Anyone experience visual issues that eventually went away? Please help.

[Pinkharts9]

Hi everyone. Long story short, I'm suffering with some really intense fears about losing my vision. It's been almost 5 months now of terrible anxiety. My fears have jumped around a lot, with the biggest one being that my floaters were going to drive me completely mad. But I could easily list 20 different visual issues I've had in the past few months & while some are gone now, new ones continue to spring up. It all feels SO real & distressing when it's happening. I've had two eye exams this summer. The first doctor said my eyes were healthy EXCEPT he saw the beginnings of cataracts in each eye. I went to see him about my floaters, so I didn't even care at the time what cataracts were. The second doctor (MD) told me my eyes were perfectly healthy & that I did not have cataracts either. Once I read about cataracts & their symptoms, I started to experience symptoms. I would say around early to mid September, I started to feel that the sun was very bright (glare) and that sun reflecting off of cars made it hard for me to see while driving. Then I started feeling that other things were too bright - the TV, my computer, and especially people's headlights on their cars. While most symptoms have let up a bit, I continue to see really long, thin lines coming out of most people's headlights at night when I'm driving. It seems to have gotten worse. My family thinks it's anxiety but I don't know how it could be. It's SO real. In addition, I noticed that street lamps & stop lights have glowing halos around them or from a distance, they kind of look like starbursts. I don't know if this is normal. I don't know if this is how I've seen them for a long time. I don't think so & yet, anxiety plays so many tricks on the mind!

At the moment, my biggest fear is I won't be able to drive at night anymore given the glare of people's headlights. And I don't understand why I am seeing headlights with so many long, thin lines coming off of them. I didn't notice it before September! And yet I don't think it would come on so suddenly if it was cataracts or glaucoma. And if nothing is truly wrong with my eyes, - WHY am I seeing it? I'm terrified.

Ironically, now that I'm super scared about my night vision & how I see lights, I haven't been noticing my floaters as much nor some of my other eye "problems".

Can anyone relate? Could this be anxiety? Anyone have an eye issue that cleared up once their anxiety quieted down? Any advice? I'm doing all the right things - eating healthy, exercising, sleeping at night, taking Lexapro, seeing a therapist, etc. I feel so alone with my issues though. I guess I can't get it out of my head that one doctor said I had cataracts & one said I didn't. And now I'm having symptoms that to me are 100% real.

Thanks in advance

[ker92ri]

I could have wrote this exactly! I have every single symptom you have, but I also have ghosting too. I have had numerous eye tests and scans and all docs have said my eyes are healthy. However my most recent appointment I was diagnosed with blepharitis and dry eye. This wasn't present before. I have convinced myself i have some awful degenerative disease and I'm going blind.

Very very frightening!!

[Matt21]

I know exactly how you feel. At least you have had two people say your eyes are healthy. I have had two people who are concerned about my eyes and are sending me for more test.

I am having distorted vision and have a shadow at the back of my eye so I am really freaking out atm. My biggest fear is losing my vision too and I do think anxiety can make everything worse.

I have had a lot of the issues you are having but all I would say is if your docs say your eyes are healthy then that is a good sign.


I have convinced myself i have some awful degenerative disease and I'm going blind.
Very very frightening!!

Me too, I still got to wait for my tests but I am failing these amsler grid ones and I am so scared I have this disease.

[countrygirl]

I think I have replied to everyone on here with visual fears. I have severe sight problems and am registered partially sighted. Because of my sight problems I have since a child been very well informed on the serious red flag symptoms of eye disease.

One thing I do know is that once you "notice" anything in your eyes then your brain latches onto this and makes you "see" everything that is gong on in your eyes. So you may have had a lot of floaters for years but never noticed them before but once you do notice them suddenly you see them all the time etc etc

The above is probably the cause of all your fears rather than there being anything organic causing your symptoms. If an eye Dr says your eyes are fine the are fine. Early cataracts are a matter of opinion so one optician could say they think you have them whereas another says not and no one can say for def until they are more developed. Even if anyone has early cataracts - so what you won't go blind because they very successfully remove them nowadays.

Be very thankful for your sight, its precious and almost certainly you have no reason to worry other than its a manifestation of your health anxiety.

[Marietta08]

Hi Pinkharts, I can understand how you feel, I worry about my eyes so much. (I'm slightly long sighted and wear glasses for close-up) I get disappointed in myself because I don't seem to be able to make it two years in between eye tests. In the last couple of years I've been to the opticians about 3 times and the eye hospital once, for mistiness, eye flashes, things looking paler, blurriness and double vision. I was seeing a telephone wire double outside my window earlier this year but the optician told me it was physiological diplopia (where an object outside of the fixation appears double). It's actually improved since then. (I last had my eyes tested in August because of that issue). Lately I've been worrying about flashers and floaters again. I've had both symptoms in the past and they either went away or I stopped noticing them as much. Also I got a new computer recently and the screen is brighter (before I was using an older monitor which the colour was really bad on) so I'm adjusting to that.

I did get something similar to what you descibe a few years ago, where the streetlights seemed to be catching my eyes, the brightness or glare. It went away eventually.

Yes, that has happened to me (the issues clearing up), with the examples above and the light flashes. I had them last year but they went away after I changed the lightbulb in the lounge. They came back again earlier this year but went away again (the overhead type I would get while sitting in the lounge). I think my eyes became overly sensitive to the light. I hope that helps a bit. :)

[Pinkharts9]

Thank you guys so much for your replies, it does help to have other people who can relate. I'm doing everything in my power to keep the panic under control & truly working on my anxiety. I agree that every time I notice something in my vision, I tend to get obsessed with it & this is probably no different.

[isybelle]

Hi

I had a detached retina in my right eye when I was pregnant 5 years ago.

It was repaired successfully but I was convinced I was going to lose my sight, absolutely convinced.

I had all the symptoms you describe especially the flickering (still do) floaters and blue flashes. I have had dilated eye exams more times than I can remember and all is fine!

I believe after the detachment I developed hypersensitivity about my vision so I notice every little thing, you are probably experiencing the same thing

If it helps at all I've been worried about melanoma for the last 3 weeks and haven't been noticing any weird stuff in my vision

It's health anxiety an it's bloody awful xxx

[Marietta08]

Thank you guys so much for your replies, it does help to have other people who can relate. I'm doing everything in my power to keep the panic under control & truly working on my anxiety. I agree that every time I notice something in my vision, I tend to get obsessed with it & this is probably no different.

You're welcome. :) It can be so hard keeping the panic under control! That's what happens to me, the more anxious I get the more I notice things. I tend to jump from one thing to another but my eyes have been one of the major worries for years. Before that it was cancer (which is still something I worry about).

I hope things improve for you soon. :)

[LittleLostGirl]

Just wondering how your holding up? My vision only seems to be getting worse while the doctors keep ordering more and more tests which only continues to increase my anxiety. I have so many strange symptoms... floaters, flashes, sparks, dots, the list goes on and on. Its so depressing. I keep hoping Ill wake up one day and theyll just go away. But they dont :(

[Jherron]

I see my blue entopic filed phenomenon, floaters, sometimes blue or red dots that flash for less than a second. Plus at night if I have been in a lot of light during the day I see visual snow. As a kid I always wore sun glasses even indoors as some light makes my eyes hurt. I do know doctors have told me I'm very observational. Maybe your just tuned in to your vision

[Marietta08]

Hello everyone, hope you're doing ok.

LittleLostGirl, sorry if you were talking to me, I haven't been on here for a while. :) I'm sorry to hear about your vision problems. How are you doing now?

I went to the eye hospital in November because I was worried about floaters and was told my eyes were fine, it was the vitreous gel stuff detaching. I've had them before for years but noticed an increase a few months ago. I calmed down about that but got worried again just befotre Christmas because I was seeing something out of the corner of my left eye, kind of spidery lines. I've been getting it in the right as well but not as much. I rang the eye hospital today and they told me to come later, in the early evening. The doctor said my eyes look fine and it's ocular migraines that I've been getting. I was told I might be getting them a few years ago when I started getting flashes and sometimes spiral binding would sort of "jump out" at me. I'll try to calm down a bit now!

Jherron, I do sometimes get blue or green dots that flash really quickly. I did see visual snow for a bit but then it stopped. I think I tuned it out but occasionally I'll start to notice it again.