NOTE: If you have not filled out Sofia Greene's survey on persistent visual disorders, please make sure you also fill that out. That is the official survey for the study being conducted on this condition. Thanks!
Sofia Greene's survey about persistent visual disturbances
PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST UNLESS IT IS IN THE MATTER DESCRIBED BELOW. THIS WILL BE MADE INTO A SYMPTOMS STICKY WHERE EVERYONE ONLY POSTS ONCE WHAT THEIR SYMPTOMS ARE SO IT DOESN'T GET CLOGGED.
Ian, here is the first post for the "symptoms sticky" you can add.
Remember, each symptom is to be rated on a scale of 1 to 10.
1 means "I can barely notice it, but it doesn't bother me at all.
10 means "I don't think I can go one more day without killing myself!"
Be sure to post only once so that this sticky doesn't get clogged. Also, post ALL of your symptoms, rate them, and then describe the onset of your visual problem. ALSO DESCRIBE HOW LONG YOU HAVE HAD YOUR SYMPTOMS FOR!!If you wish, go back and edit your single post if your symptoms change and describe why and how they changed (for better or worse).
My Current symptoms:
Visual snow (7) - Obvious in any environment even with eyes closed. Day / night doesn't really matter. Snow is across entire visual field "in both eyes". Patterned things like window blinds and grids, "go absolutely crazy". The road and most patterned carpets can appear to "cave in" briefly because of the snow. Also, plain white walls can appear to quiver near edges because of the visual snow. Visual snow doesn't block me from seeing full detail of detailed objects, but the MOVEMENT of all the snow particles is always obvious!! In total darkness, my vision has a bunch of exploding firecrackers in it in addition to the visual snow. Kind of like what you get when you rub your eyes. I only see this extra light show in addition to the ever-present visual snow at night when I close my eyes (when I am in complete darkness).
Increased Negative After-images (palinopsia??) 9 - Very obvious in plain white wall office type environments. I get the standard complimentary colored after-images most people get, except that EVERY movement of my eyes gives me after-images which are very obvious in plain white wall environments or against the sky. It doesn't matter how long my eye looks at an object against the sky or a white wall. The briefiest look produces an after-image when I look away. Intensity does matter in terms of how long the after-image lasts. For example, the briefest glance at the sun leaves an after-image in my vision for minutes and minutes. Also, if I stare at a point, my vision starts to fade and darken and then I get a much stronger after-image of everything I was just staring at when I shift my gaze.
Floaters (4) - Standard clear stringy type floaters. Different floaters in different eyes. Not bad compared to other symptoms. Bothersome in bright environments, but unlike above two symptoms, I can "escape" them by being in darker environments or in more detailed environments.
Seeing retinal white blood cells (9) - I can see every single white blood cell moving through the retinal blood vessels of both eyes very obviously when looking at the sky or against solid, uniform colored surfaces. Looking at the sky during the day time (cloudy or sunny) or against plain walls (esp. white)
litterally looks like masses of sperm swimming under a microscope (only without tails on the sperm). Outside at night, in very dim environments, or in detailed environments, I do not see these white blood cells. These things are very annoying and while I don't always see them, they drive me nuts!!!! My version of Hell is simply being forced to live in a plain white wall room with brights lights on, as all of my symptoms are much worse in bright white wall environments!!
Starbursts and halos around lights at night (2) - Somewhat annoying when driving at night, but because I don't see other visual symptoms as much while driving at night, driving at night is one of my most pleasurable activities.
Feeling slightly fatigued and "weird" (7) - While it is possible for me to feel perfect sometimes despite all of the annoying visual symptoms, alot of the time, I just feel mentally burned out and "weird". I think it is because of concentrating through the visual symptoms. It is so hard to explain how I feel. I just feel "strained". When these non visual feelings are combined with my brutally constant visual symptoms, life just sucks. I sometimes get "head pressure" and headaches also.
Persistent tinnitus (2) - I have constant ringing in my ears only obvious in complete silence. Any noise just about will "mask it". While fairly loud in complete silence, it doesn't bother me nearly like my visual symptoms do. My vision drives me more nuts when trying to sleep at night in complete silence and darkness than my persistent tinnitus does.
My persistent visual symptoms all began On January 16, 1998, shortly after my 17th birthday. So, I have had screwed up vision for over 9 years now. My visuals seem to be getting worse, and I have no idea why. Waking up from sleep, whether a short nap or a long rest, will always make my visual snow alot more solid and worse for up to a minute. Around Januray 4, 1998, I suffered the only obvious migraine aura attack without headache in my life. It lasted 30 minutes, and was a greenish blob I couldn't see through right smack in the middle of my vision. This went away though, and my vision was perfect for the next week and a half. So yes, I woke up to screwed up vision having all visual symptoms described above on January 16, 1998 that have persisted to this day. Januray 15, 1998, my vision was absolutely perfect. What happened in my sleep that night? If I get attacks of migraine aura at night, I have absolutely no idea!!! I can tell you that I have never done any illegal drugs and as far as I know, I have only had one obvious migraine aura attack that I am aware of.
Sofia Greene's survey about persistent visual disturbances
PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST UNLESS IT IS IN THE MATTER DESCRIBED BELOW. THIS WILL BE MADE INTO A SYMPTOMS STICKY WHERE EVERYONE ONLY POSTS ONCE WHAT THEIR SYMPTOMS ARE SO IT DOESN'T GET CLOGGED.
Ian, here is the first post for the "symptoms sticky" you can add.
Remember, each symptom is to be rated on a scale of 1 to 10.
1 means "I can barely notice it, but it doesn't bother me at all.
10 means "I don't think I can go one more day without killing myself!"
Be sure to post only once so that this sticky doesn't get clogged. Also, post ALL of your symptoms, rate them, and then describe the onset of your visual problem. ALSO DESCRIBE HOW LONG YOU HAVE HAD YOUR SYMPTOMS FOR!!If you wish, go back and edit your single post if your symptoms change and describe why and how they changed (for better or worse).
My Current symptoms:
Visual snow (7) - Obvious in any environment even with eyes closed. Day / night doesn't really matter. Snow is across entire visual field "in both eyes". Patterned things like window blinds and grids, "go absolutely crazy". The road and most patterned carpets can appear to "cave in" briefly because of the snow. Also, plain white walls can appear to quiver near edges because of the visual snow. Visual snow doesn't block me from seeing full detail of detailed objects, but the MOVEMENT of all the snow particles is always obvious!! In total darkness, my vision has a bunch of exploding firecrackers in it in addition to the visual snow. Kind of like what you get when you rub your eyes. I only see this extra light show in addition to the ever-present visual snow at night when I close my eyes (when I am in complete darkness).
Increased Negative After-images (palinopsia??) 9 - Very obvious in plain white wall office type environments. I get the standard complimentary colored after-images most people get, except that EVERY movement of my eyes gives me after-images which are very obvious in plain white wall environments or against the sky. It doesn't matter how long my eye looks at an object against the sky or a white wall. The briefiest look produces an after-image when I look away. Intensity does matter in terms of how long the after-image lasts. For example, the briefest glance at the sun leaves an after-image in my vision for minutes and minutes. Also, if I stare at a point, my vision starts to fade and darken and then I get a much stronger after-image of everything I was just staring at when I shift my gaze.
Floaters (4) - Standard clear stringy type floaters. Different floaters in different eyes. Not bad compared to other symptoms. Bothersome in bright environments, but unlike above two symptoms, I can "escape" them by being in darker environments or in more detailed environments.
Seeing retinal white blood cells (9) - I can see every single white blood cell moving through the retinal blood vessels of both eyes very obviously when looking at the sky or against solid, uniform colored surfaces. Looking at the sky during the day time (cloudy or sunny) or against plain walls (esp. white)
litterally looks like masses of sperm swimming under a microscope (only without tails on the sperm). Outside at night, in very dim environments, or in detailed environments, I do not see these white blood cells. These things are very annoying and while I don't always see them, they drive me nuts!!!! My version of Hell is simply being forced to live in a plain white wall room with brights lights on, as all of my symptoms are much worse in bright white wall environments!!
Starbursts and halos around lights at night (2) - Somewhat annoying when driving at night, but because I don't see other visual symptoms as much while driving at night, driving at night is one of my most pleasurable activities.
Feeling slightly fatigued and "weird" (7) - While it is possible for me to feel perfect sometimes despite all of the annoying visual symptoms, alot of the time, I just feel mentally burned out and "weird". I think it is because of concentrating through the visual symptoms. It is so hard to explain how I feel. I just feel "strained". When these non visual feelings are combined with my brutally constant visual symptoms, life just sucks. I sometimes get "head pressure" and headaches also.
Persistent tinnitus (2) - I have constant ringing in my ears only obvious in complete silence. Any noise just about will "mask it". While fairly loud in complete silence, it doesn't bother me nearly like my visual symptoms do. My vision drives me more nuts when trying to sleep at night in complete silence and darkness than my persistent tinnitus does.
My persistent visual symptoms all began On January 16, 1998, shortly after my 17th birthday. So, I have had screwed up vision for over 9 years now. My visuals seem to be getting worse, and I have no idea why. Waking up from sleep, whether a short nap or a long rest, will always make my visual snow alot more solid and worse for up to a minute. Around Januray 4, 1998, I suffered the only obvious migraine aura attack without headache in my life. It lasted 30 minutes, and was a greenish blob I couldn't see through right smack in the middle of my vision. This went away though, and my vision was perfect for the next week and a half. So yes, I woke up to screwed up vision having all visual symptoms described above on January 16, 1998 that have persisted to this day. Januray 15, 1998, my vision was absolutely perfect. What happened in my sleep that night? If I get attacks of migraine aura at night, I have absolutely no idea!!! I can tell you that I have never done any illegal drugs and as far as I know, I have only had one obvious migraine aura attack that I am aware of.
