Visting the optometrist on tuesday, a few questions though

I suffer from GAD so it could just be that.  I see visual snow and floaters along with blurry vision.  Can this be a sign of something along with lightheadedness?  Could it be a brain tumor? Can the eye doc tell if i have a brain tumor by testing my eyes?

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

For clarification and certainty what do you mean by GAD

JCH MD

[CJ40689]

Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  Sorry my original post was not very descriptive I was in a hurry so I typed up what I could.  I'll go into better detail now.

Here are my symptoms:

Visual snow - I get this especially at night and in dark rooms.  It is very annoying and makes it difficult to see in the dark.

Floaters - I noticed this first when I was laying in the spa about a week ago.  I read that you can only see these when looking at very plain colors or a massive open space such as the sky. This doesnt bug me as much considering I dont spend even a minute looking at the sky so it never effects me but Iit is a symptom none-the-less.  

"Trails" - I dont know the specific name but I'm calling them trails.  Here's an example: I'm looking at my cell phone in the dark, a light trail is going upward from it that I woud usually see if I squint my eyes but now I always see it.  I also see a larger surrounding of light on street lights now.

Light-headed/dizziness - I thought I'd add this symptom which I've been having for over 2 weeks now everyday for most parts of the day.  The only semi-pain I feel is a small pressure on the front part of my head above the forehead.  No migrane (migraine) pain though.

Those are my symptoms and they are more annoying than they are a threat so fare.  The only problem is I have GAD and due to this, I am constantly worried that I have a serious medical condition where in this case it would be a brain tumor (worst possible scenario).  As I mentioned before I am visiting an optometrist on Tuesday and I am just curious if anyone can tell me what those symptoms could possibly be a part of or if I can rule out the brain tumor idea.  If it helps, I am 19 years of age and have no family history of brain tumors or any cancers except ovaric cancer but I'm not female so I doubt that effects me.  I have also read somewhere a while back that an optometrist can sometimes be the first to notice signs of a brain tumor during examination.  Is this true?  If so, what do they notice?

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

An optometrist is not a physician,not an MD and has half the training and usually much less clinical experience than a MD eye physician ophthalmologist.

I would strongly suggest you see an Eye MD not a optometrist. You can find a eye MD at www.aao.org (located near your) or ask your psychiatrist or FP or GP to refer you.

Many people with GAD obscess about the background noises of the body's internal workings (driving themselve nuts for example listening to their heart beat).

Very few brain tumors show up first in the eye and you can have a brain tumor and a normal eye exam.

Read the Wikipedia entry on "entopic phenomena"

Be sure that if you are recommeneded to take medications for your GAD that you do it as most cases of GAD are due to biochemical imbalances in the brain.

JCH MD