they never last long.mine only started this yr after my mum had a stroke.the first one scared the hell out of me and i was straight to the docs.so wen my eyez start playin up now i just go for a lie down and try yo sleep it off!everyone seems to suffef different symptoms too.hope u feel abit calmer now hun xxx

[LucyR]

Hi, I think it will have been caused by all your hard work lifting all those heavy boxes and bending up and down puts a bit of pressure on you and leads to headaches and other stress symptoms.

[countrygirl]

Now you have got a bit of a headache and the vision thing only lasted a short time you can completely forget what I said about retinal problems, as I said in post they will not go away - I had a retinal bleed and I got a black hole in my vision that did not move and flashed different colours when I blinked!! and I had it for about 3 weeks all the time - thankfully it healed itself but that was when I got the info from eye Drs.

with your headache and the short time you had the visual things and your description it sounds exactly like a migraine aura - the first time I had it I ended up in a&e I was so scared as it lasted about half an hour and all my vision was broken up around my eyes - I never did get any headache. I got it about half an hour after I had been super super stressed so I know for me it can be triggered by stress.

I last had a couple of mild auras about 3 years ago.