# Floaters parade...



## Heartbeats (May 23, 2006)

Do you think floaters have anything to do with derealization? I always had one or two floaters in my vision, but it didn't bothered me. But now, I am constantly seeing them. It's awful. Douzans of floaters, more and more. Sometimes I even think taht one of the reasons I keep derealizated is my struggle with floaters (I just can't get used to them, despite my doctor said it is the only solution).

Or maybe the inverse. They started to appear with anxiety. That proves the effect that psychological issues influence your general healt and that can trigger another diseases.

Now, I can't come into the streets without seeing a show of flying balls and lines...lol...The thing is that I never liked circus...

It's horrible on cloudy days, and even at home. I have to get used to it, but I can't and it depresses me. I may seem ridiculous, but it's truth. I don't even like to get to the street anymore.

I know that probably this haven't got anything to do with derealization, but it started with it. :evil: :evil:


----------



## felimz (Jul 4, 2006)

I was just about to post something about floaters because I have had them since about a month after I experienced my bad trip with marijuana, which was on February 15, 2006. Now, I see dozens of floaters on my right eye and about 2 or 3 of those long "lines" on my left.

They are for sure a sign of either anxiety or depersonalization, and they are actually harmless. Though they contribute to anxiety at times (fear of going blind, focusing on them all the time, figuring out if they are growing), they help me for grounding purposes on my worst DP/DR spells. If I can see them, I know I am not dreaming, and I know I'm still the same person that had them before I began my Panic Disorder and DP/DR a month ago.

I am still very curious as to why they happen, besides that whole vitreous humour crap doctors tell you. Before any of this happened, my eye doctor used to tell me I had way above average healthy eyes and vision. Go figure.

For now, learn how to play with them and spin them around and give them names (kidding); wearing sunglasses makes ignoring them a bit easier, though. If you find out anything significant, shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] .

Good luck.


----------



## CaroleDaBoyz (Aug 18, 2004)

A few years ago I developed really bad eye floaters and had an exam from with my opthamologist. She said they would probably diminish in time and they did within a month or two. I still occasionally notice them but the intensity and frequency is far less.

I couldn't remember all the details of the info she gave me so I checked the Mayo Clinic website (one of the few medical websites I trust) and here's the info:

*Although they can be annoying, eye floaters are usually not a problem and don't require treatment. Some people learn to ignore them. Rarely, the density and location of floaters may affect central vision and even interfere with reading tasks. In such cases, a doctor may recommend surgical removal of the floating debris (vitrectomy). However, this surgery also carries risks and may not remove all floaters.
Most of the interior of your eye is filled with vitreous, a clear, jelly-like substance. Floaters are small bits of debris floating in the vitreous. They may look like spots, hair or string that dart into your field of vision. Floaters are most common in older adults due to age-related changes to the vitreous. They usually appear gradually over time and are harmless. However, see your ophthalmologist if you notice a sudden onset or increase in floaters, especially if associated with flashing lights or hazy vision. This could be a sign of a potentially serious eye disorder, such as a retinal tear or retinal detachment.
*

Hope this helps.

Carole


----------



## felimz (Jul 4, 2006)

CaroleDaBoyz said:


> *...In such cases, a doctor may recommend surgical removal of the floating debris (vitrectomy). However, this surgery also carries risks and may not remove all floaters...
> 
> ...However, see your ophthalmologist if you notice a sudden onset or increase in floaters, especially if associated with flashing lights or hazy vision. This could be a sign of a potentially serious eye disorder, such as a retinal tear or retinal detachment.
> 
> Hope this helps. *


How the hell is that bit of information going to help? I am damn sure he won't need a vitrectomy or will get a "serious eye disorder" such as retinal detachment. Several people in this website have floaters and none of them have gone blind. We should not be alarmists in this forum, especially about something that could potentially trigger someone's anxiety or make it worse.

Just a thought.


----------



## CaroleDaBoyz (Aug 18, 2004)

*Please let me make this PERFECTLY clear: I DID NOT suggest surgery. I QUOTED information from the MAYO CLINIC website.*

It is however advisable to have an opthamologist check the condition. The opthamologist will recommend the course of treatment, if any.

Because there is a VERY SMALL risk that it could be serious - it's advisable to have it checked.

Sorry you've misunderstood my post. In my opinion it's always better to understand a health problem and any associated risks. Ignorance does not change the problem.

Carole


----------



## felimz (Jul 4, 2006)

The only reason I said anything is because people like us tend to take all symptoms and conditions associated with a disease _very_ seriously. Most of us here (pardon the generalization) focus on worst-case scenarios, so even suggesting there is a small risk might be counter-productive in quelling someone's obsessive worries about their condition.

I just had to reiterate that he will surely be fine.

Nonetheless, I am sorry I reacted that way to your post. The topic at hand is a very sensitive subject to me as well.


----------



## Xu (May 6, 2006)

I only have one and it drives me nuts :/ I would be willing to have it surgically removed 

When I was a kid I used to concentrate on what I was seeing a lot, if I was looking at a plain surface I would start to see things go in front of my eyes, which I assumed were "cells". I thought that it was like looking through a microscope at the outer layer of my eye; I guess that was a sort of fair estimate. If I "unfocused" they would go away. I feel like it kind of works that way with the one that I see now. But then it pops up again randomly.

Another thing I used to notice a lot were bright dots, kind of like pixels on a TV screen. I can see them everywhere.. when I was a child I thought of them as things that actually existed and ran around in the environment. I even told my mom about them and she probably thought I was hallucinating.


----------



## CaroleDaBoyz (Aug 18, 2004)

Sorry I didn't mean to exacerbate anyone's anxiety. And it probably isn't serious. Mine wasn't and most aren't.

I don't personally suffer from anxiety and I try to find out as much as I can about my own health problems so I know what I may have to deal with. A couple years ago I was diagnosed with a spinal problem and one of the possibilities was spinal cancer (which a close friend died from at 29). My attitude was to not worry about it - if it was cancer I would deal with it when and if it was diagnosed.

I guess I'm lucky. I refuse to worry about "what ifs". Except when it comes to my cats. Then I go absolutely crazy.

Carole


----------



## skEwb (Mar 5, 2005)

They are the only thing that make me not feel 100% but 99.9% Mentally I'm ok and I'm pretty much back to normal, no more arm rushes or feelings of anxiety, just the floaters  They're just a reminder of what I went through for an entire year it took to go through it. Floaters were there right when I flipped to DP mode though. My eyes were super dry and floaters bursted out everywhere! I've never had any at all until DP.

I had a doctor check my eyes I have 20/20 vision, but.. with floaters, he said they're nothing and I should just get used to em.


----------



## Guest_ (Sep 17, 2005)

Im 90% but i got a ton of floaters and static. I just got back from a lake trip and it made it hard to enjoy because i couldnt take in the scenery as i would have.


----------



## Tab (May 2, 2006)

"Floaters" are a perfectly normal phenomenon. Everyone has them. The only way these could possibly correlate to depersonalization lies in the fact that, when depersonalized, one is usually exerting way too much mental energy on whether things look "right" or not, and therefore is more likely to be critical of subtle, normally un-alarming things like this. :|


----------



## felimz (Jul 4, 2006)

> one is usually exerting way too much mental energy on whether things look "right" or not, and therefore is more likely to be critical of subtle, normally un-alarming things like this.



















I disagree. I see DOZENS of dark strings and cobwebs floating around _only_ my right eye. Kind of like in the pictures above. They cast big shadows that make going out in the sunlight a really annoying thing to do.

For some odd reason (maybe our tendency to blur our vision, as in a self-induced myopia or shortsightedness), vitreous detachment occurs frequently in DP/DR sufferers.

A good way to put it is that large quantities of floaters--though quite annoying--are common and harmless when suffering from DP/DR.


----------



## Heartbeats (May 23, 2006)

For some reason, my floaters must have appeared when I started feeling this derealization problems. Maybe for focusing more on them instead of the environment, I don't know. I'm trying to overcome this problem. Using sunglasses (even at home - the thing is that I ahve douzans of floaters in both eyes and I can see them even in the dark, sometimes), try to think about other things. The worst is that I have obsessive thoughts on it. And I hate going outside, which, on the other hand, maybe is preventing me to overcome dp.

So, for me, they are connected in some point. Not in the way that one thing causes the other, but that one thing makes us understand the other in a negative way, putting us in more depressive states.

Four months ago I wouldn't think much about this, but it seems that with depersonalization I started to interest and obsess with possible disorders I could have.

By now, if I was right I could be blind, had a heart-attack, asthma, kidney, liver problems...etc...: P Thank God it was just a hypochondriac crisis.

Instead of worring about my problems I should be more optimistic, I know.

Inverse my thinking. "Probably I don't have that disease"; "I'll get better". Even if I have it, it's better to think like that. Instead of describing our problem in a obsessive way, I have to learn to cope with it. i ahve to learn that I'm not perfect and that I have to live with it. Life is so much more than diseases and problems. Some have them and are so happy.

We have to learn to accept ourselves, our diseases, our characteristics, our moods, our family...everything. And then, try to make it better, if it is possible.


----------



## felimz (Jul 4, 2006)

Good thinking, man. I am glad you are thinking that way.

=) If I were right about my "disorders," I'd have brain tumors, aneurysms, kidney infections, mitral valve prolapses, angina, asthma, kidney stones, nasal polyps, migraines, retinal detachment, schizophrenia, depression, and dissociative fugue.

I've actually believed I had every one of those in the past month.

But I do not! I only have DP/DR and a sinus infection.

It just goes to prove you how much we obsess over ourselves. We just need to relax and forget about this stuff as much as we can. And if it hits, we must be positive and not assume the worst. In the end, things _do_ get better.


----------

