Help please, light flashes in vision? :(

[Babikins]

Hey I really hope someone can help put my mind at ease...

I rarely get health anxiety anymore but my nerves are shredded today.

I was sitting watvhing the TV and all of a sudden it was like I saw a flash of lightening in one corner of my eye. It passed in a nano second, but then a few hours later happened again, just a quick flash and it was gone.

Now I'm panicking, I have a temperature, vision is blurry, my chest feels tight and I feel like I am about to have a full blown panic attack. Something that hasn't happened to me in over 2 years.

I have recently (a week ago) gone cold turkey on mirtazapine and I may have PMT, if that helps anyone figure out why this is happening?

Has this happened to anyone else?

Please help ):

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 19:49 ----------

someone help ):

[lizzie29]

Hi Babikins

I've never had that, but remember how anxiety can cause so many symptoms and trick you into believing things are much worse than they are. Also, if you have a temperature maybe it's something to do with that? If it's only happened the two times and quickly gone then I doubt it's much. Do you ever have migraines? I've heard of people seeing flashes with them.

Try not to panic - chances are you won't see the flashes again and they'll be gone. Distract yourself, deep breaths, don't let the anxiety and panic beat you. x

[countrygirl]

I was born with severe eyesight problems so know what the signs are for serious eye problems so here goes.

If you just get the odd flash when your eye is still and it is not all the time then unlikely to be anything serious.

If you got what looked like a lightning flash at edge of eye EVERY time you moved your eyes and it was more noticeable in the dark then this is a sign of retinal damage and needs immediate attention as does what looks like a dark curtain coming across your vision or a sudden huge shower of black spots or a black hole in your vision that flashes different colours and does not move when you have not had a bright light in eye.

Anything that comes and goes and is not there all the time or every time you move your eye is usually caused by minor changes in fluid pressure or something equally harmless.

If need reassurance and your symptom is just every now and again then book appt with optician as they will see anything that isn't right.

[Babikins]

Hey! It's been over a week since I posted this, minor update...

The day after I posted this I went to my opticians, or it may have been two days.. Anyway, she was rushed and told me to come back today, which I did. She checked my eyes with all the usual tests and then made me have drops to dilate them and she saw there is a tear in the retina of my left eye. A serious eye problem that can cause irriversable blindness in a matter of weeks. Safe to say she called the eye clinic and they have booked me in for surgery tomorrow afternoon.

Sometimes us panickers have a genuine reason to worry...!

[Chem]

I just replied to your other post on this! Good luck.

[countrygirl]

So glad you made that appt with optician. I had same problem with my right eye 10 yrs ago when I had a vitrious detachment that went wrong and I got the lightning flash every time I moved my eye - I did not have a tear but the vitrious was pulling on my retina every time I moved my eye.

Pinpricks of light are common and almost always harmless but lightning flashes or holes in vision are serious and always need checking out.

Are they mending you with laser treatment???

[Ingenious]

That's an amazing story to read and yes it does go to show that sometimes when we have symptoms we really are suffering from something tangible that needs looked at.

Opticians actually do a remarkable job because there are so any things they can pick up on from the state of our eyes.

I think the moral of the story is if you have any kind of symptom that worries you then it is perfectly normal and fine to go and get it looked at by your GP , optician, dentist or whatever - better to be safe than sorry :)

Hope your operation goes OK.