H/A & Eyes: Who has floaters, light sensitivity?

Hi, one of the things that really gets my H/A going (or reminds me that it's there) is my floaters. I have had floaters that bother me for about three or four years now (I'm 38)--since I developed H/A. I mostly notice them when it's brighter or when I am looking at the sky or something with a white background. But lately I see them even when it's darker. I've had my eyes checked periodically and the ophthalmologists haven't said anything about them and the optometrist says he sees them but they are normal. Why do they upset me so then? My eyes are also sensitive to light and often seem blurry.

My questions to you:
--Do you have floaters? How badly and for how long?
--Are they caused by/made worse by anxiety?
--Important: have you had them clear up/go away?
--Are your eyes also sensitive to light?
--Do you ever experience blurriness even though you may have good/corrected vision?

Thanks,

Texel

Hi Texel

Well, I have had floaters for about 30 years now, and the good news is that my overall vision is still pretty good for my age (I need glasses for driving), I haven't gone blind, or mad, or died.

I don't think they're caused by anxiety, but sufferers become more aware of them when they're anxious. I think this is for a couple of reasons - we are more aware of ourselves and our own bodies when we're anxious, and because of that we become more inward-looking, which means we don't really look at the outside world.

For me, they're always there - if I look up at the walls of my office now and look for them, I will see them, but if I look past them at the outside world, I'm immediately less aware of them. However, they do seem to show up more in bright light, but that's just because of the nature of them.

My eyes aren't particularly sensitive to light unless I've got a migraine, but photosensitivity and blurred vision seem to be quite common with anxiety.

Hope this helps!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BKF1515

Hi, one of the things that really gets my H/A going (or reminds me that it's there) is my floaters. I have had floaters that bother me for about three or four years now (I'm 38)--since I developed H/A. I mostly notice them when it's brighter or when I am looking at the sky or something with a white background. But lately I see them even when it's darker. I've had my eyes checked periodically and the ophthalmologists haven't said anything about them and the optometrist says he sees them but they are normal. Why do they upset me so then? My eyes are also sensitive to light and often seem blurry.

My questions to you:
--Do you have floaters? How badly and for how long?
--Are they caused by/made worse by anxiety?
--Important: have you had them clear up/go away?
--Are your eyes also sensitive to light?
--Do you ever experience blurriness even though you may have good/corrected vision?

Thanks,

Texel

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They upset you because you can see them, you have floaters in your vision and you have health anxiety, they are bound to upset you, anything in our field of vision is scary even if its harmelss.

I have floaters, i first noticed mine two years ago when my anxiety started and they freaked me out something chronic! i saw them all the time.

I now dont notice them as much and if i do i just play with them! i make them move, if you look at them and move your eye to look at them they float away, infact ive managed to make them move in a circle! and im determined to make them move in a figure of eight but thats more tricky lol

I went to my optician and she explaine to me they are normal, they are just tissue that has broken up with age and theyre floating around, the only time you should worry is if you have a massive amount, like a rain shower of floaters all the time, all day and you cant see through them very well and that could mean retinal detachment, but retinal detachment is very very rare, my optician told me in the ten years she has been an optician she has only seen this once in a patient and it wasnt even her patient it was a collegues when she was still training and she hasnt seen it since!

My eyes are sensitive to light sometimes, when i have a headache, when i use the pc, when i watch tv and if the sun is bright, also when tired.

My vision does blur sometimes but i was told by my optician that its quite normal, sometimes eyes just dont focus very quickly but its nothing to worry about, i was given a new prescription becaus emy eyes had actually improved but she told me i will still occasionally have blurriness.

your eyes are fine, if they have said theyre fine, they are, they can see an awful lot in eye tests, not just the main part of your eye but also the back and the blood vessels ect ect. trsut them

My optician told me she has floaters and also sees bright specks when looking at the sky, just like i do and she plays with the floaters, hence why i started playing with them, turn fear into fun, theyre harmless and if they insist on being there you may as well make fun out of them. :D

I've always had them, and I'm only 19!

My right eye is the worst, theres a long snakey one that always floats past, can only see them when its very bright though. They've never really bothered me to be honest, they don't interfere with my vision so I just forget about them and get on with life.

The Optician told me they are normal and my eyes are fine so thats good enough for me.

I sometimes get black dots in my eyes too, but again this is normal for anxiety.

I have a big one right in front of my focusing point and if I look straight ahead, everything shimmers as it moves past. It looks like a monkey to me...or a mangled corpse come to think of it o_O. The thing that scares me is the fact I can't get away from them. They are there forever and that makes me feel trapped.
Yeah you can pretty much get anything wrong with your eyes when you're anxious. If I look at the sky it snows little dots of black and white. I have to try not to look at bright stuff when I'm anxious.

Yep, I get them all the time. It's what started my health anxiety off in the first place, and brought on dizzy spells for weeks. I went through an obsession as to whether all the supplements I was taking (multi-vitamin, omega 3 fish oil) was the cause of the floaters. I stopped taking them all, then the dizziness came on..but after I had some blood tests it was seen I was not lacking in anything.

My floaters bother me all the time, get me down..I've had my eyes checked (and dilated) 3 times this year already, I'm convinced they are getting worse, but they keep telling me my eyes are healthy..

So basically I totally understand where you are coming from. Mine came on in Jan, there isn't a lot you can do..just be patient and they may drop out of your line of vision.

Cheers

Carl