No, thank you....

 It had been a few years but it happened again. I probably worked on the computer too long today (evaluating applicants for a teaching position) and then I looked just wrong at a bright light bulb while fixing dinner. And then I realized it - "hey, that afterimage from the light isn't going away" and then "wait, is it kind of pointy?"

I figured it was an ocular migraine but it still made me nervous; it's been a long time since I had one (beta blockers make you less prone to the vascular issues that can cause migraines. So of course I worried - could it be a detaching retina, even though I got an all clear from the doctor yesterday (they do retinal scans at my eye doctor). And then I worried about strokes, even though I've never had any symptoms and have relatively few risk factors.

I tested for the retina by opening and closing each eye - no, the scotoma is the same on both eyes, so it's not likely retina. And I went and looked at my face in the mirror (remembering the FAST acronym - face, arms, speech, time. If my face wasn't okay, I'd try my arms, then call someone and ask if my speech sounded normal, and then - could they drive me to the ER? I suppose the fact that I had the presence of mind to do all that would suggest no chance it was a stroke - and my face was  normal, and when I lifted both arms they worked the same). 

So I ate my dinner in a darkened dining room (the scotoma is less worrisome when you can't really see it, and sometimes sitting in the dark makes it go away faster). Eventually it did but it was a solid 20-25 minutes before it did (usually ocular migraines don't last that long for me).

My face does kind of hurt now - not a true migraine, but I can tell my sinuses aren't happy (it could be allergies, we had a lot of wind today, blowing stuff around) and I definitely had the typical migraine feeling-of-dread when I had it. (I've read that that's mental - migraines can partly be a brain issue like epilepsy is, and sometimes it will affect your emotions and cognition more than the simple discomfort would suggest; there is a real feeling of dread, and when I used to get migraine headaches more than once I worried that it was actually an aneurysm or something. 

I'm glad it's over but I still feel kind of wiped out. I hope that doesn't repeat itself any time soon.