Scintillating scotoma

I had a headache today that was so bad I had to lie down on the floor of my office as I thought I was going to throw up or pass out. It came on this morning, starting with a throbbing pain in the left side of my head. Before that, I’d been seeing weird flashes of light that made me think someone must be flashing a laser in my eyes from across the car park or something. I remembered this being mentioned as a symptom of migraines, so I started to look it up online but I couldn’t focus on the words on the screen so gave up and went outside for some air. Surprisingly, the smell of spilt fuel on the forecourt didn’t help – in fact it made me feel quite nauseous, so I went back indoors, but the change in light from harsh outside brightness to fake inside strip-lighting intensified the unpleasantness and that was when I ended up on the floor. Whatever I tried was making me feel worse, so I decided I should do something I haven’t done for a long, long time and came home early from work. I took lots of drugs, had a sleep, and now it’s dark I’m feeling a lot better, thanks.

I’m hoping this won’t be one of those things that repeats itself over a period of time. I know people who have regular migraines and their horribly debilitating and even when you’re not having them, you’re worrying that you might be about to have one, so your quality of life is affected even when you’re not susceptible. I don’t want any of that, thank you.

RC 21-3-19