Q&A Episode - The Texas Weightlifting Boot, Rip's Cookbook, and Apocalypto | Starting Strength Radio #180
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Regarding Sam's question about blurry vision after lifting, my own n=1 for visual migraine was almost ten years ago, prior to taking up proper strength training.
I was in a store at the time, and the onset of it had me initially wonder if some miscreant had hit me in the eye with a laser pointer, as it was like the afterimage of a bright light, but localized. As it developed, it became a visual field distortion that was like a combination of the blind spot and the effect of a greasy smudge on a cell phone screen. (The Wikipedia article on "scintillating scotoma" has some animated pictures that do it justice.) It was not what I'd call blurry vision, though, as the rest of the visual field was normal.
Noticing that it was identical bilaterally, I was worried it was a stroke or similar. As a side note, when urgent care tells you,"We're really busy, it may be over an hour", a response of "I am concerned that I may be having symptoms of a stroke", gets you right past the line...
In short, after an ER visit and multiple tests (including an MRI), nothing was found wrong, and they diagnosed it as "ocular migraine", and sent me home the next day. The neurologist kept asking incredulously, "And you don't have any pain?", but no, there was no headache to go with it. It got me objective evidence that within my thick skull, there was indeed a tiny, nominally functioning brain, at least.
I was also then diagnosed with hypertension, and medicated for it, however. I had one or two partial recurrences of the auras as the meds were sorted out, and absolutely nothing since, so for me, the visual auras appear to have been related to blood pressure. I bring this up in case it's worth Sam's consideration, though I don't know why training would have an effect on BP an hour later...
Shot in the dark, but any chance it could be related to blood sugar and some recovery effect?
I love the cooking videos Rip, but why are they filmed in a dungeon? I'm pretty sure in the chicken video I saw shackles bolted to the wall in the background
Unrelated to the podcast question but N=2 on the scintillating scotomas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Donaldson
I had a a few ten years ago or so, brought on by extremely bright screens while drilling emergency response scenarios. I rode these out and eventually reviewed with my primary Dr. He said a couple a year is no concern. If the frequency increases we will go to neurology. I was convinced then and now that they are harmless but scary.
Fast forward to discovering brain cancer (I have an article on this site), I was and am dealing with a team of experts, to include ongoing treatments, brain imaging, meds and neuro cognitive evaluations. The scintillating scotomas have recently returned. About one a week.
To ask out loud, is it the cancer? The meds? The treatments? A coincidence? No one really knows. Fortunately this form of migraine is without pain and only lasts 10-15 minutes.
Where you found a correlation with blood pressure, mine is really undetermined. While it is such a distinct glitch you would think it could be figured out, but I guess no money or glory in solving it.
I get visual migraine every once in a while too. About half of the time it is followed by a serious headache that lasts for several hours.
I believe many of these migraines are related to transient or persistent changes in intracranial pressure (usually too high) and the misregulation of autonomic cerebral vascular tension in response.
