Can anybody tell me the difference between a bleed and an ocular migraine?

That is a great question, , and one that I would for sure ask my specialist if it were happening to me. I'm not sure of the difference between the two, personally, but I did find an article in our database that may be of some help to you while you wait for other community members to respond https://maculardegeneration.net/caregiver/vision-loss-symptoms/. I hate to hear that you're waking up with this every morning and hope that your medical professionals can help you find a way to relieve some of your pain as well as give you some knowledge on the matter. Thank you for reaching out. -Andrea, MacularDegeneration.net Team Member

I have had ocular migraine for many years. Initially, I only had a couple of incidents a year, but in recent months episodes have become much more frequent. I've never had pain with them, and they typically last only a few minutes. If I can I lay down with my eyes closed until they pass. As I also have wet macular degeneration in both eyes with eylea shots every 8 - 12 weeks, I wondered if that has anything to do with the increased episodes of ocular migraine. From everything I read, that doesn't seem to be a trigger. I've had an MRI, and I don't have a brain tumor (a small percentage can have). I had regular migraine with pain, but didn't seem to involve my eyes, as a young woman. Those disappeared in my mid 40's. The ocular migraine episodes started about 10 years ago. My AMD was diagnosed about 5 years ago, with wet in one eye, dry in the other, until earlier this year, with both now being wet. I've had wonderful results with the eylea injections. Hopefully, I will always retain most of my vision. I got my treatments early because I recognized the symptoms right away, as my mom had it. She was actually legally blind the last few years of her life, which didn't slow her down a bit! She did hate having to give up driving and reading her morning paper with coffee! She utilized a number of techniques to mitigate any negative impact it had on her daily life. One of her favorites were the audio books. So I think I'm in a pretty good place so far with my treatment for macular degeneration. Since from all I've read my ocular migraines are more of a nuisance than a serious condition, especially with no pain, I'll just have to figure out what my triggers are to minimize them.