Posted by LeadingZero on September 13, 2004, at 18:19:15
In reply to Re: seeking insight with brain fog/depression/sleep..., posted by LeadingZero on September 13, 2004, at 15:53:59
I just got finished reading everybody else’s posts and am going to second my vote for migraines. I also want to provide a few more of my experiences. I’m a 34 year old electrical engineer, and I’ve been whacking through these weeds for some time.
A segue, though-- I never knew that migraines were related to the endocrine system. I wonder if an elongated, craning neck position might somehow strain one's thyroid? Tucking my chin in and rolling it around on my thyroid always seemed to help, somehow.
I my first visual migraine was when I pulled an all-nighter for a high school computer fair. The following day, during the presentation, I was sensitive to noise and light, things seemed dreamy. I wanted to kill the guy in the booth next to me that yammered endlessly nearby. High contrast outlines would shimmer, kind of like when I look into the sun.
Through college, I was chronically sleep deprived. I was working a full time programming job along with a full load, and would sometimes binge all night playing Quake. Those would be the worst migraines. It would start sometimes suddenly—I would just suddenly notice that my vision was messed up. Other times, it was gradual-- by things beings being dreamy and otherworldly, then I would start to see sunspots around high contrast areas, then I would get the boiling blindness coming in from the bottom of my vision. The blindness would gradually clear up and in then the massive pressure would be on. Moving my head suddenly would be a big mistake. If it was really bad, that would be followed by vomiting and praying for the sweet release of death for about three hours. I would get these every few months, predictably following a bout of pathological stupidity.
Over the years, my migraines have become less severe, less visual— maybe because of aging, or perhaps due to being less stressed out and sleep deprived. But I still have migraines. They tend to last longer, sometimes days. I see only occasional, fleeting visual effects. I feel head pressure, and some portion of my head, like one side or the back, front or top, hurts. If I stand up suddenly or turn my head, it hurts. Any noise, like talking, is bothersome and painful. They come on a lot less predictably and more often than before. Sometimes, they are so subtle that I don’t realize I’m having one until I put all the pieces together.
Some of you said you experience trouble reading. When I read, my eyes jump around a lot and I frequently miss words, or accidentally pick up a word from the line above or below. I see patterns out of the white spacing between the words. I have to read very carefully to keep my accuracy up. Getting through school was a pain-- reading reams of conceptually dense material, and rereading it, and again. It's also hard to tolerate reading for more than 20 minutes without taking a break.
In my case, I have light sensitivity problems—not volume of light so much as contrast and flashing. It reduces my reading accuracy as well as causes the visual aspect of my migraines. I wear Irlen filters now-- custom made colored glasses that block frequencies of light that seem to most disrupt my nervous system. That has helped. It’s not a panacea, but it has helped my reading and I don’t have much in the way of visual migraines anymore. I also avoid reading in florescent lighting and over lit areas.
I hope I haven’t given anyone a visual migraine with all this text.
Best wishes,
-lz
poster:LeadingZero
thread:289897
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040909/msgs/390426.html