A week or so ago I experienced a scintillating scotoma during an ocular migraine (which thankfully did not include any pain or headache). Wanting to document the experience in stitch, I began by searching through Hazel’s Instagram posts, as I recalled her having painted and stitched geometric forms that looked remarkably similar to my experience. I had to dig pretty far back to find this …
Close, but not exactly, so I kept digging until I found this in 2018 …
And yes, that bit above the left side of the roof looked just about right. So I grabbed some Deb threads and free-hand stitched some zigzaggy triangles of light that recalled how my experience began …
But no, that wasn't quite right ... so after looking at it for a couple of days, I tried again ...
Better, but still not quite right. Honestly, it defies description to explain how tiny shards of light grow into shimmering fields … although some medical journal reportage comes close. I can’t say I look forward to experiencing it all again, but neither do I dread it. Then I can try again to capture it in stitch.
Yikes. How weird and scary! Dee
ReplyDeleteFascinating and curious to one who thankfully has never experienced a migraine. My husband's descriptions of the "light shows" (that go along with the often debilitating pain) sound exotic.
ReplyDeleteFortunately I experienced no pain in the two encounters I’ve had … both of which lasted less than one hour … my daughter has had migraines for years, so I’m grateful that I don’t have her symptoms
DeleteThat is close to my memory of the lights I experienced with the migraines early in my first pregnancy 50 years ago.
ReplyDeleteSending healing thoughts Liz. What a difficult thing to deal with. Do you have prior warning that an episode will be coming? I'm especially thinking what if you get an episode while you are driving? Can anything be done about treating this?
ReplyDeleteThe above comment is by Marti
DeleteMy early warning signs are rainbows shaped like arcs of lightning bolts that start in a dark knot and expand to the edges of my vision. If I take four aspirins with a double espresso, the headache never shows up. I'm afraid if I tried to pin them down with thread, they might attack!
ReplyDeleteLiz~ Wow. Fascinating! I've only had super painful migraines, that usually start in the outside corner of my left eye and travel down my jawline and into my cheek (trigeminal nerve). Thankfully I have had but a couple for the last few years. This kind would be interesting to ponder?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Hazel's link. I've missed her so much on her blog and I don't do Instagram, so it is lovely to catch a moment of what she's been up to! ~Nancy