I’ve gotten ocular migraines since I was about 13, and one day a decade or so ago I noticed one was about to come on and randomly googled something that brought me to magnesium deficiency and migraines. I didn’t give it much thought and just ran out to the corner health food spot and they happened to have a liquid magnesium supplement made by the German company Floradix. I took it and while I still got the ocular migraine, it passed pretty quickly.
I’ve been taking a magnesium supplement pretty much daily since then. The only time I really get an ocular migraine these days is if I’ve run out of supplements and go a week or so without them.
I remember telling a doctor friend of mine about it early on and they were very dismissive about it. Glad people are researching it, I do feel it’s helped in my case.
What is an ocular migraine like? I may have had this before, I had like a kaleidoscope in my vision in one eye, and once when I was child I felt like I had gone blind or something it felt like I couldn't focus on anything... Both went away within a couple hours. One eye doctor suggested ocular migraine as a possibility
Mine start with very feint blurriness in my peripheral vision. Then I get almost a vibration of light across the main part of my vision, pulsating in both eyes simultaneously. It’s hard to see anything at this point. I can see the light streaks with my eyes closed, and it usually moves across my vision until it goes back to peripheral and fades out.
All in it lasts around 30-45 minutes. I actually don’t get any sort of physical pain from them, just the auras. Typical triggers are fatigue along with a rapid changing of light source and focal distance (e.g a led display to looking out a window to bright daylight and back). Also led lightbulbs that strobe imperceptibly trigger them for me too.
For me it starts with a small patch of my visual field going blind - not white or black, just not able to see anything or make out detail in that area. Typically it's a spot in the center of my vision such that I can't read. After 5-10 minutes, flashing, swirling colored patterns will appear in that same spot. The affected area then enlarges progressively over the course of anywhere between 30 minutes and several hours, covering a polygonally shaped area with the flashing swirling patterns. Sometimes it will stop after 2-3 hours and gradually disappear. Other times the area of blindness and flashing colors will continue to expand for 6 or more hours until it covers an entire half of my visual field.
After the visual aura disappears, usually (but not always) an intense headache will start that lasts the rest of the day.
Triggers for me are unknown but in the past have included air pollution (e.g. smoke from wildfires) and very bright light (watching a video with a white background for too long on a high brightness TV).
I have also noticed greatly reduced frequency of these migraines after I started taking magnesium glycinate daily.
That sounds fairly similar to the onset of my migraines, and the auras I see. At first my vision just gets slightly blurry, but then I get swirling patterns. Generally that lasts 20-30min, and then the headache follows. I have found that taking a multi-mineral (which does contain magnesium) has reduced how often I get them significantly.
I used to have migraines and eventually had one with aura. Turns out I just needed glasses. Having an out-of-date eyeglass prescription can probably cause the same problem.
The same thing you described to me once maybe 8 years ago when I used to work on my laptop at Starbucks and had a grande coffee too many. I thought I was going to go blind and was in bed the whole day. I searched the symptoms and the results suggested a migraine. I never had a migraine before, nor have I since. Since being on Keto 12ish years ago, I regularly supplement magnesium (helps with nail growth too).
My mother had migraines, so now I wonder if she was magnesium deficient, and if coffee/caffeine can sap your magnesium levels.
I’ve been taking a magnesium supplement pretty much daily since then. The only time I really get an ocular migraine these days is if I’ve run out of supplements and go a week or so without them.
I remember telling a doctor friend of mine about it early on and they were very dismissive about it. Glad people are researching it, I do feel it’s helped in my case.