My Brain Exploded!

Explosion of something in my brain... (this may be a little bit dramatic, but it fits the emotional, if not physical) occurred on Friday, February 5, 2010 just before 11:00am.

I had one of the scariest moments of my life yesterday. At first I thought I was going blind or I had inherited my father's macular degeneration. Very quickly! Quickest onset imaginable. Within seconds I went from seeing fine (well, with the aid of contacts) to seeing floaters and blurry spots. Sort of like the what you see if you have a bright light shone in your eyes. But it got bigger.

My first thought was that it was my contact, so I removed it and put on my glasses. Nope, still there. Thinking it was my left eye, I rubbed it and realized my right saw it too. I then covered my right eye and found that it was also in my left. My next thought was this is not an eye problem, but a brain problem. I now was certain that I was having a stroke or an aneurism.

My vision continued to quickly deteriorate. It had been maybe 5 minutes so far. I was beginning to seriously panic. I left my office to speak with Ronnie, the parish receptionist and my friend... she had never heard of such a thing. I decided to call my eye doctor, as I had been speaking with the office so often lately getting my contacts straightened out. Luckily I knew the number, as I would never have been able to look it up.

When I reached the doctor's office, I was immediately put at ease by an incredible office staff and doctor. (Dr. Garfield and Dr. Bradley of Hobe Sound) It seems that I was having an Ocular Migraine / Ophthalmic Migraine. I was not going to die, or go blind. I would have to calm down and wait it out. They told me 15 to 20 minutes is all they last. They told me to come in to be checked if I felt the need or if there were any other vision problems.

Now, before I heard the word migraine, I did not have one... but upon hearing it, I noticed the pain in my head. Was the pain in my head there before and I was too panicked to notice? Was the pain a result of suggestion? I don't know, but I do know at it was the definite start to one of my migraines.

After I hung up the phone, I simply waited. No longer panicked, but still nervous as my vision was becoming more and more distorted. I was losing the ability to see clearly at all. After about 20 minutes of blurred vision, it cleared up pretty much instantly.