• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Vision issues: floaters, noisy vision, after-images

Messages
59
Location
Lancashire, UK
hi folks.

currently going through a period of bad vision issues - most notably dark floaters, spaced out feeling when trying to focus (for example on a laptop screen), after-images (including mild hallucinations - for example a small spinning wheel when eyes closed before sleep), and what might be visual tinnitus (i do have tinnitus).

anyone any experience with these symptoms, and advice for managing or treating them?

i was interested to see this tread, to which i have replied: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/b-vitamins-and-blurry-vision.59359/ . i had a month on high strength b12 (methylcobalamin) in march, and this seems to have coinsided with the start of the floaters. this could be coincidental, but i wouldn't rule out a connection.

cheers.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
period of bad vision issues

I have, or have had all of those symptoms for many years. By visual tinnitus do you mean Visual Snow Syndrome? I have that as well.

The spinning wheel is interesting isn't it? Mine is like a pinwheel. I'd like to know why we see it. I also sometimes see a bulls-eye that moves inward or outward, or moving shapes similar to an old plasma field screensaver.

i had a month on high strength b12 (methylcobalamin) in march, and this seems to have coinsided with the start of the floaters. this could be coincidental, but i wouldn't rule out a connection.

MethylB12 helped my vision sharpness, quickness of focusing, and depth of color perception (neurological brightening because I was deficient in B12). I've tried up to 50mg per day for a few days, and up to 15mg per day for months but it didn't affect my vision in any adverse way.

I had more floaters after the first time I tried high dose vitamin c for a few weeks. They've remained in the years since that time.

I've never found anything that helps my visual problems except methylB12, but it doesn't help the visual snow/static. My tinnitus varies in character and volume depending on fatigue and other factors I haven't determined.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
I've had floaters for as long as I can remember. They just accumulate with age, so I have lots now. I'm still waiting for some sort of 'eye vacuum cleaner' to be invented. I've never heard of any treatment or management technique for floaters.

I get similar mild visual hallucinations too, usually if I stand up quickly. I don't consider it enough of an issue to be concerned about. It's more amazing that our complex optical system doesn't have more flaws.
 

crypt0cu1t

IG: @crypt0cu1t
Messages
599
Location
California
Some of my worst issues are visual snow, floaters blurry vision, lightheadedness and the spaced out feeling when looking at a laptop.

LDN helped for about 15 days and seemed to stop working 3 days ago for some reason.

I have high levels of ammonia in my blood, so I often wonder if it has to do with some sort of neurotoxicity or if its a type of encephalopathy.
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
I know this is not exactly the same issue but I often see a very quick flash of bright light out of the corner of my right eye. It is never with my left eye, and it is so infrequent that weeks could go by without it happening. But then when it happens, it could occur several times in the same day.

I asked about it in another thread (and looked on Google) and the consensus seemed to be that it was the retina pulling away with normal aging (or something like that)? Google mentioned other symptoms that were considered an emergency but I do not have any of them.

Eventually I will see my opthamologist but it is low on the list of other things that I need to take care of first. Although I never want to mess around with anything related to the eyes and maybe should make it more of a priority? It's interesting that others have these similar (but different) eye issues.
 
Messages
59
Location
Lancashire, UK
thanks for the replies. @PatJ what you describe is pretty much what I experience. the spinning wheel is pretty much like a pinwheel.

as i said, i've recently had a thorough eye exam at the opticians, and a consultation with an eye doctor. the only thing that came up was slightl scaring of the retina in my right eye, but the optician was convinced this had been like that for many years and was not new.

but please anyone reading - if you get more floaters, frequent flashes, or your vision looks like someone has pulled a pair of curtains round from the side of your vision, this is likely retinal detachment and is an emergency.
 

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
Make sure is not anything else. But in cFs context. My doctor said OI is first noticed in the eyes, before you noticed any other Symptom the pupils will start doing Bizare things.
So do you notice any other OI symptoms?
You can tell if symptoms come and go vs more permanent ( when is a real eye issue)
 
Messages
10
hi folks.

currently going through a period of bad vision issues - most notably dark floaters, spaced out feeling when trying to focus (for example on a laptop screen), after-images (including mild hallucinations - for example a small spinning wheel when eyes closed before sleep), and what might be visual tinnitus (i do have tinnitus).

anyone any experience with these symptoms, and advice for managing or treating them?

i was interested to see this thread, to which i have replied: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/b-vitamins-and-blurry-vision.59359/ . i had a month on high strength b12 (methylcobalamin) in march, and this seems to have coinsided with the start of the floaters. this could be coincidental, but i wouldn't rule out a connection.

cheers.
I'm dealing with severe eye floaters for several months now. I went to an eye doctor because I was really concerned about a possible CMV retinitis or retinal or vitreous detachment. The doctor said my retina is totally healthy. He ordered a retina mapping examination, which confirmed that there's nothing wrong with the retina. He also ordered an eye ultrassound examination, that showed some "opacities", which explains the floaters. He said nothing can be done and it will go away with time, but there's no sign that this will happen.

I can't stand being outdoors without sunglasses (even in a cloudy or rainy day). People always make fun of me for doing this, but this is what I can do to cope with the floaters. The only reason that I'm not wearing glass inside the office is because everybody would label me as crazy. But the truth is that working in front of the computer all day long is a pain in the **s.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
I've had lots of floaters since childhood. I never noticed them going away. I don't know if there's any mechanism for breaking them down. I'm waiting for nanobots that can do the job: tiny Roombas that come out at night and drag the floaters away.
 
Messages
10
Has anybody tried a successful treatment for this issue? The eye floaters are, by far, one of my most annoying symptoms. It's constantly reminding me of my condition. I know the eye floaters can happen to anyone occasionally. But my floaters are a problem that affects me 24/7 (except while I'm sleeping, for obvious reasons). The anxiety caused but this cannot be measured. Every doctor says I shouldn't worry, because "the brain will get used to it and ignore it completely after a while". However I think this is a big fat lie, because I'm dealing with this for over a year and it seems to getting worse rather than better.

What do you guys think? I've heard this is a common symptom of Lyme disease, but I never tested for that. And I'm not particularly excited about testing for it, because many say that diagnosing Lyme is tricky, due to false negatives.
 

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,684
Location
Alberta
My brain is used to floaters, but I disagree with 'ignore it completely'. I do notice them at times, especially when I'm trying to watch for mosquitoes. The brain's efforts to ignore floaters probably reduced the ability to notice movement, because otherwise we'd go crazy. I know that I'm terrible at noticing things, and I expect that having lots of floaters is part of the reason. Wearing thick glasses adds to that.
I've developed double vision recently, and that's far worse than floaters, especially for driving at night. I don't know if it's due to ME or some other non-obvious cause.
 

Mel9

Senior Member
Messages
995
Location
NSW Australia
Has anybody tried a successful treatment for this issue? The eye floaters are, by far, one of my most annoying symptoms. It's constantly reminding me of my condition. I know the eye floaters can happen to anyone occasionally. But my floaters are a problem that affects me 24/7 (except while I'm sleeping, for obvious reasons). The anxiety caused but this cannot be measured. Every doctor says I shouldn't worry, because "the brain will get used to it and ignore it completely after a while". However I think this is a big fat lie, because I'm dealing with this for over a year and it seems to getting worse rather than better.

What do you guys think? I've heard this is a common symptom of Lyme disease, but I never tested for that. And I'm not particularly excited about testing for it, because many say that diagnosing Lyme is tricky, due to false negatives.

Better to know than never to know.
But you need to look at other symptoms first