Glitter

[shanmonster]

This is weird, but after over a decade, I can't deny it anymore. My migraine hallucinations are always worse in a lit bathroom. Particularly when I'm standing over a bathroom counter, and especially when I'm leaning a bit, like when I'm looking in the mirror more closely, or spitting in the sink.

If I've been sitting in a dim room, the flickering lights may be all but gone. But once I'm in the lit bathroom, the intensity goes waaaaaaaay up, and the flickering becomes strobe-like.

Why the bathroom? I just don't get it. It might have something to do with all the white in there, and the bright lights. Holy crap, that's weird.

I am currently on day eleven of a new glitter migraine. I believe it was brought on by the asthma attack I had caused by a fog machine at the Dangerous Liaisons play. I sure hope it goes away. This is the first longterm migraine I've had in about four years.

Comments

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Any bathroom, or yours in particular? Is there small tile in checkerboard pattern or something like that? Fluorescent lights? Those both make the migraine visuals MUCH worse for me.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. It's horrible. I hope it ends soon.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Light-coloured, bright bathrooms. The laundry room did it to me today, too. I'm thinking there's something about shiny big white things like toilets, sinks, and bathtubs.

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Probably is the brightness and reflectivity. Does bright sunlight do it, too? When I have a migraine, I react to sunlight like a vampire because it's like being stabbed in the back of the head with twin icepicks that each carry a charge of 2335 volts.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've always had sensitivity to bright sunlight, or any bright light sources, really. Bright light makes me sneeze, even. The worst, though, is strobing lights. Not so much actual strobe lights at raves, but more like driving on a sunny day underneath trees, so bright lights alternate randomly with shadow, or a fluorescent light with a bad ballast, so it flickers like mad. These things almost guarantee a migraine for me.

[dark-phoenix54.livejournal.com]

Yeah, fluorescent lights give me headaches. Thankfully the compact bulbs don't seem to do that. But like you say, regular strobes don't trigger anything. The driving through light and shadow doesn't seem to trigger a migraine, but it is really difficult for me to deal with. I find it really unpleasant. Thankfully there is only one stretch where that happens on the way into town!