Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHeadaches and Blurry VisionEmergency CausesAdditional Causes
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Headaches and Blurry Vision
Emergency Causes
Additional Causes
Blurry vision and headaches often occur together with migraine or cluster headaches, or these symptoms may indicate eye strain. Additionally, blurry vision combined with a headache can sometimes indicate an underlying health issue or emergency condition.
Common causes of blurry vision and headaches are migraines, eyestrain, and other correctable vision issues. Examples of emergency causes include a stroke, dangerouslylow blood sugar, traumatic brain injury, or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Verywell / Luyi Wang
Common Reasons for Headaches With Vision Changes
Headaches can sometimes cause blurry vision and other vision problems. This is especially true with migraines and cluster headaches.
Migraine Headache
Amigraine headachecan cause intense pain in and around your eyes, as well as vision changes.
Anauramay occur before the actual headache. Auras typically lasts about 20 minutes and can include visual symptoms such as:
Some people who experience a migraine aura never develop the actual headache. This makes diagnosing visual problems difficult.
Migraines can also cause tingling or numbness of the skin. People with severe migraines may experience the following symptoms:
Medications, certain foods, smells,loud noises, and bright lights can trigger migraines.
Treatment options for migraines include:
Cluster Headache
Cluster headachesare severe headaches that occur in clusters. They typically cause pain around the eyes. The pain often travels down the neck to include the shoulder. Other symptoms include:
The exact cause of cluster headaches is unknown.
Treatment for cluster headaches includes:
Emergency Causes of Blurry Vision
In some cases, blurry vision can indicate a more serious condition and possible medical emergency.
Stroke
A stroke occurs when a blood clot travels to the brain, interrupting blood flow, or when a blood vessel ruptures and causes bleeding in the brain.
A stroke can lead to many symptoms, including blurry vision and a painful headache. Prompt care, ideally within an hour, is crucial to improve prognosis and help reduce disability.
The warning signs of a stroke include:
The location of the stroke in the brain affects the area of visual disturbances. For example, damage to the right side of the brain typically causes left-sided vision loss, whereas damage to the left side causes right-sided vision loss.
If the stroke is hemorrhagic (bleeding in the brain), treatment is usually surgical and depends on how much you are bleeding and the location of the hemorrhagic stroke.
Hypoglycemia
If blood sugar levels drop too low, known as hypoglycemia, it can become a medical emergency if not treated promptly. Hypoglycemia is blood glucose below 70 mg/dL. Headache can be a symptom of low blood sugar, and other common symptoms include:
Hypoglycemia most commonly occurs in people with diabetes but can also be due to other conditions or factors such as medications or drinking alcohol.
Individuals with blood sugar less than 70 mg/dL but greater than 55 mg/dL can typically follow the 15-15 rule. This rule involves consuming 15 grams of carbs, waiting 15 minutes, re-checking blood sugar, and repeating this process until blood sugar has increased above 70 mg/dL.
Injectable glucagon kits are available for individuals at risk of significantly low blood sugar below 55 mg/dL. However, individuals with severely low blood sugar may not be able to inject the glucagon themselves. Seek emergency medical care after a glucagon injection.
Your healthcare provider can instruct you on the best way to increase your blood sugar if you are at risk of low blood sugar and when to seek emergency care.
Head Trauma
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause headaches and blurry vision, as well as several other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and dizziness.It’s essential to seek medical care after a head injury to determine the extent of the injury and for careful monitoring during recovery.
Treatment depends on the severity of the head trauma and may include:
Giant Cell Arteritis
Also known astemporal arteritis, giant cell arteritis (GCA) is inflammation of the lining of the arteries that run along the temple. GCA usually creates a headache that causes constant, throbbing pain in the temples.
Vision symptoms result from a loss of blood supply to the optic nerve and retina. Other symptoms include:
Treatment may include:
Giant cell arteritis is considered a medical emergency. If left untreated, the condition may cause vision loss in one or both eyes. A delayed diagnosis is the most common cause of GCA-associated vision loss.
Acute Angle-Closure Glaucoma
Acute angle-closureglaucoma(AACG) is a rare type of glaucoma that causes symptoms like headaches to appear suddenly. Eye pressure rises quickly in AACG and causes:
A mid-dilated pupil, in which the pupil dilates (widens) slowly and incompletely, is one of the most important diagnostic features of AACG.
Specific treatments depend on whether treating the condition acutely during the initial presentation or treating the condition chronically. Generally, acute and chronic AACG is treated through a combination of procedures, oral medications, and topical eye medications.
Ocular Ischemic Syndrome
Ocular ischemic syndrome is a condition that develops due to a chronic lack of blood flow to the eye. It is often indicative of atherosclerotic disease, and patients may have co-existing cardiac conditions. Sometimes, this condition is painless, and the most common reason patients seek care is decreased vision. This condition can cause additional signs and symptoms such as:
White spots on the retina signal a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the retinal tissue.
Ocular ischemic syndrome can affect the entire body, and treatment often centers on an interdisciplinary approach with cardiologists, vascular surgeons, neurologists, and primary care. Additionally, treatment usually focuses on addressing complications from the disorder and may include a combination of procedures, topical eye medications, and oral eye medications.
2:18What Is a Retinal Migraine?
2:18
What Is a Retinal Migraine?
Herpes Zoster
Herpes zoster is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus and is also commonly known as shingles. Before the painful blisters characteristic of the herpes zoster rash appear, patients may experience:
The rash typically appears along one or two dermatomes (neural pathways in the body) and heals over several weeks.
Complications of herpes zoster include:
Treatment for shingles involves antiviral medication to lessen the duration of symptoms. The sooner medication is started after symptoms begin, the more effective it is. The rash is painful, so your healthcare provider may also prescribe pain medication depending on the severity of your symptoms.
Herpes zoster around the eyes is serious. It requires immediate medical attention (including antiviral medication) to prevent damage to the ocular nerves and eyes.
Pseudotumor Cerebri
Pseudotumor cerebrioccurs when cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) accumulates in the skull. Obesity, other health conditions, and some medications can contribute to the development of this condition.
Pseudotumor cerebri often causes headaches and changes in vision. There may be a pulsating sensation in the head, and nausea and vomiting may also be present. Left untreated, it can lead to vision loss because of pressure on the optic nerves.
Treatment aims to reduce fluid buildup and pressure. While the condition is often treatable, it may reoccur.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
One of the most common symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning is a headache, which may include blurry vision if you continue to breathe in toxic amounts of carbon monoxide. Other common symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include:
You may feel like you have suddenly developed the flu. Individuals who are sleeping or have had too much alcohol to drink may pass away before experiencing symptoms.
To prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, ensure a carbon monoxide detector is in your home and any rentals or hotels. Set reminders on your phone to check the batteries and change the detector per the manufacturer’s instructions.
Examples of appliances that can contribute to carbon monoxide poisoning that need to be appropriately maintained for safety include:
Also, be aware of your garage ventilation when warming up or cooling down a car, as cars release carbon dioxide when running.
Additionally, avoid burning charcoal inside the home, using portable gas stoves indoors, and using generators indoors. These appliances should only be used outside—and in the case of generators, more than 20 feet from the home.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is treatable in a hospital with oxygen and other supportive measures depending on the severity of the poisoning.
Additional Causes of Blurry Vision and Headache
Vision problems can cause headaches when you either overwork the eyes or struggle to maintain focus, such as an eye strain headache. By correcting the vision problem, you can often resolve the headache.
Eye-Strain Headache
Vision problems can cause headaches when you either overwork the eyes or struggle to maintain focus, such as an eye strain headache. By correcting the vision problem, you can often resolve the headache.Overusing the focusing muscles of your eyes can causeeye strainand headaches. An eye strain headache usually lasts up to an hour after extensive screen time, but it can last longer.
Commoncauses of eye straininclude looking at screens for a long time, such as:
The words and images on a screen are made up of pixels, which don’t have well-defined edges, so the eyes can’t easily focus on them.
As a result, the eyes must work harder, even if an image is high-resolution.When the eye muscles tire, a headache can develop around orbehind the eyes.
Common symptoms of eye strain include:
Resting your eyes from screens and utilizing over-the-counter pain medications can treat eye strain headaches.
Farsightedness
Adults and children with uncorrected farsightedness (hypermetropia) will often experience headaches, especially when reading. Other symptoms include eye strain and difficulty seeing things up close.
Treatment involves corrective glasses or contact lenses.
Headaches develop as you try to compensate for the lack of focusing power.
Dehydration
Dehydration can cause headaches, blurred vision, double vision, and tired and strained eyes because the eye is not properly lubricated.
Treatment includes drinking plenty of water to help hydrate your eyes and reduce eyestrain.
Summary
Migraines and cluster headaches are common causes of blurry vision with a headache. They go away once you no longer have the headache. Eye conditions or eye strain can also cause headaches.
In some cases, vision difficulties and a headache, particularly when the headache is severe, are signs of a medical emergency, such as a stroke, lack of blood flow to the eye, or increased skull pressure. So, if you are experiencing headaches and vision changes, especially if these symptoms are new, seek immediate medical care to ensure prompt treatment and improve prognosis.
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