Flickering, artificial lights, brain tumour meltdown *sigh*

[cattia]

Hello fellow health anxiety sufferers. So it seems that this week I am in meltdown about a possible brain tumor. I posted the other day about sudden sensitivity to smells but now I am freaking out about visual disturbances which seem to be caused by artificial light.
A year or so ago I noticed that I was sensitive to the flickering of some LED lights. It seems that I can detect flickering when other people don't. Recently one of the lights in our house has been flickering. My husband can see this too so I know that the flickering is real. The problem is that I have become obsessed about seeing flickering all the time. Whenever I am in artificial light I feel as though I can see flickering. I'm going crazy waving things in front of my face to see whether I can detect a flicker like some sort of nutter!
I'm not even sure what to do about this because in all honesty I don't know whether this is something that I have always been able to see but just never noticed before or whether this is actually a change in my vision. I really want to go to the doctor and ask for an MRI scan to make sure that I don't have a brain tumor which I have convinced myself that I do. However I should think that any medical practitioner would look at me like I'm some sort of lunatic if I tell them that I am worried about flickering when I wave objects in front of my face. I'm just constantly upset that I have a brain tumor that is causing these random symptoms. I'm not really looking for any answers just wanting to offload and maybe hear from other people who have gone through a brain tumor fear and can relate to how I am feeling. I had an eye exam recently which was fine.

[Drisque]

I'm not a doctor, but I can tell you the symptoms you do have are nothing like that of which my grandpa had. His vision got significantly worse, he had bad headaches, and his ability to make sense of letters had completely left him, which in turn affected his ability to comprehend the meaning of words and sentences. He could see the letters and knew that in the past he could understand them, but presently had no idea what they meant. It was quite odd actually. I seriously doubt you have a brain tumor, as they are very rare, especially primary brain tumors. My grandpa's was metastases from lung cancer, so even his wasn't a primary brain tumor.

[Phuzella]

It's not migraine is it? That can cause sensitivity to smells etc

[MargaretHale]

I get migraines with an aura. For a few days before it develops into a migraine I get flashing lights and flickering..Keep a diary, turned out mine are hormonal.

x

[KeeKee]

I had this happen last year, got my eyes checked was told it wouldn't be a brain tumour as that would cause the optic nerve to be swollen if it was affecting your vision.
Fast forward 12 months and I've come to the realisation that the lights actually were flickering I just notice it 10 times more than others. It never happens with the TV, my mobile or 3ds and that also helped me 'get over it'. An MRI is completely unnecessary in my opinion, but an eye test wouldn't do any harm.

[unsure_about_this]

Even though I have HA myself and worry a lot, I think you will know if you have a brain tumour, you will be in agony, possibly not be able to function properly etc

Since you been for an eye exam this would have picked up a possibly problem i.e brain tumour etc

[cattia]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I do feel better for having read them. I do suffer from migraines with aura but this is something different as it is consistently present under certain types of artificial light. I'm worried that my brain is not able to properly process visual input because of my hypothetical tumour. Keekee, it is reassuring to know that you have also experienced this and been told it isn't likely to be caused by a tumour. I haven't even got anywhere on Google with this one as it seems that there is no reference to this anywhere.

[Fishmanpa]

You're also hyper-focusing on this. Doing so can cause you to see things you ordinarily wouldn't see (like floaters and the like).

Positive thoughts

[Catherine S]

Please don't Google , it has never ever in all my time on nmp, made anybody feel better. Googling symptoms will only ever do one thing and that's to make you feel worse.

As for the eye exam, you'd be surprised how much opticians know about various health problems by looking into your eyes. They can detect alot of things including raised blood pressure and high cholesterol, and can see if you are diabetic etc., so don't dismiss their advice. They would tell you to see your doctor if they could see anything that might need further investigation.

ISB x

[cattia]

Thank you. I know that googling is bad for me. I have really struggled with this over the years, because the need for reassurance is so strong. It never ends well. In this instance, the fact that I have been unable to find anything online about this also has made me more anxious as I think it must be something very rare and unusual.