topic Re: Anxiety and eye problems in Anxiety

Anxiety and eye problems

Benb — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 11:39:12 GMT

Hi All

I hope I can get some help please ???

I had been very very stress and super high anxiety for the last 4 weeks, which I am working through but my eyes have been playing up. I have been see eye floaters, finding it hard to focus in a bright room at night, bright lights (shopping centre, work, in front of the Tv) are hurting my eyes and I my Finding hard to focus on sometimes but if I drive a car day or night it goes away instantly ???

Or if my stress and anxiety are low I can see as normal, ( it is like a cloud has lifted) ??? I have seen my GP and had all the check and test for the last month and all good. I had a eye test and I do need reading glasses which I should get next week.

Just see if anyone else has had this ???

Anxiety and eye problems

Whazp — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 23:52:52 GMT

Mine are sensitive to bright light (evening and cloudy days are better) for a while everything had a greyish hue. My eyes cant focus most of the time & i have an almost drunk like feeling. Not much fun.

Anxiety and eye problems

44Max44 — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 11:02:20 GMT

This is exactly what I've been experiencing!

It feels like sometimes I can't focus on this, maybe one of my eyes will go slightly blurry, and I feel kind of sensitive to light sometimes, but as soon as my mind focuses on something else or my anxiety goes away my vision goes back to be completely fine...

It's pretty distressing, but after reading this post I'm pretty convinced it's probably just another symptom of anxiety. Still worth getting checked out regardless which is probably what I'll do.

Anxiety and eye problems

44Max44 — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 11:57:08 GMT

After doing a little bit of googling it turns out that your eyes feeling 'weird' and blurred vision is common for people with anxiety, this is due to the high levels of adrenaline caused from the anxiety, and also because people with anxiety tend to strain their eyes. It probably also doesn't help that I stare at a screen for several hours a day.

I'm starting to think there isn't a single thing Anxiety can't make you feel... 😕

Anxiety and eye problems

Benb — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 10:09:04 GMT

Thanks for your comment mate

Anxiety and eye problems

Academy — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 10:27:09 GMT

I am sitting in my lounge ,at the moment, having an anxiety attack. My eyes go out of focus and my neck tenses up. I am scared to drive in case it happens in the car and I have my grandchildren with me. I am in the process of packing to move house and I wonder whether this is the catalyst for this happening more often since I signed the papers to sell my home . These feelings terrify me. Any suggestions, people?

Anxiety and eye problems

Oscar93 — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 02:33:30 GMT

Hi Benb.

Yes I can identify with this. I consider myself to be an anxious person and have had problems with anxiety attacks in the past. A few years ago I noticed that I was starting to see eye floaters/black spots more often as well as flashing lights in my vision. It's a horrible thing for someone with anxiety to get!

Basically i've been told that my eyes are okay and haven't been able to get much explanation for the onset of floaters. Funnily enough when I stop worrying about it I don't seem to notice it as much.

My only advice is that it is more common than you think so try not to stress too much over it, and to get a checkup every now and then just to be safe.

Take care.

Anxiety and eye problems

Guest2583 — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 05:04:52 GMT

Hi Benb,

I completely relate to your post - When I experience high levels of anxiety, I find it really difficult to read and words seem to almost overlap. I've also had times where I've seen floaters for long periods of time.

This used to get me really worried and I was convinced there was something wrong with my vision, but I also find when I stopped getting worried that I 'wouldn't be able to stop noticing it' or that 'I'll never be able to read properly again', it became a lot better - because although anxiety tells us differently, there is no harm it can do.

Hope this helps 🙂

Anxiety and eye problems

ks1993 — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 02:33:04 GMT

Hi Benb,

I can definitely relate to this! When I'm feeling anxious and in an overwhelming environment, for example, a brightly-lit, busy supermarket, I start to feel really faint and my vision blurs. I feel like my head is underwater and sounds get distorted too, sometimes I even bump into people accidentally because it's like my spacial awareness disappears too.
I think it's a pretty common experience with anxiety, but it's certainly scary! I remember when I first noticed this happening, I was petrified I was going blind (hello, health anxiety!) and booked in eye exams etc, but everything was fine.

Hope this helps 🙂

Anxiety and eye problems

Thomas_S — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 09:51:26 GMT

This post and subsequent replies have been so helpful. I have been experiencing a lot of the same symptoms. I developed anxiety mid last year and the physical symptoms (especially eye problems) developed strong and fast, though I had no idea what it was at the time. I have since seen a few doctors and a psychologist, but no one has told me about these physical symptoms as succinctly as this post. As you can imagine - a lot of stress about what it was actually occurring to me. Reading all these replies with very similar symptoms to me, has reduced a lot stress for me.

Anxiety and eye problems

Ozarkcaver — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 00:49:36 GMT

When I came across this thread, I wanted to respond with some words of encouragement. I too have suffered with floaters for years. However, in my experience, you will eventually learn to ignore them for the most part and get past the feelings of despair I fully identify with. It will take time, but if knowing your brain will eventually adjust to ignore them helps ease the anxiety, then I believe it will happen that much sooner. The more anxious I was, the more I noticed them and it was a vicious cycle. I had to find other distractions and let myself see them without focusing on them until eventually, I stopped noticing them so much. Now, I can go weeks without thinking about them, even though I still see them against light backgrounds. This is not a quick fix, but I hope it comforts someone to know that it does get better and easier with time.

Anxiety and eye problems

willy_wonker — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 18:03:09 GMT

this has been a realy hopfully forum topic very help full thanks for all the insight

I am welder by trade and I struggle with anxiety and I recently started a new job and in the first days of being there (the new guy effect as I call it) I failed a weld test as I was struggling with my symptoms and could not focus on my weld pool as my vision was playing up was blurry and hard to focus I thought my auto helmet was playing up so I used my back up helmet but that was the same. I had to complete two out of three test peices with a combo of muscle memory and counting timing in my head. hardest weld test I have ever done. I had to take a breather and come back to it a few times talk about a snow ball effect the more I stressed out the worst my symptoms became but I eventually calmed my self down and was able to complete it.

Re: Anxiety and eye problems

Tricia14 — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 04:00:59 GMT

Hi. I have the same thing. Had flashers and floaters for 10 months. Now sudden onset of flashes and floaters in the other eye. Can’t handle this.

Re: Anxiety and eye problems

Tricia14 — Sun, 12 Feb 2023 02:19:57 GMT

What did you do about it? I’ve had eye issues for 10 long months. The only thing I have anxiety over is the eye issues!