Today started off well enough. It’s Monday and I woke up earlier than usual so that I can squeeze in a couple of hours of extra study. There were two exams today and one PA lab session in between. My breakfast was a banana and some honey. (I don’t drink tea or coffee, even for breakfast).

I arrived in school an hour early and found Winda (she’s always early!) sitting in Grha Wiyata. I sat by her and we continued studying for the Physiology exam at 8 AM. The exam was easy and I felt good about it - this either means that I actually did well or I did so bad that I am totally oblivious. Around 10:30 AM, I ate Nasi Pecel (rice with peanut sauce, veggies, and chicken). It was a decent-sized Indonesian brunch, with a nutritious fresh-squeezed grape juice for my drink.

At 1 PM, the PA lab session started. If you haven’t had PA yet: it’s a lab session much like Histology where students sit in a dark classroom with a bright projector screen. Within minutes, I started to see flashes and blurs on the very peripheral regions of my vision. I took out my mineral water-bottle (I always take at least one to school) and took a big gulp. I figured I was perhaps just a bit dehydrated. I didn’t feel any symptoms. I didn’t have any headache, nausea, etc. In fact, my mood was also quite good up until that point. I had breakfast and lunch, and plenty of fluids too. The flashes and blurs didn’t go away. I had no idea what was causing them! Perhaps my eyes were just a bit tired? (But I didn’t feel sleepy or tired!) I shut my eyes for a few seconds and gave them a gentle rub with my hands. It didn’t work. I decided to ignore those flashes and blurs on the periphery of my vision (they weren’t REALLY bothering me) and hope they go away by themselves.

With the passing of every minute, the flashes and blurs got more and more severe. They moved inwards from the peripheral region of my vision and it felt like I was going into a blurry tunnel. I could only see whatever was at the very center of my vision. Even if somebody held up some fingers right in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to count them! I started to panic internally - having no idea what was happening to me - while trying my best to keep a straight face so nobody would notice.

The PA assistant was giving a lecture while showing a powerpoint slide on her laptop. I was staring right at the laptop screen and everything else was swirling, blurry fireworks. With the last of my vision remaining, I scribbled a quick note onto my book, noting the time and exactly what I was experiencing (just in case I fainted, I thought). Then, my entire vision was gone. I couldn’t focus on anything at all - everything was spinning in fast swirls and flashing at me like tiny cameras. I couldn’t see faces or read anything. I sat there, pretending like I was okay. I was really worried because there is a post-test at the end of the session. How would I be able to do the post-test if I can’t see anything!?

Luckily, after 15 minutes or so, it started to get better. I breathed a sigh of relief. Gradually, I came back out of the blurry tunnel. I could focus on things again. My peripheral vision was still flashing though and it didn’t get better. I did my post-test and walked out.

As I headed home, the front of my head started to throb and a headache set in. I felt nauseous but the dizzying flashes and blurs disappeared. The headache was incredibly painful.

I checked MedScape and my symptoms matched exactly with “classical migraine”. Apparently, the weird flashes and blurs I was experiencing earlier are called “auras”. They are supposed to happen an hour or so before the actual migraine headache sets in.

So, what was the cause? I have no idea and there isn’t always a clear cause according to the literature. I was having a pretty normal, good day. I was healthy and hadn’t been sick. The only thing I can guess at is perhaps I didn’t get a full 8-hours of sleep. The bright light from the projector in the dark PA room probably triggered it.

Now, it is 10:49 PM and although the headache is gone, I still feel a gentle throbbing pain where the headache was before. Hopefully a good night’s rest will resolve it. I never want to experience this ever again - it was very disturbing. At least now I have gained first-hand experience and will take headaches a bit more seriously when people tell me about them.

Good night.