Hi all,

I never had migraines at all until the middle of last year when we moved all of our household stuff upstairs into the garage, and moved the bare essentials to a rental property. It was all done in a rush, and we couldn't afford to use a removalist so we did it all ourselves.

I found that all the heavy lifting, and especially carrying heavy bags and boxes upstairs, caused me to start getting visual migraines. It definitely was related to heavy lifting and muscle strain. That and the stress probably meant my blood pressure was up, too.

I didn't know that it was a visual migraine until I Googled the words "migraine" and "aura" because I remembered that was the word used in relation to visual symptoms of migraines. I did an image search on Google, and found the pictures just like the ones linked to by Virginia Tam. I was getting the visuals and then nausea and a sort of electrical on-edge feeling, like standing too close to high tension electrical wires, and headaches but not as bad as some of you are describing. They were persistent and heavy but not totally debilitating.

I found out that the visual migraine is caused by spasms in the blood vessels behind the eye(s). One page I read said that some of the cells are in spasm and others aren't, and they alternate, which is the cause of the sparkly zigzag effect.

I also Googled remedies. Coffee can help, even though it can also be a trigger. It's one of the remedies I use at work, now.

But the thing which helped me the most was an electrolyte drink, Staminade. I buy the powdered form, from the supermarket, to make up a drink with water. It's a lot cheaper than buying Staminade or other electrolyte drinks in bottles, and I chose Staminade because it has no added sugar. It helps to balance the electrolytes which helps to stop the spasms. I started using Staminade when I was getting bad leg cramps a few years ago. I always have it in the cupboard now, just in case.

We'll be moving back home soon and have to go through the whole moving process again. I'm not looking forward to it, but I know what to expect and what to do about it.

Helen