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Comment by elric | Hacker News Reader

Generally speaking, scintillating scotomas don't fill the entire field of vision. They can do, and when they're caused by migraine auras they tend to grow and then shrink again within a 20-60 minute window. I can certainly read when I'm experiencing one. I can continue to work if I really want to, but I find that having a coffee and taking a break is much more comfortable.

Migraine auras suck, but are pretty fascinating. Depending on which part of the brain they affect, different symptoms can manifest. Visual auras à la scintillating scotoma are probably the most common, but slurred speech can happen as well, or reduced sensation in half the body, probably other things as well ..

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I didn't mention it, but I really like them. I mean, they're inconvenient, and they make me nervous because for most of my life they were followed by the horrible parts of a migraine, but the scotomas themselves are just so beautiful and interesting that I like them anyway. And in recent years I've been able to enjoy them without so much of the horrible parts afterward.

They certainly are interesting to "watch", but honestly, the first time I've had a scotoma, I was scared I was going blind. I remember thinking whether I'd carelessly looked into a laser at work or something, even though I was sitting at my desk reading Wikipedia when the aura came.

And almost without exception, the visual auras are followed by immense headaches, so I personally would not say I like then very much :D

Is the scotoma similar to the effects that you get by applying pressure to your eyeball?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphene#Mechanical_stimulati...

Or is it quite different?

Pretty different. I used to like to induce pressure phosphenes. I found that a hazard of it was that more pressure produced more spectacular light shows, but that direction led to sore eyes.

Mine grow to fill a good chunk of my entire vision and never shrink. Instead the arc continues to grow until it is outside my field of vision and therefore no longer obstructive.

This is also what I experience.

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