# Derealization and Vision Problems?



## Mattm4000 (Aug 13, 2004)

Hello, everyone... I have a concern that maybe someone can help me with. I am a 26 year old male and I have been suffering from DR and Depression for about five and a half months now. I also seem to suffer from insonmia because I wake up very frequently during the night, I do alot of dreaming when I finally do sleep and then I wake up very early in the morning and am not able to fall back asleep.Its gotten a little bit better but now in the past few weeks I have noticed a problem with my vision. Its not exactly what you would call blurred vision but more of almost like a foggy vision. I notice that I have a problem with glare meaning that if its a sunny day and the sun is reflecting off something bright outside it seems brighter then usual. I also notice when I am driving that the headlights of other cars seems to be bothering my eyes as well as sometimes I notice a halo around bright lights at night. I was wondering if anyone here that suffers or suffered from DP/DR ever noticed any vision symptoms like this.

Another thing I wanted to mention was that a few days ago I sent an email to one of these online medical websites where for a certain fee you can ask a doctor a health question and I asked them about my vision problems as well as the DP/DR and depression and he told me that its possible that all of my problems are being caused by using a computer too much. He said that the vision problems could just be eye strain and the symptoms of insonmia,depression and even the derealization could all be coming from an overstimulation of my eyes from the computer which is what is making my vision weird, interfering with my sleep and ultimately causing depression and DR. In my case I do believe this is very possible because I use a computer all day at work and at night and on the weekends I spend a huge amount of time on the computer at home. So since I found this out I have been trying to spend less time on the computer. I really have no control over it at work but I try to be online less now when I am home to see if it makes me feel any better.

Anyway, just curious if anybody has any feedback about any of this.

Thanks.


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## Living in a fog (Aug 12, 2004)

well here is my two cents I have found out that when I look at my pc for long periods of time my DR shoots up. I also have the same problems that you mentioned with the car headlights and with the sun. Simple solution for that I wear sunglasses. It helps with the sun while I am driving around thereby making my DR so much more tolerable. My advice to you is to try to get a light tint to your glasses and see if this helps when you are on your PC. I "only" suffer from DR depression ,anxiety and OCD(the good type) so maybe are histories are similiar.


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## dreamcatcher (Sep 23, 2004)

can totally relate to the vision thing. I cant stand driving at night cause the lights hurt my eyes, and when i get off the computer my pupils are really dilated, iread on dreamers website to use sunglasses and it does help a bit. before i got dp/dr i hardly went on the pc so i dont think it helps cause it it just aggrivates it


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## kenc127 (Aug 10, 2004)

LOL the computer. 14 years of school and 300+ thousand dollars a year salary and he tells you the computer. I don't use the computer very much, and I feel like I'm in Disneyland half the time. Maybe the comp screen exacerbates it, but I think it's hardly a cause.


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## peterparker (Oct 19, 2004)

I have similar problems regarding sensitivity to lights etc. Always much worse when driving. Not just lights, but also turning my head quickly when looking for cars to change lanes or cross traffic. I've been reading on computer vision syndrome and the problems with focusing on such a short distance for prolonged periods of time. I think driving is one of the only times I have to focus on a fairly long distance and my eyes have been conditioned to focus on close objects. Anyways, there are eyeglass places that have lenses that supposedly help with the computer screen. May give it a try...


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## Crumbles (Aug 19, 2004)

kenc127 said:


> LOL the computer. 14 years of school and 300+ thousand dollars a year salary and he tells you the computer. I don't use the computer very much, and I feel like I'm in Disneyland half the time. Maybe the comp screen exacerbates it, but I think it's hardly a cause.


Laugh all you want, but I find this interesting. I have noticed on my own that my DP/DR seems to feel better when I stay away from the PC more. Interesting that I hear this now after this has been a thought of mine for a while ....


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## JAG (Aug 31, 2004)

My personal case:

My DR started in 1980 and hasn't stopped since. I didn't start using a PC until 1985. Currently I use a computer about 15 hours a day (work and play combined). I haven't noticed a difference in my DR since 1980.

Also, my symptoms are similar to the one's you've described. Don't worry I doubt they'll get worse.

Hope the info is useful.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2004)

i have visual disturbances and hyper sensativity at times but my eye doctor when i went for a check up said my eyes are perfectly fine.

so its like WTF????????


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## peacedove (Aug 15, 2004)

I doubt all your problems are because of your computer. I do believe though that the lighting from it could aggravate your DP. I am extremely sensitive to lights. I hate going on expressways at night... sometimes when people are watching TV in a very bright room I have to leave... and today I thought I was gonna have a panic attack cuz at work they finally fixed the light that went out in the room I work in... oh my god it was so bright, everything looked so weird, I felt so unreal.


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

Welcome to the world of DR.

the glares, foggy vision, all there. I have had this 4 1/2 years, but am now debating getting my eyes checked just because I'm getting older. I had 20/15 vision before all of this, so I probably attribute all this to DR.


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2004)

I've got intense visuals. I have trails, afterimages, floaters. I can "see" the air. The last one i mention is insane. I used to completely freak out over my visual hallucinations but i've accepted them recently...only to move on to freaking out over DP/DR.

Advice: if its drug induced visuals...stop taking drugs...even alcohol makes it worse. Trust me, i'm an alcoholic. AND PROUD!


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## peacedove (Aug 15, 2004)

When I stare at white walls I can see like millions of dots or something, tiny ones.....it's hard to explain.


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## Nate (Nov 3, 2004)

The main symtpoms of my DR are visual disturbances that range from oversensitivity to light to shimmering effects when I look at patterns like bricks or grates in the sidewalk to visual "noise" when I look into the night sky. I find it distracting to read because the black letters against the white paper shimmer when I look at them.

I've had these symptoms for 6 years. Taking meds, went to eye doctors, therapist, MRI.

I've learned to cope with it, but still hold out hope it will go away.[/i]


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

i feel like i have visual problems as well. it's "hard" to see. i would much rather close my eyes than look at the world around me. i, too, stare at a laptop screen 8 - 10 hours a day. but, i was working on computers before i got DP. i find in broad daylight, a lot of the time, it seems like there is too much stimuli. i am distracted in groceries stores from all the products, colors, shapes, sizes, quantities. it's all too much! i also have "floaters", but i don't think that has anything to do with it.

i don't really know what to do about the vision thing. it's one of my main problems with DP. it's very frustrating since you have to "see" all day! i look forward to sleep since i don't have to have my eyes open.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

i have sooo many floaters its crazy....all i can see is floaters i have to look past them to see the real world....thry look like little black strings and dna strands...its soooo depressing to havethem cause i think it is an indicator of something bad . i am soooo pissed off cause of these damn things


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## JAG (Aug 31, 2004)

Nate said:


> The main symtpoms of my DR are visual disturbances that range from oversensitivity to light to shimmering effects when I look at patterns like bricks or grates in the sidewalk to visual "noise" when I look into the night sky. I find it distracting to read because the black letters against the white paper shimmer when I look at them.
> 
> I've had these symptoms for 6 years. Taking meds, went to eye doctors, therapist, MRI.
> 
> I've learned to cope with it, but still hold out hope it will go away.[/i]


So what sort of diagnosis did you get? For the first several years I was basically told it was a migraine. Only a couple years ago was it diagnosed as DR, due to my Internet research and then telling a doctor.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2004)

peacedove said:


> When I stare at white walls I can see like millions of dots or something, tiny ones.....it's hard to explain.


I get exactly the same thing but with black walls as well.


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## Beth (Sep 27, 2004)

hmmm. I get the same thing, dots when i stare at walls, and on a bright day I can hardly see and my nose hurts, and lots of things shift or breath or ripple. Also if I look at something long enough it goes into psychedelic patterns, all neon colours and stuff, I quite like that though. Funny thing is I went to the optician loads when I was little because I said that everything kept looking "like a TV screen," but never got anywhere, I think they thought I wanted attention. I'd forgotten that till recently. I had thought that for me dp/dr was entirely due to drugs, but the more I think about it the more things from my childhood seem to point in this direction. I got really annoyed when I couldn't stop playing imagining games, I obsessed for a while over a biscuit tin that didn't look like it 'belonged' anywhere, I was always trying to explain how things looked like a TV screen. And did anyone else use to read in that manic cut-off-from-real-world way, living more in books than in life? I think a lot of children do it, but it seems another thing that now ties in with this whole weird experience.

So has anyone else whose dp/dr was brought on by drugs had things like the vision thing since childhood? Does that just mean I was predisposed to this if I took drugs (or something traumatic happened, or whatever else), or does it mean it might have happened even if I didn't? Anyone know?


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