What medications can cause ocular migraines?

Are you experiencing eye pain that feels like someone trapped a little lightning inside? Or maybe you’re enjoying some nice vision when out of nowhere – wham! – one eye decides to go on vacation, leaving behind a parting gift of funky lights and blind spots. If any of these descriptions sound familiar, it’s probably an ocular migraine (otherwise known as your eyes acting completely bananas).

While ocular migraines aren’t typically harmful (besides being mildly irritating at best and frustratingly painful at worst), they can be fleeting or last for several hours to a couple days. The usual triggers include stress (thanks life!), flickering lights (goodbye rave scene), weather changes (cue the forecast), certain foods (adios chocolate), and even medications.

In this article, we’ll dive into common medications that can cause ocular migraines (yeah, it’s not all sunflowers and lollipops in the world of pharmacology).

THE LOWDOWN ON OCULAR MIGRAINES

Before we get down to brass tacks about medication-induced ocular migraines, let’s talk briefly about what they are.

Ocular migraines are also called retinal migraines because they happen when blood vessels spasm in the retina. This disrupts normal blood flow and causes temporary visual disturbances such as:

• Bright flashing or shimmering lights
• Blind spots or missing fields of vision
• Scintillations (fancy word for sparkles)

But don’t worry if you encounter one because chances are high that it will eventually subside without lasting effects beyond momentary annoyance.

CAUSE AND EFFECT: MEDICATIONS

Here comes the crucial part: prescription drugs known to cause off-the-wall visions may fall under multiple categories including Cholesterol-lowering medications, Antibiotics, Antidepressants, and Drugs for blood pressure.

Cholesterol-lowering medications

High cholesterol = bad news bears (except in certain animals that have no problem eating all the mozzarella). To combat high cholesterol levels leading to heart disease or stroke patients are prescribed statins such as:
– Lovastatin (Altoprev)
– Atorvastatin(Lipitor)
– Fluvastatin(Weirdly named Lescol)

While these meds help regulate your body’s natural fat deposits, they can also cause ocular migraines. One study found that a whopping 11% of patients taking atorvastatin reported seeing real-life visions inspired by a Dali painting? (Just kidding but 11% is still pretty significant)

Antibiotics

Your doc prescribes antibiotics if you get touched with bacterial infection (not viruses soz!) , and while adverse ocular side-effects aren’t too common it can happen.
Medications like Levofloxacin and Ciprofloxacin – types of fluoroquinolones that treat everything from sinus infections to urinary tract problems might have rare chances which may be linked to temporary visual issues.

However some individuals may require treatment with members of this group despite concerns thanks to worsening health conditions

Remember: Your doctor will talk about risks versus benefit when prescribing any drug.

Anti-depressants

If someone ever told you ‘just think positively!’ when talking about mental illness than please tell them kindly (?) to stop..Anyway there are various antidepressant’s which include SSRIs like Fluoxetine(Prozac), Sertraline(Zoloft) etc., along with MAO inhibitors such as Phenelzine (Nardil) or Selegiline (Emsam).

Now before making judgements let’s shout out some positivity here because antidepressants save lives! However they can lead to ocular migraines. So if you’re choosing happiness, keep both eyes peeled for potential side effects.

Medications that delay a racing heart

In case of high blood pressure, your physicians may prescribe calcium channel blockers like:

• Amlodipine (Norvasc)
• Diltiazem (Cardizem)
• Verapamil (Calan)

These drugs can suppress tremors by helping the heart beat at an even rhythm but in some cases (not always) patients on these meds reported visual disturbances.

Bear in mind though – better safe than sorry so don’t stop taking medications without first consulting with your licensed healthcare provider

BOTTOM LINE

While ocular migraines are generally harmless they still feel like watching a super-scary movie where you hate looking but also have to continue just because curiosity? However tracking down all possible triggers will make it easier to prevent them occurring again.

If medications happen to be the culprit behind any change or issues with vision, take control by talking it out with your doctor about alternative methods for treating conditions which elicit minimal adverse reactions. Your sight is crucial–so give it what it deserves: love and care!