Mysterious vision issues in young person

I guess this got erased yesterday because I posted to both eye care and neurology forums.  Sorry - I didn't know the rule.  Thanks for helping me this time.   ;)

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I'm a 26 year old white male and I'm an architecture student. I've generally been described as healthy by my doctors. Here's a chronology of what's been going on.

Family history:
*Aunt on father's side with diabetes and schizophrenia
*Uncle on mother's side died at age 57 of heart attack
*Brother has slight heart arrhythmia that does not affect his activity

Age 4:
*Surgery due to weak muscle in left eye

Most of life:
*Frequent double vision - seeing two of the same thing due to the offset between the eyes
*Occasional fainting, usually from needles (getting shots or getting blood drawn); this happened a few times also from getting hit in the head. MRI and EEG at age 10 do not indicate any issues.

1994 (Age 13):
*Hands and feet become extremely swollen. Doctor gives pills that I have to take for a week or else I get a lot of spots all over me. Allergy skin-test a few weeks later comes up totally negative. Cause for outbreak never determined.

1999
*Blood in urine after working out; ultrasound indicates no issues.

Summer 2001L
*Moved to Europe for a year. Began getting symptoms such as: (1) strong awareness of heartbeat, (2) shortness of breath (3) difficulty sleeping. Doctor says this is stress. After a month calms down to a manageable level. EKG (while resting) is normal.

10/2001:
*Was unknowingly given hashish by friends; began shaking like crazy and kept forgetting where I was - and thought something was seriously wrong with me. I was mostly better after a few hours.

4/2002:
*Wake up with very sore and tense neck, shoulders, and lower back. Orthopedist indicates that vertebrae in neck are straight when they should be arranged in a curve. Physical therapy and acupuncture reduce but do not solve problem.

8/2002 – 6/2006 (In college):
*Become sexually active, but never engage in activities of significant risk
* After jogging, often feel mild chest pains that go away soon
*In architecture school, am occasionally exposed to (1) solvents (2) fumes from laser-cutting acrylic, wood, and cardboard and (3) sawdust
*Frequently get much too little sleep due to school

8/2007 (Age 24):
*Enter graduate school for architecture.
*Begin again to be occasionally exposed to (1) solvents for melting acrylic (2) fumes from laser-cutting acrylic, wood, and cardboard (3) sawdust (4) glues and (5) spraypaint
*Begin again to frequently get much too little sleep due to school demands
*Occasionally watch laser-cutter, which means I am looking at intense laser light, although it is not pointing at my eyes.

3/2008:
*Travel to Asia for the first time

4/2008:
*Sexual activity with somebody new; do not engage in any particularly risky activity.
*For one week, get a few quarter-sized white bumps on hips each day. Spots are in different location each day.

5/2008
*Notice shadowing double-vision on text on computer screen; this is different than my typical double vision because it is present in each eye individually (when I close one eye, there is still double vision). This is present in each eye. Scares me, but is gone in the morning.

6/2008:
*Wake up and notice that one eye is very blurry. Does not go away after an hour so I go see doctor. They do exams on me but can't find anything wrong other than my pupils are abnormally large. Bluriness eventually diminishes.
*Begin to notice what I call "spotiness" in my vision: general inability to see clearly - it's a little blurry but more than that, colors are not solid colors but rather seem to be constantly overlaid with see-through, moving spots/areas that are dark on light colored materials and light on dark-colored materials. I am not sure exactly how to describe this ; This is my biggest symptom that persists.
*First appointment with optometrist. Exam does not reveal any issues. Says right eye is dominant. Says I have mild astigmatism in both eyes, but that this wouldn't cause intermittent double-vision in each eye individually. Optometrist gives me optional prescription for glasses that I never get because prescription is so mild. Overall, says she sees nothing wrong with my eyes.

7-8/2008
* Problems continue as described earlier
*Blurry vision persists; monocular double vision (especially for text) comes back occasionally; often just feel really out of it: kind of lightheaded, nervous, mild difficulty speaking. Out-of-it feeling tends to come on suddenly.
*Very obvious after-images on from computer screen in dark room
*A few weeks later, feel even more out of it. Frequently get winded from brisk walking and don't seem to become un-winded as normal. Eventually feel somewhat better.
*One night, get bad diarrhea; people say I look pale and out of it.
*For a week, frequently get swollen ankles and hands and itchy spots on legs.
*Ga new sexual partner and do not engage in any particularly risky behavior.

9/2008:
*Blurriness in vision, "spottiness" continues. Out-of-it feeling frequently returns.
*Feel sensitive to light; eyes feel under pressure.
*Go see ophthalmologist; says there is nothing wrong with my eyes and passes my on to my GP
*Get MRI of brain; brain scan is normal although it shows a mild sinus problem. ThisI rules out tumors and MS?
*Blookwork done; bloodcounts normal. Thyroid normal. Cholesterol normal. Everything is normal.

10/2008:
*Notice consistent see-through dark-spot in far right of left eye's field of vision.
*Go to allergist; diagnoses skin bumps as hives but can't find a source for them. Allergist has urine and stool samples done, which are normal.
*Resting EKG done, which is also normal.
*Neurologist exam reveals nothing abnormal. Neurologist thinks all of my problems are due to allergies and adrenaline (even though I have never had any allergies, have no family history of such, and don't have traditional allergy symptoms) and does not order an EEG. The allergist is skeptical of the neurologist's diagnosis.

November 2008:
*Am sick for a week. Doesn't seem like a traditional flu or a cold. No digestive problems. Not much of a cough or fever. Every night I had very significant shivering also sweat through my clothes and sheets. Had a very dry mouth for one day.

January 2009:
*Begin new semester. Spotty vision (which I described before as constant overlaying of mild, moving discoloration, kind-of like afterimages) and mild bluriness continues as before and seems to gets worse; I often feel slightly out-of-it and my vision makes it very annoying to read a book or work at a computer, although I can still do it. I have been feeling a little lightheaded frequently. I've been exercising less and frequently feel abnormally winded when I do exercise. I sleep for long enough at night although I've been waking up frequently. I've been feeling fatigued and rather lethargic most days. I've been getting occasional mild chest pains and headaches
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Any ideas what could be going on? Why do I have such significant vision symptoms but the opthamologist, neurologist, allergist, etc can't find anything wrong with me? Is the neurologist's diagnosis of it simply being allergies and adreneline feasible? I am getting nervous - the vision is affecting how I am able to live to my life and I am afraid it will get worse. Because of these symptoms I continue to be afraid of brain problems, heart problems, and diseases. Did I pick up some disease from visiting China or from a sexual partner? Do I have an impending neurological disorder? Did I look too long at the laser light from the laser-cutter (even though it was not pointing at my eyes)? Did I inhale too many solvents (even though it hasn't been all that many)?

Thanks!
-NB

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I would suggest seeing a neuro-ophthalmologist. Find one near you at www.aao.org    It should be noted that anxiety and hypochondriasis could cause all those symptoms and it need not be some dread hidden disease.

JCH MD

[bad eyes]

You may just simply be wired to have an "overactive" central nervous system that in simple terms, causes you to overrespond and hyperfocus on stimuli (internal and external).  You might seek treatment with a newer class of antidepressants called the SNRIs (selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors).  That could help tone down the anxiety and your physical symptoms.  Yoga and meditation are also very helpful.  Find a good competent psychiatrist.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Reinicken]

Thanks for the comments so far.  It has definitely been helpful.  It looks like Dr. Hagan tried to reply a 2nd time but the message didn't get through?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

That mark "-" just means that I've read the discussion to that point and have no additional comments to add.

JCH MD

[Reinicken]

Oh, ok, got it.

Any other insights from forum members?

In addition to what could be going on with me, does anyone have advice about how to effectively describe the cloudly/spottiness that I keep having in my vision (and have had for the past 8 months, although it's getting worse)?  

Basically, solid colors I look at are not solid but are always mildly spotty/cloudly with sort-of mild moving overlays that look kind of like an accumulation of afterimages or if you've looked into the sun for too long.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  I am still unable to effectively describe this and nobody I've talked to seems to get what I mean.

Many thanks,
NB

[Reinicken]

Is it possible that these symptoms cound as "visual snow" or "persistent migrane (migraine) aura"?  like i said, i am not even exactly sure how to describe it.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Sorry, I don't think you'll find your anwer here.  Your problem is not like peristent migraine or VS. See a neuroophthalmologist.

JCH MD

[Reinicken]

Update:

Saw a neuro-ophthalmologist today.  He performed a thorough eye examination and told me my eyes are perfect and that there's nothing wrong with me.

While this is great to hear, I feel like he was rather dismissive with me.  Despite my descriptions of my symptoms, he didn't seem open to the idea that something is going on with me that's not in my eyes but as affecting my vision.  Maybe the non-eye stuff is not his job to address, but he gave me no insights on what could be causing all of these symptoms that are very real to me.

The symptoms that persist most strongly are the flickering/overlay/spottiness, frequent headaches, frequent ghost-image text, and overall fatigue.

Maybe I should go talk to my GP again.  Or maybe just accept that the doctor knows that he's talking about and act as if I'm totally fine - maybe I can just live with these symptoms, if they actually are benign.  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Don't take this personal but when people have a constellations of symptoms that indicate multiple body system involvement, have had many tests, by many doctors over a period of years and all are negative the cause is often psychogenic: anxiety, depression, hypocondriasis.  For every ultra rare diease that causes problems psychogenic are many many times more often.
Perhaps at some point you might discuss your problems with a psychiatrist  or psychologist.

JCH MD

[Reinicken]

Thanks for the response again, Dr. Hagan.  I think a good strategy is to assume the doctor is correct and that these issues are all either psychogenic or just really no big deal.  Maybe I should talk to a psychiatrist about my issues to at least get my worrying about it under control.  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Good luck to you, better something psychological you can deal with than some horrendous disease.
JCH MD