Migraines

When I was a child, I had such migraines if I didn't get enough sleep (like, staying up late and getting up early for weeks). If it's the same for you, you'll want to make sure you get your 8 to 9 hours of sleep and that you're asleep during the period from 12 through 3 (IIRC), which supposedly is somehow important (no idea why...).

As to the visual disturbance: If you close your eyes and massage your eyes through your eyelids, do you see a kind of honeycomb pattern? Is that about the same as your "visual disturbance", just that the latter is overlaid over what you're seeing in some odd way? That's how it was for me. The best analogy I found was that the eyes must be so tired they're missing signals, or getting false ones, just like when you massage your eyes.

Yes, I'm pretty convinced it's sleep related. I've been having trouble sleeping these past few days because of the storms going on outside (they've been quite noisy, especially in the early hours of the morning).

As for the visual effect, I'm not sure whether it's similar to what you're describing or not; it isn't really a honeycomb, though it is quite similar to what I see if I shut my eyes really tight. It reminds me a bit of oil on water or liquid crystal when you apply pressure (that is, it's translucent, but there are colours), but divided up into different zones, which seem to scintillate somehow (again, usually outside-in) and whose edges are hard to pin down exactly. It always starts at the outside of my visual field, and usually affects one eye more than the other (not always the same eye though). When it's really bad sometimes it actually starts going black from the outside in, though that hasn't happened for years.

I used to think maybe I wasn't drinking enough water, as I tended to feel thirsty when I got them, but I read somewhere that thirst may in fact be a symptom rather than a cause. I know that coffee and vigourous exercise can help to trigger it, which was another thing that made me think it was to do with water. But it definitely happens more when I haven't had enough sleep.

(I can't remember how I got here, but I'll comment anyways)

I am also affected by migraines on occasion with similar symptoms as your own. According to the literature that I have read, they are known as "classic migraines". When not medicating, I have found (for myself) that laying down and/or trying to take a nap tends to help prevent their escalation into full-on blindness, significant confusion, etc.

Then again, I've found medication that stops any and all symptoms within an hour, though with the result of generally reduced intellectual functionality for the rest of the day. You may want to visit a doctor to see what they have for you to try out.

Your description sounds pretty much like what I had. I forgot to mention: The honeycomb is actually in the background, and what's in front is kind of like explosion clouds going off. And, if I caught them early, -- I usually had an odd visual sensation before the actual disturbance started -- laying down and sleeping warded off the worst (though if I didn't catch them early, they'd develop into full-blown one-sided headaches, plus the "visual disturbance". Don't remember being particularly thirsty, but it sounds like it fit the experience.

For me, making sure I slept enough fixed that, and just generally made me feel better, healthier and stronger. It may be different for you, but I'd suggest trying to regulate your sleep. Doing a half-hour nap during the day can also help when you can't get enough sleep at nights for whatever reason, but make sure you don't sleep longer (set the alarm clock), or you'll feel kinda stupid the rest of the day and sleep even worse at night.

So, in short: For me it was just a regular sign of tiredness. My body reminding me I should pay more attention to it. If you're a computer geek, this and remembering to blink more often and looking out the window occasionally will make your head feel much better. Similarly, I get up occasionally and go drink something in the kitchen or so. Gets one both exercise and prevents the headaches you get when dehydration starts ;-)

Hope some of this rambling helps you in any way. If this doesn't help, visiting a doctor may really be a good idea.

I have actually already been to see my doctor, who said the symptoms I was reporting were those of a classic migraine, and that there was nothing really to worry about.

He did say that if they’re really bad, they sometimes prescribe painkillers, and was rather amused I think when I said that it wasn’t the pain that actually bothered me :-)

As for medication, I don’t think I have the problem often enough to justify that.