Visual hallucinations of line form dimension

Angle bracket

"My own have always been of the scintillating type without the scotoma; sometimes semicircular and spreading out to the left, but often an 'angle bracket' (like the one on your computer keyboard at the 'comma' key)."

(makuabob, Edith Frost's Homepage, August 24, 2003)

Carats ‹ › used in HTML code

Hairfish, Scintillating Scotoma, 2003. © 2003 Hairfish

"Here's my view of the Scintillating Scotoma: http://hairfish.com/share/ss.jpg. The odd thing is... the SS in the picture points right, but the one I'm currently 'seeing' points left (it's quite a spectacular shimmer, but almost out of view now). Are there any theories about why they point one way or the other? They remind me of the carats ‹ › used in HTML code. Weirder and weirder..." (Hairfish, Edith Frost's Homepage, June 16, 2003) [more]

Crack

Alex D'Anci, Migraine aura, 2004. © 2004 Alex D'Anci

Alex D'Anci, Migraine aura (detail), 2004. © 2004 Alex D'Anci

"The dots inside the 'crack' were moving down and to the right in waves. I could not tell if it was in the right or left visual field. I did feel 'lightheaded', as if the air was low in oxygen about 10 minutes before I saw this. The aura lasted for about 15 minutes, and gradually faded away in 5 minutes. I did not have a headache after. I had been 'seeing things' like small movements in the extreme lower right of my visual field, for about a month around the time of this aura. I have not seen anything since."

(Alex D'Anci, Email to Markus Dahlem, May 28, 2004)

Crenellations

"Mine looked like this:
_____________________________
|
| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
| \ . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
| / . . temporary blind spot . . .
| \ . . . . . . . . . . . . .
| / . . . . . . . . . . .
| \

The angled lines were dazzlingly bright, like staring into a reflection of the sun off a car; they wriggled slowly and gradually expanded to cover more the centre of my vision, till I couldn't see much at all very clearly. There was no lower or right border round the blind spot, just an L shape like I've drawn it. From what I've read, a more common pattern [actually it is a rarely encountered migraine aura pattern] looks like this:
_ _ _ _ _ _
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_
. . . . . . . . _|
. . . . . . . .|_
. . . . . . . . _|
. . . . . . . .|_
_|

'battlements' expanding outwards. There is a drawing of them in the manuscripts of Hildegard of Bingen - she interpreted them as spiritual visions (like me on this occasion she seems only to have got the visual bit with no headache). There are quite a few drawings of these things in medical textbooks; unlike most hallucinatory phenomena they're absolutely definite and there's no accompanying confusion, so they're easy to get down on paper."

(bogus address, Newsgroups: rec.crafts.textiles.quilting, Subject: OT coffee for migranes was what are you looking for,
June 5, 2004; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

Fortifications

"... surrounded with luminous angles, like those of a fortification" – 120 maps of fortifications from Hartwig Neumann, Festungsbau-Kunst und -Technik, 1988. © 1988 Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn

"After breakfast, if much toast and butter has been used, it begins with a singular kind of glimmering in the sight; objects swiftly changing their apparent position, surrounded with luminous angles, like those of a fortification. Giddiness comes on, head-ach, and sickness. An emetic, and warm water, soon wash off the offending matter, and remove these disorders."

(Fothergill, 1784, p. 120-121)

Herringbone patterns

"Could be a migraine effect. I get either small black dots or larger zig-zag herringbone-like effects, accompanied by some dizziness. Scared the hell out of me the first time it happened."

(Dave Hatunen, Newsgroups: sci.med, Subject: Why would I get "Black dots" in my vision?, October 26, 1995)

"Recentley I noticed a herringbone pattern in the shape of 2 or 3 large stars in front of my eyes. It lasted about 15 minutes.It terrified me beause it was hard to see through the pattern. It happened 4 times to me within 6 months and would like now if anyone knows what that is a symptom of, or if anyone has had a similar experience. There was no pain but left me lightheaded afterwards and somewhat disoriented. Please help."

(Maury, Newsgroups: sci.med, Subject: herringbone pattern in front of eyes, March 27, 1996)

"The first time this happened to me I was driving home across the desert toward Tucson, and it scared the shit out of me. I saw a herringbone bar that kept getting bigger. But it turns out to be a classic migraine manifestation, and I've had migraine headaches from time to time most of my life."

(Dave Hatunen, Newsgroups: sci.med, Subject: herringbone pattern in front of eyes, March 31, 1996)

Visual migraine aura with herringbone pattern and scotoma. (David C. Haas, Headache Cybertext, Lost webpage, April 23, 1998; reproduction by courtesy of David C. Haas)

"This picture was painted by a neurosurgeon, in April 1998, to show others what he sees during his migraine auras. Note the multilayered herringbone pattern (zig-zag lines) off to the right side of his visual field. The houses, face, and text in the picture are examples of how such objects appear to him when he looks at them. The white areas where the object is not visible are the scotomas (holes) in his vision."

(David C. Haas, Headache Cybertext, Lost webpage, April 23, 1998)

"Oh boy, I've been there, done that, seen the herringbone pattern!!! To the point where I almost can see nothing at all! That, along with one arm going tingley, then the face, lips, back down the other arm..... all the while experiencing one hellacious headache to go with it!!!!! I cannot function when I have a migraine because I cannot see well."

(Pat, Newsgroups: alt.support.step-parents, Subject: Ever see the herringbone pattern?, September 21, 1999)

"When I get OM [ocular migraines] the lights are in a herringbone pattern and the image is in an oval shape."

(Deirdre, Newsgroups: alt.med.fibromyalgia, Subject: Migraines without headache?, February 14, 2001; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"I too suffer from migraines (or migraine-like effects)... I become aware they're going to happen then the first thing I notice is a tiny flicker, this is followed by herring bone disruptions to my vision. If I'm desperate I can continue to work on the computer - I doubt whether I could draw, using the sections of my field of view that aren't disrupted. There's a headache with them but not too bad and no feeling of nausea. My favourite cure for a migraine: lie down and listen to Sibelius Symphony No. 4."

(Richard Bell, Email to Klaus Podoll, February 19, 2005)

Less-than symbol <

"Had my first migraine in thirty-five years three weeks ago. The spot of light, the bars then the shape like a < less-than symbol floating in midair."

(Joyce Melton, Newsgroup: alt.callahans, Subject: Migraine Aura, February 17, 2000)

Rectangles, parallelograms, etc.

"Is there any web site or other source which accurately describes the various varieties of visual disturbances which some migraine sufferers experience?
I detail my own case, incase it strikes a a chord with other newsgroup members:
NO headache or other bodily disturbance.
Episodes occur several times/year, and always last 20-25 minutes.
The effect is independent on whether the eye(s) are open or shut.
Episode starts with a small blurred patch usually slightly off-centre of visual field.
This patch slowly expands and simultaneously drifts towards edge of field-of-view.
At it's maximum (10 minues after start) the patch appears to consist of a higgeldy-piggeldy patchwork of small shimmering coloured geometrical shapes, rectangles, parallelograms etc.
Towards the end of the episode a shimmering/strobing effect is noticed only at the very periphery of the field of vision, before it entirely disappears from sight.
Any takers?"

(Ronald Alpiar, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Visual Disturbances, January 17, 2004)

"At it's maximum (10 minues after start) the patch appears to consist of a higgeldy-piggeldy patchwork of small shimmering coloured geometrical shapes, rectangles, parallelograms etc. This brought back a memory. I have had this for years, but never put two and two together. I didn't know this was an 'aura' visual disturbance. I'll have to 'see' whether these coincide with my headaches."

(Sue, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Visual Disturbances, January 18, 2004)

Reinforcement lines

David B. Boles, Protocol of migraine aura episode from September 19, 1990. © 1990 David B. Boles

"The only sketches I have are small, crude ones of location and extent of visual disturbances relative to a central fixation point... By way of explanation of the terminology used in the example, at the time I personally used the term 'reinforcement lines' for what others call 'fortification lines'."

(David B. Boles, Email to Klaus Podoll, March 4, 2005)

Sawtooth patterns

Colorful scintillating scotoma. (David C. Haas, Headache Cybertext, Lost webpage, December 16, 2002; reproduction by courtesy of David C. Haas)

"This striking image of a migraine visual aura was e-mailed to me by an electrical engineer, who said he's been experiencing it for 33 years. It can sometimes be triggered by 'strong red wine.' His description of this hallucination (with minor modification) is beneath the image. 'It is difficult to remember all of the colors and the configuration of the aura. I think I have done a fair job even though it is not in motion. The black background and the vivid colors are essentially what I see. It always begins with an annoying small blind spot slightly to the right and down in my field of view. Then a few minutes later a small, fluttering sawtooth image appears in the upper right of my visual field. This opens up to a loop of shimmering sawtooth patterns which travel around this loop. Over the next 20 minutes the loop expands to a large circle and then vanishes outward from my field of view.'"

(David C. Haas, Headache Cybertext, Lost webpage, September 5, 2000)

Stars

IH, Scintillating scotoma, 2007. © 2007 IH

"I have this auras things... its just like in a cartoon film... when one gets hurted on his head... begin see stars around... "

(Dutch Princess, Newsgroups: alt.healing.reiki, Subject: Migraine and paranormal / psychic phenomena, December 11, 2005)

Squares

Anonymous, aura 1, undated. (See here)

"I'm still new at this migraine stuff and I think I had an aura join in in the middle of a HA [headache]. HA started late Sat afternoon... About an hour ago..., I started seeing small squares floating across my visual field. Oddly the squares got larger over the next hour and then disappeared. (The squares themselves weren't solid or colored - simple black and white patterns like at of a book of simple optical illusions.) What is going on? If this was an aura, it's the first time it happened and I'd like some advice on how to handle it."

(Cindy Wells, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: How do you identify an aura?, September 28, 1998)

Scintillating scotomas drawn by an 8-year-old girl. © 2006 Cicek Wöber-Bingöl (Cited from ärztemagazin, 40/2004, December 22, 2004; drawing provided by courtesy of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Cicek Wöber-Bingöl, Vienna)

Triangles

"one time i had spinning yellow triangles... spiraling down from the left to the right... they were flashing too... it got worse and bigger... to the point that i could hardly see the phone book as i made a frantic call to the opthamologist... (tears in your retina are very serious and delicate... so i didn't want to take any chances with this one... ) well... i was having a migraine... they explained that a migraine can manifest itself visually... BUT... most often... those visual incidents are precursers to a full blown migraine..."

(karlii, Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories, Subject: Hmmmmm.....A question......, May 8, 1998)

"I get these connected shimmering triangles, that are in a C form."

(Beth, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: auras, May 25, 1999)

"I can remember only one episode of aura of this nature. I've suffered migraine for years and years. Anyway, mine was sparkly triangle all around my peripheral vision. It was real scary. I had no idea what was happening. I thought I was having a stroke or something. It took a long time to subside. There was no pain so I didn't connect it with migraine. Not until later. Whew."

(The Didi-Sprite, Newsgroup: alt.callahans, Subject: Migraine Aura, February 17, 2000)

"I get a similar thing with trangles just before a migraine - is usually off to one side, sometimes in center of vision, mostly a 'film strip' of them."

(mm, Newsgroups: sci.med.vision, Subject: Spinning Thing Visual Phenomeon, July 6, 2001)

"I have scotomas followed by flashing chains of B/W triangles."

(Jim, Edith Frost's Homepage, February 9, 2004)

"My migraines with aura have come back with a vengeance after over 7 years remission. So this has prompted me to do some research to alleviate my concerns. I found your site and was encouraged to share my symptoms with you.

The first, and worst, migraine of my life came when I was 15. The headache was preceded with what I now know to be full blown aura. I experienced a loss of vision, complete in my right eye, but with out hallucinations. Just a blotting out. I also suffered a loss of function and paralysis on the right side of my face, including my tongue. I was unable to speak clearly for 20 minutes. I also experienced numbness and tingling on the right extremities. In total, the aura lasted for more than several hours. I also experienced the worst headache have ever had.

Over the next 10 years, I had migraines on a regular basis, anywhere from a year apart to weekly. I never had the same extensive aura, just visual loss and hallucinations. The hallucinations are of triangle of light, clearly defined, that fold over each other in a circular motion and field. The subsequent headaches are quite tolerable, ad I prefer them to the aura. With one exception - the worst headache I ever had put me in the hospital where they injected me with Demerol. That was also the longest episode, that went 24 hours of aura and another 24 for the headache. The aura always creates anxiety, and a feeling of defenselessness from the visual impairment.

The aura has lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to nearly 24 hours."

(Chris, Email to Klaus Podoll, August 2, 2008)

Zigzags

Visual migraine aura with herringbone pattern and [positive] scotoma. (David C. Haas, Headache Cybertext, Lost webpage, April 29, 1999)

"This (greatly speeded up) cartoon of a classic migrainous scintillating scotoma shows its development from a small paracentral bright, curved, zig-zag line (the scintillation) in the left visual field. Inside the line, vision is dark and obstructed (the scotoma). The interval from the onset to the full enlargement of the zig-zag line is usually about 10-20 minutes. Soon after its full development, the image disappears."

(David C. Haas, Headache Cybertext, Lost webpage, April 29, 1999)

An artist's depiction of a zigzagged scintillating scotoma. (Richmond Eye Associates, Simulations of Eye Disorders: Ophthalmic Migraine, October 12, 2001; reproduction by courtesy of Richmond Eye Associates)

"This is an artist's drawing of the visual phenomenon experienced by many before a migraine headache. The jagged zig-zag lights are constantly in motion, flashing over a 15 to 30 minute time frame. A migraine headache may, or may not follow this aura."

(Richmond Eye Associates, Simulations of Eye Disorders: Ophthalmic Migraine, October 12, 2001)

Shirley Williams, Visual Migraine, 2001. © 2001 National Headache Foundation

Shirley Williams, Visual Migraine: The Jagged Edge, 2001. © 2001 National Headache Foundation

"The suddenness of my first visual migraine frightened me. I thought I was going blind or having a stroke. The flashing zigzagged lights had appeared in the corner of my left eye and were floating further into my line of vision and a mosaic-like cloud with fluorescent edges partially blinded that eye. Whether my eye was open or closed the vivid lights and jaggedly outlined patterns continued their slow-moving dance taking over my sight. Alarmed, I told the friend I was with 'Be ready to take me to the hospital I think I'm having a stroke.' Within 30 minutes, however, the whole phenomena faded and my vision returned to normal. When I returned home from my vacation I made an appointment with my doctor. He referred me to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed my condition as 'Visual Migraine.' I gave him the first image I made of this experience. It was electronic, a digital creation made on my computer. The ophthalmologist was not surprised by the jagged patterned abstract I showed him. He gave me a printed handout with zigzags and clouds, possible causes, and reassurance I was not going blind. I continued to have the visual migraines, but the terror had subsided. I am one of the lucky ones who do not have pain following the aura.

I read in the paper about the Migraine Masterpieces art contest and wanted to carefully create an accurate image that others could identify with and be reassured that they were not alone in their suffering. Although sometimes painful and always terrifying, the episodes are not life threatening. I took my own photo with a digital camera and collaged the colors, patterns, and images using three computer applications, Painter, Photoshop, and Illustrator. For the last several years I have been a website designer and graphic artist. The digital medium seemed particularly suited to the abstracted images and sharply vivid colors I wanted to illustrate."

(Shirley Williams, Email to Klaus Podoll, September 14, 2002)

"Like for example, the artist Shirley Williams... really emphasizes on the zig-zaggy images that move before your eyes. The digital glowing light on the zig-zags are of exact coloring. The red blood vessel affect in the back round is so close to the pressure that pounds down upon your head. Especially after the optical attack has finished and the only thing you can do next is lie down in a dark room and take a pain releaver of some sort."

(Alexandra Anderson, Optical Migraine Images, April 9, 2003)

Zigzags likened to animals: "The Crystal Bat"

Fanciful Crystal Bat pin. © 2007 Speleobooks, Schoharie, New York (seehere)

"I used to have full-blown migraines, but every 8 months or so I see my old 'friend' The Crystal Bat. It is rather pretty, but it almost totally obscures my vision, so I have to sit down until it disappears. I am relieved that the bat no longer progresses to the headache, but that 'pre' feeling is always there."

(Carol Wright, Newsgroups: alt.med.cfs, Subject: Med: Light show, July 9, 1996)

Zigzags likened to animals: "The imaginary three-dimensional snake "

"That shade of phosphene magenta is one of the two colors I'd want painted in zig-zag stripes on my sports car, if I had one (the other color would be the matching phosphene green) for two reasons:
1.) Nobody would ever steal my hideous 'Wired'-magazine-colored car.
2.) And nobody would ever crash into it, just into all the less-visible cars filled with unimportant people.
By the way, those nuclear-fluorescent shades of magenta and green are the colors of the imaginary three-dimensional snake that spins around inside my left eyeball (and only the left one) when I feel a migraine coming on due to lack of food, tiredness, etc. It starts out as this desperately-strobing blob in the center of my left visual field, and over the course of half an hour or so it gradually grows into a 'C'-shaped snake, slowly getting bigger and bigger, eventually passing out of the margins of the visual field altogether. The snake has phosphene magenta and phosphene green stripes in a double zigzag pattern like so:
//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//
...and the snake seems to be constantly revolving, like a barber pole, except there's no actual motion in any particular direction, it's just that the 'motion detector' cells in the brain are being triggered so that the snake is telling me 'Hey! I'm moving!' without any signals that any part of it is moving in any specific manner.
When I see that I know that I gotta jam a doughnut into me pronto.
-- K.
And no, I still don't have a brain tumor.
Now if you'll excuse me, I must drive a CADILLAC to a ROCKING CHAIR store in CINCINNATI."

(James "Kibo" Parry, Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology, Subject: I need a new crayon , January 19, 2004)

"WAH! Kibo's stolen my migraine precurser! Has anyone (well... other than Kibo) seen the strobing herringbone snake that lives in my eyeball?"

(Steve Christensen, Newsgroups: alt.religion.kibology, Subject: I need a new crayon , January 20, 2004)

Zigzags likened to animals: "Zebra stripes"

"I too have ocular migraines... I also have noticed that... I have the zigzags/zebra stripes..."

(Sydney, Edith Frost's Homepage, March 13, 2004)

Zigzags likened to Art Deco

"I'm 46 and I've had classic migraine as long as I can remember - 'black cats' in my peripheral vision in the run-up to the attack, then the full art deco style dancing zig zags and blank spots in my direct field of vision, overlapping with nausea and disorientation, but no real pain to speak of. I also get pretty continuous white flashing in my peripheral field that is normally only noticeable when I'm in a pitch black room. I didn't realise that was migraine-related until my opthalmologist diagnosed it. My attacks are sporadic but clustered together - I'll get two in the space of a couple of hours, maybe, then none for months. Bright light is a definite trigger, and sometimes thundery weather. All in all, I can cope with this."

(Karen Traviss, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Change in types of migraine?, June 30, 2002)

"Yup, that's it. Someone else here described is as 'art deco,' which is a pretty accurate description of what I get."

(Paul Tauger, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: auras, July 31, 2002)

Zigzags likened to op-art

"Mine resembles a Bridget Riley op-art painting with psychedelic day-glo borders around the black and white zig-zag of the primary design. And it wiggles. Oh, my."

(grecosartre, halfbakery Migraine Visual Aura Simulation, March 27, 2003)

References

Fothergill J. Remarks on that complaint commonly known under the name of sick-headach. Med Observ Inquir 1784; 6: 103-137.
Neumann H. Festungsbau-Kunst und -Technik. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1988.
Podoll K, Robinson D. Migraine Art - The migraine experience from within. Neurol Psychiat Brain Res 2002; 10: 29-34.
Sacks OW. Migraine. Revised and expanded. University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-Oxford 1992.
Siegel RK, Jarvik M. Drug-induced hallucinations in animals and man. In: Siegel R, West L (eds) Hallucinations: Behavior, experience, and theory. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY 1975, 81-161.

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