Seeing flashes in central vision so scared

[Worrywort80]

Hi, new member here. Have had health anxiety since I was a kid but generally managed to cope ok. That was until a few months ago. I went for a routine eye exam and was told I’d got big optic nerves and lost some of my peripheral vision. Massive panic ensured. A month later a private ophthalmologist took pictures, did loads of tests, and said no sign of glaucoma, check back in 6 months. The next day (at my grandmothers funeral), I saw a weird light on someone’s face that then disappeared a second later which freaked me out. I’ve been seeing these weird lights on and off most days since. Sometimes it’s a pinprick if light where there shouldn’t be, sometimes it’s a flash off the one side of my central vision. I’ve become obsessed with my eyes and what I’m seeing. When I was in the US with work a few weeks back I saw more and panicked and saw a local retinal specialist ophthalmologist who took pictures, dilated my eyes and said he couldn’t see anything wrong. No sign of PVD or retina tears. When I came back to the UK I went and saw the first doc again and asked him, and he dilated me again and said I was ok. The problem is I still keep seeing these flashes and they’ve never really given me a reason why I might see them. One said maybe a virus, the other said it might be neck tension. Ever time I see something (or think I do) I get a massive surge of heat into my body and down my arms from the panic response and I can be super anxious for hours later. Just when I start to relax and become myself again I see another weird flash of light somewhere that I can’t rationalise away. My GP says to trust them that it’s not serious and has put my on Citalopram 10mg, which I’ve been on for 7 days and noticed no difference.

Anyone else have had similar symptoms? I’ve been googling for weeks and just scare myself with different diagnosis like eye cancer and MS...

So so scared it’s making me sick


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[BlueIris]

Seven days is nothing for Citalopram, especially not on 10mg. You're going to need to stick at it and be brave, I'm afraid. Stay off Google, and trust the professionals.

For what it's worth, I think most people get weird visual disturbances all the time, it's just that only people with health anxiety take them seriously. I'm an HA person myself (mostly reformed now), and I notice things like this on a daily basis.

It might be worth asking your GP if they can refer you for counselling, especially if you've never been before.

[ShanOwl]

I get these all the time. I’ve been told they are normal but I’m not going to lie, sometimes I still get anxiety over them. I’ve been told migraines, or Visterous (sp??) gel separating.

[Worrywort80]

Thank you both, I thought I might be alone with what I’m seeing. I’ve never been on anti-depressants before, will I notice when they finally kick in? Will I stop thinking about my eyes and looking for flashes as much?


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[Worrywort80]

Also has anyone else had these flashes and they be directly related to stress and anxiety itself? Sometimes it feels like I can almost induce them when I’m really stress med although sometimes they come when I’m calmer


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[Fishmanpa]

There's another recent thread about vision (https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?228598-Colourful-shapes&highlight=zebra) on the boards. IMO, we all have visual anomalies like floaters, flashes , blurriness etc. The vast majority of people don't pay attention to them and if they do notice, brush it off and go about their lives with nary a 2nd thought. HA sufferers hyper-focus on every niggle and anomaly and turn it into something to worry about.

Positive thoughts

[Worrywort80]

Thanks for that, it gives me some comfort. I’m trying not to ‘look’ for these things in the hope of creative a virtuous circle. I have noticed a dull pain in my left eye that comes and goes. I do have quite bad tight muscles in my left shoulder blade and neck, do you think it’s just facial tightness from that and my constantly clenched jaws? I didn’t mention the pain when I last saw the doc...


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[Worrywort80]

I saw another obvious flash on my drive home last night. It ruined what had been a good day of not seeing anything. I find it hard to believe I used to see these things and ignore them before which then gets my mind in a panic that it must mean white spot disease or something


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[Worrywort80]

I thought I’d provide a short update. Citalopram seems to have kicked in a bit (or at least I’m calmer, so maybe a bit of both). I seem to see less flashes now, and have gone a few days seeing nothing of note, which has helped as (in my head at least) it doesn’t seem to be getting worse which was my concern. Feeling calmer combined with ‘seeing’ less stuff is a virtuous circle which has meant me now thinking that these flashes are just a normal part of my vision and that other people just don’t notice/talk about them.

I still have wobbles sometimes and start worrying about my vision but in the whole I’m more like myself.

I’m considering upping my dose to 20mg but for now I will stick with 10 and see how the next few weeks goes.

I hope this might be helpful for others with similar weird vision stuff going on that have been told it’s HE


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[Carys]

My daughter and I both have these flashes, sometimes blue and sometimes white - we can relate them to stress/anxious/exhausted times. We were talking about it only this morning actually, as my daughter whos NOT a worrier mentioned it in her regular eye examination after years of having it. She was told there was nothing physical wrong and it was just 'one of those things'.

[Worrywort80]

My daughter and I both have these flashes, sometimes blue and sometimes white - we can relate them to stress/anxious/exhausted times. We were talking about it only this morning actually, as my daughter whos NOT a worrier mentioned it in her regular eye examination after years of having it. She was told there was nothing physical wrong and it was just 'one of those things'.

Thank you Carys, that’s really helpful actually x


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[Carys]

You are welcome - there are theories about the eye vitreous humour pulling and moving in the eye, and underdeveloped areas of the retina....but whatever the theories are, there was nothing found wrong.

[Kyliebd]

I’ve had a PVD before, early onset macular degeneration and also suffer from occular migraines so I am hyper vigilant about any changes in my vision. Lately I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of occular migraines I’m having and when I blink I see like lightning bolts of light. I did a search so I know others have similar experiences but how do you stop that rush of panic when you notice a visual disturbance and not constantly focus on it? Also for the occular migraine sufferers, how frequent do you get them and do they affect both eyes or one?