cumaeansibyl:nehirose:post-and-out:opalborn:intrepidcrow:queerlittlemermaid:carpeumbra:klay-ra:I’m j
cumaeansibyl:nehirose:post-and-out:opalborn:intrepidcrow:queerlittlemermaid:carpeumbra:klay-ra:I’m just gonna start preaching this shit.By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage TodayPublished: April 30, 2012Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of PennsylvaniaA mysterious and troubling phenomenon called “visual snow” is a distinct syndrome that does not appear to stem from illicit drug use, a researcher said here. People with visual snow report seeing a mix of swimming dots, flying objects, and trailing shadow images that fill the visual field all the time.“…It is probably nothing more than an exaggerated type of normal visual function.”Those with the disturbance “tend to be people who are very observant … people who are really hyperobservant of their world. There’s a real controversy as to how much of this is a heightened awareness of normal phenomena,” Friedman said.He said the visual-snow phenomenon centers on a disturbance described as similar to watching a grainy TV picture. Patients can still see real objects but with tiny black and white dots throughout the visual field.Another common aspect of the syndrome is that, when patients look at a clear blue sky, they see small white objects zooming around randomly.A third feature is that moving objects appear to leave trails behind them.Most but not all respondents saw the zooming white objects in the sky and the trails behind moving objects. More than half, but not necessarily the same half, reported a variety of other effects. These included halos and starbursts surrounding objects, floaters, poor night vision, photosensitivity, and colored swirls and waves when their eyes were closed.Those with the disturbance “tend to be people who are very observant … people who are really hyperobservant of their world. There’s a real controversy as to how much of this is a heightened awareness of normal phenomena,” Friedman said.She noted the prevalence of so-called entopic phenomena in Schankin’s sample — the floaters, zooming white objects, and images seen even with closed eyes. Such perceptions usually stem from retinal activation.“When we have entopic firing from our retina … if you look at the white wall and really focus on it with the right lighting, you can see it,” she said. “It’s the same thing with afterimages. It’s normal to see afterimages.”“Most of us pay no attention to it,” Friedman continued. “But if you’re a really observant person, you start noticing it, and then you notice it all the time.”Schankin said that many of the patients were indeed “extremely high functioning.”I’m so glad this was finally validated.The doctors said visual snow was only when you saw snow/dots falling. That isn’t what I see. I have this. My weird-eye thing has a name now. I have no words.Oh. I totally thought this was just a normal eye thing. Apparently I have visual snow.I’ve spent a significant portion of my life trying to explain this phenomenon to my optometrists in an attempt to get rid of it.Wait everybody doesn’t see this all the time? OMG I thought this came standard.…yeah i didn’t realize that not everyone did that, either. huh. neat!I dunno about the “hyperobservant” part though because I have all of those symptoms and a lot of it has to do with how I’m so near-sighted that my retinas, being so misshapen, do all kinds of weird things with light processing (and also they have weak points so I have more bits of eye matter floating around in there)also if you start seeing more snow than usual it could be a sign of an impending retinal detachment so don’t just write it off as, like, extra specialnessI remember seeing this as a kid, and my friend told me they were alien fairies who talked to her, and I believed her. And thought they were spying on us all the time, including the bathroom, which means I spent time going to the bathroom trying to cover myself with a towel to hide as I peed. -- source link