Vision symptoms: floaters, snow, blurred/dimmed vision, twitching, dry eyes and pain

[Hellbutrin]

7 hours ago, Gaebbi said:

Hi @Hellbutrin,

sadly all the progress I‘ve made was usually very very short lived. Or I just thought it was progress but it wasn‘t. I‘ve noticed that on very sunny and light days my double vision is barely noticeable, but first I thought that it got better, when it didn‘t. It was just the light. The darker it gets outside, the more I‘m noticing it. I think it may stay permanently, but honestly I don‘t really care about it.

also, I don‘t have dry eyes. Do you also have the ghosting on one eye or on both?

Mine is in both eyes, and my neuro optometrist could not find anything on my MRI that would potentially cause dry eye. He's leaning towards some sort of GI/autoimmune issue now, and plans to test me May 11th for Sjorgren's. I also feel that mine might be permanent and I've come to terms with that, but I do have to find a way to address the dry eye so that I don't have long term damage to my eye from the lack of moisture. I have the ghosting in both eyes, and I do believe that mine is somehow directly related to my dry eye, because they both started when I C/T, and my eye doctor says that there's no apparent neurologic reason for my double vision, so it's likely caused by the dry eye. He also mentioned that it's uncommon to have monocular double vision to begin with, and that it doesn't usually have a neurological reason unless the double vision goes away when you cover up one eye, and mine doesn't. My double vision is present with either eye covered, at all times. 

[Longroadhome]

19 hours ago, Hellbutrin said:

Did you notice that fish oil was particularly helpful with managing dry eye symptoms? I recently started taking a higher quality Omega, but I still have extremely dry eyes, especially when I first wake up.

The only supplement I take is Vitamin D

i eat a really healthy diet and exercise every day . 
Did you have dry eyes prior to WD? 
if WD  has brought it on it will definitely get better. 
this is what I notice with mine: when it first came on at the start of my taper it was really bad. I booked an appointment at the eye hospital and they found out I wasn’t producing enough tears . They originally thought my tear ducts We’re blocked or that it was as a result of long term HRT. Didn’t have any other tests they just recommended drops after trying to unblock the tear ducts.   
however I believe it was to do with WD. At first I had to use liquid tear drops but slowly over time I haven’t had to. It goes away for a few months then comes back so this is also why I feel it has to do with WD. Each time it returns it is less severe. 
have you found sometimes it is worse than others ? 

[Longroadhome]

Just now, Longroadhome said:

The only supplement I take is Vitamin D

i eat a really healthy diet and exercise every day . 
Did you have dry eyes prior to WD? 
if WD  has brought it on it will definitely get better. 
this is what I notice with mine: when it first came on at the start of my taper it was really bad. I booked an appointment at the eye hospital and they found out I wasn’t producing enough tears . They originally thought my tear ducts We’re blocked or that it was as a result of long term HRT. Didn’t have any other tests they just recommended drops after trying to unblock the tear ducts.   
however I believe it was to do with WD. At first I had to use liquid tear drops but slowly over time I haven’t had to. It goes away for a few months then comes back so this is also why I feel it has to do with WD. Each time it returns it is less severe. 
have you found sometimes it is worse than others ? 

Ps mine used to be bad on waking up too and still can be quite dry on occasions when waking especially during allergy season 

[JasonK]

I pray every day my eyes to get back to normal.Having visual snow and being 24/7 in derealisation state after a single dose of  Effexor XR 37,5mg is so hard to accept.

 

Give me some strength guys!How an adverse reaction from a single pill can cause such a persisting disruption 3 years now???

[Longroadhome]

6 hours ago, JasonK said:

I pray every day my eyes to get back to normal.Having visual snow and being 24/7 in derealisation state after a single dose of  Effexor XR 37,5mg is so hard to accept.

 

Give me some strength guys!How an adverse reaction from a single pill can cause such a persisting disruption 3 years now???

Firstly  Jason  you shouldn’t worry about the fact you opened the capsule and took beads out . I believe people do this with this medication when tapering . I do it with my pregabalin so I really don’t think your visual snow was caused by this . It is a very common thing to do when tapering so I think you should stop worrying. 
secondly you don’t say if you have better days. If so then you are going through windows and waves and maybe your going through a wave at present ? 
has it got any better to how it was at the beginning ? 
do you keep a diary? 
do you have any other symptoms of WD because if you do then you are still going through WD so there’s a very good chance this symptom will dissipate going forward. Lots to think about there .  

many people on this site have a particular symptom for a very long time . And yes longer than you . An example Is  Pug Who has had tinnitus for over 5 years and it has very gradually got better and better until now it is almost gone .,
 

Have faith stay strong There’s every chance you will make a good recovery !! 

 

[Edmunds]

Jason, you speak of 24/7 derealization. I'm a senior citizen, but I have had chronic derealization off and on, the first episode when I was 19 and at university. That lasted a few months. But that was only the first episode. Since then I have had several, in more recent decades lasting for several years. The current bout started in 2013. In 2018-19 I had improvement, which meant that the symptoms were still there but did not bother me as much. Then in May 2019 I tapered way too fast off Effexor after being on it for 3.5 years. There followed nearly six months of aggravated derealization, plus heavy anxiety, crying spells, cortisol spikes, blurry vision, and fatigue. Last November the anxiety and crying faded. The derealization and blurry vision have not changed much.

 

Since the 1980s psychiatrists have diagnosed me as having depression, derealization being a way  I experience it. But in the past year I have concluded that that diagnosis was probably always wrong and that anxiety disorder has always been the fundamental problem, almost certainly related to my childhood and early adulthood family experience. As you know, derealization is a dissociative disorder closely entangled with anxiety.

 

For me derealization means feeling in a sort of fog, separated from my surroundings by an invisible veil. Also a feeling of fatigue and strain, as if I would prefer throughout the day to shut my eyes and curl up somewhere. Napping, however, typically makes me feel worse. Fortunately, I have never had depersonalization symptoms. How do you experience derealization?

 

I have been working with a therapist for the past 4-5 years who applies Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This has been helpful to me in learning how, some of the time, to pay less attention to the DR, or at least not to be rattled by it. I know much more about what it is. I have read  literature on healing from dissociative disorders, including derealization. Do you know this literature? It has also been helpful.

 

I'm starting work with a new therapist next week, mainly because I just want to have a "second opinion," especially from someone who has experience treating complex trauma. I have found, as you probably have, that the psychiatric profession has not traditionally had much training in dissociative disorders. My current psych has had some, and in his view I do not suffer from depression but from anxiety/derealization, which can be "tricky" to deal with! As I see it now, the answer will come with good therapy, not with ADs.

 

I would not describe my blurry vision, as visual snow. It's probably related both to my brain stabilizing process, which is ongoing and perhaps to the Prozac (which I started taking as a replacement for Effexor), from which I'm still tapering. Can you describe visual snow? Is it like static on a TV screen?

 

Your description of symptoms resulting from one dose of Effexor is interesting. I was on it for 3.5 years. Have you taken other ADs? Is it possible that your DR, like mine, is an expression of anxiety related to circumstances other than taking the Effexor?

[ChessieCat]

 

Found this reply in a member's topic about recovery from visual snow after stopping Effexor / venlafaxine quickly.

 

6 hours ago, VincentV said:

 

I don't know if this helps by my stepdad was on venlafaxine for many years and quit quite quickly. He developed visual snow which lasted for a couple of years before going away completely. This was about 5 years ago.

 

 

[Lostinwonderland]

I had visual snow from ADHD meds that I had been on since I was 4 years old (I know a 4 year old on those meds) I stopped taking it when I was 12 or 13 and it went away around 15 or 16, I never knew it was a problem being so young and having it for so many years I thought I was normal but it did go away, well at 25 it came back after taking propanol and even though I've had it before I can tell a difference. Im glad it goes away though and I know it does for a fact I'm a living witness. Its from an overactive visual cortex so they believe. I also had a lot of floaters with it I use to call them my clear worms they also went away. They returned with celexa, I also had a week when I was 18 where the snow return from just a few doses of wellbutrin. I stopped the  meds and the visual snow went away within a week. I had long lasting effects from the ADHD meds besides that I now realize was the meds

[jamest]

I have sorta the same issue it seems like since my small trial with paxil my vison seems worse then when i used cannabis and my eyes seem dry however before i took paxil i did not seem to notice this and my vison did not seem as blurry. 

 

I went for an eye exam last month the doc lady said oh well dry eyes shouldent be from cannabis and oh those meds should be out of your system when i explained about the paxil I am not sure if some people are not very educated or what the case is but its almost like some people do not know that you can get side effects while coming off a med.

 

it seems like quackery I wonder if my eye will stop being so dry at some point. so far i was told to use eye drops 4 times a day at 15-20$ a bottle seems expensive

[ChessieCat]

1 hour ago, jamest said:

so far i was told to use eye drops 4 times a day at 15-20$ a bottle seems expensive

 

That would be a special eye drop.  I've had dry eyes at times (eg in air conditioning) and just use a regular saline solution which is probably much cheaper.  At the very least it gets some of the dirt out of your eyes which might not be happening when your eyes aren't producing as many normal "tears" to cleanse them.

[jamest]

56 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

 

That would be a special eye drop.  I've had dry eyes at times (eg in air conditioning) and just use a regular saline solution which is probably much cheaper.  At the very least it gets some of the dirt out of your eyes which might not be happening when your eyes aren't producing as many normal "tears" to cleanse them.

 

funny you should mention that my doctor said that but i cannot seem to find any like that the only thing i see is saline solution for cleaning contacts.   

 

do you know of a place or a brand which makes those.

 

I mean the kind i have been using for a month and a half was systane original is there something else the eye doc lady mentioned something about complete is what i want but that brand of systane is kind of expensive.

 

 

Ya i almost want to say that now i am off that paxil and i wear glasses that my eyes will get less dry who knows maybe the doc is right.

 

like right now with no glasses on reading this my vison is fairly ok i can see most of this at times i cannot see much its like blurry 

[ChessieCat]

10 minutes ago, jamest said:

the only thing i see is saline solution for cleaning contacts. 

 

Yes that's it.  It comes in a small bottle.

[ChessieCat]

15 minutes ago, jamest said:

do you know of a place or a brand which makes those.

 

Just go into a chemist and tell them you want a small bottle of saline solution.  Note that you will have to dispose of them after a certain amount of time once opened.

[jamest]

10 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

 

Just go into a chemist and tell them you want a small bottle of saline solution.  Note that you will have to dispose of them after a certain amount of time once opened.

lol sure i am sure there are hundreds of them in the woods nothing i would try on my own but thanks for your help ya i could just buy that however what they carry is a 8oz bottle it isnt really made to drop into your eyes

[jamest]

thanks for the info chessie ill look for a cheaper brand next time 

[gdsequoia]

My eyelid twitching disappeared when I took magnesium orotate ("Magnerot") for several days (as directed by my neurologist).

[indario55]

I have blurry distant vision, it could be anxiety, it could be myophia or dry eyes...Some people say omega fish oil helps with dry eyes though.

[Lostinwonderland]

Anybody here see glares and halos off lights? Especially at night? Its been 1 year and that's still horrible for me 

[Lostinwonderland]

Does anyone here have or had bad light sensitivity with halos and glares especially at night with cat light and street lights?

[Jakebob]

Hello, 
I've been reading this topic from time to time and finally decided to describe my vision problems that appeared during withdrawal and the use of antidepressants.
Don't want to bore you with my drug history, but most of my vision problems started appearing after stopping paroxetine (30mg) over 2 years ago.
Symptoms include:
- blurred vision, 
- harder to focus my eyes on smaller objects,
- problem with focusing eyes on moving objects (when watching fast-paced movies or video games)
- kind of wobbly vision like the whole picture or some objects are shaking
- light sensitivity, 
- optical snow,
- floaters
- dry eyes 

I've been many times to ophthalmologists. They didn't find anything suspicious with my eyes. 
Those problems don't appear in any tests. I've even done a VEP (visual evoked potential) test, it also didn't show anything abnormal.

Some other things that are worth mentioning.
I've been taking mirtazapine 15mg for over 6 years now. First problems (like slightly blurred vision appeared almost simultaneously when taking this drug, also problem with focusing my eyes, but this one stabilized later) so I'm not sure if it doesn't affect my vision in some way. I've also got short-term memory problems, brain fog, and tinnitus. 
Sometimes when I strain my eyes too much I got nausea, dizziness and these tingling sensations in my head that feel like brain-zaps.
Also, I think that those visual problems are worse when I'm stressed or sick.

[Nic123]

Been having a flare up of visual issues lately and just wondering if anyone can relate. I have no idea if its even related to withdrawals 10 months later but i've had this on an off for months now in severity. Its gotten very bad recently and all i can put it down to is taking a B complex, folinic acid and a vit D, But i cant see how they would cause this.

 

"when I’m walking and then stop and look at the ground, the ground looks like it’s moving or morphing"

 

I've been having these weird issues especially after exercising, if i look at the ground or sky i get this strange sparkling effect like millions of different dots all moving around. I dont know if its visual snow or not. Its also like my eyes struggle to focus on things. I walked on a bridge today that had these little square patterns on it and it was like my eyes just cant Process what it sees and it just looks really strange and "shimmery"

 

Another thing is looking at white walls, i dont even really know how to describe it but its like its sparkling in a way and my vision is made up of trillions of dots. Its way more noticeable if im using a white bright computer screen then look directly at the wall. Its hard to describe but best way i can describe it is as if you had just directly looked into a light and then looked at a white wall. its kind of like that. 

 

In the dark i have it as well.

 

Can anyone relate? 

[Meeto]

On 3/3/2021 at 11:05 PM, Lostinwonderland said:

Anybody here see glares and halos off lights? Especially at night? Its been 1 year and that's still horrible for me 

I’m having starbursts from lights

[labrat15]

Eyes feel like there bulging out of my head

 

I am wondering if anyone here felt like their eyes were bulging out of there head when they were tapering off their drugs. I feel tension in my eyes which is messing with my eye sight and I am starting to get a little concerned...  

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by ChessieCat
added topic title before merging with existing topic

[ChessieCat]

Merged similar topics.

[gdsequoia]

I switched my smartphone from Nokia 6.1 to Moto e4 and here are the results:

- On the Nokia I wasn't able to look at the screen for more than 60sec per day, because then I got bad eye spasms (especially in left eye)

- On the Moto I'm able to look at the screen indefinitely long. Yesterday, for example, I used it for 6 hours.

 

Extremely relevant (and valuable) site I recently found: https://ledstrain.org/

[Sicksagittarius]

So I've had unfocused vision for about four months now. I try to focus on an object and I can't see the whole thing clearly, especially more long distance.

 

Could using blue light glasses or even wearing sunglasses help not strain my eyes as much to cause the unfocused vision? Or taking breaks from being on the computer for work? I have to be on it. 

 

I made a lot of changes at once, like starting a multivitamin that had B vitamins in it and probiotics, going back to work, and eating foods with high histamine that cause anxiety, extreme stress due to family issues and all of my own health issues.

 

My sleep hasnt been great, I'm undereating bc I can't find foods to eat, and I spend all day on the computer and on my phone. I think this led to the unfocused vision and taking a long time to go away bc of all these factors. Or maybe it was just a delayed symptom?

 

I'm coming off omeprazole that I've been on for a year which depleted my iron and b12. maybe the low b12 caused this?

[gdsequoia]

13 hours ago, Sicksagittarius said:

So I've had unfocused vision for about four months now. I try to focus on an object and I can't see the whole thing clearly, especially more long distance.

 

Could using blue light glasses or even wearing sunglasses help not strain my eyes as much to cause the unfocused vision? Or taking breaks from being on the computer for work? I have to be on it. 

 

I made a lot of changes at once, like starting a multivitamin that had B vitamins in it and probiotics, going back to work, and eating foods with high histamine that cause anxiety, extreme stress due to family issues and all of my own health issues.

 

My sleep hasnt been great, I'm undereating bc I can't find foods to eat, and I spend all day on the computer and on my phone. I think this led to the unfocused vision and taking a long time to go away bc of all these factors. Or maybe it was just a delayed symptom?

 

I'm coming off omeprazole that I've been on for a year which depleted my iron and b12. maybe the low b12 caused this?

Hi,

 

Omeprazole raises blood levels of escitalopram by A LOT. And escitalopram WD very frequently leads to... you guessed it - vision issues. Even my escitalopram leaflet says that. And my experience with taking escitalopram confirms it.

Decreasing the omeprazole decreased your escitalopram blood levels leading to escitalopram WD.

I'm not saying you should updose the escitalopram, but you should definitely consider it.

[Sicksagittarius]

8 minutes ago, gdsequoia said:

Hi,

 

Omeprazole raises blood levels of escitalopram by A LOT. And escitalopram WD very frequently leads to... you guessed it - vision issues. Even my escitalopram leaflet says that. And my experience with taking escitalopram confirms it.

Decreasing the omeprazole decreased your escitalopram blood levels leading to escitalopram WD.

I'm not saying you should updose the escitalopram, but you should definitely consider it.

@gdsequoiaHi thanks for the reply! I read the study on omeprazole and escitalopram and it seemed only those who were older had issues with it raising the blood levels. Could you point me to where this info is at? Also Im on only 2.5 mg of lexapro and I started getting the unfocused vision in July and started the omeprazole taper September 1. So I dont think the unfocused vision was caused by the omeprazole reduction

[gdsequoia]

16 minutes ago, Sicksagittarius said:

@gdsequoiaHi thanks for the reply! I read the study on omeprazole and escitalopram and it seemed only those who were older had issues with it raising the blood levels. Could you point me to where this info is at? Also Im on only 2.5 mg of lexapro and I started getting the unfocused vision in July and started the omeprazole taper September 1. So I dont think the unfocused vision was caused by the omeprazole reduction

I haven't read the actual study (i too have eye issues). Here's the best info i could find quickly:

https://www.drugs.com/drug-interactions/lexapro-with-omeprazole-1013-565-1750-0.html?professional=1

 

Note that reduction of CNS meds has logarithmic importance. IOW a 2.5mg->2.0mg reduction (for example) has the same probability of causing WD effects as a 25mg->20mg reduction. So IMO it doesn't matter that you're on a low esci dose.

 

Your last sentence is reasonable, though.

[Eastcoastgirl]

When my doctor switched me from Citalopram to Prozac 3 years ago it caused a drastic change in vision that has continued to worsen long after stopping the drug. This past year I had to start wearing glasses full time. I have really bad nearsightedness, dry eyes and floaters. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[LongTermPaxil]

One of the stranger withdrawal symptoms I've been experiencing is a skin/nerve sensation of "fullness" around my left eye, predominantly. It's very hard to describe. It's not pins and needles numbness, but it feels like the ocular equivalent of congested sinuses. Exercising my facial muscles by pulling "long" faces or looking with the eyes side to side helps in the moment, but the feeling is very persistent. Has anyone else experienced this? There is never any eyelid twitching. 

[Lovetobefree]

Dry eyes

 

I can see that dry eys can be a side effect of withdrawing from Lyrica/Pregabalin, this is yet another symptom I've started to suffer.  Can you please advise what you have found useful in dealing with this?  I've just bathed them with cook boiled water so far.

 

I will be contacting my GP and opticians in the morning.

 

many thanks.

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by ChessieCat
added topic title before merging with existing topic

[UnfoldingSky]

5 hours ago, Lovetobefree said:

Dry eyes

 

I can see that dry eys can be a side effect of withdrawing from Lyrica/Pregabalin, this is yet another symptom I've started to suffer.  Can you please advise what you have found useful in dealing with this?  I've just bathed them with cook boiled water so far.

 

I will be contacting my GP and opticians in the morning.

 

many thanks.

 

 

Hi Lovetobefree, I have dry eyes as well.  I have been to many eye care pros and learned there are a lot of causes of dry eyes, so it's not that likely a person here can really help you until you get the issue diagnosed properly.  Pills could be the cause, but they may not be.  This said, you can try running a humidifier that's a tip to help almost any kind of dry eye problem. Reducing computer time if you can may also help. 

[Lovetobefree]

7 hours ago, UnfoldingSky said:

 

Hi Lovetobefree, I have dry eyes as well.  I have been to many eye care pros and learned there are a lot of causes of dry eyes, so it's not that likely a person here can really help you until you get the issue diagnosed properly.  Pills could be the cause, but they may not be.  This said, you can try running a humidifier that's a tip to help almost any kind of dry eye problem. Reducing computer time if you can may also help. 

Thank you for your reply.  I very much think it's due to Pregablin/Lyrica withdrawal, just wondering what others have found useful.  Many thanks.

[Lovetobefree]

On 4/26/2020 at 1:01 PM, Longroadhome said:

Ps mine used to be bad on waking up too and still can be quite dry on occasions when waking especially during allergy season 

Was your dry eyes during tapering from Pregablin? Has it cleared now?  what did you find worked best for you please?

[OldDodgy]

I came off preg 20 months ago and dry eyes still persist. But I think it was stopping mirtazipine that really was the issue as it was an antihistamine AD.  I use special wipes twice a day from chemist. Can message y with name if y like 

OD