Migraine

Today I received this book from TheBookDepository 

It was written by the famous neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks; I  had read many of his  books, but didn't know this one...Then I started to suffer from optical migraines myself!
When one happens , I see a zig-zag line, black and white, much as in this drawing featured in the book:


Actually in my "visions" the white looks very white, and the black totally dark  (I see them black and white, some people see them in colours) and the lines are very defined and precise, as if they were printed...The effect is very psychedelic!
Inside the zig-zag line, there is a blind spot...But it's not a grey spot like in the drawing. That would still be _something_... Actually in that area there is _nothing_... I don't have the perception that some part of the image is missing, except that, of course, I can't see the things that I know should be there! It's just a big blind spot, and the brain just pastes together the other parts of what I see without leaving any grey or missing area! It's very strange, and also rather frightening at first.
This while thing lasts about 20-30 minutes, then disappears quickly,  sometimes leaving place to other (even more worrying!) symptoms, sometimes to headaches, or maybe to nothing! Headache does not always happen in optical migraines, in spite of their name... And they can be confused with other more worrying problems. (A CAT with contrast luckily confirmed my brain is alright!)
Anyway, I can't wait to read this book! It looks very interesting and I know almost nothing on the topic... I hope I will find some useful explanations, though I guess I'll just have to learn to live with migraines (hopefully not too frequent...)

Comments

An interesting, informative post. Fortunately I do not suffer with migraine, but I do admire Oliver Sachs very much...on my list now
Elena said…
Indeed, it is rather technical but a very interesting book!