Vision Anxiety Holding me back

[Eyeamaworrier]

Hi all, today after waking I couldn't help myself but notice the same odd visual disruptions I always do. With nothing to do but sit around for the next few hours it's really starting to bother me so I thought I'd make a post and try to see if anyone else experiences what I do.
Right after waking, if I blink quickly I can see what appear to be white splotches at the far top of my vision. This persists throughout the day but is mot noticeable upon waking.
Secondly I have what seems to be a constant random show of black pinpricks throughout my vision. Not in A VS sense but just random every 2-3 seconds it seems. 1 second they are there and the next they're gone.
I experience white pinpricks as well.
Been to an eye doc recently for a check up with a dilation because I thought I had a detachment but she said I was fine.

About me: I believe I have visual snow, have had many ocular migraines, have very many floaters, also experience what I like to call fake after images; as if there was a camera flash that left a spot in my vision however there was nothing. These usually last about 2 or 3 minutes. Had those for about 8 years now.
If anyone can provide some insight or at least show me I'm not alone that'd be great. Thanks.

[melfish]

I get grey splotches when I blink hard/fast. I also have an arc my left field of vision that I see when I blink. I get the monocular camera afterimage spots too; I've had those for 20 years and some last weeks before fading to a permanent blind spot. Since I get migraine with aura, I believe the spots are caused by some type of retinal vasospasm. I also have a tonne of floaters. You aren't alone with the weird visuals!

[Eyeamaworrier]

Thanks a lot for the reply :) can't say I have any permanent blind spots yet. Can you go into more detail about them? Are they life changing or more of just an annoyance?

[melfish]

Thanks a lot for the reply :) can't say I have any permanent blind spots yet. Can you go into more detail about them? Are they life changing or more of just an annoyance?

More of an annoyance. No explanation has been found, apart from suspected vasospasm/retinal migraine

[lozp]

I have similar problems. The problem with noticing something like this is that you then focus on it. Once you’re focusing on it your anxiety heightens and so does your adrenaline. So this then makes your symptoms worse as adrenaline pumps around your body and makes your blood rush faster which can cause visual disturbance. It’s a viscous cycle. Hope you manage to sort it :)

[ghost-]

I have almost the same problem. With me it started when I worried about prostate cancer and was highly observant of my body and changes - I noticed blue light dots appear every now and then and because I was obsessing and googling about prostate cancer, I started to google these light flashes as symptoms. Well, I am sure you know exactly what results came up and how I got heart attacks because of my fear of going blind. I literally spent ALL night googling and checking changes and symptoms in my vision - I can tell you one thing, the blue dots got way worse, I see them now all the time, right in the center of my vision, I also see something like blurry tiny circles (clear in color, you can see through so I only notice them when in dark or looking at a wall) that literally spasm around (which makes me think it is a case of visual snow, cause the flickering is similar to the flickering on a broken TV). Since that day, I cannot unsee these spots, any kind of changes in my vision, and especially the floaters which I always had but never cared about are all of a sudden the biggest fright every day as I freak out and count them, scared they might increase and one day cover the entirety of my vision... Well the next day my eyes were exhausted, I could barely hold them open. I saw my doctor, he even called in the retinal specialist, they did all the tests and checks - but nothing. my eyes are 100% healthy, extraordinary healthy and also fast reacting. both doctors had no evidence for any physical issue. they came to the conclusion of perhaps retinal migraine, and, which both doctors agreed on: stress/anxiety. they did not send me to a neurologist or anyone, cause they were 100% certain I just need to relax and ignore it, it would go away.

I think this is acutally literally a chemical disturbance in my brain right now, caused by my crushing anxiety and stress level. my entire body is currently at 10000%, I notice the SMALLEST smells and visual things. I startle whenever I see a dark spot in my peripheral vision, just to find out that it was an object or whatever standing there. and today for example I thought I smelled blood, and was convinced that I'm bleeding in my brain, because I noticed this metallic smell - couple minutes later I realized I smelled the zipper of my jacket, which had a strong metallic smell.

See what I mean? One time I had a panic attack because I saw a red dot (is usually only see blue ones) and thought this was even worse and dangerous, and then my ENTIRE vision started to flicker like someone was turning the light on and off. I tried to calm myself, breathed in deep 10 times, and the flickering was gone. Literally my anxiety is causing alarm signals in my brain that disturb all my senses. most especially my vision. and since this is an issue that is always in front of us, we cannot "ignore it" as easily as other problems. But we will have to - or we have to accept these disturbances as a part of our lives right now, remove the power these thoughts have by just accepting these as reality now. the body is scared because it does not recognize these disturbances as normal - therefore it fires never ending signals. Once we teach our brain that we're not in danger, that these signals are not a threat but rather our body signaling us that we need to rest.

What I'm trying to say is: I created my problem. After these initial symptoms, blue lights, flickering, weird blurry spots/visual snow, I now see after-images of objects without light source (even in the dark) or I see after images caused by nothing, just appearing out of nowhere staying there for couple minutes and then disappearing. One time I woke up, after heavy drinking, with a huge after-image and it scared the hell out of me - it stayed for 3 hours and it was faintly present for the rest of the day. I called the opthalmologist and I was again seen by two different doctors at once - both coming again to the same conclusion: healthy, retinal migraine, stress. I probably screwed my neurons over by drinking too much, causing even more weird electric signals in my brain. To be on the save side, I made an appointment with an neurologist, just to rule out any other issues, but I already know, it will be the same result: healthy, just anxiety.

it fits into my scheme. I had a difficult break up, a lot of emotional oppression and suffering, then I was hit by a heavy health issue - all triggering super stress and constant feeling of threat - and bam now visual disturbances resulting from my tensed up and nerve-wreck of a body and psyche.