When the forum was down I received a number of Emails concerning a person experiencing zigzag vision, accompanied by a central blind spot, a general reduction in light intensity and 'rainbow' effects around their peripheral vision.

 

 

During the incidents, particularly the first one, he became very anxious. Also he could not read the text on a book properly either.  He first experienced this frightening phenomenon about 2 hours or so after eating blue cheese. The condition lasted around 15-20 minutes and things returned to normal after this. He was convinced the problem was due to some compound in the cheese and started a very interesting round of detailed Emails.

 

The condition was eventually diagnosed as a “migraine with an aura” even though he initially did not go on to have a headache.  He was also advised that the visual disturbance could also be described as a 'blind headache' and / or a “scintillating scotoma” and that it was harmless.

 

I was aware that migraines had been linked to high levels of tyramine which can occur in red wine, mature cheese, smoked fish, chocolate and some other foods but was unaware of visual phenomena that might be induced by normal, uncontaminated, foods and took the opportunity to review the area. It quickly became apparent that nitrate could also be a significant trigger for these visual disturbances but that there appeared to be a range of other non-food triggers.

 

Because the first visual disturbance had such a profound effect on the person concerned I have used this post to provide some information on aura migraines / blind headaches / scintillating scotoma.

 

The New Zealand artist Gill Knox has produced an impression of what she experiences when suffering from a scintillating scotoma.

 

 

 

 Image reproduced with the permission of the copyright owner Gill Knox.

 

Dr. Alexander Mauskop the director and founder of the New York Headache Center has produced a video explaining migraine aura headaches and this can be accessed on YouTube- url has moved..

I intend to do some more work in this area and would be interested in hearing from people who have identified food triggers for headaches or visual disturbances.

 

The clinician regretfully declined to comment on this subject on the forum but sent me a http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4410.short?rss=1 - URL to a recent On Line British Medical Journal (BMJ) article by neurologists, Klaus Berger and Stefan Evers. The work cited by Berger and Evers suggests that patients who regularly experience migraine with visual auras may be at increased risk of  death from cardiovascular disease and hemorrhagic stroke.

 

It would not be appropriate to have any further posts on this subject since this is not a medical site.