I went through a series of eye tests and nothing was found. I went to a
neurologist who gave me a paper about disorders of the autonomic nervous
system. I was put on clonodine which is an antihypertensive.
Go into Medline and type in McLeod JG. Go down to 1987 and you will find
abstracts on Parts 1 and 2.
In Part 2, one of the tests performed is "EMOTIONAL STRESS. Emotional
stress(mental arithmetic, a sudden loud noise, painful or emotional
stimuli) causes a transient increase in the sympathetic vasomotor nerve
activity in normal subjects that can be recorded directly using
microneurography [30] or indirectly by measuring the accompany decrease in
blood flow in the skin or extremities [31] or increase in arterial blood
pressure[97]. These tests are used to evaluate the sympathetic efferent
activity because they do not involve activation of the afferent limb of the
reflex arc. Unfortunately, the tests cannot be completely relied to
indicate autonomic dysfunction; some normal persons may have no response at
all."
I am not a doctor, nor do I understand half the terms in the paper, but
after looking at the list of tests and the responses, I believe that the
autonomic nervous system regulates blood flow according to what one is
doing. (i.e.. if one stands up, the autonomic nervous system makes changes
to keep the blood pressure within a certain range)
John
----------
> From: JHarper33(AT)aol.com
> To: tmic-list(AT)eskimo.com
> Subject: Migraines
> Date: Saturday, November 08, 1997 2:00 PM
>
> I had a disturbing experience yesterday. I'd appreciate any input anyone
> might have. I had to make a presentation to our home school group which I
> enjoyed and which went really well, but took a lot of time and effort and
> some stress to prepare for, plus the nervousness of speaking in front of
> people, plus getting to bed late the night before. When it was all over,
I
> was relieved and happy and looking forward to going home and relaxing.
The
> kids and I went through the MacDonald's drive-through on the way home,
and I
> noticed something strange in my vision of my right eye, as when someone
takes
> your picture and your eyes see a grey dot for awhile. I assumed I'd seen
> something bright and my eyes were reacting (it was a rainy day;
headlights
> were on.) On the way home, I felt things were increasingly not right in
my
> vision, but couldn't place it exactly due to driving. By the time I got
home,
> in the lower and right edges of my vision in my right eye, there were a
lot
> of lights and movement. The movement was similar to seeing the blades of
a
> ceiling fan going around in peripheral vision. I went upstairs just to be
> quiet and alone for a few minutes and turned off the lights, closed my
eyes,
> opened them, etc., to try to assess what was going on. The episode lasted
> maybe 10 minutes. I called my primary care physician, who, unfortunately,
> closes early on Fridays and got his answering service, who said they'd
give
> my name and no. to the dr. on call, who was not my regular dr. He never
did
> call back, but I called the opthamologist I'd seen last year just to ask
> about it. When I'd seen him before, I had to have a referral, but,
> thankfully, that was no longer the case, so they said they'd see me that
> afternoon. I had seen this dr. last December due to flashes of light in
my
> eyes, but the flashes then were occasional, just a second or two long,
and
> seemed like someone was flashing a light or taking a picture just beyond
my
> vision. He said then the retina was fine, but as we get older the stuff
> inside our eyes thickens and sometimes pulls against the retina a little.
> Ever since then I've had those kinds of occasional momentary flashes, and
> sometimes a momentary flash of pinpoint sized blue light, but figured it
was
> the same thing. But this day's episode was longer, much more light and
> flashing, and had the movement. And scared me to death. After examining
me,
> he said the retina was normal. I told him about the TM and that I was
told TM
> could turn into MS and asked if it could be neurologically related. He
didn't
> think so. He said he thought it was migraines. I thought that odd because
I
> wasn't having any kind of headache at the time. When I had first called
the
> office to ask about all this, the receptionist said something about
possible
> ocular or optical (can't remember which term) migraines. I asked the dr.
what
> triggered migraines; he said usually caffeine (I hadn't had any that day
and
> don't have much anyway) or high blood pressure (mine is usually on the
low
> side.) He asked if anyone in my family had migraines; they don't. I asked
> what caused the eye to act like that; he said the blood flow to the eye
is
> temporarily interrupted. I asked if that could indicate a clot or
blockage;
> he said possibly in someone who was 70 or so, but not someone my age
(40). He
> told me to take an aspirin a day and cut back on caffeine. I asked what
to do
> if this happens again; he said to pursue it with my regular dr., that it
> wasn't an eye problem.
>
> So, as usual, a lot of questions come up after leaving the office. My
husband
> wonders if the stress of preparing for the presentation that morning had
> anything to do with it. I thought it odd that that would trigger a
reaction
> when I was relaxed and not at the height of the stress, but he said often
> when he has something like that to do, he does fine before and through
it,
> but then has an awful headache afterward. If that's the case, I'm not
sure
> what to do. We really can't eliminate everything stressful. I'm not even
> talking about heavy stress here: maybe pressure would be a better word,
the
> pressure of having a deadline and getting everything set up that I wanted
to
> do, etc. And it was a happy stress, if that makes sense. I wasn't
dreading it
> (except for some nervousness about getting up in front of people, which
> usually goes away once I get started); I was really looking forward to it
and
> enjoyed it.
>
> I don't know whether to just take an aspirin a day as he said and not
think
> about it any more unless it happens again, or to call my regular dr.
Monday
> morning and tell him what happened (and complain about the dr. on call
not
> calling me back...) and see what he says to do. I'm going to try to look
up
> info. on the Internet about migraines...I've heard the term "silent
> migraines" somewhere before...., but I wanted to toss this out to you all
> first and see if any of you have had any similar experiences. I did run a
> search through the tmic archives to get info. people had sent here
previously
> about migraines. I do have some odd little feelings in my head at times
that
> I don't know how to describe; they're not painful; but if this is a
> migraine-type thing, maybe it's related.
>
> Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!!!
> Barbara