OT: Scintillating Scotoma

Err, what was your BP ?

Brian Gaff explained on 23/06/2022 :

Yes, there was a mention of it, on our local news yesterday or day before, where a woman had become blind and suffered tremedously with flashing lights, colours and even seeing devils and demons. There was a name for it, but I was barely paying attention.

Charles Bonnet syndrome.

Tim+ has brought this to us :

That's it..!

The day I headed off to emergency, it was 200 over 100. The total-wipeout aura was earlier that month (if any of the doctors had even remotely hinted at blood pressure, I would have checked it sooner).

I have a blood pressure meter at home, but at the time, had not used it for about four months.

I'm on blood pressure meds now, so the range is a bit lower. The systolic this morning was 105, but that isn't "normal" either.

Paul

What annoys me about my experience, was the lack of concrete suggestions by the doctors. For example, my eye doctor just happens to have a specialty associated with "neurological conditions of the eye". And he was one of the more clueless individuals. I kind of wonder what his real specialty is.

The intern who didn't know what it was, I could forgive that, as that is why they're an intern and seeing so many patients like me. The place I went is a "high volume" clinic, that sees 100-150 patients a day, including construction workers with their eye hanging out (those get priority). So in terms of training and seeing the maximum span of conditions, it's an excellent place to intern. The supervising doctor knew what it was (aura), and said "see a neurologist if the condition persists". So her suggestion was the most useful, even if she was not interested in addressing my problem.

I suspect one of the reasons we get responses like this, is the body part does not "fall squarely" into a profession. I'm sure the neurologist would say "see an eye doctor" :-/

To me, when I see that pattern, it suggests there is a "signal" involved, there is a pronounced electrical activity coming from somewhere. And the optic nerve is tasked with some level of classification. It cannot "suppress" the signal, because the associated network is designed for a "normal level of random noise" and not whatever generates this signal.

The brain can make signals if it likes, like during grand mal or petite mal epilepsy. And maybe the signal source is a part of the brain close by, that has that capability (epileptic response).

Then, the question is, where is that signal coming from ? Is it mechanical pressure on the optic nerve (balloon aneurysm) ? Or is some other part of the brain emitting something spurious ?

I don't think blood pressure is the source of this for everyone. My grandmother died of an aneurysm at age 80, in the brain, so that's why I think about balloon aneurysm.

Paul

Yes, I know of that one, but this is not a general ageing/infirmity balance problem, it is a specific neurological problem, so she's okay there. On the other hand, the various other conditions that she has could lead to an early death - one of them can knock up to 15 years off life expectancy.

You're lucky nothing went pop!

That just says that if you can't balance on one leg for 10 seconds your chance of dying within 10 years doubles. A relative risk. If your chance is 1 in 100 it changes to 1 in 50; still rather unlikely.

My boss at work, claimed there's a table of values, and if you go up the table high enough, your remaining lifespan is measured in minutes. The table here, just lacks imagination :-) So there is a table somewhere, with some "popping" values in it. Presumably the emergency doctor has those rows in his table.

It's not really a BP problem. There is an underlying heart problem. The walls of the heart are too thick, cutting down the volume in the chambers. If this were a car engine, it "runs rough and needs a tuneup". I've seen a ten second motion video of my heart, and it does not look good. I demand a refund.

Paul

Hmm, I've never put this together, but now you mention it, I had what I can only explain as several days of the feeling you get when you hit an air pocket in a plane even when lying on the sofa. That was Valium again. It might also explain why after that when I was young I could never use a trampoline without feeling seasick. Brain chemicals are amazing things and sometimes they actually do exactly the opposite of what one expects.

I did reply to this thread on the other group with a different angle. Brian

I can't take Viagra, because it causes coloured halos around my vision.

Does that matter? Do you find coloured halos reduces your libido? For most that would be the least of their issues! :-) Especially the wife's!

Does that matter? Do you find coloured halos reduces your libido? For most that would be the least of their issues! :-) Especially the wife's!

Hmmm, psychedelic sex - what's not to like? It's almost worth paying more for memories of a misspent youth :-D

Going blind? Haloes in your vision is caused by corneal swelling which is probably secondary to raised intraoccular pressure (glaucoma). Potentially very nasty.

I appreciate that you’re joking but if anyone else here gets rainbow haloes, get your eyes seen to ASAP.

Tim

Cataracts will do that.