Horrible vision issues, is this anxiety? Does anyone else experience this?

Mental health
1

Hello! So I don’t really know where to start I’m 23 and have been dealing with anxiety since January 2020. I’m on medication, been on it for 6 months and my cognitive anxiety has died down A LOT. I have been having AWFUL vision symptoms for a year now and they’re never going away, sometimes they are a bit better than usual and I hate it so much I just don’t see an end to this ever and it’s making my everyday life so exhausting, I don’t even do anything.

If you have or had these symptoms please let me know because no one I know has ever experienced this and it’s scaring me so much

So the symptoms I’m talking about are so hard to describe but generally, I feel like

-my vision is distorted
-I have a LOT of floaters and visual snow
-Sometimes it feels like one eye is more blurry than the other or even swollen and I get unevenness in the visual field

  • oh yeah and the blurriness is horrible
  • Can’t focus my vision
  • Peripheral and central vision field feels basically nonexistent
  • Everything looks unrealistic, too bright or too dark no in between (almost like I lack contrast)
  • Sometimes things look sort of shimmery, and I’m not talking about the floaters or static, almost like things are moving or “breathing” even. Idk I feel like chunks of my visual field are missing around the eyes
  • Even when I close my eyes I can see the static
  • Feel like I’m in a movie sometimes
  • Just feel extremely disconnected from the world but not emotionally like in DDD just visually, I hate doing anything, especially going outside, just takes the complete joy out of my life
  • And I get motion sensitivity I think it’s called, kind of like when you’re drunk and you move your head and everything feels like it’s smudging or like your eyes are lagging

I have been tested so many times, had a brain scan, seen 5 separate optometrists and had all complex and normal eye tests taken. I had many blood tests, seen a neurologist and everything is fine but this is still not going away. Also, I attended 4 different counselling sessions (and completed all of them which also didn’t help).

2

yes I’ve had those visual symptoms with stress and anxiety. It is pretty common. Just try not to overthink it because then it can get worse. If your testing is all OK then you can rest assured that it’s caused by anxiety.
i know how frustrating it is and I’m sorry you’re going through this. Try as much as you can to calm down your mind. Even if I’m having symptoms, I do things to relax my mind such as walking, taking a nice warm bath, listening to soothing meditation, etc. take one day at a time and eventually you will look back on this. I would love to see the day when they have a cure for anxiety and it’s horrifying symptoms
. Do you mind if I ask what medication you are taking for anxiety? I need to try something different because nothing is helping. Thank you so much! :heart:

3

I can sympathise with you, last week i lost the vision in my right eye for a matter of seconds which has increased my anxiety massively, i went to the opticians on Friday and they done loads of checks and it all looks good, he has referred me to doctors to check for TIA’s which now has my mind doing OT thinking i am going to have a stroke, it sounds like your doctor has been very thorough and checked everything through i know that doesnt help the way your feeling but rest assured i know how you feel x