FLASHY LIGHTS

SHARRONM · March 29, 2006, 8:39pm

Hi my 14 year old daughter has been having "flashy lights" for about 4 yrs now the first time it freaked her out and I rushed her to the dr's and he examined her and said it sounded very much like migraine, she had another bad one with massive headache about 2/3 months ago with partial loss in one eye, again classic migraine, I was told. However she had a seizure on 6th july last year after having these flashy lights and now she's being given a MRI for epilepsy, he says he's not looking for anything sinister and is expecting it to show nothing!! now when I do a google search for these "flashy lights" It always comes to migraine realated articles!
I'm really panicing now as last wednesday I went back to the hospital for out patients appointment and expected him to discharge her as he was going to do 6 months prior to this but when she discribed these "flashy lights" thats when he started thinking epilepsy. However on the epilepsy forum noone has expierienced these same lights.
The symptoms are:- Purple or coloured lights to the left side, she gets dizzy sometimes saying the room is actually spinning and only sometimes goes on to have really bad headache but not always! We have been keeping a diary of them and they seem to happen once or twice every 2 weeks!
Has anyone else expierience this?
Sharron

open-minded · March 30, 2006, 3:49am

sharon- i remember being a child and having some of the same experiences- dizzy- sort of like i was in slow motion and the rest of the world flew by and i can acutely remember the spinning...and sparkles- before i actually got full blown, throbbing, one sided, puking, weak migraines in middle school. they came with periods- initially.

my neurologist told me that while it is assumed to be a problem with blood flow pressure to the head, many researchers suspect it could be some form of epilepsy/seizures.

i am glad you are getting her help. i am glad the doctor is serious about helping her. i have no answers- just more than half a my life time dealing with them. i am still here! will be 37 next week and there are great medications for them when they are full blown. keep reading, talking, asking questions. you sound like a great mom and i know you'll get to the bottom of this! try not to worry- you are so on the right path!

kwilko · March 30, 2006, 9:48am

Hi Sharon,
The flashing lights that your daughter complains of are the second sign I get if a migraine is on it's way. I have had migraines for as long as I can remember, at least 20 years (I am 32 now). The flashy lights lead to me having pretty much total vision loss for up to 12 hours, during this time I develop a terrible headache which feels like a knife cutting my head in half. The flashy lights occur even if I am in a pitch black room.
What your daughter is experiencing definitely sounds like migraine, though it is great that you are seeing a doctor to rule anything else out.
Good luck with it.

Mart · April 25, 2006, 12:32pm

Hello Sharronm, Your story has just described exactly what I went through when I was 15 in school.
I started having migraines that quikly evolved into seeing sparkles to the left centre of my vision, I then went blind where the sparkle was (not my whole vision) this used to last for about 2 hours or so.
When I was 17 years old I had a seizure after the sparkles had occured, I was taken to hospital and as with you daughter I had a CAT scan and all the rest of the tests which came up with no ideas or any firm results other than I was technicaly fine.

The specialist said it is epilepsy and he would try me on a few drugs to see what would help and luckily the first one hit the nail on the head, I had to adjust the amount of mg taken each day but the sezures stopped.

I am now 32 and fit free for 8 years I can drive etc. and I do all the things that everyone alse does. Although I still see the sparkles every month or so, after 15 years of this I havent yet found anything that stops them such as diet, enough sleep etc. (Achahol is very bad brings on the sparkles every time the morning after, so tea total is the way to go) If you find anything please let the forum know.

I find that the only thing that gets rid of the sparkles is a dark room and sleep, normaly the morning after I'm ok.

The best idea is to keep a diary of everything eaten, how you sleep, emotional experiances such as stress, anything that you think may affect it. I find that flashing lights are also a big factor and I have looked into this because I work on computers and as we all do in our teens watch TV. It is best to get a LCD flat screen monitor it helps and stay in a well lit room whenevr watchin TV or working on the PC.

I am sure all will go well, and the best thing to do is to stop worrying.

Post Edited (Mart) : 4/26/2006 9:37:08 AM (GMT-6)

jenniferw2171 · April 25, 2006, 10:18pm

Hi! This sounds exactly what I have--Unfortunately I hate to tell you that I was diagnosed with epilepsy a few years back when I was 31--I have passed out several times over the years--I get that flashy light thing and start feeling very bad--when I have a seizure--I know I am going to pass out--they told me that it was seizures because when I would pass out over the years I would lose control of my bladder. For the last year and a half--I have had the same type symptoms -the dizziness or "aura" sensitivity to light and sound--but know I get pounding migraines in the back of my head--but no passing out! It is very frustrating--I am a single mom with a 5 and 6 year old--I used to teach aerobics and now I had to quit a wonderful paying job and ---it's just really hard--it could either be migraines or epilepsy--the one key thing that I would think would let you know if it was epilepsy is --does she lose control of her bladder when she goes out? The doctors told me that was the clue--that is how they diagnosed me--but like I said --now I have migraines and have not had a seizure in a few years--unless that is what I am having now and they are just not full blown. I probably was no help--I hope and pray she will be alright. Jen