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Anyone have any idea what's going on?

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The blurriness was combined with some weird distortions that made things sort of 'cubist' in that region.

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The blurriness was combined with some weird distortions that made things sort of 'cubist' in that region.

This sounds like the symptoms of one possible manifestation of a migraine. (Read the section about "Aura".)

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Even so, best to get it checked out.

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This sounds like the symptoms of one possible manifestation of a migraine. (Read the section about "Aura".)

A coworker (actually the first person I described the episode to as it was happening) said he has similar experiences and that they're linked to migraines (from which he suffers).
I don't get many headaches and have never been diagnosed as getting migraines, but I'm not ruling this out.
The wikipedia article was very good- thanks!

If I get a headache later I'll be able to link the two directly!

During the whole time (less than an hour) I wasn't particularly worried about what was going on and had no other symptoms.. In fact, it did bring up some memories of at least one similar occurrence in the distant, forgotten past.

I'm just off the phone now with an RN who wasn't much help. Next stop is to speak with a Doc.

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Even so, best to get it checked out.

Agreed.

It's either it's a big endorsement for the empeg board or an indictment of the health care industry that he chose to seek help for a scary vision problem here before visiting a doctor

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Even so, best to get it checked out.

Agreed.

It's either it's a big endorsement for the empeg board or an indictment of the health care industry that he chose to seek help for a scary vision problem here before visiting a doctor

Actually, I didn't find the experience scary- just annoying. As it was clearing up I had no question that things would get back to normal and all I had to do was 'ride it out'.

'Hey, what's with this?'

Asking the empeggers was more a query along the lines of 'fun things you didn't know about your body'. Kind of like when I learned about sleep paralysis, which I was very happy to know more about.

At any rate, yes, I'll continue a line of professional analysis, but I'm not shaking in my boots worrying about an imaginary brain hemorrhage.

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Ah- here comes the science..

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When the activity of nerve cells is depressed, there is impairment of function in the part of the body controlled by these cells. For example, there may be a loss of vision or of strength. Increased activity of brain nerve cells may result in flashing lights or tingling in the face and hand. In the experiments with animals, the depression of nerve cell activity slowly spreads beyond the initial spot of stimulation. This phenomenon is called spreading depression. It is preceded by a wave of increased nerve cell activity.

This slowly spreading depression of nerve cell activity is believed to account for the pattern of development of the typical aura. In the migraine aura, symptoms build up gradually and move slowly from one visual region or one part of the body to another. For example, the migraine aura sufferer may first notice a black spot in the field of vision. This black spot is often surrounded by flashing lights or bright zig-zag lines. The size of the black spot gradually enlarges over a period of minutes. The combination of loss of vision (negative symptoms) with flashing lights or zig-zag lines (positive symptoms) is a typical and distinctive feature of migraine aura. The negative symptom (blacking out of vision) is due to depressed nerve activity; the positive visual symptoms are due to the zone of hyperactive nerve cells. In contrast, a sudden shutting off of blood supply to the brain (as might occur with a blood clot) causes a sudden loss of function. In this case, there is no gradual "march" of visual symptoms or numbness, and positive visual symptoms do not occur.

From this article, linked from the wikipedia entry.

The 'gradual vs. sudden' and 'positive and negative symptoms' explanation really nails this and has eased my worries.

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Actually, I didn't find the experience scary- just annoying.

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Sounds like definite migraine symptoms. It could have been worse, after the vision effects described here, I usually end up with no vision of anything to the left hand side for 15 or 20 minutes (unless something moves, then I can sort of 'see' it) It can also be accompanied by numbness in my fingertips, loss of power in one arm, then a rather incredible pain that crawls from the back of the neck right up over my scalp until it reaches my forehead. Oh, and sensitivity to light (but not noise for some reason)

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Haven't had one in about 18 months (touch wood!)

I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy...

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Call an ophthalmologist and go see him. Now. It's serious enough that you need a pro opinion.

I had something like that happen last year. It started as I walked to work from the parking lot. With every step I saw a bright flash in the center of the eye. Rapid eye moves did the same...

I'll be lining up doc visits for as soon as possible and get complete checkups.
The thing about this episode was that it wasn't induced by any physical trauma. It was sort of a visual version of a foot falling asleep- very much a nerve thing. The 'blank spot' turning to 'donut distortion' experience was shared for both eyes, so I knew it wasn't so much the 'cameras' as the 'video card'. lol The OS might be buggy at times, but what do you expect when the motherboard has the consistency of marmalade?

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It was incredibly scary while it was happening though, after 30 minutes lay down it cleared.