Fear of retinal detachment

[anx1ous]

Hi, it's been a little while!
Overall I'm doing better. The deja vu stuff I used to always talk about has subsided since I've gotten on new medication :D. I've gone at least 2 months without any anxiety problems until this week. I am not sure if this is related but last week I had a bad bout of the flu. I'm still a little bit stuffy. 3 days ago, out of the blue one of my anxiety symptoms came back but worse. I am having constant visual snow, flashing dots, afterimages, and floaters in my eyes. Plus I have been having bad headaches. It caused me to have a panic attack a couple days ago. Stupid Dr. Google says I have retinal detachment and since then that's all I can think about.

[countrygirl]

I am partially sighted with severe sight problems and high risk of retinal detachment. If I can pass on what I have been told because I need to know this will hopefully calm you down.
I have had retinal bleeds and tears in the past and there is no mistaking the symptoms. If you have any of these red flag symptoms then go and get checked straight away. Hole in your vision that does not move and flashes colours/black or white when you blink ( retinal bleed). Loss of vision like a curtain being drawn accross your vision ( detachment). Sudden mass black floaters that prevent you seeing or make you think something is falling all over you ( bleed). Lightening type flashes at edges of eyes when you move eyes from side to side that is worse in dark ( tugging on retina).
any of these red flag symptoms are very very definite and even then most often they are not a detachment ( the actual loss of vision like a curtain is the most red flag for retinal detachment).
I don't know how old you ar but if you are older as in past 50 then vitrious detachment is natural part of ageing and can cause flashes of light in edge of vision etc and although its best checked by optician is rarely a concern.
what I can say is that once your brain "sees" something in your eyes then you are hyper aware of it until your brain starts to ignore it.
have you had an eye exam since this started as its never a bad idea to get one done to be 100% certain that it is nothing. Opticians are highly qualified much more than general Dr for anything with eyes.

[anx1ous]

I am partially sighted with severe sight problems and high risk of retinal detachment. If I can pass on what I have been told because I need to know this will hopefully calm you down.
I have had retinal bleeds and tears in the past and there is no mistaking the symptoms. If you have any of these red flag symptoms then go and get checked straight away. Hole in your vision that does not move and flashes colours/black or white when you blink ( retinal bleed). Loss of vision like a curtain being drawn accross your vision ( detachment). Sudden mass black floaters that prevent you seeing or make you think something is falling all over you ( bleed). Lightening type flashes at edges of eyes when you move eyes from side to side that is worse in dark ( tugging on retina).
any of these red flag symptoms are very very definite and even then most often they are not a detachment ( the actual loss of vision like a curtain is the most red flag for retinal detachment).
I don't know how old you ar but if you are older as in past 50 then vitrious detachment is natural part of ageing and can cause flashes of light in edge of vision etc and although its best checked by optician is rarely a concern.
what I can say is that once your brain "sees" something in your eyes then you are hyper aware of it until your brain starts to ignore it.
have you had an eye exam since this started as its never a bad idea to get one done to be 100% certain that it is nothing. Opticians are highly qualified much more than general Dr for anything with eyes.

Thanks for your input. I am 21 years old so I don't think that vitrious detachment is a problem for me lol. I don't get any of those red flag symptoms. Specifically, my biggest one is probably flashing dots after I blink when looking at a light source. However, that's only sometimes. I do get floaters, however, I've had those for a very long time and they come and go and they aren't dark.

[countrygirl]

Everyone gets flashing dots after looking at lights thats normal. Floaters are just debris in the eye and short sighted people can see them better!

[NervUs]

Thanks for your input. I am 21 years old so I don't think that vitrious detachment is a problem for me lol. I don't get any of those red flag symptoms. Specifically, my biggest one is probably flashing dots after I blink when looking at a light source. However, that's only sometimes. I do get floaters, however, I've had those for a very long time and they come and go and they aren't dark.

I remember seeing all those dots when I was a kid and thinking it was so cool and looking at a light and then blinking my eyes as hard and long as I could to make a lot of them. lol

Are you sure you really have a vision problem? Have you seen an eye doc?

[Anxious Kitty]

I am partially sighted with severe sight problems and high risk of retinal detachment. If I can pass on what I have been told because I need to know this will hopefully calm you down.
I have had retinal bleeds and tears in the past and there is no mistaking the symptoms. If you have any of these red flag symptoms then go and get checked straight away. Hole in your vision that does not move and flashes colours/black or white when you blink ( retinal bleed). Loss of vision like a curtain being drawn accross your vision ( detachment). Sudden mass black floaters that prevent you seeing or make you think something is falling all over you ( bleed). Lightening type flashes at edges of eyes when you move eyes from side to side that is worse in dark ( tugging on retina).
any of these red flag symptoms are very very definite and even then most often they are not a detachment ( the actual loss of vision like a curtain is the most red flag for retinal detachment).
I don't know how old you ar but if you are older as in past 50 then vitrious detachment is natural part of ageing and can cause flashes of light in edge of vision etc and although its best checked by optician is rarely a concern.
what I can say is that once your brain "sees" something in your eyes then you are hyper aware of it until your brain starts to ignore it.
have you had an eye exam since this started as its never a bad idea to get one done to be 100% certain that it is nothing. Opticians are highly qualified much more than general Dr for anything with eyes.

Coming from a similar position here. I have a rare form of very extreme nearsightednes which increases my risk of detached retinas. At 26, I've already had it happen in each eye, the first one being when I was 15.

Detached retinas just do not happen in young and healthy eyes. You're only 21 and don't mention having any serious eye diseases... maybe if you were much older, those symptoms would be more of a concern, but even older people with relatively healthy eyes won't be at much risk for a detached retina. The only time I can think of a young/healthy eye having a detached retina is if there's been a serious head and/or eye injury involved recently.

From what you described, what you're seeing sounds like a normal reaction to looking at a light too directly. Also, floaters are normal for everyone, I believe most people have them. A sudden shower of many floaters would be more of an issue, plus what the other poster here described - those are symptoms you'd actually need to look out for. Retina detachments also progress very rapidly (within hours, maybe days for less urgent cases), so you'd surely have more serious symptoms at this point.