One day, a couple of years ago, I was waiting in line at a Stop & Shop, absentmindedly looking out the window when I noticed a prismatic blob in my field of vision. I thought I must have caught a bad glare or something, but the blob was persistent. It stuck around for at least 20 minutes, and moved from one side of my eye to the other before finally going away. I thought it was a one-time occurrence and tried not to think about it again.
The next time it happened, the blob completely blocked the peripheral vision in one eye and scared the crap out of me. Convinced that I was going blind, I went to the eye doctor. He gave my eyes a thorough check and then asked, “Do you get a headache when it happens?” “Maybe. I didn’t really notice,” I told him. His diagnosis: migraine headache. He said that even without the headache, that the vision loss was a symptom of migraine. Imagine my relief. It was “just” a migraine. Migraines are bad, but they’re better than blindness, IMHO.
I think now that I had been having headaches and that I was just ignoring them. I have a high tolerance for pain and don’t pay it any mind unless it’s so extreme that I can’t function anymore. As the migraines got worse, the headaches got to that point. Sometimes, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open because the beams of light felt like daggers in my eyes.
I didn’t want the migraines to become debilitating so I did a little research about triggers. For me, bright lights, the television, and caffeine were the immediate triggers, but it was my irregular sleeping and eating habits that seemed to be the underlying cause. I started eating regular meals and going to sleep at the same time every night, and voila. The migraines mostly went away. I would sometimes still see the blobs, but they didn’t impinge on my vision unless I was looking at something very bright. The headaches subsided to a level I could easily ignore.
Until today. I was out running errands when, without warning, a multicolored V-shaped blob appeared in my left eye. It wasn’t too bad, so I continued on my way, but then it moved into my right eye and blocked my peripheral vision. Then the headache started, a headache that is still with me right now. It hurts! The computer screen isn’t helping, so I’m going to have to finish this up now.
What I want to know is why, after at least a year without any major problems, I should suddenly get this wicked migraine. I’ve been eating and sleeping and generally feeling better than I have in months. Why now? What did I do to deserve this?