Visual hallucinations of kaleidoscope dimension

Fractals

Fred de Paiva, Migraine, digital image, undated. © 2007 Fred de Paiva (see here)

"I've never had a migraine, but I think I've had the aura (if that's what it's called). Weird thing in my eye, with sort of fractal-looking edges. Made it hard to see till it grew out."

(Anne Magee, Newsgroups: alt.fan.british-accent, Subject: alt.support.depression, December 21, 2000)

"I have a weird thing going on in the retina of my right eye. ... The dots I first saw have now grown into irregular patches, but I don't think any new dots have appeared. They are sharply defined, but very irregular, with 'holes' of normal vision inside them. Nearest I can come to describing their shape is like jagged pieces of coral, or 'fractal' objects. I said it was weird! ... My peripheral vision seems ok. Some mild eye-strain type headaches on that side, but that's not unusual for me."

(Chris Dancer, Newsgroups: sci.med.vision, Subject: After-image-like patches, August 6, 2001)

"I suffered heat exhaustion... From that I experienced fractal vision like being inside one of those 3-D fresnal lens picture novelties, but being inside it, looking out and one heck of a throbbing headache..." - "I did suffer a migraine headache & fractal vision once during a bout with heat exhaustion, once upon a time."

(Kurt, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Cerebral Hemorrhage and Headaches via Recovery?, September 19, 2002)

"I get optical migraines and some of these images described exactly how sometimes your sight becomes. It also looks like digital fractal images made from mathematical computer graphics."

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

"When I came round I noticed this weird thing in the corner of my right field of vision, has anyone seen a Mandelbrot set? One of those fractal patterns that when you zoom into it is the same pattern repeating itself - well that's what I saw. It lasted about 20 mins ..."

(Steve, Edith Frost's Homepage, January 26, 2004) Link to

porcubine, LifeJournal icon, 2005. © 2005 porcubine

"My typical migraine auras are kaleidescope, a shimmering fractal-type (my icon reminds me of these), strobing/flashing, or vertigo/spinning."

(porcubine, LiveJournal for Support Group for Migraine Sufferers, Subject: Weirdest migraine aura, November 22, 2005)

"I'm a life-long migraine sufferer, but I've only recently begun to experience auras. They certainly take some getting used to.

My typical aura involves a kaleidoscope-like distortion of colors - I see colors that aren't really there, and they move and morph into different shapes, kind of like a moving fractal (somewhat like this icon). Sometimes the images take on specific things that come to mind, like monsters or horses. If I'm at my desk at work, I'll often see moving alphabet letters in red on the black background of my keyboard drop. I've seen a moving, growing tangle of red yarn in my field of vision. I've also had strobing-color auras, and once I had double vision, and once a feeling of being off-balance that led to a really horrible multi-day migraine. I don't always get a migraine immediately after the aura, though, so I don't take my Imitrex automatically when I get an aura, and my neuro told me not to take triptans at all with either a double-vision or vertigo-like aura. Sometimes my auras only last a few minutes, but sometimes they're close to an hour, and the vertigo and double vision ones lasted several hours.

I've read that some people have auras in the form of phantom smells. I don't know if I've ever had one of these. I was suspicious a couple of weeks ago when I distinctly smelled liver sausage on my way home from work. It was in a residential area, and I've never detected that smell before. It was pretty strange.

In some ways I find the auras more difficult to cope with than the headaches themselves. I can typically function at some level unless the migraine gets really bad, but with the hallucinogenic auras, I can't do much of anything but wait for it to pass.

I'd like to hear about the auras you get, and what you do to help cope with them."

(porcubine, LiveJournal for Support Group for Migraine Sufferers, Subject: Tell me about your aura, October 13, 2004)

"the thing i get the most is the splotchy vision and a fractal or tracers all the time. i kinda like them- it makes life more interesting."

(pickleboot, LiveJournal for Support Group for Migraine Sufferers, Subject: Weirdest migraine aura, November 23, 2005)

Kaleidoscope

Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) invented the kaleidoscope in 1816. © 2007 The Brewster Kaleidoscope Society (see here)

"In the past year I have experienced a strange image that lasts for about 10 to 20 minutes. I starts out small in the shape of the letter C . The body of the image seems to be constantly changing somewhat like a kaleidoscope effect. The image continues to enlarge until it seems to disappears beyond the periphery of the eye. The image is there with or without the eyes open. I would greatly appreciate any info on what this might be. Thanks Marty"

(Marty Coggins, Newsgroups: sci.med.vision, Subject: Need Help With Strange Vision Poblem, October 17, 1996)

"Just read all the posts here tonight, and I thought I would share my aura as well!! I have had migraines for probably most of my adult life... and I am now 46. I experienced my first aura 4 1/2 years ago, and quite frankly, it scared the s^*& out of me!!! It started in my distant field of vision... and gradually over the course of about a half hour became what I describe as 'kaleidoscope' vision. It consisted of geometric shapes that danced in my peripheral vision. I thought... 'Oh my GOD!!! Do I have a BRAIN TUMOR????' I had NEVER experienced this before... and only did again a few times after that. I haven't had any since then. So now, I call myself... 'The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes!!!' ..."

(Lynda Miller, Edith Frost's Homepage, June 8, 2004)

"My SS manifests itself differently from most. I don't recall any colors. It doesn't start in one place and expand and it's not C-shaped. My last one (yesterday) was L-shaped with the L turned a quarter-turn clock-wise. There were a couple of spots on the L that definitely had a ceiling fan or kaleidoscope effect. It was above my focal point so I could still read. That is not the norm though. Usually it is close enough to my focal point that it interferes with reading. I have had short ones (5-10 minutes) but normally they are 20-30 minutes in duration. I have never noticed any associated headache."

(azbob, Edith Frost's Homepage, June 28, 2004) Link to

Danny Caes, Migraine aura no. 2, 1996. © 1996 Danny Caes (see here)

"Miss Linda Kaandorp in the Netherlands, from KOPZORGEN.NL, sent me your query about the drawings of the migraine aura which I made shortly after an attack of 'classic' migraine (during the summer of 1996). It was my very first experience of migraine (with visual effects, known as the 'aura'). During the first minutes of this experience I knew immediately that it was a growing 'migraine aura' because I heard all sorts of facts about this phenomenon by my parents (both have mild migraine attacks from time to time). So it was not really a surprise when I saw that mass of rotating and pulsating V- or triangle-shaped structures like a kaleidoscope image! The [one-sided] headache and uneasy feeling that followed after the visual phenomena (and temporary audio-block) were an other story... (the worst feeling one can imagine!). [I didn't vomit, but it was nearby!]"

(Danny Caes, Email to Klaus Podoll, August 28, 2004; in square brackets: Email to Klaus Podoll, September 8, 2004)

"I get migraine auras that are just in one eye and sort of look like a turning kaleidoscope but without the colours, just the normal things within my view adding colour. I *used* to get migraines without the aura, then I got them with aura and now I usually just get the aura."

(Vashti, Newsgroups: alt.med.fibromyalgia, Subject: For neurology visit, February 8, 2005)

Quilts

"I LOVE this aspect of migraine -- the 'classic aura' complete with 'scintillating scotoma' (a blind or blurry spot surrounded or bordered by flashing lights). Mine often look like a crazy quilt of stained glass luminescent orange-and-black quilt blocks of varied sizes, fluctuating and dissolving, them re-forming instantly in new configurations such as Handy Andy, Letha's Electric Fan, Shoo-Fly, Double Wedding Ring, Bear's Claw, and so forth... It's truly Nature's Wonderland of Visual Effects. Until the pain hits, of course."

(Catherine Yronwode, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Visual Disturbances, December 15, 1999)

"But as for orange dots -- well, in this newsgroup, you have found me, Ms. Orange Dots-and-Spots of 1995 and 1996 and 1997 and 1998 and 1999 and 2000. I am the reigning Orange Dots-and-Spots Queen, the woman voted 'Most Likely To See Orange Dots-and-Spots This Month' for six years running! I have posted here before about this migraine aura phenomenon, which can become as complex as a large quilt made of hundreds of rapidly-mutating geometric orange-and-black blocks and as psychedelic as a paisley shawl, but i risk boring people with the yet another tale of my Amazing Orange Dots-and-Spots. This month -- for the first time in a year, I was awakened from a deep sleep to see a great array of them in a novel 'Pointilist-LSD Baroque' configuration, followed by ... NO HEADACHE. I feel so blessed when I just get the aura and the pain 'forgets' to arrive."

(Catherine Yronwode, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: Orange dots in front of my eyes, February 25, 2000)

"If the aura pattern is an all-over quilt-pattern... then it is as if i were looking into two layers of vision -- the pattern layer and the 'real' layer, with the pattern sharp and in focus and 'reality' quite blurry, gray, and indistinct."

(Catherine Yronwode, Newsgroups: alt.support.headaches.migraine, Subject: The Big Aura!!!, April 17, 2000)

Irene MacWilliam, Migraine, Cottons, 2002. © 2002 Irene MacWilliam (see here)

"My experience of having migraines. The block pattern represents the zig-zag pattern of my aura. Although it is pieced with red and pink, not everyone sees this. This represents the blind areas of my migraine. The yellow triangles are the bright lights I see. The free machine drawings are of me in the throes of a migraine."

(Irene MacWilliam, papermachebrain.com, October 8, 2003)

Susan Madden, Migraine Aura Effect, quilt, circa 1998. © 2007 Susan Madden

"Thank you for your interest. I'm amazed that you found me. I will send you photos of my 5 pieces from that show Suffering in Silence: Creativity and Migraine, including a quilt portraying migraine aura that you may find interesting."

(Susan Madden, Email to Klaus Podoll, November 5, 2003)

Rachel Eby, Migraine Headache, quilt, undated. © 2007 Rachel Eby (see here)

"I named this quilt 'Migraine Headache', because it reminded me of the visual migraines I have had since my mid 20's."

(Rachel Eby, Email to Klaus Podoll, November 7, 2003)

Symmetrical animal-like patterns: "Pieces of coral"

"Nearest I can come to describing their shape is like jagged pieces of coral..."

(Chris Dancer, Newsgroups: sci.med.vision, Subject: After-image-like patches, August 6, 2001)

Symmetrical animal-like patterns: "Spiders"

"Anyone want the glowing multicoloured spiders that ooze amoeba-like across my vision that I had today? - Darkhawk, who thinks that migraine-with-nausea was a life experience she could have done without"

(H. Nicoll, Newsgroups: alt.polyamory, Subject: Brief thought experiment [was: SF Examiner poly article], July 19, 2001)

Symmetrical tree-like patterns: "a small globular tree"

"I fell into your site while scoping. I have had boxes open up in my left eye with zig zag patterns, but the best was watching a small globular tree rise from my great room floor and the top turn bright red and glow. No stimulants were involved, but this was one for the books. It lasted for about 10-15 minutes and then went. I was told these are painless migraines. I had a brain scan and it was normal. The flying spots come and go. I had work done on the left eye a while back but this was a corker until I was told. The dr. was surprised with the tree bit / If it was near X-mas I would have hung some tinsel on the tree."

(Bill Pulk, Edith Frost's Homepage, December 17, 2005)

References

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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