For me they are. Mine start -exactly- like this, seeing colors on white that aren't there. Then progresses to losing vision in your center focus, making you read from a periphry. Then moves to what I can only describe as a mountain dew colored wiggling lightning bolt, with extreme light sensitivity and sometimes dull headache. Lasts anywhere from 30m to 90m, usually.
I'm only slightly trying to play a 'trigger warning' card here, it's completely unnecessary and looks awful, just as my vision does when this happens. It made me check a few other sites back and forth to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Normally when I see this, I figure I'm gonna be going through the motions for the next hour.