View Full Version : Static/Grainy Vision, especially in the dark or dim light.
Hello everyone, i hope you are doing well.
A big source of my anxiety is that i have noticed that i see some kind of faint static/grain/noise or whatever you name it. When i am in a dark room or stare at anything dark like the night sky i don't see pitch black but instead the darkness itself has some kind of grain/noise like the one you get when you try to take a photograph in the dark/dim light. I also get this when i close my eyes. Another way to describe it is that it looks like the fuzzyness in your vision when you find yourself in a dark room right after being in a well lit one.
It doesn't really affect my vision and during the day i cannot see it expect when i stare into a black surface but even then it's in a much smaller degree. I should also mention that i became aware of it when i read online about a condition called visual snow and being the anxious me i freaked out after reading some horror stories about people having their lives ruined by it.
Do you think that this is normal? Does anyone else have this?
help me 21
15-03-16, 21:07
Me insider with this its called visual snow ! Fuzzy static vision I have it 247 blurred to its horrible but I can deal with it
I'm sorry to hear that you struggle with it too. Did you always have it?
This is normal, everyone has grainy vision in the dark, although I GUESS it could be some slight visual snow but this doesn't sound like anything to worry about :)
You think so turboswag? Truth be told i have noticed it a couple of times since i was a little kid but always dismissed it as something normal/not out of the ordinary. That changed when i read that stupid post during an already stressfull time and indentified it as something dangerous. Do you have it too when you stare at black surfaces or in the night sky?
Here is a picture of what i am talking about (just add http) because i can't posts links yet.
oi67.tinypic.com/wv1t87.jpg
My snow is much more fine though and it is kinda "shimmery" when i am in a dark place.
It's totally normal. We have rods and cones in our eyes. Rods detect light vs dark and cones detect color. In the dark, your cones are effectively rendered useless so you're only seeing with the rods. You also lose a sense of sharpness as all the parts aren't working. That and the fact you're being hyper aware of something everyone in the world experiences and thinks nothing of ;)
Positive thoughts
Holy cr@p Fishmanpa, your explanation really hits the spot. I have struggled with this almost 2 years and whether or not its normal. Do you notice it too?
I really do get the hyper awareness part too because once there was a storm and i was the only one getting anxious over why the lights in the house were slightly flickering and if it had anything to do with my vision problems. Well, after some time my father remarked the same thing and there i was feeling stupid because i wasted so much time worrying just because i was aware of such a meaningless thing.
Holy cr@p Fishmanpa, your explanation really hits the spot. I have struggled with this almost 2 years and whether or not its normal. Do you notice it too?
I really do get the hyper awareness part too because once there was a storm and i was the only one getting anxious over why the lights in the house were slightly flickering and if it had anything to do with my vision problems. Well, after some time my father remarked the same thing and there i was feeling stupid because i wasted so much time worrying just because i was aware of such a meaningless thing.
If I purposely focus I can see floaters and the graininess at night but I don't so :winks:
It's like anything else really. Our bodies are noisy in general and if you focus on any one sensation you're off on a spiral googling and then normal headaches become brain tumors, normal freckles and moles become melanoma, normal nodes... ahh the dreaded nodes ~lol~ etc. etc. etc. The examples are endless. But no... I pay it no mind. I know if something needs attention.
Positive thoughts
I get grainy vision every night and so does my entire family and pretty much everyone I know, ha! Sometimes I see a visual snow type effect looking at a textured wall or carpet, I think because the pattern is so small (yet over such a large amount of space) that it's hard for my eyes to comprehend. I wouldn't worry about it :)
If I purposely focus I can see floaters and the graininess at night but I don't so :winks:
It's like anything else really. Our bodies are noisy in general and if you focus on any one sensation you're off on a spiral googling and then normal headaches become brain tumors, normal freckles and moles become melanoma, normal nodes... ahh the dreaded nodes ~lol~ etc. etc. etc. The examples are endless. But no... I pay it no mind. I know if something needs attention.
Positive thoughts
See the problem with me is that i notice it even if i am not specifically focusing on it or staring. Could it be that i unintensionally trained myself to look for it? I also notice my floaters a lot more since that incident. If this is my case, could you please tell me your opinion on how to stop doing that? Sorry if i am asking too much but you seem very knowledgeable.
Could it be that i unintensionally trained myself to look for it?
Exactly! It's a pattern you developed. Seek professional help (therapy/CBT) concerning your anxiety would be the best way to "learn" to stop doing it.
Positive thoughts
Exactly! It's a pattern you developed. Seek professional help (therapy/CBT) concerning your anxiety would be the best way to "learn" to stop doing it.
Positive thoughts
That would explain why i am a lot more aware of seemingly other normal phenomena (atleast i think they are normal) such as the little dots in my vision when i stare at the blue sky, my floaters, halos around lights at night etc. Did you see the picture i linked in my previous post? Does what you see resemble the grain in the right side of the picture? Sorry if i seem a little extravagant but i just want to eliminate most of my "what ifs" before i proceed.
I have tried consulting a psychotherapist for CBT and while it has helped me manage my anxiety to an extent i can't really say that it helped me not noticing it. I guess i will have to stick with the methods she taught me and just give time to my mind to forget about it. Although it has already been 2 years since i first noticed it and i can't say i have made huge progress. Then again making threads such as this proves to me that i just haven't accepted it as something normal yet. I guess i will have to work on my thoughts. When the nasty thoughts about it being abnormal flare up i will just refer to your wonderfull answers here.
I just want to say a big thanks to both of you Fishmanpa and turboswag, you have really helped me.
Hello everyone, i hope you are doing well.
A big source of my anxiety is that i have noticed that i see some kind of faint static/grain/noise or whatever you name it. When i am in a dark room or stare at anything dark like the night sky i don't see pitch black but instead the darkness itself has some kind of grain/noise like the one you get when you try to take a photograph in the dark/dim light. I also get this when i close my eyes. Another way to describe it is that it looks like the fuzzyness in your vision when you find yourself in a dark room right after being in a well lit one.
It doesn't really affect my vision and during the day i cannot see it expect when i stare into a black surface but even then it's in a much smaller degree. I should also mention that i became aware of it when i read online about a condition called visual snow and being the anxious me i freaked out after reading some horror stories about people having their lives ruined by it.
Do you think that this is normal? Does anyone else have this?
I had the same thing, I've read through all your post in this thread and your story is basically the same as mine basically down to the T.
It drove me nuts for so long, felt like I wasn't in control of my thoughts because I thought it was a "problem" it was awful. I have improved considerably, and like the people mentioned already, its totally normal and everyone sees it.
I am still training myself not to "look" for it as much and to not let it bring on any anxiety.
Again, your story is virtually the same as mine and like you I thought I had a problem. This thread actually helped me out. You do not have visual snow, I unfortunately made the mistake of looking that up and thinking I had it. But if you did have that condition, the fuzzyness and grainy vision would be present in your entire visual field (that would be extremely difficult to live with)
But it sounds like you have normal vision as do I. I'm still working on not letting it bring on any anxiety, as I had a rough period I went through recently over thinking it was a "problem" We have always had this kind of vision, itll always be there in certain circumstances and when looking at surfaces, but its nothing to worry about :)
Best of luck to you as well.
This entire thread helped me out so much. Let me share my story here, so that others may be helped in the same way that I have been helped. My "visual snow" phenomena began back in 2013. I was 19, and I was experimenting with psychedelic drugs. Nothing too severe or extreme, a couple tabs of acid once and a few handfuls of magic mushrooms over the course of the summer. I noticed the grainy vision after taking the LSD. I also smoked weed daily.
At first, I thought it was cool. I was in a state of mind where I enjoyed the effects of drugs, and I thought it was just some afterglow of the LSD I had taken. After a while, this fascination with drugs faded, but my awareness of the grainy vision did not. It didn't help that I googled grainy vision and learned about visual snow.
So began a spiral of anxiety induced by learning of visual snow. Soon I was spending much time each day looking for the snow and the grain, and trying to detect the subtle pulsations of every surface around me. It was maddening. It was so maddening, that it caused depersonalization. Only a little, but enough to say that it happened. For whatever reason, the snow caused me to question reality because it never went away, even with eyes closed. That created a horrifying layer of anxiety.
I spent a couple of years abstaining from all drug use. I was so upset that I had ****ed my vision up for life by taking LSD and mushrooms. I had read that LSD can have residual effects that never go away for certain users. I am aware that LSD doesn't stay in the spine or any of that sensationalist mumbo jumbo, but that your brain chemistry could be permanently altered. I was convinced that had happened. I quit smoking pot, and abstained from any mind altering substance at all, even caffeine. I would search for caffeine in my drinks, because I was convinced it exacerbated the snow.
The snow eventually "subsided", meaning I stopped noticing it because it's not actually that bad. I began smoking pot again in 2016, and nothing bad ever came of it. I even tried half a hit of LSD this previous summer, and it had no ill effects on my vision. Something happened recently that brought the snow back to the forefront of my mind.
I smoked too much weed one day, and had a bit of a panic spell. I am an anxious person with a hyperactive nervous system, and weed just helps. Occasionally she can turn on you, though. She turned on me, and I thought that my snow was getting bad again.
Then I found this thread. Reading the earlier replies gave me the most relief I have ever felt. No longer do I feel like I broke my brain, because in truth I really didn't do that heavy a dose of any psychedelic substance. I am happily convinced that everybody sees it to some degree. It's little pinpricks of slightly pulsating grey dots everywhere, but it's horrifyingly bad in dim rooms. Pitch black, it's not as bad. Very dim light, it's ****ing insane. I'm just glad everybody has the same grainy, shitty vision in the dark. Makes me feel a lot better.
Tips for people who notice the grainy vision and are upset by it:
Keep all the rooms you inhabit very well lit. Buy extra lamps and higher lumen bulbs. The brighter the ambient light, the less grain you see. When I am outdoors in bright sun or even a cloudy afternoon, it's not detectable.
Keep your vision busy. Don't stare at blank surfaces or anything, because your awareness of the graininess will haunt you. Watch videos with lots of things happening, play colorful video games, get the rods and cones in your eyes in full use.
Thanks guys
That would explain why i am a lot more aware of seemingly other normal phenomena (atleast i think they are normal) such as the little dots in my vision when i stare at the blue sky, my floaters, halos around lights at night etc. Did you see the picture i linked in my previous post? Does what you see resemble the grain in the right side of the picture? Sorry if i seem a little extravagant but i just want to eliminate most of my "what ifs" before i proceed.
I have tried consulting a psychotherapist for CBT and while it has helped me manage my anxiety to an extent i can't really say that it helped me not noticing it. I guess i will have to stick with the methods she taught me and just give time to my mind to forget about it. Although it has already been 2 years since i first noticed it and i can't say i have made huge progress. Then again making threads such as this proves to me that i just haven't accepted it as something normal yet. I guess i will have to work on my thoughts. When the nasty thoughts about it being abnormal flare up i will just refer to your wonderfull answers here.
I just want to say a big thanks to both of you Fishmanpa and turboswag, you have really helped me.
After reading the posts here, i must say i feels you are my twin or something. I'm having the same spiral here. After a sudden onset of floaters i started seeing halos in the light, feeling them as more bright on the streets, or car headlights. Also started noticing the noise on surfaces (even on indoors by day) and by night i'm seeing all that pulsing dots everyone is talking about.
I also think it's a fixation and hyper awareness of something that has always been like that, and i also made the same error of going down the "visual snow" spiral. I actually did not notice the noise or other entopic phenomena two weeks ago, but since multiple ophthalmologists could not explain why i was seeing so many floaters, i google and ended up on the visual noise shit.
As far as i can possibly rationalize this, i'm trying to justify seeing the floaters with the visual snow, and convinced my self i had some degree of it and my brain filter shut off for this entopic stuff.
Most likely as others said here, everyone sees like shit in the dark, we are just super fixated on that stuff. And as far as the floaters, well, they can develop for no reason, some partial DPV, etc.
Would like to know how the story ended up for you guys.
Warm Regards, Alan
ThemWhatInTheMiddle
12-02-21, 14:30
After reading the posts here, i must say i feels you are my twin or something. I'm having the same spiral here. After a sudden onset of floaters i started seeing halos in the light, feeling them as more bright on the streets, or car headlights. Also started noticing the noise on surfaces (even on indoors by day) and by night i'm seeing all that pulsing dots everyone is talking about.
I also think it's a fixation and hyper awareness of something that has always been like that, and i also made the same error of going down the "visual snow" spiral. I actually did not notice the noise or other entopic phenomena two weeks ago, but since multiple ophthalmologists could not explain why i was seeing so many floaters, i google and ended up on the visual noise shit.
As far as i can possibly rationalize this, i'm trying to justify seeing the floaters with the visual snow, and convinced my self i had some degree of it and my brain filter shut off for this entopic stuff.
Most likely as others said here, everyone sees like shit in the dark, we are just super fixated on that stuff. And as far as the floaters, well, they can develop for no reason, some partial DPV, etc.
Would like to know how the story ended up for you guys.
Warm Regards, Alan
I had a friend who went through a period of seeing floaters frequently, it simply passed. It's just one of those of things, I wouldn't worry about it. Almost everyone goes through a period of seeing floaters - evidence of this is how pervasive jokes about floaters are in popular culture.
I also see the visual noise sort of thing, especially on white surfaces. But again, to be honest, so many of my friends have expressed the same sensation. If you and I truly had visual snow it would be so evident that we wouldn't have any ambiguity about it - we would know for sure. There are various Reddit posts exhibiting what VS is truly like. In my mind, searching for it, or being unsure of it, is a sign that its not. We're humans, we have flaws, no one has perfect 4K vision. I only noticed it when I read about VS - so I'm pretty sure I'm just overthinking and I would say to you to possibly consider that. I'm not denigrating your symptoms or your mindset - you know yourself better than me - but just keep it in mind.
I had a friend who went through a period of seeing floaters frequently, it simply passed. It's just one of those of things, I wouldn't worry about it. Almost everyone goes through a period of seeing floaters - evidence of this is how pervasive jokes about floaters are in popular culture.
I also see the visual noise sort of thing, especially on white surfaces. But again, to be honest, so many of my friends have expressed the same sensation. If you and I truly had visual snow it would be so evident that we wouldn't have any ambiguity about it - we would know for sure. There are various Reddit posts exhibiting what VS is truly like. In my mind, searching for it, or being unsure of it, is a sign that its not. We're humans, we have flaws, no one has perfect 4K vision. I only noticed it when I read about VS - so I'm pretty sure I'm just overthinking and I would say to you to possibly consider that. I'm not denigrating your symptoms or your mindset - you know yourself better than me - but just keep it in mind.
I agree. It's hard to let these things go off our brain, but as you said, after i started going over the alleged symptoms of VS i found out that i only have the floaters (which is weird they put that into symptoms). Also as per the noise, yeah, most likely always had that too. I went from thinking i had like 4 "vs symptons" to mostly none, since my noise doesn't look like VS to me either and floaters are just that, stuff inside the humor vitreous lot's of people have.
I think i'm hyper aware of my rods and cones forming the image or something, and anxiety amplifies that to the roof, bad sleep does not help either. It's a work in progress for me now, since this started to give me anxiety this week, not the past ones. Slept like 4 hours in two days, hopefully this night i'll just crash in bed.
Sidenote for people thinking they have VS: Be aware that there's little to no new information on 2020 regarding that (which i found suspicious), and that they threw in there a bunch of symptoms people have for other reasons, such as palinopsia, photophobia, nyctalopia, etc. And the studies are like from a sample of 120 people out of billions in the world. Does not seem too credible for me at this stage, so don't get mislead by that either, IMHO. I'm sure some have pretty bad noise, but i believe it's not my case either.
Cheers,
Alan
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