super brief flashes of light - go to doctor?
July 11, 2017 7:24 PM Subscribe
I just experienced about 1 minute of pulsing flashing lights. I thought it was my lightbulb dying, but there was a little more pulsing (maybe like 20 more seconds) after I turned that light off. The flashing has stopped and my vision is normal. Should I go to urgent care/the hospital? I can be hypersensitive about health stuff (especially knowing that flashing is a sign of retinal detachment and needs to be taken seriously) so I don't know if I'm just freaked out or if I should actually go.
My eyes have always been healthy and I'm young, but I haven't been to get my eyes checked in over a year. I wear glasses but my prescription is boring, nothing exciting there. This is kind of an embarrassing ask but I'm pretty freaked out as I've never experienced anything like this. No floaters, no weird shadows, no blurriness or any of the other symptoms.
My eyes have always been healthy and I'm young, but I haven't been to get my eyes checked in over a year. I wear glasses but my prescription is boring, nothing exciting there. This is kind of an embarrassing ask but I'm pretty freaked out as I've never experienced anything like this. No floaters, no weird shadows, no blurriness or any of the other symptoms.
Best answer: Are you prone to migraines? This sounds not completely out of the range for an aura.
posted by praemunire at 7:36 PM on July 11, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 7:36 PM on July 11, 2017 [11 favorites]
Best answer: Could be eye fatigue, could be ocular migraine, could be vitreous humor separating from the eyeball (there is some science name for this, it's a normal part of aging)...could be retinal detachment, unfortunately. If this had happened to me, I would stay awake for at least another hour or so and see what happened, going to urgent care if there is a recurrence. Is anyone with you to help you get to urgent care?
I've had all kinds of eye stuff, including ocular migraines with partial blindness, weird flashes and zigzags, etc. The real problem comes if you have enough symptoms that you can't get to the ER - I had real trouble with my first ocular migraine because it hit while I was biking.
Did you try turning the lightbulb on again to make sure it's not dying? Dying lightbulb flashes could generate non-existent flashes after it's off if your eyes are tired.
Make sure you have a "get help" plan just in case you are stuck with ocular migraine. My guess is that retinal detachment would not hit fast enough to make it hard to get help. I mean technically, when you're sure it's an ocular migraine you can just wait it out - but if it were your first and you got bad symptoms, you'd want them to check to make sure nothing else was wrong.
Sit tight - my first scary but benign eye symptoms happened when I was 22, so you're never too young.
posted by Frowner at 7:48 PM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
I've had all kinds of eye stuff, including ocular migraines with partial blindness, weird flashes and zigzags, etc. The real problem comes if you have enough symptoms that you can't get to the ER - I had real trouble with my first ocular migraine because it hit while I was biking.
Did you try turning the lightbulb on again to make sure it's not dying? Dying lightbulb flashes could generate non-existent flashes after it's off if your eyes are tired.
Make sure you have a "get help" plan just in case you are stuck with ocular migraine. My guess is that retinal detachment would not hit fast enough to make it hard to get help. I mean technically, when you're sure it's an ocular migraine you can just wait it out - but if it were your first and you got bad symptoms, you'd want them to check to make sure nothing else was wrong.
Sit tight - my first scary but benign eye symptoms happened when I was 22, so you're never too young.
posted by Frowner at 7:48 PM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: It does sound like an ocular migraine from my experience as well. It runs in my family so when I started getting mild auras in my teens my mom helped me figure it out. It took a few years for them to get as bad as flashing lights or my (least) favorite: a spiral of sparks spinning around an empty chasm of blindness.
Were you looking at the bulb before it started, even glancingly? that's one trigger for my incidents.
However I have no knowledge of what else it might be, so take that as just one person's experience.
posted by buildmyworld at 8:07 PM on July 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
Were you looking at the bulb before it started, even glancingly? that's one trigger for my incidents.
However I have no knowledge of what else it might be, so take that as just one person's experience.
posted by buildmyworld at 8:07 PM on July 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far, everyone. I really appreciate it. I think it was both eyes, but I'm not sure--I didn't think to test if it was only one. No injuries or trauma; never had a migraine, but my mom gets them routinely. My head hurts now (in a throbby, tension-y kind of way), but it's very likely that's from anxiety. I'm in an unfamiliar city with no one to go with me to the ER, and it's raining and I'd have to walk and blah blah blah.
I guess I can wait until morning? I'll be awake another couple hours to see if anything else happens.
posted by there will be glitter at 8:07 PM on July 11, 2017
I guess I can wait until morning? I'll be awake another couple hours to see if anything else happens.
posted by there will be glitter at 8:07 PM on July 11, 2017
Best answer: Do not walk to the ER with vision problems. For heaven's sake. I've done that, and they totally flipped out on me, also there was a scary moment when I thought I was going to lose my vision entirely while not yet at the ER.
If it gets worse, take a cab or an Uber or whatever you kids today do.
My migraines got worse in my early twenties and escalated (but I have a great medication now and it's no problem; this could be you!)
Several things: do you have a history of bad headaches that "are not migraines"? For years I thought I had never had a migraine - just, you know, these bad headaches a couple of times a year where I had to lie down in a dark room. Then I figured it out when it started happening more often. Then and only then did I start getting occasional ocular symptoms. The times that I had vision loss, I never got an actual headache - you don't always get pain with ocular migraines, so even if you aren't actually getting a headache it can still be an ocular migraine. My migraines always throb.
Try to relax. IANAD, but it's probably not retinal detachment, and if your mother has migraines, it's not at all impossible that this is the first stage in developing them. If you do start to get nuisance headaches, don't do what I did and just let it disrupt your life before talking to the doctor - they have fantastically good medications now.
posted by Frowner at 8:19 PM on July 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
If it gets worse, take a cab or an Uber or whatever you kids today do.
My migraines got worse in my early twenties and escalated (but I have a great medication now and it's no problem; this could be you!)
Several things: do you have a history of bad headaches that "are not migraines"? For years I thought I had never had a migraine - just, you know, these bad headaches a couple of times a year where I had to lie down in a dark room. Then I figured it out when it started happening more often. Then and only then did I start getting occasional ocular symptoms. The times that I had vision loss, I never got an actual headache - you don't always get pain with ocular migraines, so even if you aren't actually getting a headache it can still be an ocular migraine. My migraines always throb.
Try to relax. IANAD, but it's probably not retinal detachment, and if your mother has migraines, it's not at all impossible that this is the first stage in developing them. If you do start to get nuisance headaches, don't do what I did and just let it disrupt your life before talking to the doctor - they have fantastically good medications now.
posted by Frowner at 8:19 PM on July 11, 2017 [3 favorites]
Best answer: You should definitely go. A friend of mine had retinal detachment and had symptoms exactly like you describe in both eyes. This is serious. He almost went blind. Get yourself treated as soon as humanly possible. Top #1 priority for you right now.
posted by Lord Fancy Pants at 8:26 PM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Lord Fancy Pants at 8:26 PM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I would say hell yes go to the ER, but that's just me. Eyes are import. *shrug*
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:06 PM on July 11, 2017
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:06 PM on July 11, 2017
Best answer: Did they look like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintillating_scotoma
posted by joshu at 9:10 PM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by joshu at 9:10 PM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you don't decide to go to the ER tonight, it seems like getting seen tomorrow would be a good idea, just to rule anything out. If there is a university eye clinic in your city, you could probably call them as a starting point - I imagine that they will either want to see you promptly or will direct you to an emergency eye clinic. They will probably want to dilate your eyes. It will be a drag - if you've never had your eyes dilated before, be sure to bring your sunglasses, and don't plan on walking back. You aren't seeing floaters, I assume?
posted by Frowner at 9:21 PM on July 11, 2017
posted by Frowner at 9:21 PM on July 11, 2017
Response by poster: No floaters. I called the nurse line on my insurance card and she said to go now. Fuck.
I'll report back on whether it's a migraine or a detachment situation or possibly a mysterious third option. Thanks, y'all.
posted by there will be glitter at 9:25 PM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'll report back on whether it's a migraine or a detachment situation or possibly a mysterious third option. Thanks, y'all.
posted by there will be glitter at 9:25 PM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I don't know where you are, but in a similar weirdo eye thing situation, I called the nurses hotline and was told to go to Emergency. Which was super inconvenient. So I called an optometrist, and was told it sounded a lot like a visual migrane, but that I should go in and get my retina checked by them. Both eye checks and the Emergency visits are free here, but the optometrist was closer, I didn't have to wait, and I figured they probably knew more about eyes that the Emergency doctor would.
Obviously if it's the middle of the night where you are, this is not useful information, but it might help someone else.
posted by kjs4 at 9:58 PM on July 11, 2017
Obviously if it's the middle of the night where you are, this is not useful information, but it might help someone else.
posted by kjs4 at 9:58 PM on July 11, 2017
Best answer: I called the nurse line on my insurance card and she said to go now. Fuck.
Good luck.
On the off chance you are reading this while stressed out in a waiting area, don't panic because a nurse said you should come in. Ask a lawyer if you need to see a lawyer they'll err on the side of "yes", ask a medical professional if you should see a medical professional same thing. It's a sign that the profession has a healthy level of self esteem, not an actual diagnosis.
posted by mark k at 10:20 PM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Good luck.
On the off chance you are reading this while stressed out in a waiting area, don't panic because a nurse said you should come in. Ask a lawyer if you need to see a lawyer they'll err on the side of "yes", ask a medical professional if you should see a medical professional same thing. It's a sign that the profession has a healthy level of self esteem, not an actual diagnosis.
posted by mark k at 10:20 PM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: It was a migraine! And I'm anemic, which I didn't know!
The ER people were extremely nice and generous and glad I came (and handled 21-year-old me not knowing how to do anything extremely kindly). They said my retinas look good and it's almost certainly an ocular migraine. Y'all hit the nail on the head. Still going to the eye doctor tomorrow because they said to just in case.
Thank you all SO MUCH. Asking you guys what to do resulted in comfort and sound advice, which is seriously exactly what I needed.
posted by there will be glitter at 11:36 PM on July 11, 2017 [64 favorites]
The ER people were extremely nice and generous and glad I came (and handled 21-year-old me not knowing how to do anything extremely kindly). They said my retinas look good and it's almost certainly an ocular migraine. Y'all hit the nail on the head. Still going to the eye doctor tomorrow because they said to just in case.
Thank you all SO MUCH. Asking you guys what to do resulted in comfort and sound advice, which is seriously exactly what I needed.
posted by there will be glitter at 11:36 PM on July 11, 2017 [64 favorites]
I get the occasional occular migraine, just a few minutes of a shimmering line across my vision, no other symptoms . Last year I started seeing a flash in my right peripheral vision combined with a lot of floaters. Specialist eye doc said if it was detached retina I'd see like a heavy rain in front of my eye or eyes, a cloud coming down, something more extreme than what I described. Just thought I'd mention this for anyone's future reference.
Glad to know you're feeling better.
posted by mareli at 8:38 AM on July 12, 2017
Glad to know you're feeling better.
posted by mareli at 8:38 AM on July 12, 2017
As a counterpoint, I saw a persistent flash of light in my eye and it turned out to be choroidal neovascularlization. I was 27. There are things other than detached retinas that need prompt medical attention, so please never blow off weird flashes of light!
posted by zoetrope at 9:09 AM on July 12, 2017
posted by zoetrope at 9:09 AM on July 12, 2017
If a non-doctor with bad eyes and hypochondria may spitball here: For me, I try to consider the oddity of the symptom (is it totally unlike anything I've experienced), its persistence (does it happen once briefly and then stop or does it persist/recur), its severity (a couple of floaters, not so worrysome, showers of floaters, worrysome), whether it occurs alongside other issues and what individual risks I may have (age, family history, medical issues, injuries, etc).
That's not to say that a one-time minor event that occurs in isolation and does not last long can't have serious consequences. But since I know myself to be an anxious person, I would literally be at the ER once a week if every one-time short duration isolated weird thing that I noticed about my body prompted a trip to the hospital.
It's good that you've been seen, of course, and this will give you some sense of what future ocular migraines may be like.
posted by Frowner at 9:35 AM on July 12, 2017
That's not to say that a one-time minor event that occurs in isolation and does not last long can't have serious consequences. But since I know myself to be an anxious person, I would literally be at the ER once a week if every one-time short duration isolated weird thing that I noticed about my body prompted a trip to the hospital.
It's good that you've been seen, of course, and this will give you some sense of what future ocular migraines may be like.
posted by Frowner at 9:35 AM on July 12, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
Detached retinas usually are a flash of light, but I've never heard anyone describe it as pulses that lasted for a minute. I have one working eye and am super "go see the eye doc now!", but this strikes me as NOT an eye issue and more of a neuro issue. I am NOT a doctor (or a nurse or anything else), but for me I'd wait a few hours and see if it repeats. If so I'd likely go to an urgent care, if not then I'd likely just call for an appointment with my GP to talk about it.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 7:30 PM on July 11, 2017