Now I Also Have Visual Snow, After Images, Blurry Vision, Worsening Eyesight in the Dark...

I am now 4 months in and seem to be developing additional symptoms. On top of tinnitus in both ears, hyperacusis, and TTTS I am now also experiencing Visual Snow, after images, blurry vision in my right eye in addition to pressure in my eyebrow area in the same eye, and worsening eyesight in the dark. The blurry vision is worst at night.

At first I thought it was due to strain from being on my work computer/looking at my phone, but now that I am out of work and just at home with limited screen exposure and last night it was the worst it's ever been, I think that can be ruled out.

Is it worth it seeing a doctor? With all the Coronavirus stuff going on I'm not even sure I'd be able to get in to see a specialist or if it's even worth it at this point. Anyone else here experience the same? It seems like each month I think "it can't get worse" and it just keeps getting worse.

I am so worried that I am going to go blind and the thought of not being able to be a functioning member of society in my mid twenties has me beyond stressed and afraid of what the future looks like.

 

No one has gone blind from Visual Snow, at least in the sense that they can't see anything at all.

Very few people have gone blind in a legal meaning of the word. It can happen, but it's very rare.

More info:

https://www.visualsnowinitiative.org/

https://visualsnowsyndrome.com/

 

I'm so sorry to hear you also have these horrible symptoms too. I have them all + fairly bad floaters. It's horrible and it seems to be progressing in a bad way.

 

I had floaters prior to all of this so perhaps my brain was predisposed to these issues. Sorry you're dealing with it as well, it truly amazes me how some people just get a bit of hearing loss and we literally have other senses affected. Have you noticed any dizziness at all?

 

Yes I get mild-ish dizzy spells here and there, but in all fairness I experienced that before tinnitus and hyperacusis set in + I'm on antidepressant which has dizziness as a possible side effect...

 

Ohhh gotcha. Yeah I can recall maybe 3 times where I've passed out from dizziness before but all those times there was a "cause". Do you spend a lot of time in front of computers/on your phone? I wonder how much of my blurry vision stems from that, as in the last few months I've spent a TON of time looking at my phone/computer which is terrible for your eyes, especially a phone.

The visual snow is likely related to tinnitus/hyperacusis but the pressure above my eyes/blurry vision is very scary and concerning and looking at a computer seems to make it worse.

 

I have the same. Saw a neuro-opthalmologist. Got a diagnosis of benign visual snow. She suggested mindfulness. Said visual snow can go away. My impression is that they understand this as much as they understand tinnitus. But I could live with these symptoms, it's the tinnitus that's killing me

 

That's probably too much computer. It is just a matter of resting your eyes and limiting computer time, but you have to do it as a prevention. After your eyes start playing up there isnt much of a solution really...

 

I really don't believe in the whole "computer screens are bad for your eyes"... at least not if you lower the light setting, and use a program like F.lux which make the screen light warmer and easier on your eyes. I have my screen light all the way down. I use F.lux AND Google Canary which makes the browser background black and text white. I very rarely feel eye strain or eye pain when on the computer for many hours, so I don't think computer screens is the culprit of these symptoms.......in my case at least.

Most people in our day and age spend a whole lot of time in front of computers both for work and in their free time, but from what we know, very few people have these symptoms and/or bothersome floaters, so I really think the cause is something else.

 

However the same can be said for loud noise and tinnitus. Is there really no link? We might be genetically predisposed to all of this.

I have floaters and blue field entoptic phenomenon. They didn't come on at the same time as my tinnitus.

Then again, because both floaters and tinnitus are common we may be seeing links where there are none? The tinnitus and VS link seems more solid.

 

I always thought that everybody sees the sky that way. :O

I also have floaters, they came after a very stressful exam period, years before tinnitus. There might be a genetic predisposition too, because my whole family has it (except for my mum, who has very mild tinnitus. But so mild that she hadn't even realized it before I started crying her about mine). And noone ever told me anything about them! I was freaking out (I have health anxiety), because I thought I was gonna go blind and then they told me that it's normal, they have it too.

 

Yeah at first I attributed it to strain but I've been off of work for a week now and also at my parent's house where I've been limiting use of my computer/phone and the symptoms just keep on progressing so I don't think it's that at all. At this point it's the pressure above my eye that scares me the most. Do you find that your blurry vision gets worse at night? I've noticed that it progressively gets worse throughout the day and the other night I woke up and it was so blurry in one eye I could hardly read my digital clock across my room

I feel like if hyperacusis is some sort of damage to the nerves it's not so far fetched that our optic nerve can be affected as well. Someone sent me a blog of a girl who experienced really bad visual snow and migraines (without tinnitus or hyperacusis) but she also had tingling/burning sensations throughout her forehead and face which I found interesting.

 

My mom has floaters and dark spots but no tinnitus or hyperacusis. I think floaters are fairly common, especially mild ones. I think I had them before my tinnitus & hyperacusis even began

But the after imaging and blurry vision have never been around. I've always had great vision, I don't even wear glasses, so I find it strange how fast my vision has been deteriorating after getting tinnitus/hyperacusis.

 

I am so sorry. Tinnitus is hard enough to deal with, these additional symptoms make it truly a nightmare. Someone sent me this to read:
https://overtoaila.com/2020/01/30/visual-snow-syndrome-my-journey-and-cure/

Gives me a tiny bit of hope.

 

My teeth are a bit misaligned due to an orthodontist's bad work, causing my left bottom teeth to go under my top teeth, but my right bottom teeth clash with my top ones, causing a ton of pressure on the right side of my mouth. I wonder if this has anything to do with the pressure in my eyesocket/brow bone.

Jaw has been cracking a lot more recently too. Popped really hard when I was eating yesterday. I don't think TMJ caused my tinnitus/hyperacusis but I feel like I'm also developing these adverse effects from stress and clenching.

 

In my family, no one has tinnitus. Although my dad sometimes tells me: " you know, when it's silent, I hear something too"
Me: "aaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!!! *Vein pops at my temple*

 

Hi, I'm only two months into tinnitus. Yet it has already been a crazy journey for me. I went through visual snow and blurry vision (long distance and problems with focusing). I'm still going through these but a less worse extent and it has improved a lot. You get used to it pretty quickly and I believe that this is all caused from the anxiety and stress that comes with tinnitus. I'm only 16 so I kind of over reacted towards all of this and stressed out which made it worse.

 

Can you get visual snow from an acoustic trauma? So strange what kind of symptoms one can develop from damaged ears. At least the hyperacusis should improve as you are now in a quiet environment.

 

Few people get it as a consequence of getting tinnitus. Some in here such as @Markku get some of its symptoms like excessive floaters (which is probably a similar mechanism). It's probably a predisposition for those who also get tinnitus easily (meaning those without years of noise exposure). I also belong to this group...

You get used to VS. @linearb has it pretty bad and it doesn't bother him. Mine is mild, so I don't really care anyway (but it made me feel absolutely awful when I got it first).

 

@Markku had those floaters prior to tinnitus if I remember correctly.

 

What's odd to me is, although I've had floaters for many years, I've never had any tinnitus at all. No fleeting, not randomly, not after a loud noise exposure (which, to be fair, I used protection for most of the time). Floaters come and go, usually they're more present if I'm tired/upset or if they're brought to my attention like this forum has

 

Mine has appeared 4 months in and doesn’t seem to be easing up.

 

Same for me. I thought floaters were normal.

 

I think mostly everybody has very mild floaters. I've asked around and people either say they have them occasionally and/or maybe 1-2 small ones... not anything like mine, which are like a combination of these 2 illustrations and always present. Both my eyes are littered with floaters, both dark-ish and some clear ones





Plus I've got blue field entoptic phenomenon too.

And yes my vision is more blurry at night, but that's probably due to the night blindness. My vision seems hazy at night.

 

Oh I see. Yeah I definitely have more than 1 or two and they change depending on where I am. They mostly look like bubbles, like soap ones. Sometimes they're small, like a cluster of, sometimes they're huge. At times they look like the shape of mitochondria. I've been noticing much more visual snow, like more each day. And it's harder for me to focus in on dark surfaces. For example, my mom's car has a black floor and a black rug. Where I used to be able to distinguish where the floor ends and rug begins, now it all just looks like a dark area.

 

Just as another data point to add but my visual snow is a lot better than it was initially.

I had a horrible "strobe light" effect in low light that has completely resolved, my floaters are about 50% better and the static/snow is mostly just bad at night (still extremely hard to see stars, though). It's definitely less disturbing than it was. My tinnitus hasn't changed in that same time frame for reference.

I think it's good to have an example of VSS improving but I don't see a lot of that posted. Hope that helps someone.

 

Have you been getting enough water and electrolytes? I read where some people's visual snow is made worse by being dehydrated.

 

Maybe get your eyesight tested, to be honest mine is no better. When I focus on something, my surroundings around me go extremely blurry (worse than it should). But I just don’t worry about it. I’m in a much happier position now. It may take time but just live life and protect your ears. I did the first part but forgot about my ears and now made my extremely mild tinnitus into a mild moderate stage. . Life moves on and you eventually stop thinking about it. Eye sight problems have been known to to be caused from anxiety and stress, so try taking it easy, enjoy what you’ve still got. Arms, mouths, and eventually your eyes when you stop thinking about it.

 

I’ve seen an ophthalmologist and he didn’t find anything. I’m guessing either anxiety related or some weird brain malfunctioning. Sucks

 

My guess would be anxiety, symptoms may last for a few weeks, come and go, or for a long time. In the end just try to be happy, it worked for me and will most likely work for you. However mine come back because of a spike and anxiousness from being scared it will be this bad forever as I did not know how fragile my ears now are due to having tinnitus.