What helps?

[Cheri Wojo]

Hi Everyone!

I've had this for a few years now, and the severity comes and goes.  I'm finding that good sleep, lots of exercise, low alcohol consumption and stress reduction help.  Anyone else have any ideas of prevention?  What about when one starts or you sense one coming on?  Any way to stop/shorten this?

Best wishes (for uninterrupted vision),

Cheri

[Boris Mezhibovskiy]

Once I sense one coming on, I take 400-600mg of Ibuprofen and eat something salty (chips) with some vitamin water to replenish my electrolytes. This doesn't prevent the SS, but it reduces the intensity of the migraine afterwards.

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[Jessekig Baka]

Hi Cheri,

I've had these SS's for a number of years now, most episodes are due to pretty obvious triggers...usually eye strain (computer screens or similar very often trigger), dehydration, stress, not enough sleep etc.

When I feel one coming on, I usually try to drink a lot of water and take 3 asprins, as Boris said already, that usually doesn't stop the episode, but I am one of the lucky few that don't get the painful migraine/headache afterwards... I just feel lethargic and weak, followed by a day or two of hyper sensitivity to light and difficulty focusing on things.

I read somewhere someone intentionally trying to give themselves an "icecream headache" and having some success getting an episode to stop or not fully manifest.

I tried this once, I only had ice water and it /sorta/ worked...I couldn't get a very severe "icecream headache" with just the water though, probably would of worked better with an icee or something frozen.

My typical way of dealing with an episode is to either lay down, or if it is still early in the day, I'll grab a bottle of water and pop in some headphones with an audio book and go on a long walk to try to keep my mind off the swirly rainbow zigzags and the partial blindness that comes with it.  SS can often trigger a panic attack in me, so I try to relax and focus on other things, preferably that don't call for a lot of visual focus =)

I just tell myself this is normal..rare yes, but normal, it is a blood flow thing with the brain, not my eyes going bad...I am not going to go blind, and this is just another form of headache/migraine.

I live alone, and socialize mostly "online" so when these episodes rob me of that it can really bum me out... I find it best to do the walk thing, or call up family and chat with them, anything that can cheer me up.

Feel free to comment anytime again here, I'm glad to respond when I can, SS is so annoying and I know many of us just wish they'd go away and never come back...here's to hoping some sort of "cure" or preventative is found.