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What Causes Headache With Vision Problem?
A couple of days ago, I had a severe headache. I hardly have headaches (twice this year, none for past many years). The pain was about an inch down from top of head on left side. I couldn t move, sneezed, bend, etc. because of the pain. The pain was severe for several hours then slowly subsided little by little in two days. The night before the headache began, I noticed that all of sudden I couldn t see very well through my right eye. A part of my right eye seemed to see nothing looking straight. It was just blank. If I move my eye left to right, I can see but when I look straight, it can t seemed to see -- no perepheral vision. Also, I see orange color on my hands sometime. I am on metoprolol - have irregular heartbeats, am a-fib and have thyroid condition. What is a possibility for seeing orange color? Severe headache? Could I have had a minor stroke and not know it?
Mon, 9 Nov 2020
Hi,
What I think you are having is what is called an atypical migraine with aura. These types of migraines can be very debilitating for their duration. The migraine typically can present with a variety of symptoms, with with your distinctive symptom of visual loss in one eye and an associated change in color contrast to orange, I suspect highly that this is your diagnosis. I cannot speculate on what was the major trigger for you, but your description matches this quite well.
Since you only have headaches infrequently it probably would be unnecessary to start you on prophylactic medication to prevent these occurrences, particularly since the likelihood of side effects from the medication probably exceeds any potential benefit. What I do recommend is that you speak to your PCP regarding having a medication like Imitrex on hand at home if case your were to have a recurrence. It is possible that this was a minor stroke or a TIA that resolved, however, typically strokes do not present with such intense, almost paralyzing pain. Certainly if this was to reoccur then I do think MRI imaging of the brain would be a good idea.
Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. David Girardi, Internal Medicine Specialist
What I think you are having is what is called an atypical migraine with aura. These types of migraines can be very debilitating for their duration. The migraine typically can present with a variety of symptoms, with with your distinctive symptom of visual loss in one eye and an associated change in color contrast to orange, I suspect highly that this is your diagnosis. I cannot speculate on what was the major trigger for you, but your description matches this quite well.
Since you only have headaches infrequently it probably would be unnecessary to start you on prophylactic medication to prevent these occurrences, particularly since the likelihood of side effects from the medication probably exceeds any potential benefit. What I do recommend is that you speak to your PCP regarding having a medication like Imitrex on hand at home if case your were to have a recurrence. It is possible that this was a minor stroke or a TIA that resolved, however, typically strokes do not present with such intense, almost paralyzing pain. Certainly if this was to reoccur then I do think MRI imaging of the brain would be a good idea.
Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. David Girardi, Internal Medicine Specialist
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