Although most people associate migraines with excruciating pain, it is actually the third stage of a migraine episode. Most migraine sufferers experience the preheadache and aura phases before they feel the pain. The aura’s effect on the eyes is often all that is said about it. An aura may also affect migraine sufferers (those suffering from migraines) and their doctors. We will focus on visual hallucinations, the last symptom of the list.
Migraine Aura
What does a migraine aura look and feel like in terms visual hallucinations. Although visual effects can vary from one person to another, there are some commonalities. The visual effects can be affected by the changing activity of nerves that coil around blood vessels. This can cause partial vision loss or intense colors and patterns.
- Some people see the effect as a tiny dot in one or both of their eyes. The dot is called a blind spot. It’s similar to accidentally looking at a bare lightbulb. The dot will begin to grow over a period of 30-60 minutes. It flashes. Gradually, it takes on a new shape: an oval, a circle broken, or a V on its sides. The changing dot moves slowly to the side and becomes more out of center. It creates repeated instances of itself, linking them together in the form of linked circles, triangles or other geometric patterns.
- Others describe a migraine aura with zigzag patterns in complementary colors, such red, green, yellow, and blue. These colors look great together and are pleasant to observe, as long as the migraine pain is not yet started. They may feel as though they are looking through smoke or smog. Sometimes, their eyes may appear to be shaded by a mini-blind that has a crescent shape.
- Artistically-minded migraineurs will often describe migraine aura as op art paintings. They describe psychedelic, neon borders surrounding a primary zigzag pattern in black and white. Multiple sufferers have observed this visual phenomenon, and it is something that you might want to pay attention to.
- Delia Malchert, a German artist, attempted to portray her aura’s visual hallucinations through paintings. Her migraine aura looks like scotoma. These are areas in her visual field that her vision is reduced or absent. They often begin with a small area near or in the centre of her vision. Slowly, the spot darkens and develops a jagged, zigzag border of black and white. As it spins around the darkening center, the rim emits flashes of light in quick flashes. Soon, the darkening and scintillating effects will become a temporary visual disorder similar to legal blindness. The center of her vision becomes blurry at this point in the aura. She finds the migraine aura hallucinations annoying and distracting rather than entertaining. They can be quite pleasing, she admits.
Conclusion
What is a migraine aura? These are just a few of the visual perceptions that migraine sufferers might experience. Migraine aura sufferers agree that no matter what the visual effects are, they can’t be ignored. It is not possible to avoid the effects by closing your eyes or looking around.
