For those with the bright spot when blinking symptom

[Astroturf]

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?

[welshey5000]

When do you get the test results back matt? Did he add anythijg else?

[matt009au]

Didn't really give a prognosis, basically reserving judgement until the tests come back.

[matt009au]

Update is they think it is a retinal blood flow problem. They had some new angiovue scanner that showed a big difference in the blood flow between my eyes. Especially in the fovea.
I'm being sent for an mra and some heart stuff to see if there are any other underlying issues. Also said don't take anything that will lower my blood pressure.
Matt

[welshey5000]

What did the doctor say in terms of progression and did he think it would lead to serious problems?

[welshey5000]

Also, my enhanced entoptic phenomena (worms) could go along with vascular theory. As i believe you are seeing blood flowing through your retinal capillaries, which may be slowed down in my case due to lack of blood flow. Also, longer afterimages could be explained as the rods and cones may take time to recover due to lack of blood flow.

[matt009au]

On the bus to the doc right now. Will let you know the outcome. Part of me hopes for an answer, as long as it isn't anything too terrible!! I always get really stressed.
Re the pixels, the only reason is I can see a small cutout of a letter when reading where one of the pixels was that was very close to my central vision. Only if I sit there and concentrate.
I also notice in certain conditions the pixel sometimes has a small area around it that is a bit funny and behaves like a mini version of some of my other spots. I.e. Slightly pink when glancing at a blue sky. A bit shiny when glancing at something black. These are too small to appear on the amsler grid I could prob identify it if I stared at the line in the right spot.
Matt

[matt009au]

Gday welshey, I think the ccbs are worth a shot. My issue was they wanted me to get to 180mg I think it was of verapamil (I may be remembering incorrectly) but I just couldn't get there without my blood pressure dropping a lot. I was having episodes where I was really dizzy.
Matt

[melc75]

Matt, did you see the doc about your ERG results today?

And that was my same experience with nimodipine (a CCB).  I had horrible drops in bp at night and was waking with racing heart rate and basically full blown panic attacks.  As soon as I stopped the CCB, the bp returned to my low normal and the anxiety and panic attacks at night stopped.  It was a horrible feeling.  I don't remember having that experience on verapamil however and I got up to 360mg a day.  I don't think it ever helped my temporary spots though.

[SpottyGuy]

The strange thing about getting spots in the center of your vision is that the fovea is actually an avascular zone of the retina. The choroid is what's responsible for supplying oxygen to the fovea, so perhaps there's a problem there.