Eye Floaters....you get them?

[Lawton86]

Hey guys,

I have noticed that recently when i go outside to try and walk further and further i seem to be getting alot of eye floaters which are very annoying to say the least! also when my anxiety is high i seem to get them alot more too.

Is this normal? when i go outside i generally do feel more stressed coz the worl seems soo spacey to me and the brightness of it aswell! but it can get to the point of as if it where like having alot of little flys around my eyes and very disturbing.


any help on this would be great!

[eurotrashcub]

Yes i get them all the time

They are normal and harmless but for some reason people with anxiety disorder seem to get them more/notice them more.

The treatment: treating anxiety... Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, an antidepressant, exercise, relaxation techniques, eating well... i bet you have heard them all!

[starlight78]

I think I actually read somewhere that they can be a side effect of some medications.. might be totally wrong, but worth asking Doc about... I get them alot, they dont worry me though as I know they come and go xx

[Charlotte84]

I get these to I think I've had them before but didn't really notice them but because my anxiety is high I saw them and freaked out now telling myself I have a brain tumour as I had a headache which lasted for a week. Ive woke up this morning and totally freaked out cos I remembered my boyfriend is away this wknd and I will be on my own. I also get freaked out that I have to go to work and dread going for some reason I feel more relaxed on wknd when I know I can stay at home x

[LisaLisa]

Hiya

Floaters - totally - stressed and anxious people get them loads. Its to do with muscles contracting in the eye so that you can see closer more clearly and further away becomes a bit blurry. Its a human survival mechanism of the fight or flight adrenaline system, its supposed to help you deal with danger that it close to you ( ie more important or more of a threat than stuff further away) and because of that you become more aware of smaller things such as floaters that are actually always in your eye, you just dont see them when you arent sufferuing with chronic anxiety. It also effects your night vision too, something to do with rods and cones or something in your eye and one of them is dampened when your stressed. My psychologist told me this cos i was so worried about it too

Lisa
xxx

[Ddcoo]

I have had floaters for years, they are there all the time but I don't really notice them unless I actively think about them, so just try and ignore them. I agree with the other posts that they seem worse when anxious.

[BKF1515]

I'm 36 and I've had them for years. Once about ten years ago I had them checked out by an opthamologist and he told me they're totally normal. But I do go through periods of noticing them more or less often.

[johansaken]

I got them too. Had them on and off for 10 years or so. To add to the worries i have collapsed three times and had visual disturbance when i have collapsed. I collapsed from exhaustion every time, but when you're a hypochondriac that doesn't help to know.Ive been scared to death for 10 years now, Therapist/doctors haven't said anything. It wasn't until i searched for the answer for myself that i found this site and now Im trying to reverse my fear. Reading all your posts. Thanks to all of you and reading what you written I no longer need to live in fear.

Wanna add that i had panic anxiety since i was a child. And because of these flashes etc i developed GAD, social phobia & agoraphobia.

Thank you all. at the age of 29, after 10 years of fear I can start to live again. And its thanks to you guys. Now i know i dont have to be afraid. Now I know Im not alone. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You changed my life in 30 minutes.

[lauren6]

This is totally normal, I never even think about them or am aware of them unless I look at the wall. Nothing to worry about, just get it out of your mind. This is not dangerous in the least. I get migraines about once a year where I see silver zigzag patterns then lose my vision where if I am in the street, I can't cross over, have to wait 20 minutes til they go away. This happened for the first time when I was a teenager and of course, I was scared but now I just enjoy it, like a light show, it can be very pretty! So...it's all about just taking stuff like this in stride as normal. Please, don't ever let floaters scare you, don't focus on them at all.

[lauren6]

I want to add that everyone should get an eye exam once a year from an opthalmologist (not an optometrist). With any condition posted on here, I never like to say "it's just anxiety". We are still people who can get things and it would be irresponsible of me to just attribute everything to anxiety. If you're that concerned, get your eyes checked and you'll at least get the worry off your mind.

[johansaken]

Yeah but it makes sense to me. I mean i had panicanxiety and all that for as far as i can remember. And it gets worse when my anxiety gets worse. And this (you guys) has eased my mind. I can explain it like this:

Ive been in prison in my mind, slave under anxiety and fear. And i have now been set free. Thanks to all of you here. You gave me the key to get out of the mental prison I been in for all these years. And im so grateful. Oh so grateful.

I dont know any of you. But reading these posts in here have saved my life. :yahoo:

And to all of you :bighug1: Thank you for sharing. What you done has saved me.

[Lateralus]

I have one floater that I can only see when it is sunny or staring at white walls etc. My optician said it was fine, and that he has one too!

They are usually due to deterioration of the eye - something to do with small areas of the vitreous in the eye solidifying and then casting a shadow on the retina. Usually occur in people over 40 as the eye naturally ages, but it's not uncommon for people younger to get them - can be due to some medications, allergies and have also read that some believe it is due to all that VDU use!

They can disappear on their own - this doesn't mean that they have gone, but just that your brain has got so used to them that your eye no longer sees them.

My optician told me to only come back before my yearly check up if there were so many they were severely obscuring my vision or if it looks like a black curtain going down over my centre of vision, but on the whole just to ignore it!

I was so glad I went to see the optician, when I first saw it I thought I was going blind, I had never heard of floaters - I remember putting things like 'black shadow on eye' into google to try and find what it was... :)