Visual snow from ANXIETY?

[shaunyboi69]

ever since i panicked one day i have noticed in my eyes that it might of triggered off visual snow. its very frustrating and i have had i for like 2 months now will it go away coz i have calmed down now. I don see static but more tiny tiny dots of flashing lights when i look a clear colour walls.

When im tired it feels worse and just wondering does everyone in general have a bit of visual snow and am i just focusing on it too much?

[robertz]

Same thing happens to me. it gets bad cuz i pay attention to it. Don't worry about the little dots of flashing lights, i've had that for a long time now also. Asked the eye doctor about it and he said don't worry, its actually pretty normal!

[worriedem]

I have had this kind of thing for ages, a started noticing after images of light things one day then started worrying about my eyes and after that it seemed to be one strange thing after another that appeared, flashing lights, floaters everything went to opticians and doctors all normal so stopped worrying still get things not as much now ive stopped worrying tho!!

[shaunyboi69]

oh well thats koool then always thought my eyes were deteriating i went to opticians ages ago but only to test my 20/20 vision

[Jan63]

I had a really funny episode the other night with coloured zig-zags dancing about at the side of me. I went to bed and the room was dark but these zig zags kept moving about really fast and they were very vivid colours. I didn't have an headache or feel sick or dizzy and I don't suffer with migraines. I hadn't had any alcohol or antidepressants either. I had had a couple of Kalms tablets because I had been feeling very upset and stressed about an health problem so I'm wondering if anxiety can also do this. I could even see the zig zags when I closed my eyes. Everything was fine next day though and I didn't see them last night even though I took the Kalms tablets again.

I had a full eye test in December which was fine.

[Stressed32]

Holy moly, I had it too...when I wasn't even stressed out mind you and it scared the poop out of me! One day I was in the middle of teaching and eating a yogurt and it happened. I actally told my kids that if I fall out on the floor to buzz the office b/c I thought I was going to bite it! The funny no scariest part of anxiety is when you have these things happen during a not so stressful time. Isn't it weird how our minds can thinkwe are stressed out but our bodies let you know that you are? People have said to me (we are trying to get preg.) just to relax and it will happen. I said back, I am relaxed, I am not stressing out because I did not "feel" stressed out....then the anxiety symptoms started and scared me! Thanks to this site, and MANY scarey tests, I know that I am not riddled with HIV or cancer but rather anxiety.

[Annacs]

I have the same thing. I see spots, flashing light, floaters especially at bright walls. I also feel that i keep seeing streaks in the corner of my eye. I was totally freaked for a while, thinking i was going mental but when i calmed down it went away. I found something on the net written by a doctor wich gave me great comfort:

That is, you thought you saw something from the corner of your eye when nothing was there. In my view it happens to all people.
It may however happen more to anxious people because they are hypersensitive to their surroundings and also anticipate things all the time. Being cranked up on adrenaline can also make you jumpy and super aware of gleams of light, shadows, and even slight variation in wind velocity. In other words, don’t worry so much about this one.
This is by far not an exhaustive list of things that can go wrong with your anxiety driven vision problem. Indeed, you may have dealt with some very strange vision problems before as a result of being anxious. And that is my main message to you.
Anxiety can do seemingly everything when it comes to our bodies. It can strain muscles, temporarily raise blood pressure, create tension and many other things that can effect vision. So once more let me be the one to verify for you that you’re not crazy. This stuff does happen to anxiety sufferers.

[shaunyboi69]

Thanks for your help im sure this will be a good bit of helpful knowledge for other users

[justbananas]

I had a really funny episode the other night with coloured zig-zags dancing about at the side of me. I went to bed and the room was dark but these zig zags kept moving about really fast and they were very vivid colours. I didn't have an headache or feel sick or dizzy and I don't suffer with migraines. I hadn't had any alcohol or antidepressants either. I had had a couple of Kalms tablets because I had been feeling very upset and stressed about an health problem so I'm wondering if anxiety can also do this. I could even see the zig zags when I closed my eyes. Everything was fine next day though and I didn't see them last night even though I took the Kalms tablets again.

I had a full eye test in December which was fine.

this happened to me the other day (twice now in 6 mos) and it scared the CRAP out of me. it was like suddenly my vision went weird.. like a C shaped blurry area in my vision, zig zaggy and weird which stayed even when i closed my eyes, it lasted maybe 5 minutes and went back to normal. no headache or anything. i think they are optic migraines.. ie, migraine with aura without headache. apparently they are pretty common.