Pulse in my eye

[sylviad]

Hi,

I worried a lot when this first happened to me a few years back. To be sure we're on the same page, I would describe the sensation as the eyeball itself pulsing with each heartbeat. It is disturbing even if you are familiar with it. I've had eyelid twitches in the past and they're no problem.

I have severe neck problems, ie: arthritis and some fusing of a few disks. This causes a lot of tenseness in the muscles making it difficult to turn my head right and left. If I turn my head a certain way, it must cut off the circulation because I'll get really dizzy. It also happens when I'm sitting at the computer holding my head in the same position for a long time. I just have to turn my head back and forth to release the tension.

Anyway, I put this neck problem down partly to my pulsations. It happens sometimes if I've been out walking my dog and bend over to take off his leash. The eye will pulsate for a bit. Every time, it's stopped by itself after a few seconds.

When I first noticed it, I went to the optometrist for my regular eye checkup and asked her about it. She had no answer for me.

I know it also can be caused by high blood pressure (I don't have that), but if you think about it, your blood pressure does go up when you are exercising, tense or even when you are overheated. There seem to be many causes for it, but it would appear that it's nothing to worry about unless it becomes worse or something else happens with your eyes.

I have those irritating floaters too. They used to be a dot here and there, but now I have what i can only describe as blobs of jelly floating across the surface. This gets worse if I'm tired and if I eat a lot of sugar. I need another eye exam now, so my need for new glasses probably contributes to some of it too.

Sylvia

---------- Post added at 15:40 ---------- Previous post was at 15:16 ----------

Hi, I wanted to let you know that it is possible that you have some vitreous detaching. This can be a sign of full retinal detachment and can cause blindness. Please go see an eye doctor. I have had the same problem and now have a large "web floater" in my left eye. It causes me a lot of problems as I can not see through it well enough to read, when it is in the way. I need to find an eye doctor, as well, as I am very worried, because I have another flashing pulse in my eye.

I have ugly gobs of something floating in my eyes that the doc says are floaters and there's nothing we can do about them. They've gotten so much worse in recent years but he still insists they're very common.

Now and then, I have those light flashes in my eyes. They start with a loss of vision in part of my eye that slowly moves to the centre of my eye so I can't see people's faces on TV. It's not so noticeable if I'm looking into the distance. Eventually, the block will start shimmering and look like the jagged edge of a zipper. This I equate with a flash of lightning.

I've been to a specialist who said nothing was wrong. It went away for a few years and recently returned. I looked it up on the internet (official medical sites) and found out that these are what they call eye migraines. Some people have them with pain only, some with flashes of light and temporary vision blockages with no pain. I have no pain with mine. These tend to last up to 20-30 minutes, which is exactly the description given. This is possibly what you are getting with those flashes.

Here are 2 sites that explain ocular migraines:
allaboutvision.com/conditions/ocular-migraine.htm
webmd.com/migraines-headaches/guide/ocular-migraine-basics

Hope this helps.

Sylvia

[speg]

I have noticed this too, especially on a light colored wall. I don't have high BP or MS. Vitreous detachment I have, but not the same as retinal detachment, so don't panic over that, but that is usually seen as flashes of light. Interesting so many people have this pulsating eye. Maybe we are hyber-aware.

[sylviad]

hahaha, yes, I thought that was odd too, finding so many people with the pulsing. Oddly, my optometrist looked at me like I was off my rocker when I told her about it.

when I my physician sent me to the specialist about 5 years ago, it was because of those light flashes. He didn't say anything about them, but during the eye exam, the light he shone into my eyes was very painful. That's new for me to have such pain. I squirmed from the pain, but he didn't seem concerned.

Eye problems can be quite scary, so being naturally anxious at anything medical, and since this is ongoing and getting worse with no answers, I'm worried. The optometrist checked me 2-3 years ago, said my eyes were fine, needed new glasses. Then she did a more intensive exam and found that one optic nerve is bigger than the other. She said I could be getting macro degeneration. My medical doc says it's possible to have different sized optic nerves that do not indicate disease. I tend to believe him more.

She also suggested that I also have "indications" of possible glaucoma and cataracts. Talk about scaring the c... out of someone. Then I thought, what are the odds that one person could have all three problems? I decided, probably low and that she probably doesn't know what she's talking about. But you never know.

Sylvia

[speg]

I am glad I found this thread coz I thought it was some scary thing! But I have had it for some time, and still alive . . . I am overly aware of things, though.

[BeetleBum]

When seeing a optician about the same problems, she assured me it's related to the pulse in your eye lids. So if you have high BP or pulse they'll be more prominent but nothing to fear!

[Cuckoo]

Hi everyone, I just registered here today so I could respond to this thread. I too was having that slight pulse of my heart beat in my vision, in my right eye, sometimes when I was looking at a bright white colored wall or bright computer screen. I mostly noticed it if I was concentrating on the white background. It was most noticeable to me when I was anxious or stressed (of course when I was noticing this slight visual pulse that made me more nervous and was kicking my anxiety into overdrive) and had caffine. I had an appointment with my opthamologst 2 days ago. He performed a very thorough eye examination. I was assured that this is completely fine, as long as you're not losing vision (brief blackouts) and there is no pain, or bright flashes of light. What we are seeing is the central retinal artery which carries the pulse from our heart, as it brings the fresh supply of blood through the retinal artery. He said generally, that is the sign of a healthy eye with good blood supply and we are probably noticing it because we are very perceptive of variations in what we experience. When lighting and pupil size is just right, we are experiencing the rhythmic blood flow.
PLEASE - use this as a general guide of MY examination, take the time to make an appointment and discuss with your opthamologist as they need to give you a thorough examination to be certain everything looks fine.
Wishing you all the best and good health.

[fma11122345]

Hi there. Something like this happening to me all of a sudden since 3 am this morning. I work up to use the bath room and my eyes felt like they where beating out my head caseing this breff blackish flash (I think ) in booth eye's it feels like my eyes are shaking and makes me slightly dizzy, yes I have huge health anxiety and was in a attack before this was happing due to twitching eye lide and other body parts. But I'm really scared of a brain tomur, ms, Parkinson, als, stuff like that.......



Thanks

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[Mopsyflopsy]

I am an OAP now but have had this for years if I am sitting in bathroom with bright light. Over the years have mentioned to GP AND at each eye test for new specs and have always met silence or”nothing to worry about”.

Hope this allays your fears. Thinking about it, it’s not all the time and may we’ll be stress related. I have just had my eighth op and eyes have been ok but I noticed this tonight so googled it and discovered you all. So glad to find I am not alone but am under stress at the moment and getting down the bottle of Bach’s Rescue Remedy!!

[fma11122345]

Its funny that you say that, I've been alright with it for a few months now. But tonight I noticed it again and was like wow, that's still happening? I don't think its anything to worry about to be honest. I only see it in bright rooms or when I'm looking for it.

I am an OAP now but have had this for years if I am sitting in bathroom with bright light. Over the years have mentioned to GP AND at each eye test for new specs and have always met silence or”nothing to worry about”.

Hope this allays your fears. Thinking about it, it’s not all the time and may we’ll be stress related. I have just had my eighth op and eyes have been ok but I noticed this tonight so googled it and discovered you all. So glad to find I am not alone but am under stress at the moment and getting down the bottle of Bach’s Rescue Remedy!!

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