Weird Kaleidoscope vision episode times 3 times since discontinuing aspirin...

[coffeelover]

Hello all! Hey has anyone ever had any weird kaliedoscope vision effects that came suddenly? Three times since I was taken off aspirin in May , I have had three episodes of kaliedoscope type vision that lasted 20 minutes or so.it's been 11 years since had my AVR with a TopHat mechanical valve, and I've never had anything abnormal visually until my adpirin was discontinued. ( three times since May 1st). My MD wants a thorough Medical eye exam to rule out eye stroke, detached retina...anyone had any experience with this?

 

[pellicle]

this sounds like you are describing migraines

does this look like what you are trying to describe?

https://www.valvereplacement.org/threads/vision-disturbances-and-migraines.884398/post-884471
or does it look more like this?

because that's a classical kaleidoscope (mirror reflections)

If its the earlier one then welcome to the club

None of the medical groups you mentioned are well versed in this very common problem (which may not be related to OHS, but many report that after their first).

 

[Zoltania]

20 minutes of a crescent-shaped pattern of flickering black-and-white zigzags which starts small, grows, and finally disappears? If so, that's classic for optical migraines (the painless kind). They are disconcerting but harmless. Many people here have reported that they started having these, or getting them more frequently, after heart surgery.

 

[pellicle]

Many people here have reported that they started having these, or getting them more frequently, after heart surgery

here's the thing, I don't remember when I first started getting mine, but I think it was after my surgery at 10 years of age. I'm a bit fuzzy on that ... so I may also have had mine triggered by OHS.

 

[coffeelover]

Good to know...thanks for sharing!

 

[jmb1997]

Good to know...thanks for sharing!

Yes! I had two ocular migraines, a few years apart, in my life before my OHS in May of 2022. In the first month after my surgery I think I had like 10 or 12. Since then I'll have one only every few months. My surgeon's office just said it was common and is something that happens after OHS, but that no one really knew why. Perhaps that was both reassuring and not reassuring to hear that!

I only took aspirin for a short time after my surgery (mitral valve repair) so I don't think that had anything to do with it for me. I have noticed that I have the zig zags in my vision when I get a moment of stress/adrenaline.

For example, about two months after my surgery I was taking a city bus to my cardiac rehab class and as I got off the bus and went to cross the street to the rehab location some car that had been behind the bus decided to illegally pass it by driving at a high speed down the wrong side of the road. The car also crossed a double-line on the street to do this. The driver came within a fraction of a second of killing me. Right after that happened the zig zags appeared as I walked through the crosswalk to my class. There may have been a lot of brain activity going on after that near miss that created that aura for me.