rolling vision

[g__]

I am a 58 year old male. For the last  year every other month my vision starts to roll. By that I mean that what I'm seeing rolls like a t.v screen sometimes it rolls backwards. I have to stop
what I'm doing and stand there until it stops which takes about a minute or two. I have researched this on line and haven't found anyone who has the same symptoms. I asked a doctor and he said he never heard of that. I don't have health insurance. I would like to know if anyone has heard of this, what causes it and what I can do about it.

[3thumper]

My Mother just had this occur to her yesterday... have you found any information on the cause?

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

This is a potentially serious problem and your mother needs to see an ophthalmologist and also tell her family MD. She may need referral to a cardiologist to rule out cardio-vascular disease like transient ischemic attacks TIA or a neurologist to rule on brain disease.

[MTBSoCal]

7/3/2016  I have something that sounds just like that! However, mine keeps rolling, vertically, for about 15 minutes at which point it develops into full blown double vision. It all starts with a blurring of my vision. The whole episode lasts about 2 hours to get back to 95% ok.

I've had 7 episodes now, first one on its own, then a week later 4 days in a row, then another week later 2 days in a row.

Can't find anything on the Internet... Was hopeful with nystagmus but it turns out that's not it. Any comments appreciated.

[JohnHaganMD]

Doubt if you can Dx this on internet but you need to see a neuroophthalmologist.  Lots of them in California, might use one at one of the medical schools. Could be episodic nystagmus, could be a migraine or seizure variant. It's potentially serious symptoms that needs a serious evaluation.

[achillea]

I have never heard of anything exactly like that, either, but there is an eye problem called nystagmus in which the eyes involuntarily jerk around.  It has a number of causes, some benign and some not very good at all.  Sometimes it is associated with a sense of vertigo, also.

The wikipedia article on nystagmus has a small video illustrating it, and I think there are some on youtube as well.

See if you can find a friend who will observe you when you have one of these episodes and tell you if your eyes are actually moving.

If they are, you are going to have to make an appointment with a doctor to evaluate you, no way around it.