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Friday, March 31, 2006

Bright Zig-zag lines in my eyes

(now I know why people have blogs - where else would you say this ...)

I have just had a wierd episode (that I have experienced before, but never did anything about) where I had very bright neon-like zig-zag lines appearing in my vision. These are very distracting and usually go after a while, leaving me a little nauseous.

Now, I thought I'd try and find out what it was, and it appears that it is a form of Migrane, but without the headache, called Opthalmic Migrane.

Let me know if you have the same thing, or have a better explanation ...

17 Comments:

Blogger RoboGeek said...

Maybe I should get away from the computer for a bit ;)

6:15 pm, March 31, 2006  
Blogger RoboGeek said...

It happened again about a month later - maybe it is my time of the month!

12:44 am, May 02, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

IAM 63 years old and have had this ever sense i was in high school. it last about 30 min.and leaves me with a headace.I have never found why this happens or any thing that will stop it.

9:15 pm, March 04, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had zig zag lines, and have found that they can be caused by dehydration, 75 % of americans are chronicaly dehydrated.
I drove in to work then started to get zig zag lines , the previous night i had run 5 miles, in south florida its hot and i lost a lot of fluid. i drank a couple of bottles of gator aid and it went away.
i hope that helps someone out there as it can be very disturbing as one loses their vision in a matter of minuets, also try to calm yourself and relax as stress makes it worse.

11:41 pm, May 29, 2008  
Blogger RoboGeek said...

Thanks for the helpful comment
- I agree. I think that it may well be related.

Must go get a drink ...

9:15 am, May 30, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This happened to me yesterday and scared me to death! So here I am trying to find out what caused this disturbing symptom and I found your blog. Your explanation makes perfect sense for me. There was no AC in the house yesterday and I was so hot and probably dehydrated from all the sweating I did.

9:22 am, July 18, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had this twice now.Second episode just finished- like a kaleidoscope at the side of my left eye. For the past gthree days I have had a headache.
I am worried now- glaucoma? migraine? aneurysm?

1:13 pm, August 03, 2008  
Blogger jeannie said...

It is quite frightening when it happens out of the blue. I know it is coming on then gradually the zigzags start. have to wait maybe half hour till it gets back to normal. surely not just migraine? today was the first time i have had a headache afterwards. in uk we don't often get dehydrated this time of year so it surely can't be that.

9:40 pm, May 26, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it is just that an ophtalmic migraine created by vasoconstriction of the blood capillaries of the optic nerves secondary to stress dehydratation drop of electrolytes heat exhaustion etc..

6:25 pm, June 13, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This happen to me at work I am looking at two screns for 8 hours it used to happen in high school it has started back recently I be se so scared I almost panic and it usually starts at left corner of my eye and I do have a headache afterwars

5:08 am, September 17, 2010  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been getting a watery zig zag line in one or both of my eyes for about 1 year. It is frightening but stay calm.Put sunglasses on straight away and it will go away quicker (usually 5-10 mins) It is caused by not drinking enough pure water, drinking too much caffiene and bright lights or sunshine. Drastically cut down on the tea and coffee (even De-caf)and drink more water and dont forget to wear some good quality sunglasses during a bright sunny day and it should not come back. Hope this helps

12:17 am, January 09, 2011  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It happened to me again yesterday in my left eye only. It starts at small area with straight bright zig zag line as the electric bulb fuse you can still see it even you closed eye and then it diffuses and spread out to larger area after 15-20 minutes and goes away, but you then feel tired and have to go to bed. I had this over the years. It usually connected with lack of sleep, stay in front of computer screen too long or overly stressed. When I was young, it usually followed by vomiting, eye-ache and headache but now as I get older the symptom is much mild, but it is still a annoying experience, especially it can happen any time even when you are driving which is dangerous. I visited a few doctors in the past but no one knows the cause of it. It might be associated with migraine or epilepsy or brain blood vessel convulsion as one doctor indicated.

5:08 pm, January 22, 2011  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It had this yesterday in my left eye it starts at small area with straight zig zag bright line as the electric bulb fuse you can still see it even you closed eye and then it diffuses and spread out after 15-20 minutes and goes away, but you then feel tired and have to go to bed. I had this over the years. It usually connected with lack of sleep and overly stressed. When I was young, it usually followed by vomiting and headache but now when I gets older the symptom is much mild, but it is still not a good experience, especially it can happen any time, and it is dangerous when you are driving. I visited a few doctors in the past but no one knows for sure what happened. It might be associated with migraine or epilepsy or brain blood vessel convulsion as one doctor indicated.

5:10 pm, January 22, 2011  
Blogger RAHUL SHUKLA said...

Drink water and please go away from screen it'll reduce this effect

5:44 am, January 05, 2012  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I started getting pulsating zig zags in my eyes at age 57. The optometrist said many people get this at any age, and they don't know what causes this.
Seems harmless enough. I just try to relax, and close my eyes for a while. It usually lasts up to 10=15 minutes, sometimes less. I don't think computers cause it as many of the times, i've been away from the computer.
My guess is being tired or stressed, or even lack of sleep, that causes this.
I hope this helps

8:19 pm, January 05, 2012  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From a week now my left eye got some difficulty as I am not able to see coorect images from left eye and the images as abnormal and straight lines ( verticle or horizontal) is vied as zig zag. I am warried, any one can suugest the caouse and remedy ?

2:10 pm, March 03, 2012  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had this since I was about 28. It starts in my left eye as a small patch of distortion, then the bright watery pulsating zigzag line gets bigger and bigger forming an arc shape, this spreads across my field of vision to both eyes. Very frightening and usually starts with No warning. makes my eyes ache after. I am glad I found this, it makes sense it could be some sort of migrain, I now just try to relax and let it pass :) It seems to happen every few years just when i had forgotton about it!

12:38 pm, March 17, 2012  

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