Shown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by nickguy on August 31, 2006, at 18:32:43
A lot of the time my vision seems like one of those televisions on a station that doesn't get a signal (it's not always bothersome, and doesn't really effect me, it's just strange) I also sometimes see little dots, that seem to be on the surface of my eye but I can't tell. They float around and seem to somewhat follow the movement of my eye. (these are also not always bothersome, but sometimes can increase in numbers greatly for short periods ( 15 seconds) of time and I have to wait it out, it's very strange) I also see trails from lights at night when I'm in a dark space. Has anybody ever experience and/or know anyhting about this?
Posted by janeB on August 31, 2006, at 21:18:53
In reply to anybody ever experience this vision phenomena?, posted by nickguy on August 31, 2006, at 18:32:43
While on Lexapro I had visual concerns. Little black floaters (like your little dots?) were bothersome. They went away when I stopped the Lexapro. That is when I made the connection. I found this info on the 'net: When should someone see a doctor about floaters?
If floaters become worse, they need to be evaluated to make sure the floaters do not indicate the possibility of retinal damage. If a patient sees a sudden change in the nature of their floaters, and particularly if they notice flashing lights or missing vision in their peripheral vision, they should see a doctor.I do see an ophthalmologist regularly but have not had "floaters" or dark spots since I stopped Lexapro. It would be wise to mention this to your eye doctor. Jane
> A lot of the time my vision seems like one of those televisions on a station that doesn't get a signal (it's not always bothersome, and doesn't really effect me, it's just strange) I also sometimes see little dots, that seem to be on the surface of my eye but I can't tell. They float around and seem to somewhat follow the movement of my eye. (these are also not always bothersome, but sometimes can increase in numbers greatly for short periods ( 15 seconds) of time and I have to wait it out, it's very strange) I also see trails from lights at night when I'm in a dark space. Has anybody ever experience and/or know anyhting about this?
Posted by nickguy on August 31, 2006, at 21:30:41
In reply to Re: anybody ever experience this vision phenomena? » nickguy, posted by janeB on August 31, 2006, at 21:18:53
yes, they are "little black floaters." I've had them for a while, even when not on medicine. I also have those other things I mentioned, along with little white floaters. The most upsetting is the "t.v" vision and seeing streaks of light when moving an object of light through a dark room. (i.e, moving my cell phone through the air in a room with no lights)
Posted by Phillipa on August 31, 2006, at 21:48:16
In reply to Re: anybody ever experience this vision phenomena?, posted by nickguy on August 31, 2006, at 21:30:41
Yes they are floaters. I experienced this for the first time this summer reminded me of a spider in my eye. I saw a retinal specialista and that's what they are. Google retinal floaters on any search engine. They are annoying and in June on my bike in the dark I thought they were fire flies. Not dangerous it's hardening of something in the cornea. Love Phillipa
Posted by yxibow on September 1, 2006, at 1:11:42
In reply to Re: anybody ever experience this vision phenomena?, posted by nickguy on August 31, 2006, at 21:30:41
> yes, they are "little black floaters." I've had them for a while, even when not on medicine. I also have those other things I mentioned, along with little white floaters. The most upsetting is the "t.v" vision and seeing streaks of light when moving an object of light through a dark room. (i.e, moving my cell phone through the air in a room with no lights)
I have been searching long for anyone who has ever had the slightest related phenomenon.Yours is probably quite different I'm sure, but ever since Nov 17, 2001, my perception of the world has been altered. The only theory is the massive anxiety and panic feelings I had after Sept 11 which might have triggered a phenomenon in my brain called a Somatiform Disorder.
Somatiform disorders are rather misunderstood -- people think from old psychiatric days but they are not malingering, they are truly chemical changes in the brain and one is actually experiencing the phenomenon. The most common one seen in psychiatric hospitals is pseudoseizures -- anxiety driven attacks of pseudo-epilepsy when one doesn't actually have it. The body expresses the anxiety as a physical phenomenon.
I have had this for nearly 5 years -- I have gotten better first with Luvox, which downregulated (theoretically) the excess D2 (visual pathway dopamine) that is thought to be at least partially at the root of this complex. But I was still wearing sunglasses to nightclubs and the like. Eventually I stumbled upon Remeron for sleep, and noticed that there was a decrease. Remeron has 5HT2A blockade like an atypical antipsychotic, minus the D2. Unfortunately weight gain was massive so that was terminated. I eventually agreed to Seroquel. Klonopin came in somewhere along the way, and now I've switched to Valium. If I have a really tough day with it I take 1mg of Xanax (tends to be later in the evening that things get worse.)
The phenomenon for me was first extreme bright headlights and taillights; extreme confusion inside stores with fluorescent and metal halide artificial lighting. Even when things slowly climbed down I saw mirror images of my dashboard and television and any screen. I always could, but now was intense as far as anything 60 Hz, I could see very intensly bad monitor settings, including up nearly to 70 Hz.Contrast was off basically, brightness was off. The world was sending me too much input, or I was taking in too much input.
Today, its still here, a large sum of Valium and Seroquel are the main medications in my arsenal that are the top ones which regulate but may not actually "cure" the disorder.
The idea is as I take steps forward and backward and forward again towards integrating back into society and moving out and moving on, an occupied mind will flush some of these subconscious not terribly controllable 24/7 phenomenons.
I am not however, schizophrenic, or delusional, or not aware of what the world should actually be, because I have fond memories of college and I can still barely remember what was "normal" (in a relative sense.) In fact if I did have psychosis, or psychosis NOS, I would ironically probably be happier because I would treat these as if they were the way the world actually looks.
There's a very intelligent mind waiting to get out under the muck and progress towards what everybody wants in their 30s. I hope as I recently turned 31 that it will be a better year in all.
So -- have I ever experienced snow -- yes more in the past ... mildly.. and strange streams if I looked up at the stucco ceiling.There is a small support group -- I havent looked in a while, at
http://p210.ezboard.com/bthosewithvisualsnow
The streaks and trails of light you see are palinopsia, a phenomenon of persistant vision after a stationary object, i.e. a traffic light green would continue as a line.
Some people experience this and other phenomenon as a part of HPPD (Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder) after using substances for a long period of time such as LSD and then seeing them even after discontinuation. I'm not suggesting that is what you are experiencing.
The floaters you describe I think are corneal (external to the brain) layer optical phenomenon as opposed to neuronal optical perception. I, and a number of people have them, mostly perceived in a bright outdoor lighting setting, possibly at an angle to the sun -- most people get used to these , however there is a fairly dangerous procedure called a vitrectomy (an operation on the vitreous layer followed by a replacement with compatible silicone gel in the vitreous region) that is only reserved for the worst cases. These are when large amounts of bodily fiber detach and float in the vitreous and make vision a difficult issue.
Now, if you ever experience an extremely bright light or flashes of light and an uncomfortable feeling in the eye, go post haste to an ER, as this is known as a retinal detachment, which has to be surgically reconnected to save vision. But I don't think that is what you're experiencing.
Largely my phenomenon is painless in the sense of pure external pain -- it is psychic pain, and a lack somewhere of filtering. However sometimes a long day or lack of sleep can lead to a fair amount of ibuprofen.
I hope this has provided some insight and though this is the medical forum, I think it fairly fits either here or in another appropriate forum equally considering the 6 medications I take daily (2 aren't psychiatric per se -- insomnia and back and neck stiffness)
Tidings-- Jay
Posted by Phillipa on September 1, 2006, at 20:32:22
In reply to Re: anybody ever experience this vision phenomena?, posted by nickguy on August 31, 2006, at 21:30:41
Nickguy google Retinaexperts.com. There is a very good definition of floaters and what to look out for. It's just vitreous fluid. This by the way is the specialist I saw. Love Phillipa
Posted by nickguy on September 1, 2006, at 21:46:51
In reply to Re: anybody ever experience this vision phenomena? » nickguy, posted by Phillipa on September 1, 2006, at 20:32:22
-Thanks guys for the info. It's comforting to know that others experience this.
- The floaters aren't really disturbing- The one thing that happens ocassionally which is a bit strange is the sudden onset of little clear flashy things that slowly move along my field of vision. It lasts for about 15 seconds, and comes maybe once a week, or less. Yxibow, is this like what you were talking about when you described a trail of ants?
- I'm also concerned about the T.V screen type vision. It's there even when I'm looking at a blank white wall. I don't know if this is related to peripheral or neural reasons. I also have anxiety, yxibow.
Posted by Phillipa on September 1, 2006, at 22:53:13
In reply to Re: anybody ever experience this vision phenomena? » nickguy, posted by Phillipa on September 1, 2006, at 20:32:22
Nickguy did you goggle? It will answer all your questions. Love Phillipa
Posted by yxibow on September 2, 2006, at 4:20:29
In reply to some more questions, feedback, posted by nickguy on September 1, 2006, at 21:46:51
> -Thanks guys for the info. It's comforting to know that others experience this.
>
> - The floaters aren't really disturbing- The one thing that happens ocassionally which is a bit strange is the sudden onset of little clear flashy things that slowly move along my field of vision. It lasts for about 15 seconds, and comes maybe once a week, or less. Yxibow, is this like what you were talking about when you described a trail of ants?
I'm not sure if I described a trail of ants ? But I did describe the biopsychiatric phenomenon of palinopsia, which can have many roots. That is what you see, as I said if you look at a bright traffic light and see it trailing away, or your television or cellphone trailing away.A brief description can be found at the always useful Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palinopsia
The clear flashy things that happen rarely, I am not a trained opthamologist obviously but it sounds more like something in the vitreous rather than a persistent 24/7 psychiatric phenomenon. As we age, or due to eye trauma, or other factors, tissue slowly breaks off into the vitreous fluid below the corneal layers next to the retina. These pieces of tissue can appear as large "spider webs" as I have a small one in my right eye, or flickering or flashing lights or spots that move or stay in one place when looking at a clear blue sky. This is normal, though one may be bothered until the mind psychologically adjusts to ignore them.
What is more alarmist is if you see sudden (as in within an hour or something) flashes or dramatic increases in these floaters which may indicate retinal detachment and as I say then one goes post haste to a good ER to have microsurgery.
> - I'm also concerned about the T.V screen type vision. It's there even when I'm looking at a blank white wall. I don't know if this is related to peripheral or neural reasons. I also have anxiety, yxibow.
I would peruse that bulletin board I mentioned before about the TV screen vision. There is no clear indication, but there are a number of stories about such vision and as I recall at one point someone even posted a website illustrating what it would look like. The reasons for this can be very different for different people and sometimes not particularly easy to diagnose. Some people experience this because of migraines and when they have taken medication for them it stops. Some have this because of side effects to medications. Some may have this possibly due to a psychiatric condition.And finally, some may indeed have a physical condition on the optic nerve, which as noted can be seen in an exam. There are oral (I'm not sure about opthalmic) corticosteroid medications such as prednisolone, which are cautiously used and debated about in aiding the healing of optic nerve damage -- because they can also cause damage themselves and additionally lower your immune response.
I would be concerned as well about the TV screen type of vision, but the only way to rule out whether it is psychiatric or biological is to both have an eye exam and a gadolinium contrasted MRI, neither of which are cheap, I know.
I'm not trying to be alarmist, if you have lived this way for an extensive period of time or your whole life it is likely not anything that an MRI can detect (psychiatric disorders cannot be detected by MRIs except perhaps for severe schizophrenia which may show up as a slightly different brain structure, although that even I'm not sure).
I just had peace with both exams as my particular condition was so unlike any other OCD or anxiety that I have had my whole life that it was finally making me so anxious that my doctor okayed the MRI. The eye exam I had when this first started as I thought it was something like RP or some other unexplained physical eye disorder. The eye, by the way is the only part of the brain that can be seen entirely (including the optic nerve) by an opthamologist.
I don't really have anxiety at the moment, its supressed by medication but I think its also transformed into this condition and expressed that way as while I have felt other forms of anxiety throughout this time due to other reasons, like minor panic attack syndromes, this one is relatively "jumpy" free.
Its just positively annoying (not to mention I can't believe even nearly 5 years later that it just happened overnight literally after other strange phenomenon including a year of 99.6 sub- fevers in the evening (yes, I had dozens of tests at my begging, all normal).
And I want my relatively normal life back, as best as I can do, and I know I can't live in this stuck mode of life and I have to move on, but its always difficult when nobody can see through your psychiatric vision.
To better health and understanding-- Jay
This is the end of the thread.
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