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Health anxiety fears of retinal tear/detatchment

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Chloe96260
Chloe96260

Hi all,

I know I have anxiety and I think it's most likely health anxiety. I used to worry about my heart a lot but at the moment I'm worried about my vision and my eyes. I was having visual static, seeing black (sometimes white) dots in the sky, and flashes of light in the corner of my eye. Long story short I had my eyes tested twice by an optician and everything was fine. But because of the health anxiety (that I think I most likely have) day by day I'm just driven crazy with worry and these what if thoughts. Tonight instead of a flash of light I had a flash of black so to speak that sort of swooped across my field of vision and then it disappeared. It lasted like a second but it has really scared me and I can't stop thinking about these what ifs, what if they missed something or what if something has changed since my eyes were tested. I've developed a fear of going blind and haven't slept in complete darkness for months. I'll always keep the TV or my laptop on so I can test I can still see when I wake up in the night. And I keep having constant doctor visits which is embarrassing so I'll usually try and hide it from people that I'm going back to the doctors again. Counselling is taking far too long, I've been waiting months and months since I've been referred and I haven't heard anything. I'm trying to see my college counceler at the moment but that's taking forever as well. It was manageable at first but at the moment I feel like it's interfering with my daily life and making me feel down. Does anybody have any advice or maybe some health anxiety tips? Thanks in advance.

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • jan34534
    jan34534 Chloe96260

    Posted

    i actually had retinal tears but they are easily fixed by cryopexy which is a freezing treatment and painless.

    i have also had visual static and seen floaters especially when looking at the sky. those IVE Had since my twenties and not related to my retinal tears.

    have you had your eyes checked recently?

    REMEMBER anxiety can cause all kinds of visual issues.

    my retinal tear SYMPTOM was all around the eye i saw zig zags that looked like they were vibrating and it didnt stop.

    people who get migraines and stress can get this too.

    FOR anxiety, counseling helps , I listen to anxiety meditations on you tube. there are some great ones like MINDFULNESS meditation guided 10 minutes. hundreds to choose from. DETACHMENT FROM OVERTHINKING IS GOOD TOO.

    keep busy. get exercise, even walking, learn proper breathing to manage stress. mindfulness breathing guided meditation 10

    minutes is good.

    IF YOU TRULY feel something is wrong, go have it checked. but maybe if you get stress u nder control, the eye symptoms will go or diminish ❤❤❤

    • Chloe96260
      Chloe96260 jan34534

      Posted

      I get the exact same symptoms. The eye flashes only last a millisecond and are in the corner of my eye. I had my eyes tested last about three weeks ago (and again like two weeks before that) and they said my eyes were perfectly healthy apart from dry eye (but of course that isn't the cause of the flashes) but when I had them tested I was having the exact same symptoms as I am now so luckily I don't think anything has changed but I still worry sometimes. Even though they dialted my pupils and done retina scans ect. They think I'm having migraines but I don't get headaches. Thanks for your anxiety tips. I will try these out. 😃

    • Chloe96260
      Chloe96260

      Posted

      Sorry I went back and read. I realized I said I get the same symtoms but I meant the visual static which you said weren't related to your retina tears. I'm actually in my 20s now funnily enough. I don't get the zig zag thing you described just the flashes in the corner of my eye which are so breif I sometimes wonder if it even happened.

    • jan34534
      jan34534 Chloe96260

      Posted

      ok so since they did retinal scans, they would have seen any tears. you are ok.

      the way the flashes looked in my 20s were somewhat different than in my fifties with the tear.

      the ones in fifties were almost colored and really fast and didnt stop.

      PLUS stress CAN cause the flashes or wavy lines, etc . thats what caused mine when younger.

      so if you can get anxiety under control, it should lessen.

      trust the docs, they see this every day. ❤

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