Flashes of light, shimmering and more...

[AnthonyA]

I've had ongoing trouble with flashes of light, floaters and shimmering / vibrating in my vision for several years now. I've been to countless opthamologists and each time I get the same answer, my eyes appear to be in good health. I have excellent vision and no sign of any abnormalities. Though I do have asthma as well as arthritis, the prevailing diagnosis for the eye problems is typically anxiety or depression (though I hardly feel anxious or depressed until the symptoms present themselves).

For the most part then I've dealt with this, however over the last few months I've been getting new symptoms. The first of these symptoms is a visual disturbance that takes over my entire field of vision. The bright golden flashing light starts in my peripheral vision and slowly radiates into the center and then eventually fades away over the course of 45 minutes. My last opthamologist likened this to a panic attack however in the four times it's occurred,  I didn't feel anxious until the symptoms had already impaired my vision.

The second new symptom are colored semicircles in my left eye each time I blink. These are reminiscent of a camera flash and they seem perfectly in line with the outline of my eyesocket. The last, and certainly most unusual, symptom is the one I get upon waking up. This may sound absurd but I have a red, yellow and blue grid over my entire field of vision. Most times it's dull and hardly noticeable however on occasion its become very, very pronounced. Thankfully this symptom dissipates usually within an hour of waking up.

As I'm a designer and rely on my eyes for detail work, I was hoping to make some headway into getting to the root of what's causing these issues. I'm not at all convinced its psychosomatic but then again I suppose that's sort of the definition of psychosomatic illnesses, isn't it? :-)

[AnthonyA]

"A visit with a neuro-ophthalmologist would also be a good idea."

Thanks for the reply. I had another episode of those strange grid lines again this morning so I had yet another visit with my opthamologist and he set up an appointment for me with a neuro-ophthalmologist so we'll have to see how that goes.

As for my lifestyle, it's fairly healthy, really. I don't drink or smoke or consume caffeine. Likewise my weight is reasonable for my height and I exercise twice a week doing both weight training and cardio. That said I do work too much on the computer and I have undiagnosed sleep apnea (my sleep test was inconclusive) which negatively impacts the quality of my sleep. I wake up multiple times per night.

So getting better quality sleep and working less are certainly two of my priorities right now.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

Well that is certainly a great blessing that nothing wrong has been found so far even after seeing countless ophthalmologists!  You have to find some good news in this.  You described a 45 minute episode that sounded very much like a visual migraine so that is one possibility.  Regarding your other symptoms, I cannot give you an explanation but if nothing physically wrong can be found, than perhaps you are noticing some physiologic phenomena in the eyes that you are just very aware of.  Consider a strong age appropriate mega-vitamin, omega 3 fish oil supplements, greatly reduce your time on the computer, get daily exercise, stress reduction strategies, a healthy, anti-oxidant rich diet, no alcohol or smoking and see what happens with your symptoms.  A visit with a neuro-ophthalmologist would also be a good idea.  At some point you may have to reduce the focus on why and work on how to take pro-active measure to try to reduce the symptoms.  Just my thoughts.

MJK MD

[AnthonyA]

One more thing. If it's at all relevant, perhaps as a byproduct of the dry eyes and allergies, I also have numerous sinus issues. Blockages and pressure are frequent and my ears often feel full causing a persistent tinnitus. ENT exams are clean however and my MRI shows no signs of abnormalities.