91. Visual Auras, Tinnitus, and Brain Fog: The Neurological Side of Migraines

Why do you see static, hear ringing, or feel disconnected during a migraine?

In this episode, I break down the neurological symptoms most people don't realize are actually migraines. We're not talking about head pain here, we're talking about visual auras, brain fog, tinnitus, and that strange feeling of being disconnected from reality.

I explain why visual symptoms like scintillating auras, visual snow, and palinopsia happen in your visual cortex, not your eyeball. You'll learn why tinnitus comes and goes for some migraine sufferers and why constant ringing is harder to reverse. And I'll walk you through why brain fog and depersonalization are actually toxicity symptoms, not personality traits or anxiety disorders.

Here's the key insight: these symptoms happen when your brain cells don't have enough nutrients to function optimally, when metabolic waste builds up, or when cellular voltage drops. Your body isn't broken, it's adapting to less than ideal conditions. And when you restore what's missing, the symptoms improve.

This episode is for you if you've experienced strange visual disturbances during migraines, if you hear ringing that comes and goes, if you feel foggy or disconnected even without head pain, or if you've been told these symptoms are just something you have to live with.

If you're having 8+ migraine days per month and you're ready to address why your brain is generating these symptoms, I can help.

Schedule your free consultation here:
https://www.drlesliecisar.com/apply

Free Training: 5 Proven Steps to Being Migraine Free (Even if you think you've already tried everything.)

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In health,
Dr. Leslie Cisar

Episode Transcript

okay so here's a little video
symptoms I didn't realize were actually a migraine
let's see what they identified here
here we go here we go
here we go now one
got sort of static visual field auras
palinopsia there's a word you don't hear every day
depersonalization and tinnitus
alright very good
so um
you know the first three symptoms that they listed here
um like sort of a static in the visual field um
palinopsia and auras sort of the classic migraine aura
these are symptoms that are occurring in the brain
not in the eyeball or in the retina
but in the brain in the visual cortex and then tinnitus
which is believed to be a combination that the
the ringing in the ear um
perception they believe
is sort of a combination of damage to the inner ear
and then also the auditory cortex um
in the brain playing a role as well
which makes a lot of sense with migraines
we'll go into this a little bit here
and then this depersonalization feeling
feeling like you're kind of foggy
you're they they have a picture of like
the woman is sort of like in a glass bubble right
you feel like you're quite
not quite in the real world
you're almost looking at things behind glass
or you're sort of disconnected
um so yes
these are very typical migraine symptoms
so in this little video they're not focusing on
like the classic head pain symptom
that's very classic with a migraine
they're focusing on more of the neurological symptoms
you know symptoms that are not pain related
neurological non pain related symptoms okay
so um the visual aura
that's a classic where the migraine flare will sort of
one of the first uh
oh moments that something is uh
something is going south is that um
you start to perceive
what is most common is like a little
tiny speck that looks a little fuzzy
looks a little foggy I would usually
think that maybe there was a smudge on my glasses
or something you know
that's usually the first perception of a visual
or is just like a little tiny
little tiny thing
that seems like there might be a little smudge
if you don't wear glasses
obviously you're not gonna blame your glasses
but you're gonna think that maybe you got a little
little mucus in your eye or something like that
and then that little point expands into what's called
uh scintillating um
it starts off as like a little circle
usually that's scintillating
it looks almost like a little kaleidoscope type effect
and then it becomes like a donut
so it gets bigger and bigger and as it expands
the center actually clears
so then you sort of have this
usually like donut shaped
or could be like a half ring shaped
of this scintillating uh
perception in your visual field
and it's very distracting
um usually it doesn't impede people's functioning
but if it was very large
if you don't have that little donut hole in the center
that clears that you can see through
if it is very big and very large
then yeah could definitely
interfere with somebody's ability to see or
you know
if you're driving your car or something like that
it could really impede your ability to see the road
etcetera it's very very difficult to read something
you know I mean
best case scenario is that you can't read something
so if you're trying to do fine
detailed work or read something
you know on a computer screen at work
you're gonna have a hard time until that passes
and that's kind of your best case scenario
if it's just a typical aura
but like I say some people will have
a larger phenomenon
that impedes more of their visual field
and makes it a lot harder for them to carry on
while it's happening some people
you know more extreme uh severe versions
people will have like the entire
you know 1/2 of their visual field
um be affected
some people will have half of their visual field
where they actually um
it's not even scintillating
it's just sort of like a total cloud type perception
and so obviously
that's gonna really impair your ability to see
if you're trying to work
or you're trying to drive your car
um etcetera so that's very classic
but this is all happening in the visual
cortex of your brain that's the part of your brain
that processes the nerve input from the
from the retina so when um
this first happens to people
usually people panic a little bit
because you think that it's
there's something wrong with my eye
or I'm having a stroke or my retina is detaching or
or something like that it's
it is not painful
but it's very anxiety provoking because
you know we certainly take a lot of care over our eyes
right we wouldn't want anything to happen to our eyes
and so if suddenly
this sintilating kaleidoscope thing starts happening
and you know
we can't see and it's it's um
the sintilating nature of it
um it
you would think that there was something
happening to your retina or you were having like a
like a little stroke in your retina
or something like that but that's not the case luckily
it's like a little storm it's very similar to
like a little epileptic fit in your visual cortex
that kind of goes the kind of
in a wave kind of moves through your visual cortex
that generates the perception
um so they talk about that in the video
yes that's a classic migraine symptom
that a lot of people will have
many people will then have after the aura
they'll have the classic head pain
so usually that scintillating aura last 20 minutes
that's the most common length of time that those last
and then the head pain will come on
usually within an hour is pretty typical
so the um
the aura will remit or go away
and then a little while later
uh oh
my head's starting to hurt OK
but some people will have that aura
that scintillating aura
but they won't have any head pain
but they might feel a little foggy
they might feel a little tired sluggish
they might yawn a lot you know
may not they might feel it um
for the rest of the day
but they don't have the debilitating head pain
that comes with it
the other thing that they mentioned was the visual
static and so
in the picture that they presented on this little clip
it was actually sort of like that half
where it was almost like a line drawn the
down the middle and then one side you can see clearly
and then the other side is sort of opaque
or scintillating or um
there's that that uh
static
that would be like obviously a more impairing symptom
not as many people are prone to
to that symptom OK
um I don't see that as much
this is similar to what is called visual snow okay
so people even who are not prone to migraines
they might experience this
I'm taping this in the wintertime
where we have snow on the ground
and so this is something that people will experience
a lot of times when there's
like a snow cover and you're out driving
or you're walking on a sunny day
and the sunlight is reflecting off of the snow cover
and then as people are you know
looking out wherever the white snow is
it starts to kind of uh
they call it visual snow because you
like on your TV
when you don't have the signal for the TV
and you have that black and white like uh little
little moving dots and so on that
that's what it's named after
so you kind of get that effect
typically in those white areas where the snow is
you'll see this and that again
is happening not in your eye or in your retina
but it's happening in the visual cortex of your brain
so they mentioned that then palinopsia
here's a new word right for a scrabble champs
so this is where you maintain sort of
like a little shadow image after the fact
so the most frequent um
sort of manifestation of this
that's really common
is if you look at a really bright light
and you kind of see that um
remnant of the light
but that can happen with other things too
and so they're kind of showing that in the picture
so you're still seeing
almost like
an imprint of the image that you just looked at
sort of
over on top of what you're currently looking at
the way that they did the picture
I was thinking
they were just talking about double vision
which is another pretty common um
migraine symptom people's vision will change so um
they will uh
things will be a lot blurrier
you know oh
normally I can read this
but now I'm having difficulty reading
so close up vision might be affected
distance vision might be affected
but that's a pretty common symptom too where um
people's vision gets blurry
so the way they were doing the picture on that one
I you know they called it palinopsia
but to me
it was a little unclear if they didn't mean just plain
like double vision or vision being weaker or
you know more impaired um
prior to the flare or during the flare
or after the flare so with that symptom actually
so if people are noticing that they can't see as well
um prior
during after the migraine
you know they're having difficulty focusing
they can't see as well close up
particularly that symptom
not being able to see close up
that is gonna be more related to the eye muscles
and the eye muscles struggling to turn the eyes inward
to focus close up um
and that is not happening within your visual cortex
that's happening within the muscles of the eye
they're they're having difficulty um
doing what's called convergence
or bringing the eyes in to focus on something up close
the other visual changes too
I would associate
with subtle changes in the shape of the eyeball
so I think general visual disturbance like like
um vision getting weaker
getting worse those types of vision changes
I don't believe are happening within the visual cortex
but it's more happening either with the eye
muscles struggling
to bring the eyes together for focusing close
or the eye
the shape of the eyeball itself is changing slightly
and that's going to generate almost
like a temporary astigmatism
which is going to impact
the focusing of the light on the retina
that's coming through the lens in the eye
so that's actually happening within the eyeball
or the muscles of the eye
not in the visual cortex
so we have those visual symptoms that they listed
um then they uh
talked about this depersonalization
brain fog I feel like I'm not in reality
I was like kind of looking at everything through
through glass and I'm not quite in the scene
so to speak so this is a very
very common migraine symptom brain fog
uh fatigue
just feeling out of it difficulty finding words
disconnected very
very common migraine symptoms
and those are also happening within the brain
I mean I wouldn't say we can really
localize exactly where that's happening
because it's affecting you know
you can based on the symptoms
you could extrapolate that
the different areas within the brain that can
control those functions are going to be affected
but brain fog in general right
it's sort of like the whole thing is foggy right
so I kind of think of that one
um not like just a very specific area
but sort of more impacting multiple areas the last one
tinnitus
so this is extremely common amongst migraine sufferers
done a couple podcasts on this one too
if you have
I'm just gonna give you a kind of the short version
too long didn't read version here
we will link to some of the full podcast on tinnitus
because it's very
very common and affects a lot of people um
but in general right
the good news is that if you experience tinnitus
only when you get a migraine
in my experience it's very
very easy to turn that around
as the migraines get better
so does that tinnitus
even if you have tinnitus when you know it
at times when you're not having a migraine
but it comes and goes
that also has a very good prognosis
that we can get that turned around
if you have straight 24 7
never changing it's always the same volume
same you know same screeching tone all the time
those that prognosis is not as good
it's much harder to turn that type of tinnitus around
but if you have that kind
that's just coming on with the migraine
very very good prognosis to get that turned around
or if it comes and goes if it's here one day
gone the next with or without a migraine again
in my experience
you have a good prognosis to get that symptom to remit
and go away so
um they did identify some very common uh
symptoms that come along with migraines
so why do we get these right
that's what everybody wants to know hahaha
so overwhelmingly most of what they described here
are symptoms
that your brain doesn't have enough nutrients basically
okay so your visual cortex right
when we're awake and we have our eyes open
the retina is being bombarded continuously
by photons of light
and that's generating the stimulus to fire the nerves
which go back into the visual cortex
and then the visual cortex puts that all together right
so your visual cortex
I mean your brain is active all the time right
but you know your
your visual cortex is continuously processing things
right I mean
I could be sitting by myself working quietly
not listening to anything
not saying anything
my auditory cortex is not gonna be as active
as my visual cortex right
we're we're awake
we're pretty much always getting that stimuli from uh
photons of light right
whereas you know noise that's something that is uh
you know can be more or less prevalent right
so um
there's a tremendous nutrient demand within again
your your
you know I
I'm not trying to make too fine a point on this
your brain is working all the time right
I mean every cell in your body requires nutrients
to function properly and so
when there is a nutrient deficiency
within your visual cortex
or within your pancreas or
you know like wherever it may be in your body
if there is a little bit of a nutrient deficiency
that impedes the cell from functioning optimally
we don't just drop dead okay
thank goodness
the body adapts to less than ideal conditions
but in the process of making those adaptations
there are compromises to be made okay
we humans we want to have it all all the time right
we we want to have less than optimal conditions
but we don't want to have any uh
uh compromises over that or any trade offs right
we just want our cake and eat it too
but that's not congruent with reality
so
we are not just gonna drop dead
if we're a little nutrient deficient
within the visual cortex
and sodium and potassium is used with
within the entire brain okay to get a lot of work done
okay so if there's a little deficiency going on
it's not like you know we just drop dead
we faint we pass out or something like that
oh no we will keep functioning
but what do you expect to have happened right
you're going to have some alteration
in the functioning of the visual cortex
and then you're going to experience
what we call symptoms
and we can call them big fancy names like polypsia
etcetera
but you're going to experience symptoms as a result
okay so um
that's what's ultimately what's happening here
you you don't have enough nutrients
within that part of your brain
for it to function optimally
now that's
one of the three things that I talk about
all the time on my podcast right
there are three things that our cells need
to function properly to maintain uh
proper function and when that happens
we are in a state of health and we feel good
I call these things the three principles so No. 1
our cells need the nutrients
that they need to do their work and function properly
so that's the first principle um
the second principle is
we have to clear metabolic waste material and toxins
so again as the neurons in your visual cortex
do their work process the inputs from the optic nerve
put this whole thing together
so that we perceive what we perceive right
which we really don't even understand how you know
we know a lot about the brain and the human body
but there's a ton that we really don't uh
understand how everything works
in the process of doing that work
it's generating waste material okay
I call it metabolic waste material
you could call them toxins okay
um by products trash
whatever you wanna call it there's waste material
metabolic by products
metabolic waste material is
is generated and that has to be removed from the cell
and ultimately removed from the body
so things are not gonna function well
if there's a whole bunch of trash
laying all over the place
so as
the cells get the nutrients
that they need to do what they are supposed to do
they make this waste material
we gotta get the waste material out of the cells okay
and then ultimately out of our body and then No. 3
we have to have enough vitality
or at the cellular level
literal cellular energy or cellular voltage
so if the cellular voltage is low
things are not gonna run 100% okay
you uh
only have 50% electricity
going through the wire to your lamp
and you turn the lamp on
the bulb is not gonna burn 100%
there's only 50% electricity
the bulb is going to be affected okay
so this is the same thing
is going to happen within the cells of our body
within the cells of our brain
our visual cortex okay so
those three pieces have to be in place
for the visual cortex to function optimally
and if there's a little bit of a deficiency
or a overload in the case of waste material
again we don't just drop dead
we don't just faint
we don't just pass out we just don't go blind
but the body adapts to less than ideal
the circumstances less than ideal environment
but then there's a there's a trade off right
there's a consequence to that and we don't like that
we call that a symptom but it's actually an adaptation
a productive adaptation
to a less than optimal environment
and the good news is when
you restore the cellular voltage
when you take some of that trash out
and when you bring fresh nutrients in
what do you know I can see again right
so this is you know
we're always sort of like especially migraine suffers
we're always like oh
my body hates me I'm doomed
I'm defective what's wrong with me
nobody else has this right
everybody else can do whatever they want to do
and I have to be so careful
I totally get it right but actually the
the miracle of our body is that it can adapt
to a less than optimal environment
and continue to function okay
that's actually the miracle here
other animals and then you know
a lot like a lot of living things on the planet
they have less than optimal conditions
they're dead OK you take a plant that likes the shade
and stick it in the sun
it's not gonna live too long OK
we can we can go on a long long
long time in less than optimal conditions
that's the blessing but there are consequences to that
and we call those symptoms
that is a bit of an explanation
going a little bit deeper into those uh
visual symptoms that they talked about um
and then with tinnitus it's a very similar phenomenon
we have to have the nutrients that the inner ear needs
the the um
the um auditory cortex right
it's the same phenomenon with tinnitus
and this is why um so much tinnitus
the people experience is not the constant 24 7 okay
that is um
coming from actual
anatomical damage within the inner ear
and that's very difficult to repair
that's not an organ in the body
that repairs itself very easily
um but when it comes and goes right
it's the same phenomenon temporarily
I have a deficiency or a blocker
or a missing piece within those three principles
within my auditory cortex or within my inner ear
but when those conditions improve
hmm the tinnitus improves right
so again this is the miracle of the body
when we give the body what it needs
it recovers it has a recovery mechanism built in
the depersonalization sort of the brain fog
um
feeling like we're a little disconnected from reality
I think that that is happening more
sort of on the whole brain level
again
we really don't understand consciousness very well
and so those symptoms are more related to sort of
the phenomenon of consciousness okay
and typically we call that brain fog
people will say that they have brain fog right
because they're just feeling that mentally foggy
out of it you know
where did why did I come in the room
you know what was I
what was I just reading I can't find the words
that type of phenomenon is called brain fog
um this is a very
very common symptom okay
a lot of people are struggling with this
so you don't
have to have migraines to experience brain fog
it's one of the more common symptoms
that people experience
but definitely migraine suffers very
very common
brain fog is considered to be a toxicity symptom okay
so every symptom is going to
at some level
come back to these three critical principles
or factors that our body and ourselves need
but there are certain symptoms
where they have more weight
within one of the three principles
brain fog is a symptom that has more weight
of being a toxicity symptom
migraines and headaches are also a symptom
that's more of a toxicity symptom
so different symptoms have more of a weight
or a focus within one of these three principles
so brain fog is one of those symptoms
so it's widely understood
that when people have an overload of waste
material and toxins in their body
sort of in their bloodstream
this brain fog symptom develops
and that's why it's so common
not just with migraine suffers
because most people unfortunately
have an overload of waste
material and toxins in their body unfortunately
when somebody has brain fog it's like yep
we know that we have an overload of toxins
or waste material metabolic waste materials
that the body is struggling to 1
get out of the cells
and then ultimately out of the body
so yes this video
it does
pick up some of the very common migraine symptoms
but it really didn't go into you know
it was just a little clip
it's not really the purpose of it
to go into more detail but
I like to go more into the detail and kind of describe
um why these things are happening
I think with a lot of these video clips
the focus is on sort of um
sharing experiences
and there's definitely a feeling of like support
so when we can go online and
and watch a clip or a reel where
you know somebody's kind of describing our experience
that's causing us a lot of suffering
we can feel good that we're not the only one
like a pretty common symptom amongst
migraine sufferers that we've talked about is like
Raynaud syndrome um
but it's not that common amongst the general public so
you know I
I will have clients that that will feel like
this Raynaud syndrome
that they have is something that's just really bizarre
and you know
nobody else has this and then when I say
oh yeah
this is really common they feel good about that right
we kind of get a little comfort that we're not just
like the haha
the outlier the one in the mil you know
one in a million you know
freak person right
we we take comfort in knowing oh okay
there's other people out there that have this
I'm not the only one you know
we take comfort in that and that's great
but we can also take you know
I don't know how to say this
would I say we can almost take too much comfort in it
right
because we don't Wanna continue to have these symptoms
right I've I've had auras
I've had visual snow I've had tinnitus
I've had brain fog it's unpleasant right
and we can turn this around
we don't have to keep suffering with this
so it's great to feel a you know
some support it's good to feel understood
it's good to know that we're not you know
kind of the one in a million freak out there right
those things are great but now what are we doing right
so what I do with my work
what I what I hope to do with my work
is to motivate people to realize
that you can restore your health
once you know where your blockers
or deficiencies or missing pieces are
within these three principles
we can take action we can take informed action
we can make changes we can give our body what it needs
and then our body is gonna respond to that
because remember our body is continuously adapting
to the environment that it's in
it's trying to do the best that it can
in the environment that it's in
and so when we change the environment
the physical environment mental
emotional environment
the body will respond and we will feel better
so that's what I like to point to with my work
thanks for joining me here
I hope this was helpful to you please reach out and um
book a free consult
call with me if my approach resonates with you
and let's see if you're a good candidate
and if I can help you too talk to you soon