Whew. I feel like I deserve a medal for making it through January this year. After enjoying the first week in Charlotte, the rest of the month was a mess. There was an ice storm, a government shutdown, and then the medical crap came back. A couple weeks ago I spent 2 hours in the ER after experiencing what I later determined was a scintillating scotoma. I’d never had anything like that before, and therefore had no idea whether it was harmless or whether I was about to have some sort of crazy stroke! So that was pretty stressful. Whew. (It has not happened again, and I have a followup with an eye doctor on Monday just for peace of mind.)
Last Friday I was at the doctor’s office with Charlotte last Friday for an ear infection, and Jose was there with Emma yesterday for a stomach bug…
…but then Jose sent me this photo from Academy yesterday afternoon. So clearly, despite the fever and complaints about her stomach, Emma was feeling JUST FINE.
—
Adding to the perceived month of never-ending crap is that fact that Charlotte has completely forgotten how to fall asleep on her own. We had a perfectly good routine going before Christmas, but I guess the holidays and the flu and being on vacation totally blew it all out of the water. She is perfectly fine at bedtime until I (or Jose) leave the room, at which point she starts wailing uncontrollably.
If we go back in, we end up sitting there for up to an hour or more while she tosses and turns and generally stays wide awake. If we leave, the sobbing starts again.
So basically, I’m at the point of having to do cry it out with a stubborn 2+ year old and it suuuuucks.
—
But on to happier things — and there’s even a happier thing in the bedtime department! Since implementing the sticker chart, reduced iPad time, and earlier bedtime, Emma’s bedtime meltdowns have essentially disappeared. So HOORAY for that!
—
And more fun! We’ve got several fun things on tap for this weekend, starting with swimming lessons tomorrow morning. We stopped lessons at our old place late last summer, not because we weren’t happy there but just because the location became very inconvenient after we moved. (The place was close to our old house, so once we moved so much closer to work/school, making the hike down there for swim lessons amidst weekday 5:30 traffic, and then again to get back home, was a pain.) There’s a new swim school only 5 minutes away, so we’re starting there. Emma is an “X-Treme Beginner” and I’ll be doing Waterbabies with Charlotte.
Tomorrow afternoon, Emma’s school is having their annual Winter Carnival — the one big PTA fundraiser they do every year. We’ve never been, obviously, since this is her first year of “real” school, but from what I’ve heard it’s quite the event! Emma’s been talking about it all week!
And then Sunday is the Super Bowl, and we’re headed to a friend’s house for a party. There’ll be a ton of kids and snacks and company so it should be fun. I’m looking forward to having plenty of activities to keep us busy and out of the house this weekend!
that’s interesting, i get that pretty regularly, have had it all my life, though its annoying when it continues for more than a couple minutes, never followed by a migraine though… i just assumed it was something that normally happened to everyone, kind of like ringing in your ears…
Interesting! Have you ever talked to a doctor about it? I’ve never gotten migraines either. From my internet reading it sounds totally benign but it totally freaked me out — I’d never experienced anything like it and was like am I having some sort of stroke? Is my retina detaching? It was freaky. How often do you get them?
No, never even thought to bring them up to the doctor. I don’t think I get them super often, but now that I know its a thing I might be more mindful of them (maybe I get them when stressed? who knows.) but i remember saying something to them about my mom once when i was a kid or teenager and she was like “oh that happens sometimes, don’t worry about it.” And I never have since. It is freaky. A couple of times they lasted long enough that I lied down and closed my eyes to wait for them to pass, but usually they just kind of come and go very briefly as I said, at most a minute or two. They’ve never been so disruptive that I couldn’t see through/around them or whatever (like the wikipedia site said something about driving, they’ve never been that disruptive!).
I get the twinkly stuff when I am going to get a migraine. Luckily my migraines are not debilitating and if I take some Tylenol or Advil and lay down for a bit they go away in a few hours. Glad you are all feeling better.
Bedtime for us is in the crapper, too. I have fallen into just letting him play for a bit until he gets tired (but I don’t think he is tired—I think we need to ditch naps at daycare but not sure how to ask them that yet) and that’s almost 10pm. And I want to be in bed already!
Sticker chart—maybe I’ll try that.
I’ve never gotten migraines before — I’m thankful for that!
The only warning about the sticker chart is that then they become obsessed with the sticker chart — lol!
Oh man. I have had two optical migraines in my life. The second was a wk after #1 was born and I remember calling my husband to come home and then sitting down with our little guy in a chair so that if I went like completely blind we would both be safe. Mine have been triggered by phenomenal amounts of stress. Hoping for you that you do not have another!
I did wonder if it could be stress-related — the evening it happened wasn’t overly stressful, but it’s definitely been a stressful last few months in general. Hmm.
I get these, Sarah. I’ve been getting them for more than 10 years. I’ve had them as frequently as twice a day when pregnant, but usually only a few times a year. Mine usually last about 45 minutes. On one occasion, it was followed by an extremely severe headache, but otherwise, no follow-on, thankfully.
I talked to my eye doctor about them, but if you read the wikipedia article, they are a brain problem, not an eye problem. So your eye doctor is basically not going to be able to do anything about them or probably even tell you much. I think you’d need to see a brain doctor, but I don’t really think there’s anything anyone can do, other than try to identify and avoid triggers. My known triggers are stress (hard to avoid and usually doesn’t trigger an aura on its own) and bright lights, such as the sun reflecting off a car bumper. I try to wear sunglasses when it’s bright (not all that frequent here).
Estrogen-based birth control is strongly contraindicated if you get auras, so if you’re on any kind of hormonal birth control, you should talk to your OB.
I’m a little skeptical that what Becca is experiencing is the same thing, since they typically last at least 20 minutes, usually 30 minutes to an hour.
I was kind of freaked out when I first experienced it, since you know, I couldn’t see properly for about 45 minutes or so. It was years before I finally figured out what it was.
I will say, mine have looked almost exactly like the two of the patterns that were in the wikipedia entry … but you’re right, I’ve never had them for as long as you describe! I don’t think I’ve ever had one exceed ten minutes….
I also get floating style spots after looking at bright lights sometimes or making a rapid shift from a dark interior light to bright sunlight, but I don’t think that’s the same thing, everyone gets that right?
It must just be a slightly different variety of aura. When I told my parents they were shocked and horrified, but my brother gets them, too, so they must run in our family. According to Sarah’s article, they’re not super common (1.3% I think was cited), but maybe they’re just underreported. They creep me out.
So, when it first started I was like “huh, did I look at a bright light?” because it seemed like how your vision gets messed up momentarily when you do that. But then it didn’t clear, and I realized it was something else entirely.
I don’t get spots going from dark to light though…
I have to admit it’s made me feel a lot better to have 4 different people say they’ve had this happen before too! I had never heard of it or experienced anything like it before! I literally googled “sparkly c shape in vision” to figure out what it was! Ha.
Mine lasted maybe 25 minutes and for the first part when the sparkly bits were in the center of my vision, I really couldn’t focus on anything. It gradually expanded outward in a “c” shape before finally disappearing.
Yeah, I saw the description of it stemming from the brain, which makes sense because even when I closed my eyes I could still see all the sparkling. The ER told me to see an eye doctor, so I figured what the heck.
Yeah, I mean, you might as well if you have the time and it’ll make you feel better, but this is one of the things that frustrates me about doctors in general and why I rarely go for non-maintenance visits (like teeth cleaning and vaccines). There are certain curable diseases that doctors can diagnose and have specific treatments for, like diabetes and cancer and bacterial infections. Then there’s everything else, and it seems they just don’t know much. Most things to do with the brain and the immune system falls in this category. I’m very skeptical an eye doctor can tell you much, though if your “eye doctor” is an opthamologist as opposed to an optometrist, maybe you’ll fare better. (I talked to an optometrist. An optometrist does have a substantial amount of schooling – they are not a tech – but they don’t have a medical degree.) But in general, it feels to me like the ER doc may not exactly be an expert on auras. I wonder if there are doctors out there who ARE experts on auras. I find it a little troubling that something weird is going on with my brain, and given that estrogen-based BC is not recommended due to increased risk of stroke, it’s obviously not totally cool. Maybe I shouldn’t complain since I haven’t actually sought out a medical professional to speak to.