As long as I’m going to have a semi-debilitating condition, it might as well be one I can self-treat, confident that a doctor couldn’t do any better. That wasn’t my first thought when the my brain lit up last night, but it was how I felt after doing extensive internet research on migraines today. My first thought last night was: How am I going to dial 911 if I can’t see the phone? (Then: I hope they have an audio version of this book I just started.)

It was a colorful display of geometric lights that came on about 8:00 pm. At first it was on the periphery of the vision field in my right eye, and then it started getting larger and pulsing toward the center, but it never got past that area. My left eye (which is my better eye for vision) was never affected. I was scared, of course, while it was happening, but it only lasted about 15 minutes, and afterward I was less frightened. Plus: no headache.

And after my forays onto medical web sites today, I felt okay about it all. I found all kinds of cool names for what it might have been, too, names like “scintillating scotoma,” “fortification spectra” and “acephalgic migraine.” Symptoms usually resolve within 15-30 minutes, they tell me (and I agree, based on my vast one-time experience). Sufferers usually find ways of treating themselves, including lying down in the dark. (Caffeine and cannabis also caught my attention as possible remedies.)

So I’m not worried. I feel fine today. I’m not quite ready to do the jive or the hustle, but I could probably be persuaded to fox trot.

Migraine is a chronic condition, and unless I’ve missed it, this was the first time I’ve had anything resembling a symptom. Even the medical sites say that a one-time occurrence doesn’t lead to a diagnosis, so all I can do is assume it’s a meaningless event, unless it happens again. Then I will reassess. (You see what I’m doing here, right? I’m trying to get you (a) not to worry, and (2) not to insist that I seek professional help.)