I told a retina doc about migraine flashes and he said that he is not know what that was.
Should even even retina docs know these are dangerous"
I had flashing lights like that right before I got a torn retina, except it was only in one eye. If you all of a sudden see a lot of huge floaters, it's an emergency and you will have to see the eye doctor right away.
I'm a white male 45 years old and the "C" shaped flashing lights in the eyes happend to me today (lasted for 20min.). I'm a CAD drafter and stare at a computer all day. I thought I was having a stroke.
Neil P.
Nancy T is right. Use the search feature an look up TIA and Ophthalmic Migraine. See an Eye MD find one at www.aao.org This can be due to serious disease of the eye, brain, heart, blood vessels.
JCH MD
Sounds like it's probably ocular migraine (also known as ophthalmic migraine or visual migraine). Lasting 15 minutes is a gigantic clue!
I was also 42 when I got my first ocular migraine--panicked, thought I was having a stroke (my vision got a "blank" spot followed by flashing block-letter C that spread up and out over 30 minutes).
Migraine activity can often start up at perimenopause, which was the case with me. They can be unlike your previous migraines. (I never knew I was a migraineur until I got the ocular ones.) I only got three ocular migraines over a few months in 1999-2000, then never again.
NOTE: You do NOT, absolutely NOT have to have a headache to have a migraine.
Best to see your regular doctor and an eye doctor (ophthalmologist, that is, an eye MD) anyway.
Nancy T.