Eye strain and body moving to heartbeat

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Hi all,

Have been making great strides in my anxiety recovery the last few months. And just when I thought I was practically past it, a new symptom pops up. I'm not entirely sure it's anxiety, I'm not worried it's anything bad either. But I was wondering if anyone has had the same.

I'm dealing with what I think is a huge amount of eye strain. I can barely look at a screen for more than 10 minutes before my eyes get really tired, to the point where I have to close them. Which is a problem since I work behind a computer all day and it's becoming really difficult for me to do my job. My eyeballs hurt, like the muscles behind my eyes are really sore and I get a headache every day. Most of the time it seems to be a migraine, because a regular pain killer doesn't make a dent it. My migraine medication does, but it's not exactly healthy to take that every day.
However in the last week or so, my body has started moving to my heartbeat. My heart isn't even beating that hard. But I can feel it almost bouncing every now and then when my body moves with it. It seems to be related, because it starts after I look at my first screen for the day.
It gets worse the more tired I get, which makes it impossible to fall asleep because my body is moving all night in bed while I'm trying to fall asleep. It's driving me bonkers!!!!!

I had eye strain too in August and the optician said my eyes were fine, and gave me some eye drops to use for looking at screens.
But the body moving along with my heartbeat is new.
I've had it in the past a few times, usually when I'm jetlagged and I get it with severe fatigue. But I don't feel that tired now, just my eyes are.
I would just like to be able to remedy it. I've stopped looking at my phone multiple times a day, I try to keep it to 3 times. I haven't looked at my ipad or nintendo Switch in days. But I can't stop looking at my laptop unless I take a week off sick. I've tried a hot compress on my eyes which seems to work a bit, but not sufficiently.
So any help on how I can combat this would be greatly appreciated. The eye strain is one thing. But my body constantly moving to my heartbeat is making me feel a bit off balance, and is really annoying!

[BlueIris]

Are you on a beta blocker? I think propranolol might help with this.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

I am, I'm on 80mg slow release for about 8 months now.
The beta blocker helps me greatly with racing heart episodes. I've had none in 8 months. But definitely still often feel my heart pounding. If anything I think I've become more afraid of my heart since taking it, 'cause I'm always focusing on what it's doing.
Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised of this feeling then.

[ErinKC]

I’ve had both these things and would guess they are anxiety. The eye stuff is really familiar to me. I’m studying for the bar exam right now, so every day since mid-December I’ve spent 6-8 hours studying, much of it looking at my computer. In the last few weeks my eyes have been bothering me and I’m getting more frequent migraines. I think part of it for me is that my eyes feel tired or a bit weird and then I start hyper focusing on them and that hyper focusing makes me anxious which exacerbates the eye weirdness.

The heart stuff also seems hyperfocus-y. I’ve been noticing my heartbeat more lately as well as I’m sitting at home all day with my thoughts. Once you start noticing these things it’s so hard to readjust focus! But I find going for walks outside, even though it’s cold, help because it takes my physically out of such a small enclosed mental scope and it also burns off some of the adrenaline building up while I sit studying all day.

[Carnation]

I'm inclined to agree with Erin.
Definitely had the eye symptom.
And a new symptom where it feels like my heartbeat is felt in my skin, if that makes any sense.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Thanks both! I do think it might just be stress being added onto my body because of this eye strain, and that causing this heart feeling. Sometimes it's almost like my body is floating if that makes sense, it's so weird! LOL, I just realized you also said if that makes any sense Carnation, like our symptoms are so weird we just can't explain them!

I do notice when I get up, it goes away. I just did some tidying up around my house and hoovering, and didn't feel it at all. As soon as I sat down behind my screen, it came back. So most likely just digital stress as I'd like to say. Too much screen time. I may honestly just take a day or two off sick from work to rest them fully and see if that helps.

[ErinKC]

Getting up and doing other things also helps me. I think it's just so unnatural for our eyes to be looking at screens all the time. I'm actually wondering if my vision has gotten worse over the last 7 weeks of studying because I've just limited my actual field of vision so much! I've not even been driving - just sitting at home learning allllll day long. I feel like I should just be looking at things far away ever now and then, haha. I think that's why walking outside, rather than on my treadmill at home, is useful.

I totally get the floaty feeling too, which I've always put down 100% to anxiety. It's such a disconcerting feeling, but because I know it's anxiety related I can usually ground myself by just getting up and walking around a bit or taking a deep breath. I hate it though!

[Fishmanpa]

It's interesting you bring this up as I just saw an event in my area designed to take people away from their phones and screens. For many, including myself, we spend 8 hours or more a day glued to computer or phone screens. That's 100+ days a year! Certainly that can have an effect on your vision as well as your overall physical health. And many, including myself, finish work after looking at a screen all day and then log onto our computers or turn on the TV and spend more time looking at a screen of some sort.

We all need to make an effort to change that. A walk, reading a book and other activities are a step in the right direction.

FMP

[Carnation]

I totally agree fishman.
If we have to spend long amounts in front of a screen then try to balance the times in between with stuff that doesn't involve a screen.

[ErinKC]

It's interesting you bring this up as I just saw an event in my area designed to take people away from their phones and screens. For many, including myself, we spend 8 hours or more a day glues to computer or phone screens. That's 100+ days a year! Certainly that can have an effect on your vision as well as your overall physical health. And many, including myself, finish work after looking at a screen all day and then log onto our computers or turn on the TV and spend more time looking at a screen of some sort.

We all need to make an effort to change that. A walk, reading a book and other activities are a step in the right direction.

FMP

It's really disconcerting when you step back and think about it. I get up, start studying, take a break to eat breakfast and while doing so do Wordle and Connections on my NYTimes app, then go back to studying. I do try to take one break midday that's for a walk - but if I walk on my treadmill I watch TV while I do it! Then at the end of the day, after dinner my daughter and I watch an episode of Murder She Wrote and then I put her to bed, at which point I get in bed and turn on the TV AND do the NYTimes cross word on the app at the same time!

We've been trying to add reading time together or board games or something at the end of the night, but it has continued to devolve into TV because I'm so tired from studying. My eyes and brain are certainly suffering though. I did get rid of the last of my social media lately and that's been a big improvement on cell phone use.

I am really hoping to make a big push to be off screens once I finish this test and the weather starts to warm up. It is a constant struggle though - and so hard to get my kid off a screen when I can't get myself off one.

[Fishmanpa]

I totally agree fishman.
If we have to spend long amounts in front of a screen then try to balance the times in between with stuff that doesn't involve a screen.

So true! I'm off today but frankly, after the day I had yesterday I'm burned out! I get up the same time everyday regardless because I take my wife into work in the morning as she doesn't drive (BTW... her 60th BD and our 10th anniversary is coming up in June. I already reserved the cabin we stayed in at the Inn where we got married and I'm looking at a scooter she can use that doesn't require a license that she can use to get herself around town ;) ).

So There are chores to do... some laundry, dishes, some simple cleaning etc. as we both work and on our days off we get to the things we need to get to. So how does that look?

Get up, get my tea and sit down and log onto my laptop. Read, reply to comments and write comments on news and forums, play online poker (play money) and generally just chill when I'm not doing those simple chores. I just recently committed myself to an afternoon walk with the girl and make it a point to go play with her in the yard. I have to say, it really has made a positive impact on her and myself as she is just so happy to do anything with her Papi :)

Again, it's interesting this topic came up. We all know the reasons behind the symptoms and the remedy is obvious ;)

FMP

[Sunflower2]

Last week my eyes were aching around my eyelids and it felt like eye strain. I use computers for my work all day - and my phone too much! I called the optician because I have a past history of uveitis (inflammation of the inner eye part). They got me in and checked my eyes, all clear but the tear glands were dried out which causes irritated, sore and aching eyes. It’s apparently very common in the winter. I bought a hot compress eye mask from the optician and instructed to use it twice a day for a week, and it’s all better. The hot eye mask is so relaxing too, I’d highly recommend just for the 10 minutes of chilling out a day!

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Thanks all for the replies! I couldn't look at my screen anymore last night, so I had to log off everything.
I'm currently waiting for a referral to get an ADHD diagnosis and I think for me that has a lot to do with it. I can't watch TV, without also being on my phone. If I need to wait for something at my work computer to load for 5 seconds, I'll grab my phone. I feel like I constantly need to occupy my mind and the easiest ways to do that is screens.
But it makes my mind so overwhelmed, that I then get anxiety from it.
I think this is a combination of eye strain and anxiety. I caved tonight and took a benzodiazepine. I honestly try not to take them at home, I more so take them for flying and the hairdresser (3 hours of feeling like shit is not something I want to handle anymore). But it's like once every couple of months these days really. However I took one just to see whether this was anxiety, or an actual physical thing.
Well, here I sit typing without any physical symptoms. So while I believe it's anxiety (or I should say stress. I think mine for a while has been more stress than anxiety) that is induced by too much screen time, thoughts and overwhelm from my head, it's definitely anxiety and I guess I'll have to find more relaxation techniques.

And for sure limit my screen time and get a hot compress for my eyes.
The eye pain and headaches are very much real.