#medstudentsyndrome

So, uncanny timing last night (cheers, for that brain), whereby it decided to have a migraine - I shit you not - just as music practice for Sunday was meant to start. Obviously, this wasn't very conducive to playing the piano because I couldn't see everything in my right visual field. So I sat out on practice and fortunately, one of the singers for Sunday is an incredibly talented pianist (who normally plays on Sunday anyway) stepped in. Poor guy. This Sunday must've been a rest day for him. Not that he actually needs to spend time practicing anyway.

Anyway, I got driven home and went straight to sleep because in my experience, I usually can sleep off migraines. Oh nonono. At 1am, my head decides to wake me up with a splitting pain and I can tell you that it was probably the worst migraine pain I have felt in a very, very long time. Call me a pussy, but I was thinking subarachnoid haemorrhage. Also because I am a hypochondriac and doing neuro is not doing wonders for that, because now everything feels like it could be caused by a stroke, haemorrhage or brain tumour. So I was sitting there, nay lying in agony, questioning myself if this was really truly a migraine, and not a subarachnoid haemorrhage, which would mean my ICP rocketing sky high in a matter of moments and me losing consciousness as my pupils blow. I was quite tempted to actually get out of bed and test my pupillary light reflex. But instead, I listened to my rational self (no, you have no evidence of trauma. But you do those damned bicycle crunches in which you fling your head back and forth, surely you could have torn a vein. Yes, but that'd make a subdural more likely and there would be reports of that shit happening to fitness freaks. And if it was a subdural, you don't normally get splitting pain. Also your pain is one sided LIKE A FUCKING MIGRAINE instead of being generalised. Oh, alright) and got out of bed to get paracetamol instead. And within half an hour, I was blissfully asleep again - so yes, I must've been a pussy if paracetamol was enough to take away my pain.

Also whilst in the throes of my migraine, I finally worked out how the optic nerves decussate and decided that something was happening in my left optic radiation to cause my right homonymous hemianopia. Whilst also a sign of something vascular affecting the posterior cerebral artery or perhaps a brain tumour, a transient right homonymous hemianopia is also a common part of the aura phase of a migraine, especially when accompanied by a 'scintillating scotoma'. Is that not the coolest term ever? It just means a fuzzy shimmering thing in my visual field which gradually expands as my vision starts to go all funky. Chur, Wikipedia.
My thought process also was like, oh - it's the left side of my head that actually hurts. May be it's referred pain from my left optic radiation as my blood vessels are vasospasming. But the brain doesn't feel pain. And then I couldn't really go any further from there. Also because thinking hurt my head.