permanent visual aura

[Kris189]

Hello, i have suffered from visual snow for 11 years now and all the doctors i have seen have told me i have depression and anxiety.i have had an MRI and CT which were clear. I am convined that the migraines i started getting at the age of 16 have caused this permanent change in my vision and this has caused me to become anxious and depressed. Everything has an unusal glow about it and appears too bright. i have trouble with flourescent lighting and focusing on reading black text on white paper. computer screens are an issue and lectures at uni are difficult as the white background on the screen makes it hard for me to see beyong the flickering it causes me. after i look at an object then look away i see after images. i have trouble focusing on people when i talk to them due to the visual static. the vision is similar to the auras i used to suffer from before getting a migraine but not as severe.
I would give anything just to have normal vision, it's been so long that i've forgotten what it is like. i avoid social situations in bright lighting due to my focusing problems and i'm sick of this vision thing making everything appear dreamlike!
Do you have any advice?

[cassadd]

I am in shock. You have just described my situation to a T! I thought maybe i was going insane. But I have had an MRI and gotten my vision checked and all of the things you described like depression and anxiety, I cannot look at a grouping of white on white objects, carpet in offices with small geometric patterns, when i close my eyes and look at a bright light i see this moving flower pattern. that is what i see all the time it just distorts my vision. I also have floaters which is like insult to injury aaaaand it affects how i see at night because of the after glow that i see from lights. certain colors of light are very hard to focus on, blue is the worst. Im not sure what happened to my vision as i am only 23, but i had migraines with aura for a while and then the migraines went away and the aura seemed extremely less severe but i have days when its better and days when it is worse and on the worse days i get very introverted and just want to sleep because that is the only relief i have.

[lindalou_56]

I have had the same thing for 7 months. Bright shimmering lights in my vision which are light induced. I have hernaited disks at C4, C5,C6 and C7 I beieve this is causing the vision problems by pinching nerves tha send  neuro vision receptor s in the brain. I have neck and shoulder pain and often get headaches. Have been getting Accupunture for this and have had some clearing in my vision. Have an MRI of your neck. Good Luck

[Wazza81]

You have the exact same thing as me.

I started getting a headache last jan...very mild one.
I started getting a mild Aura, snow, and flashing lights.
I started to learn to deal with this and about a month ago i have a really bad migraine (I don't really suffer from Migraines, this was the 3rd one I have ever had).
Now my vision is much worst, i'm worried if I have another migraine this will get worst.
I have had a MRI and doc has found lesions but can't say if these are the cause of my visuals...
I have alway been against taking pills but i need to start taking something for this as its driving me mad!

[BrandyLea]

My 7-yr old son is stuck in Alice In Wonderland Syndrome.  He just went to bed, completing 21 straight days with nonstop visual distortions and hallucinations.  I am in dire need of help.  

18 months ago, he had his first episode, 8 days of seeing everyone with big heads, hands of clocks were spinning, tv's were breathing.  We were told he had Alice In Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS), an extremely rare migraine variant.  After the episode, we visited the Cleveland Clinic to see a top pediatric neurologist.  He was blown away that it lasted 8 days, said he thought it was too rare to be AIWS (which usually only last a few hours).  

On October 9th, it hit again.  Since then he sees every person with a big head that "breaths" in and out in size, the walls are crumbling like paper, the floor is a deep V canyon in front of him.  He's missed three full weeks of first grade, soccer, play dates, life.  He's an incredibly sharp, well-adjusted, mature, wise old soul for a 7-yr old.  And he's a first born, pleaser, rule-follower, all around good kid.  He has a good, loving, nonstress little life.  We are currently working with Dr. Kent Kelley at Evanston, IL, and Dr. David Rothner at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Larry Robbins, migraine specialist in Northbrook IL, and our PCP.  I'm also following leads to connect with a ped dentist (nerve triggers?), a GI specialist (he's had on/off severe abdonimal issues this whole period) and others.  MRI was clean.  MRA was clean.  Blood work ruled out mono, toxins, etc.  He had a spinal tap 10 days ago, all clear.  This isn't psychological, he know's it's not real and that the wires in his brain are just mixed right now.  

We've been on Depekote for 11 days.  No help.  We started Diamox 3 days ago.  No help.  The drs are considering an IV lasix (sp?) if it doesn't stop by next week (after the three full week mark).  However, this has only really been used in adults.  My son in 7.  They r thinking maybe this is a migraine (possibly abdonimal?) that has triggered a constant aura that is manifesting itself as Alice In Wonderland Syndrome.  Basically like five rare events all at once.  Seriously?

My husband and I are completely heart-broken and at a loss.  I am beyond exhausted, physically and emotionally.  I am contacting everyone I know to contact, I'm trying every lead, I will not stop until I find a way to stop this.  Last night my little guy said, "Mama?  Maybe I'm just always going to be this way."  It broke my heart.  

All my pediatric neurologist are saying there are no documented cases of this.  Except one case that they discovered of a boy in Egypt that had a constant AIWS for 7 days.  We just finished day 21!  We are living hour-by-hour, day-by-day.  BTW, we also have a kindergarten girl and 3-yr-old boy.  Our whole family is upside down.

If you know anything about Alice In Wonderland Syndrome or Constant Aura's and how to stop them, I would be incredibly grateful for any advice, information, thoughts, comments.  I'm just a mom trying anything to help my little boy.  Thank you for your time.
Kindly,
Brandy Isaac
b.***@****

[Lexi1452]

Holy crap!  You have the extremity pain/paresthesia and muscle problems too??  

I'm 25 and I've had subtle visual disturbances for years, slowly growing more noticeable and pronounced since about 2003 when I went off Wellbutrin cold turkey for a while... I went back on it within a couple of months but the vibrating, glowing auras and snow have been getting worse ever since.  I've had depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember and been on a bunch of different antidepressants, etc.  It's eerie how accurately people in this forum have described the constant visual disturbance I've had that's growing much worse!  It's definitely the worst with black & white text and computer monitors!  I relate to that "glazed" and "numb" feeling I get in my eyes quite a bit.  It's like they just get exhausted fighting against the vibration of the auras all the time.  

I've been struggling with extreme fatigue and hypersomnia for years, but the pains and paresthesias in my extremities began this year in mid-February.  It started in my wrists as just a cramping sort of pain but since then spread to my hands as tingling cold/hot sensations and radiating burning. They thought I had bilateral carpal tunnel, so injected both carpal tunnels with a corticosteroid, which caused all the tingling to transform into shooting sharp and constant aching pains, which were suddenly also in my elbows as well as my wrists and hands.  Gradually it spread to my shoulders, with this always constant deadening aching and burning concentrating in my palms. EMG showed normal--no neuropathy, radiculopathy, etc. I began noticing similar sensations in my feet and calves.  Also, any pressure, even light pressure, applied to my arms (particularly upper) and shoulders/collar bone area and calves results in a delayed but extreme and lingering pain.

Couldn't find any help locally, so I went to the Mayo Clinic, hoping they could help me.  I've also been having problems with weight gain, exercise intolerance, temperature regulation (sweating a lot!) and migraine headaches (without aura, to my knowledge since my aura is ever-present).  After a thorough workup, including two brain MRI's, they couldn't find anything wrong--no brain tumors (thank God!) or lesions, no autoimmune disease, normal hormone levels, blood sugar's fine, cholesterol good (seriously, I'm apparently really friggin' healthy).  They pretty much told me I have "central sensitization syndrome", which is their fancy umbrella term for things like "fibromyalgia" or "chronic fatigue syndrome".  As for the visual disturbance... it's like I see an image with the afterimage at the same time... edges of it glow and vibrate along with constant but more subtle snow.  It's gotten worse this year as everything's been gradually progressing.  I'm pretty fed up with doctors--I honestly am not holding out much hope of finding one that can help me--but if it's fibromyalgia, I suppose a heightening of visual perception would go along with heightened pain perception.  It could be a problem with visual processing.  Maybe what we're seeing is completely normal and everyone sees it, we just can't filter out the "noise"?

I have a similar thing with my ears in crowded rooms--particularly restaurants--where if I'm with a group of people at a table and someone's talking, everyone else can hear them it seems, but I can't make out a word against the background noise, as if I can't isolate a single voice.  

All well and good of course to speculate, but it sure would be nice to know if anything helps.  I've had increasing anxiety levels with all this going on such that I've had hives for 6 weeks now with no sign of them quitting despite multiple antihistamines!  Maybe the increase in my anxiety level is responsible for the increase in these visual disturbances as well... in which case, I suppose the only solution would be stress management techniques.... any of those actually work?  lol

I've grown pretty cynical but I don't want to be discouraging.  I'm continuing my quest for relief from eye problems (which of course I have perfectly good eyeballs aside from a slight stigmatism in one eye according to opthamologist at Mayo in Jacksonville) as well as muscle + extremity pain.  I'll be sure to post again if I find out anything more.  

[anne2674]

I have had visual snow and palinopsia (afterimages) for over a year now.  It happened out of no where one night when I went to bed.  I have a history of depression and anxiety and at the time I was really sleep deprived.  I researched it on the Internet and my neuro-opthamologist diagnosed it.  He said he sees about 10 - 15 cases a year.  I've always had headaches, but thought they were sinus headaches but later figured out they were probably migraines.  

At the same time I also had other symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning in my hands and feet, painful stiff joints, and muscle twitching.  I was tested for all auto immune diseases, vitamin deficiencies, diabetes, HIV, got EMGs, MRIs, numerous eye exams, etc.

All they found was a Vitamin D deficiency (level of 17), some non-descrip brain lesions on my MRI (my Neuros say they don't think they're MS lesions) and my usual depression and anxiety.  

Very scared because no one can give me an answer and I never know which symptoms will pop up.  I"m taking Topamax which I think helps a little with the visual snow and afterimages, Nortriptilyne for depression and the nerve numbness/tingling pain in my extremeties, Klonopin occasionally when my extremety pain is particularly bad. Anyone else have these other symptoms too?