Light hypersensitivity: Has anyone tried "migraine" or colored glasses for it?
If you have, how well has it helped? Did different colors, such as those driving yellow tinted ones, help more? I have some transitions glasses, but that only helps outside. I saw on at least one site rose colored migraine glasses and am thinking about getting a pair.
I got a cheap pair of the orangest non-prescription glasses I could find that weren’t straight sunglasses and it took me from crushing headaches when I get home from work to mild discomfort by the end of the day. The only problem is they can make color perception a bit difficult (greens/blues, yellows/whites), but it’s workable for the most part. My eyes adjusted and I can still tell apart most things and anything that I can’t, I can take a quick glance w/o them. One thing to keep in mind though: they reflect blue light so you might want ones with blinders / wear normal sunglasses if you’re outside, since having the sun behind you can reflect it right into your eyes. They look a bit goofy but I’d take looking goofy over physical pain
There are also orange clip ons that can go on existing glasses. If they have this kind of coating for prescription lenses though, I’d definitely get them
Also cuts blinding blue headlights from incoming traffic
I got glasses for the first time about 5 years ago. Since I work on a computer all day, I asked them to add the blue light blocking coating to help reduce eye strain (if you’re not familiar, it looks mostly clear but it has a very mild yellow tint). My frequency of getting migraines while working has dropped significantly.
Thanks for your input. This gave me the idea of changing the color temperature of my monitor. This should help for now till I get some glasses. I have opted to get a few of the safety glasses in different colors mentioned in another message to try out.
I haven’t, but I have a relevant experience that might help you. I used to get horrible migraines starting around 7 years old. They were so bad, I would have been okay with dying during them. They would start coming on sometime in the early to mid-afternoon, and by night time, I was a complete mess. I would have to find some sort of odd position with my neck bent, cover my eyes, limit all noise, and not be cold at all. Light was especially painful. There was no medicine I had taken that would stop it. Around 1a-3a that night/morning, I would vomit, and within 15 mins, the migraine was mostly gone. I would then sleep like 12 hours. This would happen around once every three months, and I never recognized any triggers.
As I aged and was able to access healthcare on my own terms, I tried all sorts of medicines in the US. Tryptans just made me feel weird during the migraines. Prophylactics didn’t do anything besides give me side effects. One time, I was hospitalized for another condition and got a migraine. They saw how bad it was that they straight up gave me a heavy IV shot of dilaudid. I threw up immediately, and the migraine went away. On a few occasions when I got migraines in Cuba while visiting, I would go to the local clinic. There they would inject me in the butt with diphenhydramine (Benadryl), dimenhydrinate^1 (Dramamine), and diazepam (Valium). My migraine would reduce in intensity and I’d be sleepy enough to pass out despite the lingering pain, then wake up the next feeling fantastic.
Eventually, I was referred to a neurologist that would inject botox into certain areas of my face, neck, and scalp every 3 months, and that seemed to work pretty well as a prophylactic, though the injections were moderately painful enough for me to be reluctant prior to the appointments. If I did feel a migraine coming on, I would take ibuprofen, and it would go away. I got these injections for about 2-3 years and was basically migraine free, but due to bureaucratic error, I fell off of their caseload and was too busy with school to try to fight my way back. When I got my next migraine, I felt it coming on and took 800 mg ibuprofen. It went away within 30 mins. I started experimenting, and noticed that from here on out, if I take 200 mg when I feel one coming on, it goes away within 30 mins. If I don’t take the ibuprofen soon enough though, I will get a migraine. Now, I have ibuprofen everywhere I go. I don’t know what happened, but that just started working. Perhaps the botox treatment for a few years was a necessary step for ibuprofen to start working, or maybe there was some other lifestyle change that somehow worked yet I’m not aware of. Regardless, I haven’t had a true migraine in about 7-8 years, so I consider myself practically cured from migraines.
Hopefully, this can help you somehow!
tl;dr: Had horrible migraines. Only thing that would work were IV/IM drugs. Ended up getting botox for 2-3 years, then ibuprofen started to magically work if I took it quick enough.
1: They called it something like “globanol”, but told me it was the same as dimenhydrinate.
I will jump on here and also suggest trying to see if ibuprofen or advil will work for you.
I have had debilitating migraines as well since around 10 years old. Can’t see the dead center of my vision when one starts and then within 15 minutes I get the sparkles that begin to cloud my vision.
If I take Aspirin during that time, it can stop my migraine. I found this out much later in life, after experiencing the horrible pain and vomiting. My doctor has since prescribed me a chewable form of Zolmitripan if it gets worse and I end up vomiting all day.
The lighting in your room can also affect the migraine symptoms. LED light flickering at bad frequencies also triggered migraine.
Before you spend a lot of money on a pair of medical glasses, try your local hardware store and see if they sell the same coloured glasses as safety glasses. I got a pair of yellow safety glasses, with yellow supposedly being good for astigmatism and car headlights, but only paid about £3 for them. ‘Medical’ glasses, which were the same colour but in nicer frames, were a lot more expensive.
I’ve also recently bought a pair of red glasses for about £5. They’re not the prettiest glasses I’ve ever seen, but they work to let me know whether red glasses work for me or not :)
That is a good idea. I will have to try that. I had used some yellow goggles a while back when I was bike riding, but I wasn’t have a sensory overload where everything bothers me then. I did notice that while everything seemed brighter, my eyes didn’t react as if it was. A quick search at a local store has yellow for under 10. I don’t see red, which I am a bit more curious about as I haven’t tried them. The advantage of “medical” is I can get them in prescription lenses(and styles), but I only need those for distance as I am nearsighted.
I need prescription glasses now too, but what I’ve tried just to see if the colours work, is just putting the coloured glasses on over my existing glasses. Obviously it’s not ideal, but it’s at least letting me know if the coloured glasses are likely to work, before I spend a lot of money on a pair.
As an aside, you’ve just reminded me that I need prescription sunglasses and I’ve forgotten to ring the optician again 🙈
With what you shared and another commenter mention computer glasses, I decided to order a few colors of safety glasses and I adjusted my monitors temperature. Thanks for sharing, it has been helpful.
I’ve never thought to buy glasses for it specifically. Typically I just dim lights and set screen brightness and contrast so it doesn’t bother me. I have used light regular sunglasses a little in the past when I’ve had to be in bright environments (bright af lab area), I recall that working OK. This is from someone who just has the light hypersensitivity (it’s often called snow blindness where I’m from), in case that matters.
I generally do as well, but right even on the lowest brightness it has been an issue for me and I am planning to visit a friend who lives at high altitude and has a WALL of windows in the living room and avoiding everything is problematic. Just overall seems brighter there and I always have problems there. I am just wondering if those kinds of glasses in red, yellow or some other color would have a better experience than sunglasses would.
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