Amaurosis Fugax - A Tale of An Occular Migraine ...

That's "am-uh-row-sis few-gax," which is, I think, Greek and Latin for "fleeting blindness." Kind of a catch-all term, but what it means is more or less that -- all of a sudden, you get a visual disturbance which, after a few seconds or a few minutes, goes away.


Got that this morning. 


Looking at the computer screen, and of a moment, there was what seemed like a big floater just to the left of center in my left eye. I blinked. Rubbed my eyeball. 


It didn't go away.


This was not a happy event. 


After a few seconds, the spot grew and the vision through it was gray and fuzzy. 


Really not happy with this.


After another minute, it got bigger still, expanding from an oval that occupied maybe an eighth of my visual field to a quarter, then half. 


Kept on expanding, but as it did, the perimeter developed a kind of iridescent sheen and the middle of the spot cleared somewhat.


Five minutes, plus or minus a bit, and the thing expanded away, disappeared, leaving my vision what it was before.


Spooky, lemme tell you.


I am pretty sure I know what it was -- off to the opthamologist in a bit to see if we can figure out what caused it. Most of the potential reasons I'm pretty sure I can rule out, and what is most likely is benign. If it is what I think, I'm already doing what needs to be done to treat it. Still, it's like the Viagra commercial -- if you suddenly go blind? Good idea to call your doctor.


If you don't see a posting after this one in a few days? Might be something else ...


Addendum:


Yep. What I thought. And the cause is most likely a phenomenon known as "occular migraine," or, more properly "opthalmic migraine." Doesn't do the pain thing, like the   headache, but the aura effects. Neurological in origin, since, if you close your eyes, it doesn't go away. Cause is unknown for certain, though there are triggers -- lights, sudden acceleration, like in a jet, and some others -- that seem to be common. 


Nothing about which to worry. As my doctor said, if it happens and you are at home, sit back and enjoy the show.


The colors, man, the colors -- !


My eyes are still dilated, and I'm getting rainbows all over my blog, so, I'll check you later.

Look into my eye ...