Eye pain /ocular headaches?

[kudos]

Been getting this pain behind my eyes off and on. Its similar to a bad headache, lasts for a few hours, comes and goes. Sunlight and fluorescent light makes it worse. My vision was messed up for a couple months (peripheral vision loss, blurriness, dark spots, "strobe light" effect) but luckily is back to normal most days. Never worn glasses and I think my vision is still 20/20.

Any advice on how to deal with this? Sunglasses help some. I also take neurontin but it doesn't seem to help much. Tried naproxen but its real hard on my stomach and I want to be able to take it on injection days + don't think I can take it regularly for this. I'm starting baclofen soon but don't think that is going to help, maybe though. I think its optic neuritis or uveitis from what I read, I know the test on my optic nerve showed its messed up. It will probably be a month or so before I can see an opthamalogist though...

[Justsayyes]

I had some light sensitivity where sunglasses helped, so did wearing a cap or hat when outside or in stores. I get some good results for some headaches with extra strength Tylenol.

I had vision problems after optic neuritis for a very long time. Not sure what you have going on, but the other thing that sometimes helps is ice packs on my head/temple/forhead area.

Hope this helps!

[kudos]

Thanks! Luckily the one I had went away for now. They seem to go away abruptly. I try to ignore it the best I can for now like I do for most of my other symptoms. I'll try icing, not sure if this will get to where it is though--literally behind my eyeballs, but if its a vascular headache maybe it will still work.

I might try topamax later on if it continues, or try to get a script for fioricet, that worked in the past for some of the weird headaches I get.

[JadeVictoria]

Hi Kudos,
I don't know if this will be at all helpful to you, but I have had almost exactly what you describe. I tried topomax, but it didn't agree with me. I totally wore out my optho trying to figure out what the problem was, and had two benign polyps removed from my sinuses behind my eye.

Long story short I did discover one thing that for sure triggers the optical migraine. If I tip my head upside down. Things like bending over to get my laundry out, certain exercises I was doing on my exercise ball, trying to make my hair super fluffy by blow drying it upside down

I now let my hair stay flat, and got lifts for the laundry machines. It helped me to keep a journal of when I was having the problem and I was able to piece this together. It doesn't stop all of them, but I do prevent a few by being more careful. I hope you feel better soon. Jade

[fishead]

Over the counter eye drops and "eye washing" with baby shampoo and a warm moist washcloth.

[kudos]

ocular migraine versus trigeminal neuralgia?

I'm not sure anymore actually if its ocular migraine or TN. I was reading the wikipedia page on TN earlier today and it really described my symptoms, especially the part about atypical-TN which can occur w/ MS, and can be an intense boring like pain along with facial pain, and comes in acute atttacks that last minutes to hours. This describes it exactly. I've had alot of the symptoms they talk about here and there for several years and my doc even sent me to PT because I had "TMJ". I think my neuro tested that nerve pathway (C5) and it was deficient in some way.That appt was the day I recieved my official dx though and by that point I was in a state of shock. Neurosurgeon docc said I have a herniated disc at C5 supposedly so that might be involved as well, but I think the doc might've been wrong--it wasn't on the MRI report and I sure couldn't see it on the film and I have a felling he didn't look at it. I'm gonna ask my other doc to review the film with me.

It seems like true occular migraines from what I read are more associated with the migraine aura visual symptoms, with or without some kind of headache. I had this for a while but the IVSM really took care of it for me. It explains my visual symptoms though, exactly like the migraine aura I've gotten occasionally, but without the nauseau or deep throbbing migraine that would follow + persist for hours. Previously I had thought ocular migraine was just a migraine behind the eyes...oops. IDK, maybe its a mix of all these things, nerves misfiring all over.

Some good news though--I started on Baclofen today and it is making a noticeable difference, the pain is like 50% less with it, and plus its really great for muscle spams. Might break down and take an ultram so I can sleep tonight.

I built up a tolerance to Neurontin and maybe this is why this symptom is (re)appearing over the past couple weeks. Tried upping it 100mg-300mg last week but didn't notice a change. I might try a "neurontin holiday" to cut my toleance instead. Also I'm tapering of steroids so maybe this had been helping temporarily. Although I won't miss them.

Jade--thanks for the advice on keeping a diary. I need to figure this thing out and I think that will help, whatever it is. I noticed driving, bright lights, and getting up from a seated position definitely aggravate it. Laying down helps, and I think when we were doing traction in PT that helped. I think typing (since I look at the keyboard usually) also might be aggravating it, so I might need to focus on writing more concise posts

"eye washing" with baby shampoo and a warm moist washcloth.

fishhead--thanks for the idea, but actually I have tried this in the past on a recommendation and found my eyes were too sensitive and it just made things worse. Is this to unclog the tear ducts?

I might try some OTC eyedrops though...

[Redwings]

Is this to unclog the tear ducts? I might try some OTC eyedrops though...
...my doc even sent me to PT because I had "TMJ". I think my neuro tested that nerve pathway (C5) and it was deficient in some way.Neurosurgeon doc said I have a herniated disc at C5...

No, kudos, the eyelid washes are to unclog the oil glands that line the eyelids (different structures than tear ducts) and to remove bacteria and debris that irritate the eyelids and fronts of the eyes. The washes are a treatment for blepharitis and dry eye. This doesn't help with headaches behind the eyes, which have a different cause, so it makes sense that it didn't work for you.

Also, for anyone who might have been confused following your explanation, the trigeminal nerve (hence trigeminal neuralgia/TN) is a cranial (brainstem) nerve and is referred to with a "CN" designation: CN5 or CNV. The CN5 pathway is tested in evaluating for TN. The "C" designation refers to the cervical spine or cervical spinal cord. The 5th cervical vertebra and the cervical spinal nerve that comes out of the cord above it are referred to as C5. The vertebral designation is also used to identify the location of a spinal disc (such as a herniated disc at C5). Some folks might have been confused by the idea of a nerve in the face being affected by a problem in the spinal cord.

[kudos]

Redwings, thanks so much for your explanation. This stuff gets confusing sometimes. I'll have to talk with my doc about the test results and what is going on. I can't remember if she tested C5 or CN5, and have no idea if this is TN, optical neuritis, ocular migraine, or something else, other than its definitely much different than my typical migraines I've gotten over the years

--K.