Undiagnosed weird feeling after focusing

Other conditions
1

Hello all,

I am looking to potentially connect with others that have had a similar experience to my own. I have a hard time describing my symptoms, so please bear with me.

My symptoms often include the following: apathy, lethargy, dizziness, loss of spatial recognition, loss of depth perception.. but the main issue is a feeling of like a 'disconnectedness' from my brain to my body (this is the hardest to explain).

I just feel really awful, and just "off" mentally and physically when it happens, and the feeling can last for hours depending on how bad I've been triggered. I wish I could put the feeling into words, but I fear the vocabulary hasn't been invented yet.

The fun part: I am triggered by "staring" at something, and by staring, I mean giving my attention to the activity while either sedentary or stationary. What this means in my everyday life: I cannot look at a computer screen, cell phone, read a book, watch tv, peruse forums (!), drive on highways, hike while watching my footing, use my DSLR camera etc etc etc. Anything that requires me to look at something for more than a few minutes will set off my symptoms.

I've been dealing with this for almost 3 years, and my symptoms are getting progressively worse. I used to be able to get away with, say, watching a single 30 minute episode of whatever on Netflix, or scrolling Facebook in the morning before work, but now, I can only manage a few minutes of any activity before the symptoms set in. If I "power through it" (which I often do) the symptoms can and will last for an hour or longer. The last time I watched a entire movie from start to finish, I was sick for nearly 24 hours. The feeling also disrupts my sleep pattern, so if I go to bed "triggered" I will either A) be unable to fall asleep for several hours, B) wake up every 30 minutes or so and take up to another 30 minutes to fall back asleep, or C) some crazy combination of both, all while feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

I can and do mitigate the symptoms by being as active as possible. I work out regularly, play several rec league sports, and avoid screen time and reading as much as possible. However, my profession requires me to often devote my focus and energy into small areas of peoples' bodies (massage therapist) and my symptoms are starting to bleed into my work.

Last summer, I took some time off and devoted 4 months to trying to fix myself. I have had every organ in my body either MRI'd or CT scanned or X-Rayed or otherwise, you name it, they looked at it. All came back normal. For all intents and purposes, I am about as healthy as a 31 year old male can be. There are still some tests that I and my doctor would like to persue, but time and money halted our progress.

I have also tried several alternative healing methods, from going vegetarian/vegan, acupuncture, you name it I probably tried it. Nothing worked long term. Hardly anything worked short term; symptom relief topped out at about 30 minutes with the acupuncture.

So why this and why now? Well, to be frank, I want to start a family and be able to teach my future son or daughter to read. That's it. I want to read a book to my future offspring without feeling sick for hours afterwards.

I know I can be long winded, so I thank you for your time. While I am not necessarily looking for a diagnoses here, I wouldn't turn any ideas that the community can provide. My doctors are stumped; at this point, I feel that I can basically call the shots when it comes to my treatment and they'll be happy to try anything that we haven't yet. If anyone out there has ever felt like this, please please please leave a comment with your symptoms and triggers, I would love to discuss our symptoms together to possibly find a cure or treatment. Thank you.

Chris

2

I'm guessing you have had your eyes tested, as you are saying it happens when you look at something. If you havent then do see an optician

      The only other thing is the newly coined  "Adrenal disease" which is supposed to be a reaction to the stress of modern day living.    Not easy to prove and few reliable diagnostic tests I'm afraid.  

Is your diet OK and balanced? You could try taking a high dose of Omega 3 capsules 

3

Hi Marina! Yes, I have seen the optometrist and they haven't found anything wrong or abnormal with the eyes. I do eat a well balanced diet.. most days. I have not tried high dose Omega 3s but I do take one capsule a day. I will give that a shot!

I will look up this Adrenal Disease as well. It's funny you mention it, right around the same time the symptoms started, I remember times of what I would call "extreme excitability", like getting REALLY abnormally excited about things like a softball game or going fishing. Those feelings subsided after only a few weeks, so I've kinda brushed it off and so did my doctor. But that might be something I can re-evaluate!

I have not tried any vestibular exercises but I will check those out as well. Inner ear stuff is kinda what I'm leaning towards, although nothing has been found yet medically speaking. And yes, the symptoms came on out of the blue one evening while watching tv.

4

What is the first symptom you get when looking at a screen for too long or reading a book? (i will suggest a few):  dizziness or vertigo, disconnectedness, loss of depth perception or feeling like you are being sucked in, dry mouth, apathy, lethargy or weakness etc. What is the first symptom that comes. Check and let us know.

On the upside, teaching your child to read does not require lengthy focus on a text. More often than not you will be looking at the child, not the book. Children are also taught in short busts as well as in interactive ways, not by looking at a book for a prolonged period. If that helps relieve the pressure any

As you have had lots of tests I will assume the spine has been verified as healthy, especially the top of your spine where all the tension builds up and you would occupationally be predisposed to some blockage in the area.

As far as the eyes go, if an optometrist is the person who performs basic vision checks and then prescribes glasses (different people call specialists differently) then you need to see an opthalmiyiatrist - specialist eye doctor to check eye health not only manifesting vision.

I would look at vestibular issues too but am more inclined towards the spine...and anxiety. Looking forward to your feedback on the above queries.

5

Forgot to ask - Do you or have you ever had any issues with motion sickness?