Lighting it Up

Before I start, don't get too excited, this is not a 'seasonal' post. It's far too early for that in my opinion. Yes, I realise that it is now November, but can I please get through Bonfire night first. Perhaps then I might start to feel a little sparkly and glittery. For now, I am talking about a whole lot of different lights.

Now I don't know if it's my age, stress, or if I am just very, very special, but I am beginning to think that now might just be a good time to put me out of my misery, because the list of things starting to go wrong with me are growing by the day, at least that's how it feels. Honestly, if I were a horse (OK I know I'm too short to be a horse, more a pony) you would likely have taken me out to a field and shot me by now.

So there I was working on the blog etc, being super productive and feeling just a  little bit proud of myself when I suddenly noticed a strange flickering. Halloween had passed so I was pretty sure it wasn't some random ghostly apparition and neither of the pets were skulking around. No, there was definitely something else going on, so I did the sensible thing and ignored it.

At least I did until I realised that I could no longer see the screen I was working on. OK that's not strictly true. I could see the screen quite well, provided I looked at it with my left eye only. The right eye in the meantime was having some kind of private party which the left eye had not been invited to. Time for the screen to go off and rest my eyes. Clearly, I had been working online for too long.

Resting did the trick, but later, whilst chatting to a couple of friends, it happened again. Now at this point, I'll confess it was beginning to feel a little odd, but I was pretty tired, so I put it down to needing a bit more sleep. Until a couple of days later.

Oh my goodness, I chatting away to my SAF (Super Annoying Friend), whom had quite literally given up his evening to rescue a very distressed Damsel, when I notice something shiny. I'm a girl, I notice shiny things, it's the law!

Yep, right eye had decided to have it's own private party again and this time it was seriously going for it. Previously it had been a series of floaters drifting about and eventually pretty much blocking all sight, this time is was a full blown disco.

This is the closest image I have been able to find in an attempt to show you what I was seeing. So, that beautiful halo across that cloudy sky? It was very similar to that, only brighter and flashing. If  I'd popped some earphones in and cranked up the music I could easily have had my own private party which any Ibiza DJ would have been enviable of. I even had the post party headache, though sadly it wasn't alcohol related.

Anyway, SAF sensibly suggested a trip to the optician might be in order, and given what a bloody nag he can be, I called them up first thing the next morning.

Now it's fair to say, that up until this point, I wasn't really too concerned about about it. I knew it wasn't great, but I didn't think it was that big a deal until my regular optician referred me to another in town which runs an emergency service (yes she used the term 'emergency'). Apparently, I absolutely had to be seen that day. As you can imagine, I've gone from calm to just a little bit concerned. Concern, which I confess grew when I got through to said emergency optician offering service, and they were rushing to book me in and telling me under no circumstance was I allowed to drive to the appointment.

I am not a lover of medical appointments in general and eyes, well they're kind of sensitive aren't they, so after all the urgency to get me seen so quickly, you can probably imagine the state I was in when I finally arrived. I was actually OK, until I walked through the door, then suddenly a huge dose of anxiety hit me full on. It was unpleasant, but I figured the best course of action was to tell the lady booking me in and she kindly let me wait in a quieter area away from all the school kids.

After the usual tests, I met the optometrist, whom was lovely and reassuring, and ridiculously young (he can't have been left school that long, I'm sure). He was super, he sat down asked me about what I was experiencing, how often it had happened and how long the episodes last, what happens after. Then he showed me some pictures of lights on his phone and they were exactly what I was seeing. The boy is a genius! So thanks to this very kind, patient man, I now know that I am experiencing visual migraines.

They're ridiculously common apparently, and there is nothing you can do about them other than work out your triggers and try to avoid them. The actual migraine isn't too bad, particularly given that I now know what it is, but the headache afterwards is absolutely horrendous (though this wouldn't be such an issue if I were able to take ibuprofen - paracetamol is just not strong enough). After the headache subsides, there is the couple of days of feeling sick and woozy, but do you know what, it's OK. It's not the end of the world, it's not a full blown migraine and knowing what something is means you can be prepared.

Yep I am getting older, yep I'm pretty sure I'm slowly falling apart, but perhaps it's not quite time to take me out and shoot me just yet.