For those with the bright spot when blinking symptom

There are several of us on here who have a similar eye complaint: seeing a bright flash, like the afterimage of a flash bulb, when we blink, and sometimes, on upgaze. This is  transient symptom for most of us, lasting anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. When the "spot" in our visual field passes over a dark background, the spot appears light. When the spot passes over a light background, it appears dark.

So far, the doctors haven't been able to diagnose us, and perhaps that means it is simply some idiopathic phenomenon. But, in any case, I'm wondering what other similarities we might all have that could bring us closer to a an explanation.

For instance, other factors about me which might be clues are:

I take 100 mg of Zoloft a day
I would describe myself as high-anxiety and stress
I clench my teeth, usually on the same side as the effected eye
I have alot of sinus problems around my eyes
I have double vision due to a weak muscle in one eye
I have many floaters and one very prominent one in the eye without the bright spot

How about you?

[Astroturf]

I would also add that my bright spot is significantly worse after working at the computer (which I do several hours a day).

I can not see my bright spot in dim/dark conditions. It is aggravated by bright light and light-colored backgrounds.

[doobie07]

Hi astroturf
I would also describe myself as anxious and a worrier
I'm not on any meds
I do clench my teeth and grind them at night
I have a TON of floaters, since I was a kid
I have migraine with aura
I cannot see the spots in the dark, unless I'm watching TV or on the computer etc
They are most noticeable against light backgrounds, the sky and when glancing at anything with contrast. horizontal blinds and lined paper are awful.

[doobie07]

astroturf,
does your spot show up on an Amsler grid?
can you see through it or is it a scotoma (blind spot)?
can you see in when you watch TV? on the computer monitor etc? what about when you are reading? are you aware of it then?

[Astroturf]

Yes, my spot shows up in the Amsler grid. It is in the upper right quadrant. It appears as a whole, with the grid lines becoming slightly distorted as they "fall into" the whole.

Yes, I can see through the spot. It is not a totally blocked scotoma. Sometimes it appears light grey. Other times it is almost pinkish. Sometimes blue. It looks very much like the afterimage of a bright light and goes through the same variations of color. But it is never a black, opaque spot.

Yes, I see the spot when I'm watching TV or at the computer. Mostly, it shows up when I see it cross over the edge of the TV/computer screen.

I can never look directly at the spot as I can do with my big floater in the other eye. This spot is fixed in the same position, and it's not exactly central.

It seems to show up mostly when my eyes are  moving and the light/background conditions are changing. Once my eyes are steady and fixed on something, the spot disappears. But if I, say, look up from the computer screen, and then back down at it....the spot appears again.

[Astroturf]

I do wonder about the clenching, though, because I clench very VERY hard on that side. Sometimes, the side of my face goes numb from clenching. Other times, my ear or eye starts to hurt. It seems reasonable to me that tensing all the muscles on that side of my face might irritate the optic nerve?

But then, I'm no doctor.

[doobie07]

I can see through some of my spots a little, others make the grid lines disappear.

Mine don't have color, just range from white like a bright light to gray through to black (interestingly, they are only truly black indoors when I have sunglasses on and am looking at a fluorescent light! not sure what to make of that)

Like you, the spots are most noticeable when they fall on the EDGES of the TV screen, monitor etc.

I can't look directly at them either.

I'm sure if I could sit down with an expert and they took the time to look at all the pieces of the puzzle, a lot might be explained. Unfortunately, in my experience doctors simply don't have the leeway to do that, through no fault of their own

Same with the eye movement too. If i'm busy typing on the computer, I don't really notice them, but if I glance down at the computer screen and back up, they "flare".

I hvae a lot of tension in my neck, shoulders and jaw and wonder if there is a connection also.

[doobie07]

I should also add, I got a new spot yesterday afternoon. Now I have two "active" annyoing spots in my right eye at once, which has never happened before. While most of my spots are pemanent, after a few weeks they "fade" to small scotomas and I don't really notice them all the time (like I do with the new ones"). The old ones are visible mainly under the circumstances I mentioned above, unless I got looking for them.

[Laurieinwa]

Ok I am curious about all of this.

I have just been diagnosed with AZOOR/AIBSE it is characterized by a blind spot, and flashing lights within that blind spot. It is a retinal disease and affects the rods and cones. They don't know much about it, there is no treatment, it is rare (but perhaps many people aren't being diagnosed right), lots of floaters in the affected eye are common. I actually have it in both eyes but didn't notice the blind spot in my left eye, but it is active in my right.

Have any of you ever had a mfERG this would diagnose if this is actually a retina or optic nerve problem?   Ask your opthalmologist about it.

I was misdiagnosed with optic neuritis for 9 months. I don't notice my flashing lights all the time, different light levels either show it as light like a moving fan or black like writhing snakes.

[doobie07]

That's interesting. On my last opthalmologist visit I actually asked about MEWDS, AZOOR, enlarged blind spot syndrome etc and all were ruled out. I had no clinical signs. I did have an ERG when all this started and it was negative.
Tell me, do the flashing lights "flash" independent of eye movement or blinking? Mine don't.

[Astroturf]

New development in my case:

Last week, the Amsler Grid had a "hole" in the upper temporal region due to my "bright spot."

This week, now that the bright spot is diminishing somewhat, the "hole" on the Amsler Grid appears more blurred.....and it seemed to MOVE, drifting downwards.

All of which makes me wonder if this is some kind of giant floater?

Or maybe something fluid related?

[Gotte]

I may or may not have similar condition. I have  central serous retinopathy in one eye, but a series of smaller "spots" with same pathology - they appear when I blink fast, or look at computer screen then look away. Been to eye hospital and told nothing wrong after slit exam (though no flourscene scan).
It's difficult to tell, but I reckon I have 8 to 10 of these small light sensetive areas. I wouldn;t know I had them if I wasn't continually checking my vision to see the progress of my CSR. They might, of course, be a number of things, my number one suspicion  being they are small detatchments of a layer of the retina.
Of course, my retinologist would disagree, which leaves me wondering whether they are what you describe.
I am what you'd call a type 1 personality, and had quite a stressful run up to Christmas with child in hospital, general SAD, and, after the CSR showed up, the fear I was going blind.
The condition, whatever it is, has been stable for a couple of months now, and maybe even on the decline. I'm not on any medication other than lanzoprazil for acid reflux and st. John's Wort.
I have trouble sleeping and sometimes take temazapam, grind my teeth, and have ongoing sinus problems, for which I was using nasal decongestants, until I read that they often have cortisol in them, which can cause CSR, and possibly the other problem.
I've also heard coffee and chocolate can affect CSR.
The reason I mention all this is that the pathology of what you suffer from seems similar to CSR, and as such, the things mentioned may affect it.

Hope that's of help.

[doobie07]

Gotte
That's very interesting. The symptoms you describe fit mine.

From what I understand, CSR is diagnosable on a dilated exam, of which I've had many.

my symptoms have also occurred over a 9-year period, so if it's some chronic recurring form of CSR, you'd think I'd have a diagnosis by now.

I haven't been able to isolate any "triggers" for my spots, which is why my doctors are now suggesting some form of migraine variant.

Do you have migraines with aura?

[Astroturf]

I'm really beginning to think this might be related to clenching teeth and TMJ. (See my most recent new question on the forum).

It is reassuring to hear that you have had this for 9 years, doobie, and have not had a serious diagnosis yet. Of course, I realize that is frustrating for you, but also reassuring that if this were something really really bad, surely it would have been discovered by now and/or gotten worse with more symptoms.

[Astroturf]

Another thing I noticed yesterday:

When I put on makeup and touch my right eyelid (top or bottom), I see the flash. If I touch, however lightly, anywhere around the eyelids (even the corners), I see the flash. Which again makes me think this is some kind of nerve/muscle near the eye that is being reactive.

How does the color of yours change?

When I'm outside, mine appears pinkish (but only after I blink, otherwise I don't see it at all in very bright light)

When I'm inside and the lighting conditions are constantly changing (going from light to dark room, etc), it appears grey. Sometimes it looks yellow, but that is only when it is really "fired up."

Another weird thing: the size changes. If I'm looking at something close up (such as computer screen), the scotoma appears to be small. When I'm looking at something far away (such as the window across the room), it appears much larger.

[Gotte]

I used to have visual migraines with auras. i've not had one in a while, though.
How many spots do you have? The thing that concerns me about my non CSR symptoms is that I have quite a lot. Like I said, the only thing really like it I've seen mentioned on the internet is RPE detatchments, which can just come and go of their own accord, though can be evidence of something more serious.
I'm kind of ambiguous about it all. I've had three people look at my eyes though slit exam (two opthomologists and a retinologist), and none have seen anything sinister other than my CSR.
As I understand it, though, RPE detatchemnts can be difficult to see, so maybe.
In many ways I'd be happy to have a non-specific condition, so long as it seems non-sinister.

Here's a thing to try, though. With me, I can make the spots appear by blinking, looking from light to dark, but also by getting something small like the end of the arm of my glasses and waggling it in front of my eyes.
Can you see yours?

The only reason I ask is that I remember reading that blinking to induce a symptom is unreliable as it distorts the eyeball. But being able to replicate it without blinking suggests to me there is a problem - however big or small, with the RPE - that is, the layer that deals with the transfer of light through the retina. Obviously, it can't keep up with the fast change in light like the rest of the retina.
Like I say, though, I've trauled the internet for my specific symptoms, and nothing really comes to light, and my retinolagists says there's nothing he can see (though i would have prefered an angiogram, just to make sure).

Oh well.

[doobie07]

Gotte,

yes, my spots appear under the conditions you mention. If I look at the sky, for example, they will appear when I blink, then fade away.

However, if I look at something with high contrast - like the example you mention of your glasses - I will see them all the time. horizontal blinds are the worse - then I can see all my spots, even the old ones. Dittor the Amsler grid.

Re the blinking distorting the eyeball, that's one possibility. Another is that the"flare" of the spot on blinking is some kind of afterimage effect involving the dead area of the retina.

I, of course, prefer the former explanation.

I've googled like crazy too, and the only similar cases i've found have been here.

Astroturf

the color of my spots changes according to the background, ranging from almost black against white to bright white against dark. I don't seem to get any other colours, just shades of grey.

The size and intensity does vary, however, without predictability.

I'm really at a loss to explain it. If i had more intimate knowledge of the workings of the retina, I might be able to figure it out. But my doctors don't really have the time or patience to listen to my layman's explanation of how my spots "behave" under different conditions.

arghh

[Gotte]

The peculiar thing with mine is that when I see them using the glasses technique, they appear more clearly, and look almost like faint blisters or perhaps raindrops, which is initially why I though of small retinal detatchments. . Of course, I can never be that precise, as they are never visible for that long, and the more I try to make them visible, the more they seem to fade away.
But like I said, the retinologist couldn't see anything, telling me the retina was perfectly smooth with no problems, so unless he missed something (and he was the head consultant at my hospital), or there's something subtle under the surface, I'll just have to wait and see.
(should have mentioned, I'm getting a second opinion at the Royal Manchester eye hospital, which is the place to go for eyes in my neck of the woods. It's the UK, though, so it will probably take a couple of months to get seen, now it's down as non-urgent).

Here's another question. How big are your spots? If I hold my arm outstretched, mine are about half the size of a fingertip. I know that's a bit vague, but I don;t know how else to rate them. They're also pretty blurry, so that doesn;t help, either.

[Astroturf]

My biggest fear is that this is related to the brain in some way. But then we'd have it in both eyes, right? Also, wouldn't even the most minimally trained doctor be able to recognize something potentially serious to the brain? I mean, we have no medical background (except for our constant Google searches), so the fact that this many doctors have not urged us to get an MRI pronto must mean that there is something in our symptoms that excludes that possibility in their mind. If I'm making sense.

My husband says I pay too much attention to my spot and that if I'd just forget it, it would go away.

Do you ever get headaches at night from all the squinting and looking at (searching for) your spots?

The whole things makes me so depressed sometimes.

[Astroturf]

I know exactly what you mean about it changing appearance when something is waving in front of you.

The other day I was swaying back and forth holding the baby, and in the background, my eyes just happened to be passing over a window with a curtain over it. So, my eyes were going back and forth from curtain to lit window, curtain to lit window. In that setting, my spot was very distracting, almost flickering.

[Astroturf]

Can you ever look directly at your spot?

I can't.

It's always in the upper temporal area. I only see it if I'm fixated on something right in front of me.

Have either of you had MRIs?

[Gotte]

No MRIs, but I'm pretty sure mine is related to my retina. My understanding is that you have a pigment layer in your retina that carries light through the retina and to the optic nerve. When I get my Central serous retinopathy, the centre section develops something similar to a blister. It disrupts the flow of this pigment, and makes it visible, especially when I blink or move my eyes from a dark area or a light area. Basically, the blistered area can;t keep up with the non-blistered area and so the dark or light lingers in the area of disruption.
This is what I suspect is happening in my other eye.
Why it;s happening is what worries me.
It could be small detatchments which, I've read, can accompany CSR and can go of their own accord.
That's what I suspect it may be.
THey may also recur, which is what may be happening.
But until I get a second opinion and ask the questions I should have asked last time, then I won;t know for sure, and it's the constant uncertainty that grinds me down.
I've had it two months that I know of now, and I continually move from feeling like it's probably okay to wondering if I'm going blind.

One thing my Retinologist did say though, was that the more you focus on something in your eye, the more your brain sees it. I think he was suggesting that your brain learns to kind of fill in the blanks and make up for the errors, but if you constantly look for the errors and find them, then your brain sees them more clearly.

Of course he did end with "The brain is a powerful thing," which to me smacked of "You're imagining it."

Personally I'd be happy if I was imagining it. Just so long as they could prove it to me.

If it's any consolation, when I first had my CSR, I was convinced I'd have a brain tumour. My doc said she really doubted it, though, because usually with brain related problems there is more than one symptom. Typically, you'd have a collection, like dizzyness, hearing problems, character change, strange tastes, maybe strange smells, headaches etc. Single symptoms were usually rare in such cases.

[doobie07]

As i understand it, if the problem is on one eye, then the problem has to be occurring BEFORE the optic chiasm, which is the part of the brain where the optic nerves cross. anything from there back would manifest in both eyes.

So, yes, the problem could be with the brain, not the yes in our cases.

It could be the optic nerves.

Gotte, my spots do not look like droplets. They most definitely look like an afterimage of some sort. They vary in size, but the largest would is probably larger than a fingernail at  arm's length.

I have had an MRI of my optic nerves, but I never went back for the results (fool).


Can you see yours on an Amlser grid? can you see through it?

Astroturf,
I can't look directly at my spots, since they don't move and aren't at my point of focus (yet!). they behave exactly as your does, with the curtains, window etc.

There is defintely something in regard to the brain becoming trained to notice things.
If  you always think about your nose interfering with your vision, for example, you will become increasingly distracted by it.

I'm not saying this is in our heads, but we do become hyper-aware of our vision, which doesn't help and increases anxiety.

[Gotte]

It's funny, because when I use the glasses technique, I can find so much. I can see all the veins, I can even see the fine texture of the retina, but when I see the veins and the texture I can;t see the spots. It's like they're at a different level. Of course, that's after weeks of practice, though.
I remember reading on here someone commenting on how they could even make out the blood cells moving in the veins, which wouldn;t surprise me.
When I wasn;t looking for anything, of course, I saw nothing, which kind of underlines the point about hyper-awareness.

It's a mystery to me. Maybe I'll find out when I finally get seen again by a retinologist.

[kengeo]

Have experienced this symptom for years, my flashes tend to be mainly in the left eye occasionally in the right, I too have many floaters. Would agree with the tension thing in the shoulders and neck and like others on here I'm a worrier.

Have had an eye exam all seems OK, I think that there is truth in the fact that the brain does seem to draw attention to them and may well be a psychological thing/stress thing.

[Van_Diemen]

Very interesting discussion here. Though I do not have as many "symptoms" as you guys I can spot a grey line in my peripheral temporal vision (beyond the natural blind spot) of the right eye, this grey line is fairly long but quite thin. Also I happen to see another grey line in my left eye and indeed I can notice it even better when fixing my eye and moving my head.

Also the detection thing with the glasses interests me. Indeed when I blink or use and object in front of my eyes (very close) and moving it upwards and downwards I can see a grey to black line (same as mentioned earlier). The line seems to be a fill in effect, as for example dark lines within a predominantly white background seem to be filled in white at the location of the earlier mentioned grey line, while a dark object seems to fill in the location of the line with a dark colour.

I too am quite scared that these effects might become worse and sometimes become quite depressed when noticing the effect more often. However indeed the brain seems to be quite capable to focus its attention to a "visual effect" as I used be very scared about a floater, because I believed it was a scotoma (the same fear applies again with this newly discovered effect). However once I noticed (or discovered) this "defect" I'm not as troubled by the floater anymore and more constantly busy with testing the new visual effect to see if it gets worse. Though this may sound strange there is a reason for my fear: glaucoma runs in the family and thus I'm afraid that I might get that and so I'm always very aware of any visual defects or "unexplainable" effects.

I'm going to see my ophthalmologist next Friday and will report what she said if you would like that. However I fear/hope that she cannot discover nor explain the effect that I have described here.

[Desiderata575]

The only few similarities I see are the clinching of the teeth and migraines.  Other then that my spots appear at any time without always blinking.  Sometimes when I try to read something small my eyes will go back and forth almost like a typewriter bar.  (I'm sure some of you will not understand that because of your age.)  I also have a buzzing in my head with a lightheaded feeling. Can someone identify with these symptoms.

Desiderata

[ShockedToday]

I just came across this post and found it very interesting because I've been having this problem since September of last year.  I've had one that lasted a week in my right eye, one that has lasted 4 months in my left eye, a central scotoma that is only noticable in dim light/dark environments (which is the opposite of all the others) for 3 months in both eyes (I call it my black hole), and then one that lasted for just over 24 hours in my right eye.

I've seen a neurologist and an ophtomologist.  I had an MRI, VEP & visual field done.  The MRI came back with several lesions in the optic radiations area of the brain.  I was told there is nothing physically wrong with my eyes, that it is totally a neurological problem.  The VEP was normal and I have yet to find out the results of the visual field.

I do suffer from migrianes, floaters, tmj, grind my teeth and have sinus/allergy issues.

Just glad to hear of others that have the problem as well.

[doobie07]

Hi there
I thought if the problem was in the brain, then the symptoms would manifest bilaterally. Did the neurologist say whether the lesions were in the optic chiasm?

I have the same thing (posted above somewhere) and too have been told there is nothing wrong with my eyes. I haven't had an MRI though ...

[jason80]

I also got this symptom in both eyes ~ 10 mo ago about the same time I got bad floaters and visiual snow, photophobia. The bright flash symptom must be upstream of where my optic nerves meet since the symptom is identical in both eyes.  I only notice this in dark rooms and when waking up for a few minutes. Fotunately, all of these symptoms have remained relatively constant. Eye doctors couldn't find anything wrong with eye, per se.

[ShockedToday]

No, my neurologist didn't say anything about the lesions other than to say I have around 20 of them and that he thinks I might have MS.  I found out where the lesions were when I got the radiology report and saw the MRI pictures.  I have them on both sides of the brain in the optic radiations and other areas.  All of the visual spots have gone away except for the central scotoma that has lasted for 4 months next week.  

HTH

[Laurieinwa]

does sound like optic neuritis associated with ms

[dbmath]

I found this thread while looking for an explanation for the small blind spot that I have the upper right field of vision of my left eye when I blink. It just showed up a month ago and I have not been able to figure out what it is yet. There is also a twitch in my left eye that appeared roughly 2 months ago.

I just thought I would comment on this because at the beginning of 2008 I began to have visual migraines with aura which started immediately after having amalgam fillings put in several teeth.

I had the amalgam fillings safely removed at the beginning of 2009 and the migraines disappeared completely. Now I just have this blind spot which may or may not be related to the amalgam. I felt obligated to mention this to you folks so that you can take this into consideration if you happen to have amalgam fillings.

You can read about my entire amalgam battle here

[Kabees]

That is very interesting. I have thie same problem as the above people describe and I have quite a few fillings, although I don't know if they're amalgam. I have both dark and light colored fillings.

I also developed migraine auras fairly suddenly in early 2007 before I notice my 1st blind spot later that year. My auras have remained constant and I've been dealing w/this ever since.

Also, I wear a plastic guard at night because I grind my teeth and I've had it a long time.

[dbmath]

It is indeed interesting and disturbing at the same time. Amalgam consists mainly of mercury which is a heavy metal that is toxic. The dark fillings in your mouth are amalgam and there are numerous studies that have been done that prove that they are harmful and yet the dental association continues to make claims that they're safe.

Go to Google and search "How Mercury Causes Brain Neuron Damage" and the first result that comes up is a nice video demonstrating the damage that a mercury filling does to your brain.

When I started having migraines I was stumped as to why they started abruptly and out of the blue. I saw neurologists, ENTs, doctors, sleep doctors, had brain MRIs and numerous other studies done before I realized that all my troubles started when I got the fillings.

I notified all of my doctors when I realized what was going on and they all told me that the belief that mercury fillings cause migraines was quackery and that insurance would not pay for the removal. They all wanted to give me drugs to mask the symptoms.

At the beginning of 2009 I decided to just pay out of my pocket to have the fillings removed. I then followed the removal with a heavy metal detox called HMD. My detox ended in April of 2009 and it’s been 5 months now and I have not had another migraine. Prior to the removal I was having debilitating migraines with aura 2 - 3 times a week.

I have heard doctors say that it was just the placebo effect that cured me however I disagree with that because if that were true then the changes in diet and the drugs that I tried would have fixed my problem long before the mercury removal. Another interesting fact about placebo is that doctors have no understanding of the underlying science behind the placebo effect. They are basically using placebo which is a term they don't understand as an argument against removing mercury which they have either been told or choose not to understand. Perhaps they understand very clearly the effects of mercury vapor inhalation on the body but simply don't care, it's hard to say.

Notice that thousands of dollars were spent before I had the fillings removed and the money I paid them fixed nothing. This is precisely what the medical industry wants which is to get paid large sums of money for doing nothing. I do think that there are a few doctors around that do sincerely care about us, but they are far a few between.

Take my advice and do NOT get mercury fillings and if you have them please seriously consider having them safely removed and then detox. You will thank me later.

[filif]

wow, i'm so happy i found this page! i have the exact same symptoms you're describing! i too suffer from migraine with aura (less lately though), allergies and grind my teeth at night! they recently did serological testing on me and found i have lyme disease (borreliosis) after a tick bite from 3 years ago. has anyone of you been bitten by a tick as well? please let me know, and if you have any serological testing done could you please report the outcome on this board? i'm hoping this could explain the symptoms! they could not find the bacteria in my spinal fluid so i'm on oral antibiotics now for 1 month, but i'm having the serology re-done in 4 months to see if the bacteria is gone. if not, it could possibly be neuroboreliosis (false negative result in spinal fluid) which requires intravenous antibiotics.

all the best and good luck to you all!

[tiredsight]

Yes I’m in the same half sighted sailing boat as every one else here. Simular problems and you name a test I’ve most likely had it. MRI scans etc etc.

I think the answer lies in the area of migraine or epilepsy. My view and these are only my observations, these are, that the mechanism of both migraine and lesser forms of epilepsy are loosely related (chemical v electrical storm). That it is possible to have migraine all the time it just affects things more on different days (stress etc) so it flares up never goes and in local areas i.e. eyes or optic lobe or anywhere along that path. Hence symptoms can be one eye or both. The damage left is because once a path (set of cells) or set of small blood vessels or area (pin size is enough) of brain is struck by the migraine or epilepsy it is more likely to be attacked again (undefended area). These areas become hyper sensitive to stimulation be that light, stress or bursts of migraine activity in time damaging a small section of path (sight).
This is only my view.

My symptoms are

• Bright stick like lights in both eyes on exercise
• Sudden attacks of a large missing spot which is blue grey red/pink and gets better gets worse and is very distressing.
• Constant daily flashes or black white 'burning' areas of no sight - settle quickly.
• Residue damage i.e. small blind areas and distorted lines on books, reading computer etc etc.
• Spots that a blurred blue/grey cloudy like – on waking.
• Floaters heaps and big
• Complex basilar artery migraine - visual and neurological symptoms only
• Happening for almost twenty years now - no real improvement or  medical diagnosis

Some relief with Dilantin for migraine 100 mg - had to stop after 12 years as was causing rapid heart beat and Dilantin causes increased urination freq. With other male problems this was becoming an issue but it did work on many of the problems – not all.

My theories were given weight when my second daughter was born. She developed complex migraine with extreme visual and neurological symptoms ( even seeing things that were not there) at a very young age. She is now treated (after scans etc) with Tegratol for this.

I think that what throws doctors off is that the symptoms are not side specific almost all neurological symptoms are side specific and in many of these cases there is no indication of anything wrong with the eye. If the EGG is negative then epilepsy is ruled out. Also most of these eye problems are reversible or improve even in the short term. Doctors can not make a guess and treat for a guess and without research into’ us the few’ knowledge will not be established as to these causes. It is not the doctor’s fault that nothing can be found to establish cause.

This is just my two cents worth of course, all issues need investigating to rule out the known problems like brain tumours etc. When all the other tests are negative then its time to think if it looks almost like a duck use duck shot.
The point being made here is It is possible all these things if not caused by a known eye problem are related to forms of low level migraine or epilepsy. That the negative EGG does not rule out very local forms of the disease.
Thus treatment requires a good talk and a plan with helpful and good doctors. My daughter’s treatment was started based on my history and her symptoms by some excellent doctors and her life has been greatly improved as a result.

An idea – start finding out if you have a family history of funny things that people have  just shrugged off – visual problems, fits etc.

[dbmath]

Hi Tiredsight, I hate to hear that you are having these types of problems.

You stated:

"An idea - start finding out if you have a family history of funny things that people have  just shrugged off - visual problems, fits etc."

My opinion which I consider fact is that you have labeled a symptom as the cause. I feel that many people these days are labeling symptoms as causes and afterall people can name a disease after either. Before you respond to me with your opinions I ask that you try what I am suggesting first and then you can respond to me with facts not opinions because you will have ruled out whether I am right or wrong by actually trying it.

Mike Adams (The Health Ranger) writes:

"The only thing that stands between a person and their own perfect health is information. Empowered with the right information, anyone can improve their health, reduce their dependence on prescription drugs, enhance their quality of life and expand their mental awareness and creativity.

Achieving outstanding health is not complicated. The human body already knows how to be healthy. All you have to do is give your body outstanding nutrition so that it has the building materials it needs to heal disease and rebuild itself from the inside out. You must also avoid all of the foods and food ingredients that cause disease. Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical exercise."

The best thing that anyone can do when their body is not working right is to look at their lifestyle. Ask yourself, "What do I put into my mouth every day, what do I breathe in the air and do I exercise and get enough sleep?" I am convinced that the reasons people are sick these days is because of:

a) Intaking toxins from food, air and water and not detoxing by eating right.
b) Eating GMO foods.
c) Getting not enough exercise.
d) Getting not enough sleep.
e) Eating foods that are stripped of nutrients or not eating foods with nutrients.
f) Prescription drugs are bad for you.

The body is very complex and amazing and in my opinion was not designed or evolved to be "sick". Please take a drive out into the country or whatever it takes to reflect on today's society. You will realize how strange it is that so many people are falling ill these days and nobody including doctors know why. We are working against natures design / evolution and the only solution is to get back on track with what nature intended.

Tiredsight, I used to experience all of the symptoms you have mentioned in addition to losing my ability to think, would go blind three days a week, would shake uncontrollably, and I was weak and I had no energy. I was sick at least once a month and would miss work.

I have completely healed myself with the exception of a twitch in my left upper eyelid without the use of any prescription drugs by simply changing my lifestyle. I fixed a - e above and then I removed toxins from my body (amalgam in my teeth) and used chelator to flush the metal plus other toxins out of my system. Eating nutrient rich foods will naturally detox the body as well.

I challenge any and all of you who are having problems on this forum to honestly try what I have mentioned above without cheating. It will require effort, research and will power. Once you start feeling better without drugs you will realize that big brother and all of the corporations and medical associations have one goal in mind which is to keep people sick so that they can make a profit from our sicknesses.

Perhaps what some percieve as "family history" is nothing more than poor lifestyles passed from one generation to the next. Many people think they are eating healthy because they eat good per the status quo but in reality they are misinformed (by big corporations and medical associations that are bios and have a vested interest in keeping people sick) and simply uneducated. Do not think for a second that organizations in general care about you. People are greedy and selfish and knowing this is one of the biggest steps in healing yourself.

I was not going to write the response because I know people have a tendancey to ignore anything that's outside of the status quo but at the same time I feel obligated to help people when I can, so I wrote this. Listen to me if you want to not be sick and have strange things happening to you that no doctor can explain.

A good place to start to learn about good nutrition is natural news. Just Google "Natural News".

I wish everyone on this forum the best ever.

[DaveC19]

I have found this site while trying to find out what is wrong with my vision.  Oddly I have a friend that has had this for years.  Now I have got it as well.

Some of the things I have found according to me:

I don't have allot of floaters, just a normal amount.  I have no flashes of light in the eyes (which may indicate retina detachment).  I am not taking any meds or have any known physical disorders. I am not having migraines.

These spots come on sudden.  They seem completely random,  They can appear anywhere in either eye, perifery, macula etc.  You can see them best by looking at a bright light with solid color like the sky or a computer monitor displaying white, then blinking the eye.

They can last seconds, hours, days or be permanent (although mine aren't yet).  

I have had a series of spots in one eye come and go in the same location all day long.  While blinking I could actually see these spots fade then appear and fade again.


What they seem to be are dead spots in your vision.  The eye is basically blind in that spot.

The reason you seem to be able to "see through" them is because your brain is filling in the missing information.  You are not really "seeing" through them really, your brain is guessing what should be there.  When you blink and see the spots your brain is lagging behind and not filling in the area fast enough.

When you look at the edge of a light/dark area you get a blur spot in that area.  You brain is not sure how to "guess" if the area is light or dark because both are surrounding that spot so it averages them to a grey or whatever the surrounding colors are.

If you were to take the tip of a pen and hold it in front of you then slowly move it into the part of your vision with the dead spot(s)  (hard to do without looking at it) you will see the tip dissappear as it moves into the dead area.

I have some guesses but I really wish I knew what this was.

I have thought that it may be poor circulation in the eye causing cell death.  I have thought it may be some auto immune disorder that has your body attacking the cells in your eye.  I have thought maybe it is something causing lesions on the optic nerves and/or pathways to the brain.   I have considered that it may be in the brain itself .  Since I am no physician I don't know the likely cause.  All physicians also seem stumped by this condition. Any clues here would be appreciated though.

[melinda68]

This is EXACTLY what i have had happening for 10+ years, although my spots become permanant. Your theory is similar to mine - I just wonder why not one of my opthalmologists has any kind of explanation.

[madnmas]

I wanted to give my story about my "spot". I have been lurking for a year now and wanted to finally post my story.... Please forgive me for posting all over the place in no order. I am trying hard to remember my story from the past 15 months.

About 15 months ago I was walking from one room to the next when I saw a few flashes of light. Then I noticed I have this spot that you all speak of. It is in my left eye and peripheral. A few days later I experienced sharp shooting pain in same said eye. When I blink it flashes and it *sometimes* has twinkly movement within it. Let me just say now that I have had this same spot for 15 months. My vision has not been affected nor have I ever had more than one. It is oval in shape.

When this spot first appeared, I went to 2 different eye dr's and actually just spoke with a third one (during my own daughters eye visit). I want to say that although they were optometrists, each one stated that this is nothing to worry about, and although it cannot be explained that it was completely neurological and probably associated with migraines. They also stated that further testing would not show anything. Since I am a worry wart I asked that if this thing was still in my vision in a year's time...should I pursue it(?) I was told, NO.

Back to my story...Over the course of the next few months after this appeared I started getting more symptoms. Chronic ear pain that was connected to my (gray spot) eye!!! After seeing my PCP who put me on sinus meds, an allergist that gave me testing with negative results, and an ENT that finally diagnosed me..I was diagnosed with TMJ. I saw a specialist who found arthritis in my jaw joint and my joint also pops out of place and back in if I open my mouth wide enough. I clench at night. It is important to note that the side I have TMJ in is the same side as the problem with my eye.

Here's the weird thing.... Whenever my TMJ is acting up really bad, the spot is most noticeable. Whenever I have really bad ear pain it feels as if my eyeball is connected and the spot is much visible and what I like to call *on fire* in which it is very prominent. It is also important to note that when I seem to be going through a period of time where my jaw is trying to heal and I have much less pain...the gray spot actually begins to fade!!! It almost seems as if I could heal my jaw, the gray spot would totally fade out. I also have other visual disturbances: in the morning when I wake up (sometimes) I see a black shadow that fades, I see after images (I can look at something for a while, look the other way, and see the outline of it), and I can also see what look like yellow veins in my vision), and floaters seem more apparent.


Although I definitely have migraine symptoms, I find it most strange that when I am going through episodes of terrible TMJ associated pain, that this thing is really sparkling...but when I am making good progress and do not clench at night...it seems to fade(?).

As far as stress factors, I struggle with moderate anxiety in regards to health related issues. I've been labeled a hypochondriac...it's not that I make things up...but when I do have something going on it's the worst. I can tell you that it does not help when reading this thread you see "multiple sclerosis". On the other hand, it is very encouraging to see that people have had this spot for years.

Lastly, I wanted to add that my vision as a whole has not been affected. I only have ONE gray spot that has never went away...and I have never had more than one. Of course I do experience blurry vision in same said eye, but that is a side effect of TMJ, too.

So is this grey spot from migraines or some kind of pressure behind the eye related to my TMJ? I don't know. No, I have never went and had an MRI or seen an opthamologist.  I had to add that.

Are you guys ready for the most amazing thing of it all? My aunt had one at the EXACT same time as I did that lasted a year!!!!!! The good news is this: Hers just recently went away. She, too, has been diagnosed with migraines. I also have a mother, uncle, and (late) grandmother that suffer migraines.

CRAZY!!!

[Kman771]

This just started, only after looking at my iPod touch or PC. Otherwise im fine. Is this a link? And is my vision in danger by this?

[Bob534]

It's good to know I'm not the only one. How are you?

[madnmas]

It seems this thread has been inactive for a loooong time. I tried to bump it by posting my story, but no luck.

If you ask me, it really seems like it is somehow TMJ connected for a bunch of folks. Mine did not start until my TMJ began. It feels like my jaw is somehow connected to my eye with all the problems. Only difference with me is that I only have one spot and it is still there after 15 months....It's on fire obvious when my jaw hurts, and when I am having a really good few days it starts to fade. It's just that I've never had enough good days to see if it will go away completely.

[duffhawke]

I have the same problem that everyone on here has.  I went to my eye doctor and he said that it could be the gel behind me eye sticking to my retina and everytime I blink it could be pulling it.  He said he couldn't see this happening but it could be in a place where he couldn't see it.  
Has anybody else been told this?  

[melinda68]

Yes, along with
* migraine variant
* some kind of toxic amblyobia
* Vitreous syneresis
* optic nerve lesions
* floaters (!!!!)

no definitive diagnosis ...

[mareed]

hi there, i have this problem too, it happens occasionall.  I also have severe TMJ issues and i also have bad anxiety.....seems to be quite a trend here.  I wonder if its related to TMJ?  I have mentioned it to the optometrist and DR and neither of them have any idea what it is.

[Bob534]

Thanks for your reply. I don't have TMJ, and I had a normal eye exam. I have an appointment with a neuro - for JUNE, that's how booked up he is

[Bob534]

We all need Dr. House. This seems to be a strange epidemic. I am at my wits end

[bdandb]

Oh boy am I glad I have found this forum!

I have also got a bright spot in my vision. It's in my left eye just below where the blind spot is, on the left hand side. It is exactly like someone has taken a photo with the flash on but unlike when that happens this doesn't go away. It has been there for around a week now.

I can see it when I close my eyes and if I stare at a central point and wave my hand through the area the bright spot is bits of my hand disappear.

The spot also kind of sparkles sometimes and it does seem to change colour depending on what I'm looking at and what kind of light I'm in.

I have had a cat scan which turned up nothing abnormal and have been referred to a neurologist by both the optician and my dr. By some stroke of luck there was a cancellation for the neurologist so I am able to get in tomorrow. There was apparently nothing wrong with my eye but the optician did feel that something was wrong with my optic nerve (can't remember if he said it was swollen or something was pushing onto it?)

Like so many others on here I suffered from migraines (during puberty and when I was pregnant with my now 14 month old son). I also have anxiety and clench my teeth. I had never heard of TMJ until I read this forum but I have known for a while that there was a problem with my jaw as it constantly clicks and on occasion gets locked.

I can't believe there are others with the same issue and yet noone has had a proper dianosis.

I will let you all know how I go tomorrow.

Oh - and Noelle77 - totally with you about Dr House. My hubby and I were joking about this last night.

[ashann]

I recently been put on Pristiq (anxiety med)
I am High Stress/Anxiety,Worrier,Hypocondriac,etc.

This cresent pink light appears worse on tv,,monitor,light back grounds. This started yesterday for me and has not gone away and is driving me CRAZY! I had a optomitrist and Opthymologist appointments this past month for blurryish problems and they both say my vision is GREAT NOTHING WRONG! Nothing wrong? There is I know what I see!!!!!!

[Bob534]

I have this problem too, eye docs say it's nothing. WHAT IS THIS???? Everyday with these strobe lights, sometimes they are purple, actually many times they are purple

[bdandb]

Hi All,

I have had my neuro appointment. He has booked me for an MRI and referred me back to an opthalmologist to double check it's not an eye problem. He said that as the CAT scan has already come back clear it is nothing too serious.

I saw the opthal on Fri and guess what... nothing wrong with my eyes! Perfect vision, etc, etc the same as everyone else.

The Opthal diagnosed me with optic neuritis (a swelling of the optic nerve) and is pleased that I will be having an MRI. He advised that my vision should return to normal within around 6 weeks but I may be left with a small permanent addition to the normal blind spot. He could find absolutely nothing wrong with my eyes and is certain the issue lies beyond the disk putting the problem back in the brain category.

So, MRI booked for 16/12 then back to the neuro. Again, I will let you know how it goes.

Interestingly, the spot is still there but has become less irritating. I'm not really sure whether it has stopped being as bright or rather that my brain has become used to it and is now compensating. Either way I am glad it is not bothering me as much.

[Kabal223]

Hi I will paste the message I posted in several forums, my symptoms are exactly like yours guys:

(sorry for my bad english)

This is my original message:

Hello! lets see if I know how to explain my case... and sorry for my bad english

For about 15 days I see 3 spots in my vision, on the left side of my right eye. It started as a shining L-shaped spot and I was able to see it with my eyes open or closed, it was like a patch of sunlight, the same as when we see the sun and after that remains a "shining mark" that reverses the colors, but in my case never left.

I went to the emergency room and the doctor found nothing unusual, it says that everything is normal but "may be" a "floc crumpled" (WTF?) in the vitreous, but when I asked where was that "floc" stuck and why doest move, the doctor put a face of surprise and did not answer. (I have floaters, but I know that is normal... they move).

After that, the "shinning" scotoma changed to 3 spots, one larger than the others, they do not shine now and I see them more on smooth surfaces (mostly white or gray) and I see it very much when I blink, and when I see stripes too because those scotomas modify the colors, yes, I think they are transparent, or I think they are because those spot are located slightly to the left, not in the center.

I should also say that the spots disappear on the surface I see, that is, if now I see a white surface they are gray or the color I was seeing before, but gradually fade away to become the same as the surface color (and the scotoma disappears), and then if I see a black surface the scotoma is white or yellow and after a few seconds of seeing the black surface the scotoma disappear again.

The truth? I'm worried because that doctor diagnose something random and I'm not too convinced.

Oh.. I almost forgot... yes, I must say that I see them less, but I think they are a bit larger and more round.

UPDATE: Today I had a big headche and I started to see a BIG bright scotoma in my left eye, it lasted a few minutes and disappears, also I was really worried because I had a big fight with my wife... maybe all this is stress related?

[Janey1964]

I'm so glad I found this forum.  Trying to google "I see a spot when I blink" brings up all kinds of stuff.

Last night I noticed that every time I blinked there would be a small gray spot in my right eye like a flashbulb after effect or effect of looking at the sun or a bright flash off a chrome bumper.  But, it faded immediately.  Blink: there it was, then quickly (like in less than a second)  it would fade.  I kept grabbing fine print items to see if the area where the spot appeared looked blurred out or not but since it wasn't exactly in my central field of vision, I couldn't really tell. I don't think it was blanking out vision there but I've read that the brain fills in information so who knows.  

I kept sitting there blinking fast to see it appear and disappear.  I read somewhere about it possibly being a pressure phosphene from one's eyelid so I just covered my eye with my hand and pulled it away fast and there was the spot, then quickly it disappeared just like when I blink.  So that rules out phosphene since I wasn't changine the pressure, just changing my focus from darkness to light.

This went on for about 6 hours, but the spot got smaller.  This morning, it's gone.  I seem to recall this happening before when I was driving in sunny weather and I wondered why one of my eyes was taking so long to recover from seeing a bright light -- I didn't really analyze it then.

I've never had any eye problems and just had a dilated exam 6 months ago where my eye pressure in both eyes was slightly increased but still on the cusp of normal.  I don't have any neurological symptoms -- no weird smells, no change in behavior or hearing or anything like that.  

To add to the information requested by the first poster -- I'm a very Type A person with very high stress, labile blood pressure that shoots very high (165/105) when I'm anxious or worried but sits at 120/75 the rest of the time.  I'm not on medication for this but I have to watch getting too stressed out.  I have TMJ and grind my teeth/clinch at night.  I also have major trigger point problems in my shoulders and neck from tensing/clinching those muscles and I have lots of neck-related headaches. I have lots of sinus problems, too, and they are worse on the side where this spot appeared in my eye.  I also get migraines, usually migraine aura without headache but also migraine with aura so I've seen scintillating scotoma in my field of vision many, many, many  times -- in both eyes because migraine auras originate in the brain -- and this spot when blinking is NOT a migraine scotoma.  

I have an appointment with my eye doctor in two weeks.  I'll mention this and post back here if I learn anything from her.

[Janey1964]

OH, I forgot to mention that I also have a lot of floaters, particularly in my right eye where I saw this spot.  I was wondering if it's possible that this effect is from the vitreous pulling away from the retina?  I'm 45 and nearsighted and my floaters started getting worse about 10 years ago but every yearly eye exam has been good.  I've read about "flashers" from vitreous tugging on the retina -- I think that's what happens -- when it pulls away in middle age, maybe this effect could be related?  I've never really read a good explanation of what a flasher looks like.

[bdandb]

Just updating on my last post.

Have had an MRI and they could find nothing abnormal. I will return to my neurologist in at the end of January but am very doubtful he will provide a diagnosis.

I can no longer notice my spot unless I close my other eye and intentionally look for it and even then it is much smaller and barely noticable so hopefully that will provide some relief to those who have just begun this phenomenon.

I really think this may have something to do with stress or anxiety as it seems a little too coincidental that nearly all of the people posting with this problem report themselves as being an anxious type personality.

Janey1964 - I am 26 years old and was previously running with a theory that it seemed to be females of my age group until I found this post. I don't think it has anything to do with age now. As above, I'm fairly sure it's to do with stress.

Are those who have this symptom sleep deprived at all? I have a 14 month old that keeps me awake frequently at night and I have been wondering whether that could have something to do with it too?

[Janey1964]

I have a 4 year old who barely sleeps -- didn't sleep through the night until she was 3.  It's been a lot of years of getting by with around 4 hours of sleep total every day for me.

Also, I had my child at 40, almost 41, breast fed for a year.  I think hormones might be a culprit here, too, possibly something to do with childbearing age or maybe the stress hormones have something to do with relaxing/constricting something in the eye?  It's all very curious, that's for sure.  I haven't had a repeat of the spot at all today but now I'm kind of paranoid it will come back!  

[bdandb]

I know the feeling. My hubby thinks I'm crazy sometimes cos I will cover one eye and stare blinkingly at the wall for a few minutes trying to check if the spot is there or not.

Congrats on 12 months of breastfeeding. That's a fantastic achievement!

It will be interesting to see if any further replies find similarities regarding the childbearing hormones. That's an interesting idea that I hadn't thought of.

[doodle_girl]

Before I start, I'd like to ask if anyone has consulted Chinese medicine doctors for this problem at all, since western doctors can't seem to have this issue figured out? I am Chinese myself and I know Chinese medicine (when you find a good doctor) is really powerful as it looks at the human body as a whole and it treats the cause of the problem, not just the symptom. Too bad I live in the Midwest; I know there is a super super great doctor in Florida (Orlando area) who cures even cancer (lots of NASA employees are his patients)... I would love to fly to see him if no other eye specialists can give me an answer of my eye problem. Here is his website: http://www.hantang.com/
(If anybody lives in that area, may I suggest you to see this doctor and see what he says? His name is Dr. Nee.)

Ok, here is my eye situation (I am 34, female, really near-sighted):

I have similar problem as you guys, but I've had more complicated situation before. I've had MEWDS (Multiple Evanescent White Dot Syndrome, which caused numerous grey spots in my eye and then disappeared within weeks), then it became CNV, new blood vessels growing and leaking fluid into the retina (with similar result to wet macular degeneration), that causes scarred tissues to form and become permanent blind spots in my center vision. However, that has been stable for a couple of years so far.

However, since last week I've noticed an enlarged natural blind spot... It got real dark and big, and also I have small blind spots popping out at random places. They started as a faint grey area, but soon with a day or two they get bigger and become permanent blind spots. Within one week of time I've seen 2 ophthalmologists because I was afraid that I have new blood vessels growing and leaking blood/fluid into my retina that's causing new scarred tissues/blind spots. But after FA, OTC and visual field test,both doctor could't find anything and couldn't tell me what's wrong with my eye. It's very frustrating because I know I can see them myself, and I can see new blind spots on the Amsler grid as well.... I will see another doctor tomorrow just to get a second opinion.

[doodle_girl]

Just came back from my appointment with a retina doctor. He said he didn't see any inflammation or leaking blood vessels in my eye. He can't tell me why I have blind spots showing up at random places (he can't see them at all during the exam despite that I can see them all over the Amsler chart), and there is nothing he can do.... He agrees that it's very frustrating.

There must be a reason why this is happening to all of us... I think it's time for me to search help in the field of Chinese medicine. If anyone is also trying this route, would you please post your result?

[bdandb]

I have now received official confirmation from my neurologist that there are no abnormalities in my brain relating to these blind spots. The neuro did detect small black spots which are commonly seen in migraine sufferers and has requested I get blood tests to triple check that everything is normal. I go back to see him in a month, but thankfully it does seem as if everything is ok.

After having had this experience though I would highly urge anybody who is having this problem but has nothing wrong with their eyes to seek further consulation from a brain specialist as there are many neurological causes for these types of symptoms and some are quite serious.

Doodle girl - I would be very interested to hear what a chinese medicinist has to say about these symptoms. Please come back and let us know.

[madnmas]

Wow, I had left this thread alone for a while and came back last night happy to see some replies. While I do think this has to do with migraines/ stress...I am curious to find that TMJ seems to be related btwn. many people as well. All can say is that this occurred about the time I was diagnosed with TMJ...I also am moderate anxiety and am going through menopause due to hysterectomy from endometriosis. Who knows?

One thing is for sure, my maternal aunt had a grey spot that lasted for a year and finally went away. She, too, is diagnosed with migraines. My grey spot will be here two years this coming summer in June. It came upon after seeing flashing lights...like someone was turning the light off and on real quick (but during the day)....then it appeared out of no where instantly. For the most part, mine sparkles. Yes, there have been times where it appears to be fading....but for the most the only time it is really going is when my eyeball hurts along with my TMJ problem on the same side...almost like the two are connected. I figure if it was something horrendous with my brain after two years I would have already had something else going on. Good to see there are other folks that have had tests come back okay.

If I had to bet my life on it I would say it is migraines...and that the reason it lasts so long is maybe there is an on going migraine problem we are trying to recover from...only problem is, I get them enough to where my eye does not have time to heal. If it has to do with light, then that would be our retina...since that is the only time you can see it is by covering it up and then uncovering it.

[melinda68]

Wow, your symptoms are a PERFECT fit with mine, right down to the colour adaption of the scotoma. I also have migraine with aura and grind my teeth and am HIGH anxiety. Hmmm.

[KerBearKyute]

I'm so..so..much more comforted to find that I'm not alone with this..
One morning I just woke up to a bunch of ridiculous blind spots just like how you all describe.
I've never seen or experienced anything more disturbing or devastating in my life.
I feel as if I'm going to lose my mind and I'm on the verge of scratching out my eye.
The eye doctor has checked my eye twice due to flashing in my peripheral vision, but said my eye and retina were perfectly healthy.
I'm happy it's healthy but completely devastated she can't find anything.
I have a long history of frequent migraines (14 out of 16 years) but I have NEVER had even the slightest migraine aura, ever.
And when this started, I had no migraine at all.
I'm also nearsighted but not severely.
Enough for glasses.
It has not stopped.
Not even once.
Ongoing now for about a week exactly and is getting worse.
All I can do is cry and cry.
I'm happy I'm not alone but so upset no one else has been able to find an answer.
I'm only 16 and have no idea what to do..I think I almost rather be blind than go through this constant torture.

[Janey1964]

I thought I'd follow up from December.  I ended up missing my appointment back then and didn't follow up because my spot was gone and I just figured it was just a weird thing that passed.  Then, last week I had one show up in my right eye that was more like a crescent shape -- as if I'd looked at a bright moving light.  Same phenomenon, just a swath instead of a spot.  In four days I had one appear in my LEFT eye, a spot like the one in December, but this one very close to my central vision.  I looked at an Amsler grid online and could see the spot in my left eye.  This freaked me out so I immediately booked an appointment with my eye doctor yesterday.

She spent a long, long, LONG time with my eyes dilated searching the back of both eyes and said that she could find nothing, not a hint of anything amiss and that my eyes looked perfectly healthy. Perfect eye pressure, too.  It's great that I don't have a developing hole in my maculas or detaching retinas or something dire but I'm as frustrated as most of you that either this is just a mysterious, undiagnosable condition OR something neurological.

Next up for me is a retina specialist, but based on what my regular opthalmolagist says I doubt he will reveal anything.  I suppose a neurologist is next if I really want to be thorough, but based on people here it seems that very few find actual problems in that area, either.

My doctor mentioned that this could be migraine-related but I've never had auras appear in only one eye at a time and they've always taken the classic progression and disapperaed within 20 minutes.    

As of today the crescent is dimmer and the spot in my left eye is practically gone.  

I'm wondering if there is a weird structural componant to this.  Like these spots are some form of persistant phosphene based on slight irregularities in eye shape or the way our eyes fit inside our skulls.  I konw I sound crazy trying to sort this out but it is a maddening phenomenon.  

I've also read about weird body symptoms based on having your atlas vertabra out of alignment.  Google atlas vertabra or atlas adjustment and you can read about people who had all kinds of conditions solved by this chiropractic specialty.  It's different than normal chiropratic and only looks at that one vertabra at the base of your skull where your brain stem leaves your head.  

Everything from vision disturbances to hearing problems to chronic pain and systemic disease has been linked to atlas misalignment.  Traditional MDs either dismiss it or don't know about it but Montel Williams was supposedly healed from his chronic pain by getting his atlas adjusted and there is a lot of talk about how if the atlas vertabra at the top of your neck is pushing on the brain stem in a funny way then it can effect the way the brain communicates with other parts of your body.  I know a lot of people think chiropractors are quacks, and I'm very skeptical,  but the idea of pinched nerves affecting their performance makes a basic kind of sense to me.  Plus, I'm willing to look into alternative areas for solutions.  

At this point, and after reading how so many of you never found a reason for these spots, I'm kinda grasping at straws.

I'll post back after my appointment with the retina specialist.  

[Janey1964]

My TMJ is really bad right now, and I've been waking up with major jaw pain from grinding.  Maybe these are related.

[Janey1964]

I meant to add that along with TMJ, I have serious neck pain, trigger points in those muscles.  That's what led me to consider that my atlas vertabra may be out of whack.  Anyway, I'll post back after the next doctor visit.

[bdandb]

Just thought I'd come back with a final update. I have had further blood tests to completely rule out anything neurological and thankfully again, they turned up nothing. The neuro did note that there were black spots on the MRI that are often seen with migraine hence the logical diagnosis that was what this was, just in a different form to what I usually experience.

I personally still think there is something in the TMJ and Janey1964, if this becomes a problem for me again I will do some research into the atlas vertabra.

I still urge all of you to get this checked by a neuro if your symptoms persist just to be on the safe side.

KerBearKyute - I felt exactly how you describe. It's so panicking when something is affecting your vision. One thing that may be of comfort is that for nearly everyone here the symptoms cleared up within a few weeks. I really hope things get better for you soon.

[KerBearKyute]

Thank you, I really appreciate it..
Though I'm not happy you or anyone else has had to go through this.
I've become depressed but I've been trying to distract myself by keeping out of the house more often and trying not to be alone.
My doctor was worried about my low blood levels or something so today at the hospital I had to get some blood work done.
I asked the nurse, very doubtful, if anything wrong with my blood could contribute to blind spots in my left eye and I explained everything.
She said absolutely yes. Numerous things.
I actually cried I was so happy.
She asked if I talked to my Neurologist about it and when I told her all he had his secretary tell me to do was double up on my migraine medication (which hasn't worked), she scowled.
She said they'll do many tests and the results will be in within a few days and she hopes they'll find some answers for me.
I hope so too..
I just want answers..

[madnmas]

My aunt (who just got back from the eye dr...and has had a series of tests from her "grey spot") was just given another assuring followup... Just so you don't have to go looking for my post, I, too, suffer from this whole spot in the eye thing that you can see when you blink...mine will be here two years this coming June.

"I told her about my year long silent migraine and the grey spot.  I said the grey spot  went away but when I get into a store or other situations with a bright flash with bright lights like the grocery store my eyes (especially the eye where the grey spot was) seems very sensitive and acts weird.  She began by saying that migraines whether silent or with pain are strange.  She says they are vascular and even though my examination shows nothing out of the norm with the blood vessels or optic nerve  that my grey spot is actually most likely still there and fortunately only shows up and  reacts to lights from time to time.  The grey spot in her opinion never goes away but in some people fades to where you don’t notice it. Unless there is a sudden change of light.  She said people can have silent migraines without a grey spot and no pain and not even know they are having a migraine.  My eyes have not changed since I last went in 2008 so she says.   Hopes this eases your mind some.  "

[Sooz91942]

My experience is similar, but a bit different. My blind spot is silver with light around the edge, comes and goes 5 or more times a day, and doesn't stay for longer than 10 seconds.  Seems like the spot is about 1/4" but really, how can I tell?  It moves when my eye moves, i.e. if I look off to the side, the blind spot doesn't stay, but moves too.  I only see the blind spot in my right eye (I cover my left eye to be sure of this when it occurs).

Funny-weird thing is that if I watch the blind spot, it kinda does a shape-shift and dissolve dance, much like those things in an old fashioned lava lamp can separate and join with one another...but they are kinda shapeless like an amoeba we learned about in high school.

The blind spot has been going on for about 6 weeks, and started out that it would show up only when I opened my eyes after they'd been closed (napping, sleeping). They were not associated with my getting up from bed or the recliner, they were not associated with my rolling over in bed.  I opened my eyes, and then after a second or two, there was the blind spot.

Yup, been to an ophthalmologist. I have one of those "dye" retinal scans coming up with an immediate consult with a retinal specialist.

Very mysterious.  Anyone have the weird "lava lamp" spots???  

My next step is seeing a neurologist because if it's not my eye, then it must be my brain.  I'm not type A, I don't have mercury fillings, I really don't have stress in my life, no TMJ, never had a migraine, and am in pretty good health.

Any ideas???

[PD67]

I am new here. Glad to see others see like me... It is very frustrating trying to tell people who do not have this condition what it is like.

A little background.

As a young adult I had issues with migraines and auras. After a few years of occasional migraines my eyes were left highly sensitive to light changes. A  flash from a camera lasts a lot longer than for me than most people. I have floaters. I am used to these light sensitive blind like spots coming and going. But lately they are staying and I am getting concerned. I am 42.

This past few months have been very stressful for me. And new eye issues came back (not surprisingly), I got a small stomata in right eye off center - just like the ones that everyone else here have described -mostly visible upon light/brightness changes. It seems it is here to stay.

I went to the ophthalmologist and I came out with better than 20/20 vision and no issues on the blind spot test as well. He diagnosed me with entoptic phenomena syndrome.

Today I woke up and I have a new "blind spot" the type you see looking from dark to light and visa versa that is larger and closer to the center of my vision and it is shaped like a C but with less curve. It is much larger and annoying as a quick glance from dark to bright and there is very quick loss of vision in that spot, like in a flash but more gray in color.

I already made an appointment to follow up with my doctor and i think after reading posts here I am going to suggest that I see a neurologist for an MRI.

I think in my case that vision is effected by blood vessel dilatation issues in the brain, I am not sure why now the spots do not fade away like they used to though. I am in Boston area and there are a lot of good doctors. I will check back in later.

[melinda68]

Thanks for contributing. I am in precisely the same boat as you  - my spots no longer fade and seem to be larger and more central.
Please post again with the results of your next N-O visit. I'm sorry you are going through this also, but it's great to get input from a fellow undiagnosed sufferer.

[civi79]

Hi all,

I have the same situation and I just found this forum.
I read all the comments, and something seems similar along them:
- some cases of glaucoma in family, migraine with aura, floaters, TMJ.

I thought I may have glaucoma, but I had an eye pressure check and a field of vision check and there were no problems. I will do this reguallary.
On the other hand I'm thinking it may be neurological. I'm left handed and I have the situation for the right eye. Is there any person who has this differently? (E.g. right handed with problem on right eye, or left handed with the problem on left eye).

Also, there were some persons who started this thread 2 years ago. If you come back here, PLEASE add any new updates for your situation.

[slspope]

This is so frustrating. I have two small gray spots on my left eye (color changes depending on what I'm looking at). My eye doc has not found anything. I go back this Friday with Amsler test charts for her to see. One spot is very close to my line of vision and appears to be getting bigger. The other I rarely notice.

I noticed them in May and Friday will only be my 2nd visit to the ophthalmologist (first one 4 weeks ago).

After reading through this thread I must say I am more confused than ever. I do not have TMJ or migraines,  I am not highly stressed and have no history of medical problems at all. I am a 45 year old female in good shape/condition. I eat well and exercise daily. I do wear glasses to read and work. I work on a computer 8-10 hours a day.

Please, people, keep posting your experiences so that we can all learn something. It is so frustrating that the docs don't know what's going on. It is reassuring though that some people have reported that theirs have gone away... there's hope. I just hope that my spots don't start to interfere with my ability to work and drive.

Thanks and good luck to everyone

[civi79]

Sounds odd, but I had this problem for ~2 weeks, then I got a ophtalmic migraine couple of days ago, and the problem is completly gone. I would say this bright spot is some kind of aura, lasting longer.
Anyone else had this spot gone before a migraine?

[madnmas]

I am posting an update. If anything, maybe it will reassure someone. If you would like to know my story..just search my user name in this same thread.

As of June 2010, I have now had the same spot in my vision. It never went away and appears as though it will probably not. I only have one spot. It appears as though it has flashing lights within it, but it is primarily gray.

The more my jaw hurts, the more my same eye hurts with the spot, and the more visible the spot is. While I have officially been diagnosed with a TMJ disorder, I also experience migraines as well.

I have an aunt who had a grey spot for about a year. It finally went away. Every time she walks into a particular grocery store with weird lighting, the same spot comes back in the same exact area. I am wondering if somehow a migraine has damaged a particular blood vessel to a certain degree..it somewhat heals in time, and then the spot comes back through same blood vessel.

While I want to continue worrying about it, I have relief that people on here have had extensive testing and nothing ever shows. I just can't believe I have had mine for so long. I really would have thought it would have went away by now. What is weird here is that some people have several and they come and go. Mine has stayed, never had more than one...which leads me to believe I may have permanently injured a blood vessel through a migraine and perhaps it will never go away.

There have actually been times where I thought it was fading, but then I have another silent migraine and it comes back full blast. This also leads me to believe that if I could refrain from experiencing a silent migraine long enough, my blood vessel that is probably causing the gray spot would actually disappear.

I continue to believe that it has something to do with the retina because of the light changes as well...

[madnmas]

oops, forgot to add that as of June 2010 it has been TWO YEARS now that I have had the spot.

[belgaer]

Hi all...like many of you I am very relieved to find you! I have similar issues with bright spots, grey spots and a similar history! I was wondering if anyone has noted a connection with the weather or barometric pressure? I usually find migraines more frequent when it is high humidity or about to rain...of course, my most recent and worrying bright thing just showed up on a nice, summer day!

[melinda68]

Hi there. I was one of the early posters on this thread, so I won't rehash my whole story. Suffice to say same spot issue as your all for past 10= years, lifelong migraine with aura sufferer.
Yes, I absolutely notice a correlation between new spots and the weather. Usually changes in barometric pressure, and right before rain, as you state.
Have you had a full work-up with a retina specialist ? Anything found? I would LOVE for someone to come back here with a diagnosis.

[madnmas]

I have a few questions for you..You say you have had these spots for 10 years...are they the same ones in the exact same spot..never once disappearing?

And have you ever seen flashing lights in the middle of them?

Like I said earlier, mine seem to fade as TMJ seems to be more relaxed...but it has never went away 100%. More or less, sometimes the colors are more dull than other times within the spot.

One thing I forgot to add earlier is that when this spot is "on" big time, I also see after images big time...like I can look at my husband across the table, then look away and I can see the outline of his head/shoulders. I can also see yellowish looking cobweb images in my vision (I am assuming blood vessels) when the spot is real apparent or my jaw really hurts. The worse the spot is, the blurrier my vision, too.

[belgaer]

Thank you for your reply. I have had several assessments like we all seem to...seems I have drusen on my macula. Very scary for me as I understand that drusen are always present in macular degeneration, but do not always mean MD will develop! I am still hoping that I am in the latter category! I have also been told that I had a PVD (or two over time), though they couldn't be seen and some kind of detachment or blister between pigment layers. Has anyone else been told about any of this???
I can only find evidence of glaucoma in my family history, though tests were not sophisticated when our older family members were alive so who really knows? I have been taking AREDS vitalux for a long time despite the stomach pain and nausea as well as lots of extra lutein. Lots of ibuprophen and sudafed as well in hopes of holding off migraine!!
Has anything worked for you?? Do you use a splint for the TMJ?...which I also have!!!

[kjelltp]

I see those spots occasionally.  I can't relate it to a specific incident, but almost always in some high lux environment.     They dont last as long as described here, perhaps 10-15 minutes.    I can pretty much recreate the incident as well, if ie I catch a bad reflection from the sun WO my 2% noir medical sunglasses (this will stress my retina for a looong time..or a camera flash).     I have autoimmune retinopathy for the record (which gives me extreme light sensitivity).  Most these symptoms are retinal, no doubt (didnt read entire threat but...atleast the major issue).  If you see it when you close your eyes its pretty certain.

[melinda68]

Hi Belgaer
The spots never resolve, although they become less noticeable. Unless I'm looking at an amsler grid, or horizontal blinds, the edge of the computer screen etc etc, in which case they are VERY obvious. Occasionally, they return to their originally state. My largest one returned June 28 and is still present.

I have been told my maculas are healthy. I haven't been diagnosed with TMJ but I do have pain in the jaw, and I clench and grind.I have migraine with aura.

I have also been taken an AREDS vitamin for a few years.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Melinda

[melinda68]

Hi there.
Have a look at my answer above. I've never seen flashing lights in the middle of them, but when they first appear or turn back "on" (good description, btw) they are VERY bright and I can see them wherever I look (they change from bright white to dark grey, depending on background).
Do you have migraine with aura in addition to the TMJ. Also, do you notice any connection with changes in the weather. Are they more likely to occur on overcast days etc.
Can you see them on am amsler grid?
If you have any other questions, please contact me.
Melinda

[kjelltp]

I have healthy retina too according to "doctors".  Doesn't mean squat.

[belgaer]

Being told your eyes are healthy is still something to be very grateful for, despite these vision anomalies. At least it means that the most usual and sometimes worst concerns can be put to rest even while you struggle with what you've got. I've been told that there are some issues seen by the doctor, which just adds to my anxiety! Hang in there and take comfort from these real-life stories.

[madnmas]

Hey- got your e-mail. :)

I can see my one spot on the amsler grid. ya know, I was talking to my husband about this thread and I had an "aha" moment. You know, we could very well all be on here looking for the cause of headaches. While we each can have one, the reason why we have it is for different reasons. It's the same thing with these spots...there are people on this thread that have been diagnosed with MS, migraines, and retinal conditions...I don't think that every person on here that experiences these has the same condition.

Yes, I do have migraines, but not with aura..they are silent, but I know when I get one..I start seeing flashes of pinpoint light here and there that are different colors..I will see after images..and I feel what I refer to as a 'build up" of pressure in my head and my teeth start to pound..I will also get nauseated and then it goes away in seconds.

The only thing that makes me feel better is that my aunt (maternal) has migraines and she had a gray spot that lasted a year. It even comes back in the same place, same size, etc when she gets one. Mine has now been here for two years/2 months never changing size or shape. It sparkles in it. Because I can't leave a link on here...got to wikipedia.com and search for "scinitllating scotoma". There is a visual of one with a beach background...but there are two scotomas shown. I only have one and that is the best described I have ever seen. The scotoma shown is black and white which resembles the flashing lights within the scotoma. I just read on the same page that"

"In general, the prognosis for retinal migraine is similar to that of migraine headache with typical aura. As the true incidence of retinal migraine is unknown, it is uncertain whether there is a higher incidence of permanent neuroretinal injury. The visual field data suggests that there is a higher incidence of end arteriolar distribution infarction and a higher incidence of permanent visual field defects in retinal migraine than in clinically manifest cerebral infarctions in migraine with aura.[6] One study suggests that more than half of reported recurrent cases of Retinal Migraine subsequently experienced permanent visual loss in that eye from infarcts. [7] An infarction in the retina, however, is usually apparent to the patient"

I believe it is probable that we all have experienced some sort of permanent damage to the retina or blood vessels within.

[melinda68]

Hi again
Actually, it sounds like you DO have migraine with aura (the aura is all the weird stuff apart form the headache, ie the scintillating scotoma).
I am almost certain this is some form of retinal migraine. I am in contact with several people (not on this thread) who have the exact same manifestation as me, and they all have migraine with aura as well.
All have have had very extensive workups with neuro-opthalmologists and nothing clincial has been found. I do, however, believe that with each new spot, damage to the blood vessels is being done and that this damage is permanent and cumulative.
I am probably going to have another fluoroscein angiogram shortly and will be interested to whether any damage to the blood vessels is now evident.
Will keep you updated.
Melinda

[madnmas]

For some reason I always assumed that an aura was that thing that people experience where it starts out as some small spot then gradually gets bigger (and you can't see out of it) until it finally moves away out of your vision...and that is has like a million colors inside of it etc. So basically having an aura means anything visual related that happens?

Like I said before I just see random dots here and there..not all at once..like maybe one every 5 seconds......You want to know something that is *REALLY* weird? Right before I get a silent migraine where I feel my head has pressure and there is a like a pounding pulse I feel in my teeth, then I get nauseated?....well, I get this really weird feeling in my throat like I want to cough..it actually itches somewhat. Now how in the *world* does that happen? My aunt calls it part of my "pre migraine aura". STRANGE! Why in the world would I get that right before the migraine?

Like you, I feel that this one spot I have is permanent and will never go away. I have been a hypochondriac for a long time and ironically, I have not pursued this one gray spot I have except for visiting three diff. optometrists who all say it is migraine related. Maybe part of me is scared, maybe part of me rests in the fact that my mother, maternal aunt, and maternal uncle all have histories of migraine.

[melinda68]

What you're describing in your first par is a classic scintillating scotoma, which is the most common manifestation of a migraine aura. But an aura can also include sensory, motor and verbal symptoms. For example, as well as the scintillating scotoma, I also have problems with speech, where I can't formulate words properly; extreme sensitivity to sound and smell, where everything is magnified to the point of extreme unpleasantness; pins and needles in my throat. I also become confused and disoriented. Usully the very first sign of an impending migraine for me is, oddly, a rushing sense of euphora, like a high. Sometimes this is followed by the typical migraine headache, other times not.

Your teeth/throat symptoms are probably sensory manifestations. it's truly a bizarre condition and really not a lot is known about it at the moment.

If I were you, I'd consider getting a really good workup with a retina specialist or neuro-opth. Optometrists aren't medical doctors and in my experience miss a lot of the bigger picture as a result.

[kjelltp]

Belgaer: + all

Not everything can be seen by them.   But they blantantly deny the fact you are having a problem if they cannot see i (especially in immune type disorders).  If its a disturbance in the visual cycle, in many cases they may not see anything, nor anything show on the tests they perform (erg, etc..)  My eyesight certainly isnt healthy, and generally other symptoms follow, but those get silently ignored.   Ive had 0 success via conventional doctors, and so far probably 80% success via alternative and natural methods.  Do yourselves a great favor, and seek help from a naturopathic practitioner. Eyesight is a horrible thing to waste...

[belgaer]

Too true! Thank you for the naturopathic suggestion...just might "look" into that!

[semac]

Hi All,

I found this forum while looking for answers to my symptoms. I have a little spot that in not quite in the center of my vision in my right eye. I see it when looking at a light background like a computer screen, sky, etc. I see it best when I blink or squint. I have this before but they usually go away after a couple of days. This one has been around for 4 days so far and no sign of it going away. I was thinking of getting it checked but I'm fairly certain my eye doctor thinks I'm nuts. I hate having lights shone into my eyes, you know when they use the magnifying glass and light, to look into your eyes. The thought of having my pupils diliated really makes me anxious. I, like most, have lots of floaters. Every eye examine I've had alwasy comes back as perfect, no problems. I've had 20/20 vision my whole life, last year I had to get glasses to while working on the computer (I'm 47) due to eye strain. I used to get migraines with aura and have had the aura without migraine on occasion but not for many years. Sounds like we all have to learn to live with it.......suggestions?

[civi79]

Hi all,

For me this is turning into a blind spot, (scotoma) :(. I'll go check for glaucoma again.

How to check if this is a blind spot or not: a visual field, or empirically, go to blinktextmaker *******, enter letter "A", cover the eye with no problem, and overlap the bright spot with the blinking letter. Are you seeing it?

[Retro_UK]

It has been a big help finding this forum and fellow sufferers. Here is my story:

I started having occular migraines around 8-10 years ago. The first time it happened I had no clue what was happening and so went to the eye hospital where they diagnosed the migraines (I get no pain with them at all. Just the usual sparkly area that spreads across the eye)

But soon after they started I also started getting small blind spots - just like having looked at a lightbulb or similar. These would typically last anything from a minute to several minutes.

Following on from that I had a couple of occurences of small blind spots which had last a couple of days. When one first occurred went to the eye hospital. I have a lazy right eye and so my left eye - which is the eye presenting the symptoms, is the only good eye I have. Because of that maybe I worry more than I should, I don't know.

But last year I had a small blind spot last for just over a week. I again went to the eye hospital as the doctor had specifically told me to return if symptoms ever appeared and refused to go away.

I was treated like an idiot when I got there though. This was the Manchester Royal Infirmary in the U.K

The nurse who booked me in actually sat and asked me why I had been visiting there for what I think was the 3rd or 4th time - over a period of almost 10 years I might add! I tried explaining that I only had one good eye and when blind spots appear then I think I have a right to be concerned. She then argued with me that I had been more time than that and why did I keep going back.

After some probing from her (which was annoying and made me feel stupid) it transpired I had forgotten about a couple of times I had visited prior to the ten years when I worked in the auto industry and had had things in my eye - totally unrelated to this, but which shouldn't matter anyway.

I have since now got another small spot just to the left of my centre of vision. It appeared this last Sunday morning and seems to have stayed constant. I now don't know how long to wait to see if it fades like the others have fortunately done so far.

Because I only have the one good eye it is extremely noticeable and I find myself constantly blinking to see if it is going away.

I hate that I have been put in a position by medical professionals to feel like I shouldn't be going and wasting their time with this.

The last time I went, after them being so rude, I was sent home with an appt to see the doctor a few days later. By which time it had almost faded completely. The doctor was very nice and did a thorough examination, but then kicked me in the teeth by suggesting I was seeing a floater - even after my very careful decription to her and explaining that I do see my floaters and know the difference,

I'm now stuck wondering if I should wait a couple more days and then go see my optician, who I have to pay for, just so that I have the "back up" when I go to the eye hospital of saying that I least I went to see my optician first. My optician who sadly is also kind of dismissive of this phenomenon. It's a sad state of affairs when I can find this website with 10 mins of googling, yet a hospital and an optician seem to know almost nothing at all about it - yet here in one small corner of the internet are plenty of people with the same symptoms, and are just the ones who took the time to seek out more help.

[Adminis_trator]

I've had bright spots for the last 4 years having just passed 40, some quite large (never symetrical) appearing at random in either eye, and visible when looking at a bright background and blinking, or waving my hand across my field of vision.

After reading all these comments I believe not all are experiencing the same symptoms, but like many I also have the following side issues...

1- Near Sighted
2 - Loads of floaters
3- Tense/Anxious/Easily stressed
4- Suffer from back/neck pain, often wake with a stiff neck, and headache in the back of my head (never suffered from any migraine symptoms)

Although I don't grind my teeth I do bite my nails, which I guess is similar.

I have had two eye exams in the last year, both ok, my pressures were high, but on the right side of high, as I do get 'White Coat Syndrome' my eye doctor put it down to anxiety!

Because of this I suspect that the bright spots may well be precursors of glaucoma, I have learn recently that a cousin (although 20yrs older) has been diagnosed with glaucoma, and that my grandmother was taken to hospital in the 50's with what sounds like similar symptoms (bright flash), (she died way back in the 70's before such things were readily diagnosed).

I hope I'm wrong on the above, and would hate to worry anybody, but I just have this hunch.

One further question do any of you fellow suffers also suffer from dry eye syndrome?

[madnmas]

I think the worst thing someone could say is that seeing a bright flashing spot is a precursor to glaucoma. First of all, we may be experiencing the same symptoms, but it is definitely not because we all have glaucoma. Many people on here (as yourself has stated) experience anxiousness and stress. Suggesting the possibility of glaucoma was not a smart thing to do.

Millions of people have headaches...does that mean they all have brain tumors?

[madnmas]

PS-

TMJ is comparable to nail biting?

Hilarious.

[matt379]

Was a consensus ever reached about a brain related issue causing bright spots in only one eye?

[matt379]

Similar story, clencher with TMJ and hi-stress personality.  Bad day at work and I developed a bright spot in vision in the lower left quadrant of left eye only. Spot changes color and size and opacity/visibility, looked like scotoma at first.

Went to optometrist: completely healthy, diagnosis: floater.
Multiple visits to Opthalmologist, felt like I've been given every possible test of eye and optic nerve on multiple visits, even have had an MRI of opcipital lobes in brain: Completely healthy, diagnosis; Microscopic Floater.

Don't know if this is a correct diagnosis but I believe it is a physical phenomenon for two reasons:

1: like astroturf, my spot gets bigger and smaller depending on what distance I am looking at. Not only does it get bigger and smaller but it goes in and out of focus. Like a spec of dirt on a camera lens if I am focusing far away it blows up and becomes hazy, if I am focusing on something say an inch away from eye the spot's edges become defined.

2: Upon closer examination my transparent/colored spot has what appears to be a light refraction pattern around it, in fact I believe this is what makes up the majority of my "spot."  Google light refraction and you will see some images of a sphere with a ring around it, every now and then I can see this exact pattern in my spot. It is like a street light on a foggy night or a moon behind a cloud with ice crystals in it.  

I had a Eureka moment where my spot became far less visible, it was after a neck and jaw massage, in fact my vision out of my left eye became better in general.  I am now trying to take better care of my neck, jaw and eye through supplements and massage and my spot has become much more managable, not gone but much better. I am going to try trigger point massage next.

sorry for the long post and the spelling errors, hope this helps. thanks

[Buzzy_Bee]

I identify with most of these symptoms! I was diagnosed with migraine after a long period of emotiona abuse. I get a whole host of other symptoms which ill not go into! I get the typical migraines with visual aura: A black spot appearing, getting bigger, flashing colours, then it goes after avbout 25 mins and im left unable to get out of bed for two days then another happens. Im now on pitzotifen for this reason, and havnt had one since.

However im on here because i too get these 'bright spots' as you all describe. Ive had it a couple of times but its always lasted less long than a migraine aura.. however this morning ive had it there for over 2 hours and getting  worried. I ve had an mri brain scan and hundreds of tests so i know it wont harm but but its annoying! Also, it appears to be in one eye which is worrying as to be migraine it has to be both. Im wondering, how long is the avarage spell of it lasting?

[sissyK]

I was so interested and relieved to find this link. My 13 year old daughter had the flu a few weeks ago and was taking adult strength Advil, coughing, feverish. One evening, she started seeing little lightbulb flash spots--3 small ones she could "see" when her eyes were open and closed. This lasted about 4 hours and were gone by morning, except for one lightbulb flash point she still sees when she blinks, these two weeks later.
.
Took her to a pediatric opthamologist. He thought that her optic nerves were perhaps enlarged and sent us to a retina specialist for a consult. Retina specialist (top guy, teaches at a major university) said her nerves were fine, a variation of normal. She had a small "cup"--which made them look that way.

She still sees the lightbulb flash, but the retina specialist was unconcerned. Said it was random and not the sign of anything abnormal--basically waved it away. I was so reliveved!!!

More background: I, her mom, get the occaisional migraine aura--rainbow prism of light, burning little ember type dots, that last about 30 minutes and then pass. I dont get the headache. And yes, both she and I are the anxious types--she felt panicy while her visual symptoms were active.
I am grateful for this link and hope it stays active!

We follow up with the pediatric opthamologist in 3 weeks and will report back if anything significant occurs.

I was just so interested to see this has happened to other people.

[melinda68]

Sissyk,

Thanks for your post and please update in three weeks! Glad you received some reassurance, if not an explanation.


Mel

[Anartamis]

Hi, yes I have the EXACT same spot that appeared 2 weeks ago out of now where. Mine is right eye a bit far right side not center and is a curved quarter circle, looks like a eyelash. It is most apparent when I blink, thus leaving a its black afterimage, regardless of the background. Although may be very black when I half close my eyes to see it, it is very difficult to see it at bright daylight unless I blink or unless I pass my fingers in front to look at it.

Strangely, it appeared few days AFTER I came back from my ophthalmologist check-up. I when to check my eyes b/c of peripheral black strobbing circles which were diagnosed as Ophthalmic migraines. Both my eyes were perfectly fine. But a few days later migraine symptoms continued, nights mostly and this scary line appeared. First I thought it was b/c of an accidental glaze at the sun, which left a strange trail, not spots...but that went away rather quickly, next day this happens. But it doesn't seemed linked at all. So basically, these are the common symptoms I have w/ members on this discussion board:

-- Very nearsighted (about 12.5/20 on both eyes)
-- Natural "cellular" type very "benign" Floaters started 5 years ago
-- Ophtalmique Migraines, regularly, mostly nights and at wake up
-- Frequent Anxiety and panic attacks mostly relating to my eyes
-- ALWAYS worried and stressed out personality!
-- Had a Ophtalmologist check up a month ago and both my eyes are perfectly healthy.
-- ALWAYS on the computer, several; hours a day !
-- No health issues a part from a long 2 week long skin rash that is still not going away.
-- Zero hard drugs / alcohol regularly but very moderate / cigarette very occasionally one every 3 days.
-- Thin and short, and female...

Well, that's it. Also, I would like to point out a theory....it could be that after our check up, some floaters just moved around and are repositioned in a particular place where light refracts in the eye thus leaving/casting a bigger shadow on the retina and the floater therefore is MUCH more apparent. we shouldn't forget that the other floaters we see, which don't bother us are actually shadow's of the floater and NOT the floater itself....which pretty sums up what I think these afterimages left after we blink are....So...could this perhaps be the same floater that has now been repositioned to catch and refract more light thus leaving a bigger / different shadow, and its "unbearable" afterimage?

I am still on the fence about going back for a checkup since I just came back 3 weeks ago and this happened 2 weeks ago. This curved line is here since and I am 100% focused on it.

I wait for more news from you:-)

[CarolG1]

I'm having the same problem! I had a spot appear in January, went to two ophthalmologists and and neurophthalmologist, none of whom could find anything wrong and had no real answers for what was causing the spots. The afternoon after my neuro appointment I ended up getting 2 new spots. :( I have both temporary and permanent spots, and my perm ones break the amsler grid lines with little missing bits of nothing.

my stats:
nearsighted since I was a teen, and have had normal floaters since then.
female, mid 30s.
skinny and pale
heavy computer user
anxiety and depression treated with Paxil and Buspar. I'm always anxious about health issues but I never worried about my eyes before.
Bruxism at night, from the Paxil probably
on low dose birth control pill
I was supplementing Vitamin D, 2000 a day since october, on my GPs orders. Have any of you been taking vit D? I stopped after the first spot appeared, then after the neuro (who seemed to think the whole thing was kind of funny) told me it couldn't have anything to do with it I took a dose then got more perm. spots that very day! I stopped for a while, didn't get any more permanent spots for a few weeks (lots of temp ones though on and off, including a weird one that would appear as a shadow after looking at a light), then just on friday I took a half a dose and the next day I got 2 more permanent seeming spots. :( It seems crazy though, how could Vit D possibly cause this?

[Jack_E]

Hello ....
It's reassuring to realize I am not the only person suffering from this condition. I'm a (relatively) healthy 38 year old Canadian male who until very recently has never had any sort of issue with my vision. 20/20 - no eye health concerns ever.
I smoke cigarettes & marijuana frequently, drink occasionally, and consume average amounts of caffeine daily. Other than occasional use of Ventolin and Advil - I use no pharmaceutical drugs EVER.
I guess I suffer from mild anxiety, but I have never felt the need to medicate that. I also clench my jaw (primarily while sleeping) and find myself in front of a computer for sometimes six to eight hours a day.  

Six or seven weeks ago I woke up early on a bright sunny morning, and decided to take a walk to the store nearby. As soon as I opened the door to leave the house I noticed a large bright spot centrally located in my right eye's field of vision. I thought it was because I casually looked up into the bright morning sunshine, and that it would gradually fade (like all other instances where I've been flashed by a camera or looked into a bright light of any sort) given a short amount of time.

I returned home (to a somewhat dark environment) and was less aware of it  however when I woke the following day, I realized it hadn't gone anywhere - and was equally visible as the previous morning outside the house during my walk. This occurred approximately six weeks ago, and has not subsided. I would describe it as bright & circular, varying in color & intensity, more apparent when contrasted by brighter light. It DOES NOT MOVE LIKE A FLOATER - I've had a couple of those detectable since childhood. It is amplified by blinking the eye rapidly, making it more pronounced. I have no history of headaches (other than VERY occasional ones) and would not describe them in the same way I've heard migraines described. Since that morning - I've had them regularly. Not overwhelming in nature, but noticable all the same.

I'm unable to see an opth. in my hometown until June 2, 2011 - and I'm totally worried (based on what I've read from people suffering the same way) that even when I do get to speak to him/her, I will get no relief from this feeling. Due to the darker resolution of the right eye it's interfering with spatial perception between the right/left hemispheres, and is definitelty problematic for night driving due to the after effects of bright headlights lasting for minutes or seconds in duration.

Thanks to all who've posted here, I will follow up and post any useful info here after I attend the scheduled opth. appointment.
I truly hope this frustrating phenomena is not permanent.  

[belgaer]

Hi! I'm not a doctor, but I can tell you that I've been having issues with this long before I was diagnosed as Vit D deficient! I have been on serious amounts of D for months, now down to 5,000 units a day with no difference in the appearance or behaviour of the "spots"...so, don't stop this wonderful 'sunshine vitamin' that is supposed to be protective for so much, until you are told to...and let us know how you are doing...

[Anartamis]

Hello,

Just a short positive update on my condition.

I forgot to mention I am 36 year old female and very anxious about health issues in general, like most on this forum.

I've noticed that this particular bright spot I've been having (please read my precedent post for details) has diminished since a week now. I almost never see it now. So this might be useful to know for some of you who are panicking w/ this symptom!

For those who are very concerned my advice is:
First go to the Ophthalmologist for a retinal check -up....and 99.999% of the time he/she will tell you all is fine. After do so anti-anxiety treatments or exercises. I believe all my vision problems started w/ high anxiety events that occurred in my personal life and also being unable to cope w/ stress and anxiety my body and especially my brain is freaky out, literally!

I am guessing it was perhaps a floater positioned differently like I thought even though it wasn't behaving like one. It first appeared after I glazed at the afternoon sun accidently approx. 6 weeks ago and 3 days AFTER my ophthalmologist retinal check-up. It first started at night, it was dark and my pupils were greatly dilated in the dark so when I was going to bed and opened up the shades of the window, I thought something very bright from outside, light might lamps cached by eyes and I suddenly saw a very  bright flash of light.

Being very anxious I panicked and closed my eyes and it was going away so I fell asleep. I woke up and the bright light was gone BUT this line/spot stayed w/ me for weeks. It was VERY disturbing at first since I saw it very clearly day and night like an afterimage but I am happy to say that now it is VERY subtle, I almost NEVER see it and it completely healed up or if it was a floater positioned to close to the retinal, it perhaps moved OR simply my brain has learned not to see it anymore.

I never ever took vitamin D but reading this forum, I wonder if it is related b/c the day it started, I did accidentally glaze at the sun which by itself a LARGE doze of vitamin D?!?? but that is just hypothetic...perhaps not linked at all.

all I know ids that when I had this spot, I saw it ALL the time, especially at artificial lights and ESPECIALLY in the bathroom while taking a shower which made me go nuts and I started being anxious while taking showers since then!!! it was unbearable and my family/BF were very irritated and thought I was imagining things since they see me as VERY anxious and a complete hypochondriac.

I did not go for another check-up since I was concerned by my rash. The dermatologist said it was just an irritation and gave me a cream and it healed up after 14 days. Now, my rash is gone, my "spot" is relatively gone BUT I still have this awful vision at night, same one that made me go to a retinal check-up in the first place. A sort of flickering in my side vision happening at night mostly which was diagnosed at ophthalmic migraine and since a week now I've noticed visual Snow!! Well, I don't have to mention how scared I got thinking that my doctor must have not overlooked something but reading some sites about Visual snow I sincerely think that being anxious, we all start "looking" at how we look....and we start seeing and focusing on visual phenomenon that our  brain was compensating all this time and since we are focusing on it, the brain is seeing it more and more making it unbearable.

PS I've had support from my BF concerning my rash but anything related to my vision is being seeing as delirious confirming my level of high anxiety related symptoms as well as depression linked symptoms. Everybody around me is certain I am a hypochondriac and I am starting to believe it also. I hope my post helps others worry less about their symptoms.

Please give me news ASAP and update on each of your conditions and PLEASE do not worry....worrying only make things worse also thinking there is a catastrophe is absurd. The eye is mechanical and real illnesses don't just appear and they are certainly not subtle and magical! These spots are temporary and normal weaknesses of the vision and we have to live w/ them and ignore them once we once he know our eyes are fine.

Please do not hesitate to post any updates on your situation:-)
Kind regards
Anartamis

[Anartamis]

Hi again,

Just wanted to add that although I can still see the spot, it has strongly diminished. Its afterimage is not as dark anymore and it has become a slimmer line instead of a more apparent thick line. Since, like most of you on this discussion board, it all started a few days after my retinal check exam (with the bright mirror and light) this leads me to believe that it might have something to do with that. Can it be a secondary effect of the exam? Some say that the liquid they put to dilate the pupil in order to do the exam can trigger weaknesses in the eye. Can it be simply that the surface got irritated from that and needs a few weeks to recover since it does look to me like it is something that is slowly going away or simply a floater that is awkwardly positioned. I still don't know if a complete Ophthalmologist exam is necessary or it is simply anxiety related. Either way, it is very puzzling.

Keep us updated:-)

[Zeppelyn]

I see something like what you described, but it's not permanent and only happens occasionally- not in the same area either. I also take Zoloft daily.
Along with this I also see bright split second spots of light less often, and dim blotches of color that are similar to the first ones.

[stargazer304]

Dear All,

I have suffered similar symptoms (permanent after-images reducing to small scotomas) twice after taking Nurofen Express Capsules, which contain Ibuprofen. I see also one poster on this forum (sissyK) reporting that her daughter experienced similar symptoms after taking Advil, which also contains Ibuprofen. I Googled  - ibuprofen scotoma - or - ibuprofen vision side effects -- and found that scotomas, colour perception changes and other visual disturbances are a reported side effect of Ibuprofen. Do any of you regularly take medications that contain Ibuprofen?

Kind regards,
Alex

[Anartamis]

Hi Alex,
No, I only take Tylenol when needed which is mostly Aceminatophen not Ibuprofen...I take sometimes for 3 days in a row 2 times a day then stop for a week so I wouldn't say very regularly. I take, the Extra-Strength kind.

[Anartamis]

Hi,
In my case, it is definitely not anything concerning the eyes, as all the exams came out just fine. I am guessing, like Alex, that this could be medication or allergy related symptoms.

[stargazer304]

Hi Anartamis,

Thanks for your answer! I should add that I had multiple eye tests, including dilated exams by three different specialists and OCT and they also revealed nothing. Visual Field Test also came out 100% fine because the scotomas are too small and not 100% opaque. My two incidents were two months apart, and the first scotoma is still persisting these two and a half months later, although it's gradually reducing in size.

I think that in my case it's the optic nerve that's the problem and was caused by a drug or its interaction with something. There is a list of drugs that are toxic to the eye here:
http://cms.revoptom.com/handbook/oct02_sec6_2.htm
Interestingly, Zoloft is also listed there, as mentioned by Astroturf and Zeppelyn.
Also, something else that I found, and thought I should mention:
http://www.rense.com/general65/aspar.htm
There appear to be some infrequent but persistent reports by health practitioners online that Aspartame, found in Diet Coke and in artificial sweeteners, can be toxic to the optic nerve and to the retina. I am thinking (though of course it's impossible to confirm and it's only my best guess based on internet research!) that what triggered my two incidents may have been the combination of a hazardous food additive like aspartame with the drug that has vision side effects (as far as I can remember I took Nurofen capsules and washed them down with Diet Coke, both times). Or it could have been either of those, acting individually.

Kind regards,
Alexei

[navyguitar]

I've had this problem on and off for seven years. I think it relates to dehydration or food allergies. I notice the spots more when I eat certain foods or drink a lot of caffeine. I use the restroom about 20 times a day. I just can't seem to keep myself hydrated. It feels like water just goes right through me. I am currently being tested for multiple things.

[stargazer304]

A quick follow-up to my last post.
*A more extensive list of drugs that can cause vision problems:
http://is.gd/YLZY8P
*An article by an Optometric Doctor about drug toxicity to the eye:
http://is.gd/ToK5YL
where he specifically states that "I have personally documented a case of permanent visual field scotoma following administration of Advil (ibuprofen, Wyeth)." and " As was the case with our patient with the perplexing blurred vision, any new and/or unexplained ocular symptom should prompt you to consider an adverse side effect of systemic medication."
*Finally, something else I found regarding aspartame's toxicity to the eye and my suspicions of ibuprofen interacting with aspartame in Diet Coke, causing/aggravating the blind spots:
http://is.gd/KIDIpR
Specifically: "These complications tend to be magnified in persons with [...]  treatment with aspirin and other drugs that can irritate the optic and auditory nerves ..."

I have read through this thread and a number of related ones on this website, and I am surprised that no doctor has mentioned the possibility of toxic damage to the retina and the optic nerve. Toxic retinopathy and toxic optic neuropathy seem to be well-recognised conditions.

[psychrrsoci]

I can see a bright spot everytime I blink.  The spot stays in the same position every blink.  So I went to the optometrist and she found a blood hemorrhage in the dark part of my eye.  The whites of my eye are unaffected so when I look in the mirror everything looks fine.  The hemorrhage should clear up on its own.  I wanted to post this because I drove myself crazy trying to self diagnose myself on the internet and if someone else had this same problem of seeing a spot when blinking that it may just be a hemorrhage.
Fyi... I am a healthy 31yr old male.  I am not on any medication.  I don't know what caused the hemorrhage, it seemed to appear out of the blue.

[Eoinie]

Hi,
Is anyone else out there? Did your eye symptoms clear up? I've had the same flashies
When I blink or watch tv or on the computer. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE someone respond and let me know. Very anxious. Went to the doctor and 2 opthomologists and nothing detected.
Please just let me know how you guys did. My sympts are a light in upper left section of my left eye which is light against dark but shaded against light, and sometime yellow. It never moves. I domt get headaches though.
Please help.
Eoin

[ibls]

Hello Everyone,

I just posted a new entry and then found this entry.  So I thought I'd add my situation here.

It is this:

Sometimes when I blink my eyes I will see a small circle of light as an after image in the center of the field of vision.  This happens three to five times a week.   Sometimes more than that.

This has been going on for at least three to five years.  Maybe longer
Recently I noticed that it is not the blinking that causes this transient circle, but moving from dark to light or the reverse.  If I hold my hand over either eye while the eye is open and remove it fast, the circle is there and then fades.

The circle (donut shape) itself is small and again is in the center of the field.  It last around one second before fading.
The phenomenon itself clears usually within an hour or so and can happen more than once a day.

Differential:
Stroke
Migraine (ocular, retinal, other)
Something mechanically wrong with eye
Neurological
Blood vessels in neck
Not eating properly depriving the blood of something needed by optical nerves in brain or eye

Some things that seem to affect this are:
• Ambient light  (seems like a more muted light ambience can encourage this to happen)
• Being tired (this is a guess)
• Time of day (more later in the day than earlier in the day)
• I went a day without this happening.  I was in bright light most of the day, office and outside

I had thought the physical action of the blink was the cause.  Now that is proven not the case, but rather the rapid transition from dark to light in the field of vision.

So I guess there are quite a few people with this syndrome.   I sure would appreciate any comments to my post.  Unfortunately I do not have any answers.  Many thanks.

[Anartamis]

Hi,

This could reassure any of you who experiences the bright flash. Mine went away on its own. Strange that it actually started (like many of you) after my first eye exam which was done the old fashion way (using bright light and mirror). I think it is either the consequence of this exam or the drops that they put in the eye (perhaps too strong) that is causing this spot as if the surface of the eye were irritated. Either case, mine really worried me and now after several months it disappeared completely. It started in February and disappeared in early month of June. Meanwhile, I did try not to focus on it...this can very well have helped in the event that it were a neurological afterimage which, I've been told, goes away same way as it came: through the brain. Hope this help:-)

[madnmas]

Hello, everyone...I have an update.

As of this past June 2011, I have not had my "grey spot" for 2 YEARS! I really don't think it will ever go away. You can just look at this thread with my name to see my story. My aunt has the same things with a history of migraines. My spot is in the same area it has always been in. I have sensitivity to light as well, after images that stick around too long, along with visual snow in the mornings.

If I were to guess, I have silent migraines as well based upon my symptoms. Because I have had mine for over two years, I think that a blood vessel somewhere along the optic nerve has been damaged from a migraine...why else would it still be here two years later?

I can't believe all the time I wasted worrying about something tragic like a brain tumor. GRRRR

[melinda68]

You had me all excited then. You wrote that you had NOT had your grey spot for two years ...

Anyway, I agree with your hypothesis. I too think the spots are caused by something going on in the optic nerve (or perhaps a micro-embolism in the retina itself.) I also have migraine with aura and believe the two are definitely related.

I've had my largest spot for just over two years now. When it appeared - suddenly - I was sitting on the couch looking out the window and it literally made my neighbour's garage disappear. Frightening. I also have many many smaller spots that have occurred over the past 12 years.

I've long since given up looking for a definitive diagnosis or a treatment, and I'm tired of being fobbed off by disinterested doctors. I just can't find an ophthalmologist who's willing or able to get their teeth into this. Maybe when I return to Australia, I'll have another go. Medicine there doesn't seem to be so dollar-driven. In the meantime, I'm just trying to live with it and view it as an annoyance.

[madnmas]

I meant to say I have had it NOW for two years. My bad...

I am not even worried about it anymore. It ruled my life for two years. I only notice it when I want to or when I suddenly step into bright light and it appears.

[stargazer304]

Update: my symptoms have continued despite stopping the ibuprofen and all the other suspects (monosodium glutamate, aspartame). For those whose symptoms are recurring despite ophthalmologists finding nothing, it might be helpful to test your serum vitamin levels, especially for A,E and B1,B6,B12. If you are deficient in any of those (either because of diet or your body's absorption abilities) it can affect your vision. Low levels of A or E will make your retina especially sensitive to daylight/bright environmental light and can start degenerating your photoreceptors. If you are deficient in B1 or B12, your optic nerve may start demyelinating and you may experience visual disturbances. Be careful about B12 levels even if they appear slightly above the lower limit, e.g. 300, you may still be deficient and there are other tests that can clarify whether your body is experiencing lack of B12 or not.

This is just a hypothesis, but I recently tested myself for the above and they are all razor-sharp borderline or below the norm. They could well have been even lower when my symptoms started as back then I wasn't taking care of my diet for quite some time. After talking to my GP I am now on supplements (standard vitamins and B12 in the form of sublingual methylcobalamin, cyanocobalamin is not advised for people with vision problems as it contains traces of cyanide).

There are published results out there about people on extreme diets developing severe visual function deficit:
http://is.gd/rhSkXU -- thiamine deficiency on low carb diets
http://is.gd/KnYecz and -- b12 deficiency on vegan diet
http://is.gd/T3d5GL -- b12 deficiency because of malabsorption
http://is.gd/sEqmrb -- experiments on animals showing that deficiency in vitamin A will cause the retina to degenerate from long exposure to normal light

The above are all severe cases but our symptoms are milder so something like a chronic borderline deficiency might cause them. That's my best guess.

[stargazer304]

P.S. I had a bunch of additional tests, ultra-high resolution (spectral domain) OCT on Heidelberg, multifocal electroretonigrams, microperimetry with eye tracking, MRI of brain and the optic nerve, dopplerography (ultrasound to check blood supply to the eyes and the brain), a few more fundus exams and everything came out fine.

[Astroturf]

I am the original poster. Wow, I had no idea this thread would last so long and get THIS many replies. It is both a good and bad feeling to know so many of us suffer from these symptoms.

An update: I still have my original spot, although I rarely notice it anymore....except when I move from dark to light, etc. I continue to be very light sensitive, and occasionally I get new spots that pop up (very light dependent) but fade in under an hour and have not caused another permanent place.

After multiple MRIs, a CT scan and more eye exams than I can even remember, I've accepted the fact that this is probably an (1) a floater stuck in a weird place so that it reflects light, (2) an old "scar" from a hypertensive moment when I was pregnant, (3) painless optical/retinal migraines.

Like someone else above said, I can't believe I've wasted so much time worrying about this. And yet, occasionally, the panic comes back and I focus on the spot(s) for a few days, and then my fear goes away again (and I notice my vision less).

Maybe we should start a support group! : )

[AmyG606]

I had "flashbulb" splotch appear in May. Saw the opthomologist in June and she saw nothing at all on the retina although the corner of the Amsler grid was missing.  In July they did a visual field test and confirmed a small blind spot was appearing to the lower left of my central vision.  I was told to check back in 6 months or see a retina specialist.  Retina specialist didn't see anything with the basic scans and evaluations.  The very last thing he did was a fluorescein dye test with the blue light.  There it was.  CSCR (Central serous chorioretinopathy). Prognosis is unknown.  It has been around for 5 months and has only slightly lessened.  The good new is it isn't directly in my central vision, it's a little outside.  The other good news is it isn't nearly as obvious as it was at first when the flash never seemed to fade away.  Now the most annoying impact is looking at anything bright such as a computer screen, light wall, or a bright sky.  I found sunglasses with a greyish/purplish lens which seems to do a very good job of "neutralizing" the spot by darkening the bright background.  I've even used the sunglasses while working on the computer.  Bad news is it may never go away since it's still here months later.  Bad news is my type-A, over achiever personality and stressful job/life all contribute to the problem.  Bad news it can recur, particularly in the same eye.  Bad news I find myself obsessing over getting another one, this time in my central vision.  Most frustrating news is there is no known treatment.  Annoying, annoying, annoying.  I'm only 42 and this may be with me for the rest of my life.  Now, I'm going to try lowering my cortisol (which they believe is related to CSCR) by trying some meditation techniques, taking vitamin B5, and trying to avoid stress.

[nomelet]

Hi there

Really glad that i am not the only one who has these symptoms.
I have recently been diagnosed with CSR central serous retinopathy.
Apparently the doctor that checked my eyes said that its caused by stress.The problem has disappeared as the doctor said, but i still see occasionally the same type of flashes as you do. Mine last from a few seconds to a few minutes. Couple of months ago i have had a full eye check including eye tomography which it didn't show anything. I am a very stressed person and i do worry a lot about my health. I am currently waiting for blood test results and I will request an MRI...Have you found what the cause of the problem is?

[kgroff]

About the Jaw clenching I've been reading. Online about and other visual field issue I've been having in edition to th two spots I have in both eyes. My visual field often looks distorted stantionary things jump and move while my head and eyes are still. Many folks reporting those symptoms also report having fibromyalgia or tmj problems ir other neck injuries. I have an old whiplash injury that causes my scalene muscles to be incredibly tight and my tmj muscles are also messed up. A neighbor of mine years ago was having horrible vision problems and they were going to do brain scans and such then they discovered her neck was bad and so she went to PT for awhile and the vision problems went away. Since all my eye tests have come back normal I'm thinking that my neck may be the culprit.

[Kson_10]

Hello, I to have black spots. There small and black and there kind of see through but i see them when I look in the sky or around light backgrounds. I don't know what's wrong with my vision and hope to god it's not glaucoma. Will someone please help me.

[nomelet]

You most likely to have simple floaters....but rarely floaters associate with retinal detachment. How long did you have these spots?
You should go and get an eye test all though i m pretty sure is just harmless floaters .

[HCAnderson]

I read nearly all of the above posts, and it's both distressing and very interesting that so many people have so many identical symptoms and medical histories. That said, we could all be chasing our tails.

Anyway, I too have developed what I've diagnosed as a blind spot above left of my left eye's central vision. It looks like what everyone's described above, and after a number of experiments it's obvious that I cannot see through this so-called "bright spot". I've had these before (maybe they were something else), but they eventually faded. This latest one seems to be a bit more persistent.

For what it's worth, here's my list:

MEDICAL HISTORY

- I'm in my early 40s

- Migraine with aura (developed age 16)

- Developed floaters (seemingly overnight) end of 2001

- Perceived eye/temporal pressure

- Jaw pain and clicking, to the point where it leaves my jaw aching and painful for days

- Stressful and anxious personality (panic attacks)

- 20 years ago I developed a patch just below my central vision (from my pov it looks like a tiny migraine aura), which one ophthalmologist diagnosed as some kind of nivae. I don't think the size of it has changed during that time, but now I notice that it distorts (balloons) the vision around it. Maybe it has always been like that, I just don’t know.

- Concussed aged 7 after falling out of a tree, but as far as anyone can tell, no subsequent problems developed

DIET

- I have always maintained a low fat yet nutritious diet

- I drink soy instead of regular milk

OTHER

- I've always been lean and enjoyed a physically active life. Up until 2001 I had been exercising at an elite level

- Sleep on my stomach, which does seem to put my head an odd angle. I do suspect that this may be the cause of my jaw dislocation and other "blockages", but I just can’t sleep on my back!

[HCAnderson]

Oh, yeah, nearly forgot. Since 2006 I've been taking 1/4 asprin each day. There are a number of things this is good for, but (according to one long-term study) one of them is decreasing migraine frequency. Whatever the reason my migraines have decreased in frequency (keeping in mind that correlation does not imply cause). Anyway, I think these "spots" have been more frequent since my migraines became less frequent (again, correlation, cause, etc.). Is it possible that we need to have the migraines to "clear" an "blockages"? Bit of a reach, I know, but you do spend a lot of time pondering some ridiculous things.

[HCAnderson]

There seem to be a lot of self-confessed hypoconcriachs here (myself included), which makes me think that many of you may be taking small various doses of aspirin. Is this true?

If so, aspirin may be one factor to consider, as there are a lot of studies that implicate aspirin (both negatively and positively) affecting the eye and optic nerve. A study (http://www.nature.com/eye/journal/v24/n4/full/eye2009163a.html) on normal tension glaucoma patients, for example, also includes aspirin users as having a higher probability of experiencing optic nerve haemorrahages:

"[O]ur study showed that NTG patients with systemic hypertension were at higher risk for development of optic disc haemorrhages. Patients with diabetes and those using aspirin might also be at higher risk. These findings suggest that systemic hypertension, diabetes, and use of aspirin may be associated with deterioration of NTG. A further study is required to explore the pathological details of optic disc haemorrhages and the pathophysiological association between hypertension and such haemorrhages."

[matt379]

Mine has been diagnosed as CSR as well.

[Deeply42]

I keep seeing yellow dots in front of my eyes,also I keep going to the washroom alot,my stomach is running very badly ,i'm not pregant...

[onelildustbunni]

Hi all,

I am 24 years old, female, and nearsighted.

Since July 2010 I have been having the following symptoms: I will wake up and have a blue spot in my vision, with movement inside it (swirling black dots). After about a day the spot will fade to a scotoma. I see it when I blink as a kind of permanent sunspot (what you see after a bright light). When I look at a light background it appears dark, when I look at a dark background it appears light. When I look at a red background it appears blue/gray, etc. The spot will be solid, and if I fix my eyes on a central object and move something into the area of the spot, it disappears. When I look at a bright light, the spots are dark, as if there is something in front of that area of vision that is opaque. My vision otherwise is good, in my none-spot areas I have close to 20/20 with my glasses or contacts.

I have had about 5 of these spots appear in my right eye, with one large one to the upper right (big enough to 'lose' my mouse pointer inside). I have perhaps 3-4 in my left eye.

The eye doctors are baffled. I've seen about 3 optometrists and 1 Retinal Opthamologist. I've had numerous tests run including the ones for glaucoma, and they all agree: my eyes look healthy. I do have another eye condition (retinopathy), but according to the doctors it is unrelated, as it should leave visible signs of damage and my eyes look almost completely healthy, except for the occasional minute blood vessel rupture. The catch is that they have never seen ruptures in the areas I describe my scotomas occupying.

I will note: I've had some other eye symptoms since the summer. I started to occasionally have stabbing pains in my eyes (one at a time, sharp shooting pains), but was told this was nothing to concern myself over. I sometimes get strange episodes of visual snow in the CORNERS of my eyes. I'd describe it as a brief overlay of dancing colors, just in the corners. Both eyes used to do this, but now it mainly occurs in the left one. I also have visual snow when I stand up, but that is always temporary. I also see rainbow rings around lights in the dark, and around stoplights I will see a red or green ring depending on the light color.

The first dot appeared July 2010. In August 2010, I had a 2 week period where I worked night shift restocking shelves at a office supply store. I wore contacts (Accuevue Oasis, which were new to me). I began to experience extreme eye strain pain, and that's when the dancing color episodes in the corner of my eyes started. I also noticed the rings around lights as I walked to work in the dark.

Immediately afterward I had a very stressful school situation, for about a week. The strain pain continued for about 3 weeks, to the point that sitting in school under fluorescent lighting was agony, and I needed icepacks on my eyes afterward. This eventually faded. I began to develop more of these spots gradually, about one per month. The biggest one was right before finals in December.

I noticed that I almost ALWAYS got a new spot either directly before or somewhere into my menstrual period. I am on the nuvaring and have begun to eliminate the cycle in the hopes that it will ease some of my symptoms (to keep it short, my periods are a nightmare and I almost always get some sort of infection afterward).

I researched retinopathy and blind spots, and started taking the herbal supplement Pycnogenol (an antioxidant, recently discovered in a .gov study as being beneficial to those with retinopathy, about 70% of the time or something like that), as well as Grapeseed Extract (antioxidant) and Lutein (for retinal pigment health).

Whew! Okay! That's everything that has been going on with my eyes. Is this a familiar story to anyone?

Thanks, please let me know if you have any info on what could be going on! I'm very concerned about my eye health and am doing all in my power to keep them going.

~ onelildustbunni

[mabz]

i have near enough the same symptoms as the person who began this forum and pretty much everyone else. i was also wondering does anybody else find it hard to read with the faulty eye due to some words or letters within a word being blurry to an extent? this is the second time this is happening to the same eye. my eyes are near enough healthy although i am wondering if high levels of stress may be one of the causes of this problem i am moving house and preparing for exams at the same time.

[scott4444]

Hi.
I do find reading to be a bit more difficult, but just barely.
I have had a spot in my vision for 1 month now. It started out in the peripheral and moved (or grew) towards my visual field. The amsler grid has wavy lines only where the spot is. So if I keep my head 14 inches away from the grid the spot consumes the entire right side of the grid and still more outside of the grid.
I am 42 year old male. Perfectly healthy and I have always had 20/20.
The spot is in my left eye. It started in my right peripheral view and grew to my center visual field. Anything I look at now looks a bit farther then it is. It also looks darker. Kinda like putting sunglasses on.  Lines look wavy.
I went to doctor and I do not have any tears. The spot initially had a blind spot within it. It is no longer a blind spot. But it is still dark in the spot. The spot is yellow in color when I look at a white backround. It increases when I blink.

I am hoping that in the next few weeks the spot dissapears. And hopefully without any scarring. Has anyone had the same symptom?

[Concerned602]

First of all I was one of you all.

Blurred vision, flashes in peripheral vision, blind spots, letters getting bright and disappearing, dizziness, ear fullness, joint pain (recently)

I visited my pcp,neurologist,ent
Had
Mri's,Ct's,mra's,mrv's,and even a Doppler of my neck and my def rates tested.tested for lupus ms allergies and had spinal taps 4 times all negative

Often times my white blood count would be high for no known reason other than "stress".
The first ent said everything was fine so I went to the neurologist who after testing everything humanly possible said migraines, which is true but there is sooo much more to it.

Recently I saw a new ent who found my euastacian tubes were swollen shut, and that I have TMJ syndrome, I asked if that would be causing my vision problems (I'm going blind at this point of my life off and on almost like constant auras) he said not that he knew and he had never heard of that symptom.

I went home sad and confused but then I found a specialist who told me to check out a tmj support group and toy surprise vision problems is one of the tmj main symptoms as the inflammation compresses the nerves

I am now on an antibiotic but it is not for the tmj but for a sinus infection caused by the tmj anyway my symptoms were/are blurred vision,halos,blind spots,distorted vision,confusion,fatigue,stroke like symptoms,neck pain,numbness in hands and feet,joint pain

There is hope!
Hang in there

[TrapperV]

I can throw in one possible cause of some of the aberrations described:

For those with many floaters, it might suggest a prior PVD (posterior vitreous detachment) and resulting epiretinal membrane scar tissue causing traction on the photoreceptors. Some ERMs are so transparent and small, a slit lamp exam can't pick them up, and according to one source I talked with, a standard OCT won't see them either. Some of the newer OCT equipment might.

I'm fully convinced this is the source of mine. I will have a better idea after epiretinal membrane surgery with vitrectomy in a few months. Mine is dead center in fixation, and appears going from full light to lesser light, and may last for 15 -20 minutes. It also appears in lesser form at other times, totally blocking central vision with a bright yellowish "light". The ERM is also causing constant distorted, wavy, blurry vision at the same spot.

[TrapperV]

I also find the references to neck painn and TMJ very revealing as well, as I am also firmly convinced both of those are creating my additional problems in that same eye on the same side of the head as the TMJ and neck issues. It's all connected.

[stargazer304]

For your information, these symptoms could actually originate in the brain, and not in the retina optic nerve, and this could be why our eye exams are all coming out as completely normal.

I actually purchased this publication: http://is.gd/G4JjBY -- "Monocular paracentral scotoma in occipital lobe infarction". The publication is about a man in his late 30s who had a small stroke in the visual part of his brain but developed a relatively noticeable scotoma in one eye only quite close to the centre of his vision (and from the visual fields diagram the scotoma appears to be far larger than what most of us describe here). I don't think I am allowed to reproduce the full publication here, however here's one paragraph that is interesting:

"Another more plausible explanation may be that the infarction at the right occipital lobe injured only or mainly nerve fibers carrying input from the left retina. This hypothesis is supported by anatomical studies by Hubel and Wiesel in cat and monkey, which show that visual responses from left and right eye remain separated until layer IV of the visual cortex. However, from these studies it was evident that columns of visual cortex receive alternating input from either left or right eye, while these columns are less than 1 mm across."

Given that our scotomata are all quite small, there is actually anatomical evidence that supports the hypothesis of it originating in the visual cortex of the brain itself and not the "peripheral" part of the visual system. This would further support the Permanent Migraine Aura hypothesis that many have mentioned on this forum. Personally I am hoping that this means that there is potential for the disappearance of what looks like permanent symptoms.

[stargazer304]

P.S. the conventional wisdom of opthalmologists is that monocular scotomata (blind spots in one eye only) cannot result from events in the brain and have to be caused by something that happened between the eye itself and the "chiasm", the bit that joins the two optic nerves before they enter the brain. The above publication suggests that this may not always be the case, especially for very small blind spots such as ours. I actually went through the most extensive battery of tests and nothing came up at all, so I for one would go with "inside the head" diagnosis for lack of any evidence to the contrary!

[ciaranh]

We need an opthamologist to develop this condition!!!!

[mel07]

This makes complete sense to me, and would certainly explain the lack of clinical evidence despite numerous tests.
I have migraine with aura, and though I experience these less frequently now, I still have the scotoma episodes (mostly on days where there is a shift in barometric pressure.)
I had an MRI of the head, and there were numerous white spots that were possibly migraine related, though not indicative of infarction.
I have also been told my scotoma could not result from events in the brain because they were not binocular. This certainly is an intriguing theory.

[bjacobosky]

omg i have everything you have its crazy my aura when i gets migraines are soooo bad you can email me ***@****

[CalliopeWoman]

I first checked out this thread 3 years ago when I had the same symptom: spot appearing when I blinked like an after effect of a flashbulb. It lasted about 4 hour and then went away so I just figured it was one of those weird things and I wouldn't worry about it.

Several months later I had another one appear, this one slightly bigger and lasting almost a day. I immediately went to see my ophthalmologist who did a full dilated exam, told me my eyes were perfect and had me look at an Amsler grid. I could still barely see fuzziness on it but it was peripheral so I wasn't sure. My doctor mentioned possible persistent migraine aura but I'd never heard of a monocular aura as my migraines are all classic and binocular and fading moving out of field of vision within 20 minutes.

Over the years, an occasional blinker spot as I called them would show up-- always slightly peripheral and always fading within a day or two.

Flash forward to last Friday night.  I noticed a really big one just left of my central vision in my right eye where most of the others had appeared. I went to bed and it was there in the morning doing the same thing the others had done except it was so much larger-- like an almond held at arm's length, and since it was so close to my central vision I could see that it was a total blind spot. I could see words disappear under the words I was reading.

I went to the ER and by the time I got there it was flashing kind of like my usual migraine auras only staying the same almond shape and still looking dark on a light background and light on a dark one and bright when my eye was closed. I don't know if my others sparkled and flashed like this because they were so much smaller and not so close to my center vision.

The ER docs gave me an EKG, made me squeeze their hands, answer questions and see if I had any paralysis I guess to rule out major stroke but they did no brain imaging or carotid artery exam fir dissection which, I've since learned, can cause these damned things.

Next, the ran the usual blood work, checked for pupil reaction and then promptly decided it isn't be retinal detachment whereby they sent me out of the hospital to a retina specialist since none were on duty on a Saturday. (At a major Los Angeles hospital!!!).

The retina guy dilated, did the usual exam plut an OCT and said my retina was NOT detaching. In fact, I had some of the healthiest eyes he'd seen. There was no sign of anything amiss though he did not do the flouriscein test or the electrical eye test which can look for a rare retinal disease called Azoors. (Which I have since googled, and which has similar symptoms.)

Next, I was told by retina guy that it sounded like a persistent retinal migraine and to come back in two days.

Two days later: spot the same, all dilation tests still good. So I book with a neurologist.

Neurologist says it is most likely not brain tumor due to fact that it's monocular and limited to a scotoma with no other neurological symptoms but that possibility scares the crap out of me. It could be optic neuritis as sign of MS but that usually presents with other symptoms like blurred vision and eye pain. She is also leaning toward migraine variant but my MRI is scheduled for this coming Saturday so I will post again here when I know results.

As of today, it was been 10 days since this spot appeared. The only change is that it is not sparkling as much and I can tell my brain is trying to compensate for it. Also, when I read with one eye closed it doesn't appear to block out as much text below what I am reading. It is definitely a blood spot, even though my brain fills in surrounding colors. I can move my eye to make things disappear.  I am terrified of all of this.

Info about me:  I'm 47 with a 7 year old. High stress, anxiety prone, TMJ, massive neck, sternocloidomastoid and shoulder issues with trigger points, neck vertebra misalignment, 30 year history of both classic migraine as well as migraine aura without headache but always binocular and transient.

Sure wonder what on earth is going on.

[CalliopeWoman]

Saw that I had numerous typos above. iPhone!  I meant it is definitely a blind spot, not a blood spot. Also, ER assumed it was detached retina but it was not.

Also: be sure to google Azoors and carotid artery detachment with scotoma. Both are possibilities and wouldn't be diagnosed with regular exams. Azoors needs some electrical eye test and I think you need ultrasound of carotid artery for that one. I'm also concerned about small strokes that would not present as classic paralysis and facial assymetry, especially if it was in a different section of the brain affecting only few nerves like previous poster mentioned. None of us appear to have been checked for that.

[CalliopeWoman]

One last thing: has anyone here been told this might be a variant of posterior vitreous detachment?  I know vitreous tugging on the retina might produce flashing symptoms and possible damage to photoreceptors and couldnt that create spots in vision that take time to heal?  I will ask my retina guy. Don't even know if they can see that with their imaging or not.

[Soledad85]

First of all, sorry for my bad English, I am from Spain.

I've seen a fixed spot in my left eye for four mounths. At the beginning it was like I looked into a bright light, or the sun, but this dot never faded away. I see it a lot when I blink quickly. I have seen several oftalmologists who made me a lot of exams like OCT, visual fields, magnetic resonance... and everything is OK. They didn't find anything that could cause this fixed dot in my vision. It could be a retinian migraine or a migraine with aura, but it isn't because I had had migraines with aura many times, I am very familiarized with it, and this is different. During the summer I saw several bright spots but all of them desapeared, thy only lasted seconds or minuts, but now I am very upset beacuse a week ago I started to see another dot with the same characteristics in my other eye and it doesn't desapear. So, now I have two fixed spots, one in the left eye, and another in the right eye. Next week I will do another examination: an electrorretinography, and I hope that it will reveal what it is causing me this anoying spots. Anybody who did an electroretinography????

More about me:

I am 27, female.
I have floaters since 16.
I had had migraines with aura, and auras without pain since 18.
I have problems with my neck (tension and pain that reflects on the head...)
I am very anxious.

[melinda68]

Wow. I can't believe how many of us have these identical, undiagnosed symptoms. Calliope, I could have written your post! Please let us know how your appointment goes this Saturday. I had an MRI and all that was found were some white lesions that may be migraine related. Nothing has ever been found wrong with my eyes. I'm a 44-year-old female and have had migraine with aura since I was a kid. It seems most of do, along with anxiety and frequently TMJ.
Mel

[CalliopeWoman]

I had my MRI yesterday without & with dye contrast. I will get results on Tuesday and I am agoznizing over possibilities.

I have been reviewing the literature about persistent monocular scotoma and the catch-all term "retinal migraine" is very controversial as there is no cortical spreading depression in an eye and the mechanism for monocular scotoma is still poorly understood if it is not from ischemia or macular degeneration or retinal detachment. Basically, it appears they don't know what the f it is and use "persistent migraine aura" as a term to get people out of the office because they haven't a clue. Research PubMed for many articles on this. I was a medical copywriter and health journalist for many years btw, often assisting doctors to write patient materials.

I found a couple of interesting articles on sinusitis causing irritation of optic nerve resulting in scotoma. This is rare in literature but IS there, so if any of you have an MRI that shows sinusitis, you might point your docs toward those articles. I wonder how many of you who have no answers might actually have sinus as the cause.

I will post my results from the MRI. Hopefully it's not one of the awful possibilities. I'm pretty much levitating from fear since this latest spot is so close to central vision and I have a new small one forming nearby.

[CalliopeWoman]

One last thought: wouldn't it be lovely if doctors actually reviewed the literature instead of worrying so much about finding the approved diagnosis code to fill out on an insurance form to get paid?  Just frustrates the heck out of me that patients without obvious diagnoses basically have to do all the research legwork to find solutions that don't fit within a convenient diagnostic box. And then, often, docs won't read the published peer reviewed articles you bring them anyway, claiming patients should "stay off the Internet.".

I'm convinced there is a mechanical/neurological/cellular cause for this if someone would actually study it but until a drug company thinks there's a pill to fix it, no study of those like us will ever get funded.

[melinda68]

I'm wondering whether it is something at the mitochondrial level and is simply not visible clinically. So many possibilities, so little research and doctors willing to listen. Your assessment, Calliope, is spot on. The Medical Industry is all about the bottom line, not about care for individuals. A sad state of affairs indeed.

[Soledad85]

Tomorrow I'm doing the last tests: visual evocated potentials and an electrorretinography.

I hope this exams will show something... I have made OCT, visual fields, MRI and it seems all is ok, but I think it have to be caused by something, I am not crazy and we are a lot of people who have the same symptom!

I will tell you when I have the results.

[CalliopeWoman]

I finally got my MRI results back with and without dye contrast. Perfectly normal brain, no tumors, no signs of MS, no stroke, nothing out of ordinary. Thank God!

I am next seeing a neuro ophthalmologist for Azoor test.

My neuro also wants me to see a neurological acupuncturist using electro acupuncture which she has seen improve persistent migraine aura.  There are many studies of it improving stroke and Parkinson's but I have not researched for scotoma. I'll let you all know how that goes along with next round of tests.

In the mean time, scotoma is the same blind spot with flashes after 17 days with a tiny small one now above it.

But at least I'm not dying.

I want to make sure to keep you all posted on everything I learn and I plan on exhausting every test, alternative treatment, PubMed article I can.

More after neuro ophthalmologist. While I am overjoyed that this is not MS or a tumor, the vision loss is still very real and I want answers.

I'll be back when I know more.

[Soledad85]

I am also thinking about the posibility of AZOOR, and I read on the internet that a recent investigation showed that this ocult diseases could be caused by a fungal specie called Candida Famata.

In any case, this afternoon I'm doing the electrical eye test and I am very very nervous. If it shows any anormality I will go to see a neuro-ophthalmologist.

Sorry for my bad English again :-P

[melinda68]

The "white dot" disorders were ruled out by a retina specialist in my case, but I still do wonder about AZOOR, which doesn't necessarily show up on a fundus exam, OCT etc. It's been a good decade since I had an ERG. Soledad, I'm curious how your test turns out ...

[Soledad85]

I had my test last tuesday but I have to wait until next thursday to see the results. I have seen a lot of bright spots for three days, more than usually, and I am very very nervous. I still wonder about AZOOR, but it is recovering a lot of sense the idea of problems with my neck and my vertebral column could be relationated with the increase of these spots in the last days, since I have noticed I have more tension and problems with my neck these days and I went to my family doctor and after cheking my spine he said that I have scoliosis and some vertebrae disaligned. It is posible that some parts of my spine are compressing any nerve or vein, or artery and stop the normal blood flow to the retinas or excitate in any form the photoreceptors? I read somewhere that atlas and axxis (the first and the second cervicals) can cause visual disturbances. This theory is gaining a lot of sense for me because as I said before the past days I have noticed my neck is worse, in a moment when I was seeing some bright points I tried to move and flex the neck and these spots increase and went worse for a moment. In addition, it is true that a lot of people here have problems with neck, spine or TMJ disorders. In any case, next week when I have the results of the electrorretinography I will tell you about all the updates.

Thank you and sorry for my bad English again.

[melinda68]

Your English is fine! Your theory is interesting. I have mild scoliosis and also grind my teeth at night ...

[CalliopeWoman]

I have terrible neck problems on same side as this big spot and now smaller additional one. Also TMJ and ear problems on that side. My MRI showed no r sided infection or compression of optic nerve.

I saw the neuro acupuncturist and my spot is the same but vision in good eye is improved. Very interesting. I will continue those treatments since my insurance covers acupuncture.

I see retina guy tomorrow who I hope can give the Azoors test w the electrodes. Next week is neuro opthalmolosist. This vision loss is significantly affecting my ability to read.

I'm interested in Soledad's results, too. I hate that we all have to wait so long for test results. My MRI wait was almost unbearable.

I'll post back after tomorrow's appt w my retina specialist. I'm gonna ask about the flouroscein angiogram, too.

[CalliopeWoman]

My doctor is leaning toward Azoor. Dr. Gass of Vanderbilt who was/is researcher of this very rare retinal disease was my retina specialist's mentor. I am going for electroretinagraphy testing next week to confirm. Little known and suspected autoimmune. Possibly viral oriented as some patients have responded to Antivirals if taken soon enough into progression of disease. My dic believes many docs say persistent migraine aura for what is actually Azoor. Once retinal damage is done, Antivirals will not help regain vision. It is poorly understood.  I will post more with results of the electroencephalogram. I would wager MOST people with this have not had doctors who knew about AZOOR.

Kinda freaking out because it can progress, and do far treatment has shown little promise save for few patients helped with Antivirals early enough in the sequence of events.

Do NOT let them tell you persistent retinal migraine. Keep asking for answers. I'm just hoping I'm one of the ones Antivirals work for to stop more visual loss.

[melinda68]

A couple of years ago during an appointment with a retinal specialist I specifically asked about the white dot diseases (MEWDS, AZOOR,  AIBSES etc) and was told that was not what it was. I did not have an ERG at the time (though I did have one when my first spot appeared over a decade ago).

I'm still curious about a link with migraine with aura, as almost all those with this scotoma issue also suffer from migraine with aura.

There is scant information online about AZOOR. Did you know what the time-frame for this condition is? Is it self-limiting? My first blind spot appeared around 1999, and I am still getting them.

[CalliopeWoman]

There is a host of wrong info about azoor published online. It's as if someone on EHow wrote erroneous info that patients would regain sight in 1-3 years and then half the Opthalmology websites cut and pasted it to the sites. I'm a former copywriter and, trust me, I know how this happens.

Anyway, if you look at the actual papers on Azoor it appears to Stabilize within a few years but it is RARE that people regain sight lost. Look up any of papers by Dr. Gass who is one of only a few researchers on this disease. It is NOT a white dot diseaSe, but some surmise it is like a white dot disease without the white dots. Only this one has poorer prognosis than MEWDS or some of the others. Whether that's actually true or just because there are only 131 Azoors patients in published literature, thus, terribly limited information about it In the medical canon

My doctor actually used to call up Gass's patients to follow up on whether vision was returning in one of the few studies.

It appears that steroids do nothing for it and there is a TINY study in a journal of Opthalmology that shows 3 people with acute Azoors symptoms having a complete reversal of scotoma/visual loss using Valtrex. One theory is now that this disease is viral, possibly an autoimmune response to latent chickenpox virus or herpes simplex. I'm taking Valtrex now at my doc's suggestion since I had chicken pix and although never recall a cold sore in my life I have blood antibodies for HSV1 like 80% of the Western world.

NO doctors know about this. I truly believe this big blind spot is permanent since Azoors will eventually cause retinal cell death. (This from my doc--one of few experts on this.) but I hope not to lose MORE vision.

The antiviral theory is still just a theory, though. But even 1 small study is promising. Another expert in Spain I believe thinks it's fungal but so far no studies have backed this up and systemic antifungals have been useless.

I'll know pretty much for sure if my ERG is abnormal that this is probably Azoor. I'll report back as soon as I know. I'm also being blood tested for a gazillion markers of inflammation, for TB and Lupus.

Needless to say, I'm kind of a wreck.

I think it's important for us to leave these online records. I mentioned this board thread and others like it to my doc and he suspected many have undiagnosed Azoor.

[CalliopeWoman]

Oh, to answer q about how long this goes on. My doc said could get new spots indefinitely. That's Antivirals, if they work, could help stop from making more permanent ones. Geez, you'd thin Valtrex would fund a study since they are all about more people taking their drug.

[CalliopeWoman]

One last thought, since we are almost all classic migraine sufferers. Migraine is ALSO poorly understood. Doctors know sequence of events but NO ONE knows WHY they happen. What if migraines, too, are autoimmune in nature?  What if cortical depression is actually an autoimmune response?  To hormones, to viruses, to anything.  The body can develop autoummune reactions to so many things.  Look at Celiacs and wheat.  

So many autoimmune diseases are diagnosed by process of elimination anyway, not by some definitive test. Even MS can be a very subjective diagnosis.

So if Azoor and other odd retinal abnormalities could be autoimmune responses to something, I wouldn't be surprised that those patients might not also have migraines if my theory is true.

Just thinking.

[melinda68]

Oh I agree. So much is still written off as idiopathic, ie "we just don't know". Migraine with aura is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon. It's actually quite frightening, the implications of it.

My largest spot, just outside my point of fixation at about the 7 o'clock position in my left eye, appeared suddenly one day four years ago as I sat on the couch reading. I looked up and out the window, at the house across the street. I kid you not, their ENTIRE garage just vanished into this new grey scotoma. It about stopped my heart. That spot is still with me, and has the annoying bahaviour of appearing as the opposite colour to whatever I'm looking at, so I'm very aware of it.

I'd say I have 40+ spots scattered about each VF. I love around a lot (I'm from Australia but now live in the US) and consequently I have not had any medical practitioner follow this from the onset. Every time, I have to pretty much start from scratch with a new ophthalmologist, which is terribly frustrating. I've never been able to find a doctor with enough curiosity or time or gumption to want to get to the bottom of it. They rule a few common conditions out, pat me on the head, and send me on my way.

I have a recently diagnosed skin condition that is autoimmune and I also had chicken pox as a kid. Recent tests ruled out HSV though (via biopsy, not bloodwork.) It's all so tantalising in a way, the answer is there, hidden amongst the disparate symptoms, but since Western medicine is so compartmentalised, there is simply no-one with a decent overview to crack the code.

[stargazer304]

I am by no means a specialist, but from the research I've read I think OCT would show AZOOR and other such occult retinal disorders, especially once it has progressed, especially the frequency domain, high resolution OCT, like Spectralis. Having exhausted all possible tests (see my earlier posts), I have two hypotheses left:

Persistent Migraine Aura:
I have had an electroencephalogram (EEG) and it showed greatly increased electrical activity in the occipital lobes (six times the normal score for someone my age).

(Subclinical?) Increased Intracranial Hypertension without Papilledema and Headache:
http://is.gd/CSH5dZ -- some information on the condition, the Wikipedia article  on the condition is also very informative. I haven't had this diagnosed, and I am somewhat hesitant to try as it involves puncturing my spine (Lumbar puncture). Interestingly, one osteopath suggested that stress can induce this, as a permanent fight or flight response that does not get resolved will result in a persistent spasm of the neck musculature and could possibly hinder the venous outflow from the brain, thus making the cerebrospinal fluid accumulate in the cranium and damage the optic nerves from the resulting pressure.

Whatever it is, it probably is something related to stress/fear/trauma, as my condition started not long after one of my close relatives developed an illness which was rather frightening and stressful for them, for the rest of the family, and which made me think about and fear the consequences on their behalf very intensely.

[CalliopeWoman]

I just wrote a miles long post and it disappeared.

Melinda, I was floored that blood testing  found HSV1. I've had no symptoms.  Cultures are not definitive.  I, too, have an autoimmune skin condition.

Stargazer, my specialist who worked under original AZOOR expert (the one who actually NAMED it) says even latest optical tomography will NOT show it. That multifocal ERG abnormalities are the hallmark.

And, as I wrote years ago as a health journalist and medical copywriter, high stress often precedes presentation of autoimmune disorders like Lupus, RA, sarcoidosis, even psoriasis.

I'll post back when I can finally get into Jules Stein institute at UCLA for multifocal ERG. Only place in all of LOS Angeles I can get one.

Hope you are all well and sorry for a double post if the other one shows up.

[CalliopeWoman]

Oh, and Melinda-- I keep being able to make street lamps disappear into the spot and it's TERRIFYING. All my other ones were not this big and I guess my brain learned to compensate.

There are non azoor things that cause spots but the white dot syndromes and central cerous retinapathy show up on the optical tomography.

Also, google "Most retinal migraines are not migraines" for interesting paper about monocular vision loss.

My GP and neuro both doubted blood flow from neck causing such specified scotomas, that it would be more widespread. Also vasospasm and infarction damage can show up on imaging.

Which all leads back to the retinal cells themselves and rod/cone dysfunction which is in Azoor.  There is even a cancer based retinopathy similar to Azoor which, if I understand correctly, is an autoimmune response to a cancer somewhere else in the body and only has 100 cases listed in literature Cancer Induced Retinopathy? Something like that.

The knowledge of which sent me running for another Valium.  I think that shows up as retinal inflammation on imaging though.

My lesson from all this: standard ophthalmologists and neurologists are just part of the diagnostic team. You HAVE to see a retinal specialist. And opticians are useless unless its an obvious retinal tear or macular degeneration.

Love to all.

[Soledad85]

I think that if all the doctors can't find anything in our eyes or in our brain, this have to have its cause and origin in another part of the body. Maybe we all are searching in the wrong places... I keep on thinking that the clue can be in the vertebral column (a lot of pairs of nerves are there) or in the jaws.

I have found this on the internet and I think it's quite interesting. I copy and paste only some parts of the full text in wich they mention the relation between cervical pathologies and visual problems:

"Musculoskeletal pathologic features of the cervical spine affecting visual function have generally been ascribed to the function of cervical sympathetic nerves. Barre proposed that cervical pathology may irritate the sympathetic nerve fibers (termed the “vertebral nerve”) that accompany the vertebral arteries in their course through the foramina transversarium. The resulting sympathetic irritation is presumed to lead to vasoconstriction of the vertebral-basilar arterial system, producing an ischemic condition of the brainstem and occipital lobe (ie, including the visual cortex). This is an attractive theory and has been reiterated by other authors."

"Bogduk et al attempted to assess this theory by electrically stimulating the cervical sympathetics in experimental animals and measuring flow changes in the vertebral and carotid arteries."

"Cervical sympathetic stimulation has been shown to reduce blood supply to the retina in human subjects. Lanigan et al found that there was a significant difference between the retinal blood flow in the sympathectomized eye and the normal eye of patients with unilateral Horner syndrome while undergoing systemic sympathetic stimulation."

"People with migraine have been shown to have a significantly increased incidence of visual field loss than age-matched control subjects, presumably caused by decreased cortical and/or retinal blood perfusion during the interictal period."

This is a study about a case different from ours, but in any case it shows the relation between spine and visual function.

On the other hand, I've just received a phone call from the hospital and they said that the results of my ERG are ready. I am going to take them tomorrow and I will tell you. If it shows some abnormality it is probably I have AZOOR, but if all is ok, I will visit a traumatologe and if it is necesary I will visit a chiropractic, or even an acupuncturer.

[CalliopeWoman]

Stargazer, I meant to mention that this latest spot appeared on the heels of losing my mother to lung cancer and all the grief, trauma, cortisol, anxiety, shock of that as well as stress of putting her affairs in order. I joked that I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with an autoimmune disease. Yikes.

[CalliopeWoman]

Ok, I'll stop thread bombing but I looked back at Stargazer's test history and you passed the multifocal ERG which seems to indicate less likelihood of AZOOR. How early in your symptoms did you have it and we're their any abnormalities?

I think the odd EEG activity is very interesting since retina cells are also "electrical" for lack of a better word.

[CalliopeWoman]

Soledad, so interesting about spine especially since so many of us have neck and TMJ issues. But wouldn't recent ischemic conditions in brain stem show up in MRI w/dye contrast?  I was told all ischemia was ruled out in brain & optic nerves from my MRI results.

I also understood that cerebral blood flow loss resulted in homonymous visual loss, not monocular. But I'm no expert, either. Just  journalist and copywriter!

Really anxious to hear your ERG results. Good thoughts your way.

[Soledad85]

Thank you for your thoughts Calliope :-)

And yes, I also thing that recent ischemic conditions in brain should show ip in MRI, but who knows...  

[Soledad85]

And ischemic conditions in the retina should also show up in the fundoscopy.

[melinda68]

Calliope, I saw the head retinologist of the Sydney Eye Hospital in Australia, as well as two retinologists in Orange County. Nothing was offered by way of explanation by any of them, apart from the frustrating "migraine variant".

[stargazer304]

CalliopeWoman: I had the mfERG done twice (4 and 7 months into the disease) and I was told that the values were within normal range.

I am quite convinced that what I'm experiencing with my vision is vascular by nature, as I get many new temporary spots (these spots are just like the permanent ones, but resolve in a few minutes to a few hours) after intense exercise.

Another thing that changed about my vision when I started getting these spots: both of my eyes became very sensitive to light, all white sunlit surfaces bleach out really quickly and turn "phosphorous" green. I also get sparkles in my vision around bright objects (kind of like fireworks) -- it is very noticeable and I certainly didn't have that before my symptoms started. What makes me think that it's not retinal but is somewhere deeper down is that this started in both of my eyes simultaneously and has always been pretty much identical.

[CalliopeWoman]

Melinda, my first opthalmolosist-- a professor of Opthalmology -/ years ago patted me on the head and said, I kid you not, "the brain can make you THINK you see all kinds of things, dear." I also heard the old "persistent retinal migraine" thing at first from my neurologist.  

Stargazer, did your MRIs show any sign of vascular disease?  Did you have a flouroscein angiogram?

This is maddening for all of us.  Hugs to you guys.

[stargazer304]

CalliopeWoman: my MRI scans were all clear. However, I did not have a fluorescein angiogram done (pretty much the only test that I did not do, but I was told that given all the other tests I had done it was unnecessary). I think the problem with linking our symptoms to vascular abnormalities is that it's the constriction of small arterioles that causes such small, focal defects, and it's virtually impossible to see that using most imaging techniques.

[melinda68]

I had an FA when my first spot appeared and was "flaring" and also the test with the electrodes and the strobing B&W checks (that's the ERG, right?). Nothing abnormal on either. As I understand it, the FA is the only test that examines the vasculature.

[CalliopeWoman]

Stargazer, If my mfERG is within normal range, I'm going to have a flouroscein angiogram but my retinal specialist seemed to think the contrast MRI and OTC would catch vascular issues.  I still want EVERY test, though.

I know that things often don't appear what they seem. After the birth of my daughter I experienced serious shortness of breath issues. The doctors worried about post partum cardiomyopathy and heart failure-- all ruled out. I was a baffling car se until I suggested possible food intolerance manifesting in inflammation of bronchial tubes. Bam! I cut out wheat and within two days I could breathe. The prolactin from breast feeding had turned a lifelong hidden wheat intolerance to a full blown one. I'm now wheat free but that lesson taught me well. Doctors thought heart failure!  It was wheat.

So, the autoimmune thing fascinates me, as does anything relating to cellular/neuron damage from cortisol and other stress hormones. I often wonder if fibromyalgia isn't it's own autoimmune response to cortisol or other stress hormones, like Hashimoto's thyroiditis is autoimmune attack of thyroid hormone.

When it comes to partial blindness, for god's sake, "migraine variant" just doesn't cut it.

Stargazer, have you investigated bilberry, nattikinase and other similar supplements for micro vascular health?  Also dopamine for vein support-- though it's main use has been for larger veins in the legs. I also know ginkgo biloba is supposed to offer support for tiny retinal capillaries. I have to be careful with blood thinning supplements as I'm on the border of normal and don't need hemmorhages on top of everything else.

[CalliopeWoman]

Typo again. Not dopamine diosmin. Darn iPhone autocorrect.

[Soledad85]

I've got the results of my ERG and EVP and it seems all is between the normal ranges. I think in my case AZOOR can be definitively ruled out. On one hand, I took a weight of my mind, but on the other hand I go on without having no idea...

Stargazer, it is interesting the theory of microvascular desease. I also thought about this posibility, but I don't know if this could be seen by doctors by some way. I also have a lot of these spots everyday and they last only seconds or minuts. I don't see them with my two eyes at the same time, but this happens to me in the two eyes, I mean I can see some of them in one eye, and others in the other eye, but never saw the same spot with two eyes at the same time. In two of these cases, the spots didn't fade away and they turned into blind spots. Now I have a permanent one in my left eye, and another one in my right eye. The one in the left eye apeared 5 months ago, and the one in the rightt eye apeared one month ago, and it seems they are here to stay all my life... I fear that the transient spots that I have everyday keep on becoming permanent and one day I have my vision fields covered by these anoying spots and I can't see, I also fear that one spot can apear just in the center of my vision... It is very frustrating and nobody seems to know the cause. The only answers I receive by doctors are "it can be caused by stress", "it can be a variant of migraine", "wait a time and see", "don't worry anout it". But the truth is they have no idea bout what they are talking... Today I am going to visit my family doctor and ask him waht type of test can I have to chek my blood flow and to see if I have any vascular desease...

[stargazer304]

So there are four of us now with exactly the same symptoms, and most tests have ruled out common conditions for all of us. Perhaps we can compare further tests to validate our hypotheses? For example, one ophthalmologist suggested that it could be subtly raised intracranial pressure that doesn't result in the swelling of the back of the eye or a headache, yet damages the optic nerves over time. Melinda68, Soledad85, CalliopeWoman have you tested for that? I haven't yet done so myself, but I'm seriously thinking about it. Raised intracranial pressure can be lowered with medication. Also, have any of you had an EEG performed to see if the brain is overactive in any region? Mine came out as overactive in the occipital lobes (the visual centre of the brain).

CalliopeWoman: I've tried Ginkgo (took it for a while, during that time my symptoms seemingly got worse), Bilberry (no effect) and currently I'm trying drotaverine, we'll see how that goes.

[stargazer304]

P.S. all my bloodwork is normal, no indication of inherited or acquired vascular abnormalities. Dopplerography (ultrasound) of the arteries and veins leading into the head and the eyes) also revealed good perfusion.

[Soledad85]

Stargazer304 I agree with you. I've never tested for that, and I am thinking about it. What type of test do we have to do in order to see if we have subtle raised intracraneal pressure? Today I will ask my family doctor about it. I want to have an EEG too, it would be very interesting if mine showed overactivity in the same region of the brain as yours, it could be a clue.

I am so lost...

[CalliopeWoman]

Wow. I woke up early this morning Soledad just to check your results.  I'm glad it ruled out Azoor but it's like I felt after my perfect MRI: relieved but even more confused. Looks like I'm the last one to get a mfERG and I'm still waiting to get scheduled by Jules Stein Institute which is the only place I can have it done. That seems crazy to me since I live in Los Angeles.  

Stargazer, if Ginko made things worse and it works on capillaries (I'm pretty sure that's its mechanism but now I need to look it up again) that is interesting for your micro vascular idea. Could micro hemmorhages be to blame?  Like tiny bruises that are too small to be seen in regular imaging?  That's where the flouroscein angiogram might shed some light.

Intent cranial pressure is very interesting to me too.  When your opthalmolosist said it could cause optic nerve damage, did he mention if this was the kind of damage that could be seen with any of the current imaging?  Doesn't optical tomography rule out much of that?

I'm happy to keep sharing my stories/tests here and see if we can help each other and leave a public record for others.

I'm going to still see my neuro acupuncturist too although he said he would need to alter the location of treatments since he was focusing on brain's vision center and this now appears related directly to the eye. But since we're all getting spots in BOTH eyes, that doesn't make sense either.

One of the previous posters years ago here mentioned possible misalignment with atlas vertebra. I'm thinking I might investigate that too since pinched spinal column could manifest in all kinds of weird ways. And also since I could probably get into a chiro this week while I'm waiting to get scheduled for the mfERG. I'm also gonna stay on the Valtrex in case the viral autoimmune theory of my retina specialist is true.

Sorry you don't have answers Soledad but so glad its not AZOOR. I am also tired of the played-out "it's stress" meme from docs. Many doctors told my mother this before they finally figured out her problem was lung cancer.

Thanks for all the support.  I wander around daily wondering if I'm gonna get a spot that obscures my central vision. Makes being in Southern California interesting with all the normal spots from seeing bright sun reflections on things.

[stargazer304]

Soledad85, the procedure is called a lumbar puncture. I'm currently trying to arrange one for myself.

CalliopeWoman, given how focal our VF defects are, I wouldn't rely on any sort of imaging anymore (if all tests say everything is normal.) I would just rely on our own symptoms and whether we feel they have gone away or not. The haemorrhaging theory is interesting, but, in my opinion, wouldn't explain the transient spots that a few of us get (they are just like the permanent ones, but disappear after a few minutes to a few hours). I think a haemorrhage would stick around for longer in the visual field.

[stargazer304]

Also, while I realise that this might be personal and on a tangent, do consider whether there are any unresolved anxieties / frustrations in your life. Stories I have heard from others that suffer from inexplicable health conditions are e.g. a loved one who is losing vision, a relative with an addiction, an incredibly hostile work environment...

Situations in one's life that put one in the position of increased responsibility, but those over which one has no control whatsoever, such that one is at the mercy of other people and their condition, could contribute to permanent stress that lasts for years and eventually starts undermining one's health.

[Soledad85]

All this is annoying, but I am glad to have met you here guys. At least we can share our symptoms and information and I hope one day toguether we can find the solution. (Two heads think better than one). Thanks for your support.

[CalliopeWoman]

Agreed, Stargazer. I'm definitely having the most stressful past three years of my life with huge family responsibilities. The body rebels. The diseases are real but I sometimes wonder if all ill health stems from a combo of our more toxic environment combined with massive stress/grief/unhappiness.  

Soledad, yes. And in our case four heads!

I'm STILL waiting to be scheduled for my mfERG.  If I can get time on PubMed later, I really want to start prowling around for more scotoma research, too.

Thanks, You guys.

[stargazer304]

Just a crazy thought. We are all self-confessed TMJ/Bruxism sufferers to various degrees. I just found an interesting (non-scientific) article which I will quote and link to at the end:

"Research has now shown that the jaw muscles of a migraine patient are in a constant state of tension (or contraction). Other factors begin to develop as a result, which can cause the nervous system to become unbalanced. The sympathetic nervous system subsequently begins to overwork itself. Increased input to the muscles from the sympathetic nervous system increases the tension and contraction of the muscles."

...

"As a basic rule of Mother Nature, your teeth should never be touching! They don't even touch when you chew! It's a good bet that your teeth are probably touching right now as you read this page."

...

"The trigeminal is the primary nerve that carries pain impulses from your mouth, teeth, head, face, ears, and neck to your central nervous system. Pain from any of its pathways can trigger migraines."

...

"As this nerve continues to be irritated by jaw joint problems and abnormal muscle activity it begins to send continuous messages to the sympathetic nervous system to constrict blood vessels and fire up more muscle cells. The trigeminal nerve is also responsible for directing and “managing” the actual blood flow of the arteries of the brain. That's the “vascular” headache that you hear so much about. An unhappy trigeminal nerve causes all sorts of irregular changes to the blood flow of the brain."

...

"The trigeminal pathway also controls and regulates the blood flow of the arteries inside of the brain. That is why so many doctors call migraines “a vascular event.” Now you know why a tooth issue and a jaw misalignment problem can cause migraines."

Now, if this is correct, then perhaps our stress causes us to constantly clench our teeth (perhaps this is a natural fight or flight response, one that becomes engraved into our daily lives if we repeatedly find ourselves in situations we cannot control). Perhaps this might cause vascular changes not only in the brain but in the eyes as well? As an experiment, maybe we could try to deliberately keep our faces relaxed for the majority of the day, particularly keeping our jaws apart, and see if our blind spots / migraine symptoms ease?

I'm clutching at straws here, but every little helps in the face of a total lack of clinical findings!

Article link: http://is.gd/IekUYh