Cindy, my neuro is watching me closely also because I do get visual disturbances with my migraines and that one very bad month last year was so frightening. My visual issues are normally just EXTREME sensitivity to light - like you, having to either wear dark glasses inside or just completely turn off all the lights and put a dark cloth over my eyes until the headache goes away. Very rarely I'll get "floaters" in my vision or wavy lines, but that is very rare. I've also read up on the correlation between migraine and stroke, especially in women. From what I can tell in the medical research the biggest link is those who have an "aura" (those "signs" that a migraine is coming) seem to be at the highest risk of stroke. Fortunately I don't really get an aura - by the time my visual disturbances happen I've already got a full-blown migraine - my first sign is the ice-pick pain in my brain, so the neuro says that's actually a good thing (as far as the stroke risk is concerned).
But...my other big reason for telling people who have migraines to really look into and think about birth control pills as being a possible trigger or at least a component of their problem...long-term use of oral contraceptives are also linked to a higher incidence of stroke in women. Yet another reason in my opinion NOT to take them!! (for me anyway!).
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