Depressed about eye floaters--any positive stories?

[ellak]

I got eye floaters 6 months ago and now see them everywhere in bright sunlight, against white sky and in artificial white light.

I see black dots (like mosquitos) and squiggly translucent worm-like lines. I find it really hard to not see them and they are really making me anxious and depressed. My husband and I travel a lot for work and I really just want to get on with it and enjoy life again. I feel like they are a major obstacle.

I heard from a few people that you stop seeing them after a while--does this really happen? I can't imagine it ever happening as I see them everywhere.

No, they look like freckles to me.

I have them too - also extremely short sighted. They drove me mad for 6 months but then I got used to them. I started to laugh about them - mine look like sperm with a head and a tail so I talked about the sperm in my eye.

Thanks Lunathecat, still not sure how to get used to them. I feel I can get used to them in one place, and then when I travel on to the next place I get all stressed out about them again. I spent a day hiking in the mountains where I could see them but they didn't bother me, and one day in Seoul where I could barely see them. Now in another place and it's like I'm looking through layers of shimmering cobwebs and shadows. Also have what looks like a massive sperm but with two heads, one on either side of its body, and a load of debris especially in my left eye. Do you also get visual snow against a blue sky?

Trying to read some books on mindfulness to remind myself that I'll get used to it and try and come to terms with them. Just read Haemin Sumin's 'The things you can only see when you slow down'. This quote struck a chord particularly in relevance to eye floaters:

"If I had to summarise the entirety of most people's lives in a few words:
it would be endless resistance to what is. As we resist, we are in a constant motion trying to adjust, and yet we still remain unhappy about what is."

I suppose the sadness comes with a resistance to what is now my new vision, and mourning the perfect crystal clear vision I've lost.

Actually floaters do not affect your vision on an eye chart. They really are very benign. You are trying hard to cope with them - which I understand- but maybe try less hard and let them go. A bit like sleep - the more you try the more elusive it is. Best wishes.

Hi OP

I can really empathise with you. I have eye floaters. I ended up with a completely unrelated eye condition and had to go the the eye hospital a&e after being referred as an emergency by my optician. I asked the consultant about them at my follow up appointment and he said they're something that can happen with age. I'm 42. I honestly think the best thing to do would be to book yourself an opticians appointment. They go through years of training so are qualified to spot eye conditions (mine was wrongly diagnosed by my idiotic gp as conjunctivitis and she was really horrible to me). A friend who's sister is an optom advised me to go to one and I'm glad I did. I don't know if you're in London but Moorfields eye hospital where I went was absolutely fantastic. Also as a side note and as someone who suffers really bad health anxiety, I would say that seeking advice online can actually make you more anxious. Lastly as soon as the consultant told me that I stopped noticing them as much. Good luck OP x

Just made an account to reply to this as I can completely relate. I'm 22 and have always had eye floaters for as long as I can remember, however in the summer my short sightedness got worse in quite a short space of time (it was completely normal and due to straining my eyes during exam revision). However the panic about my blurry vision triggered health anxiety specifically regarding my eyes. I started noticing more eye floaters and they would give me panic attacks all the time.

My previous eye floaters were just little circles, so tiny and did not bother me at all. However I now have a track, a cluster of 3 small floaters together and a black dot floater. It's also strange because for example one day around a month ago I could see a black floater in my vision all day, but have not seen it since which makes me wonder if there is a psychological impact and whether anxiety can cause floaters to appear?

However I can completely relate to your feeling of anxiety, it's really horrible. I once made the mistake of looking up at the crystal blue sky when on a dog walk and I could see all of my floaters at once and I had such a bad panic attack.

What's helped me is first understanding what they are. They're just little bits of protein floating around, just benign bits of debris and nothing sinister. If I see them I just tell myself "ohh just a bit of protein I can see" which sounds juvenile and a bit ridiculous but it does calm me. Another thing is I have banned myself from looking up at the sky, it sounds silly but when you think about it there's not really much need to look up at the sky during the day, so I keep my eyes fixed below the horizon and then I don't see them as much. Finally I am trying to quit caffeine and have been reducing my coffee intake over the last week as I notice the panic attacks tend to coincide with days when I have needed an extra cup of coffee in the afternoon.

That makes sense Lunacat, trying hard not to try hard is really hard though, lol, I know they're benign but it's still scary. I'm a perfectionist and hate scratches on screens/camera lenses, to have permanent debris all over real vision is horrid.

Cosmic, thanks for your commentI've been to see an ophthalmologist and optician, both said my eyes seem healthyboth could see lots of physical floaters in my left eye. I wish I stopped seeing them as much when told they are safe, but hard not to keep seeing them. I used to walk a lot alone and now I'm a bit scared to as I know it stresses me out... I know, I will make it a new year's resolution to not google symptoms. Good to read about people eventually getting used to it here though--gives me hope.

Amy, thanks for taking the time make an account especially to reply! I'm sure there is a psychological aspect of thissome people more enlightened than myself would likely not be as freaked by the floaters as I am. I suppose I've realised how much importance I place on sight as a senseI do listen to music and like conversations with my husband, I like the sound of rain, but most of what I enjoy doing involves seeing: travel, walking/hiking, climbing, reading, writing, photography etc.

That said, I think there are some really nasty floaters that are hard to ignore, and in some people floaters do fluctuate a bit (some apparently settle--wish mine would!)

I know they are just benign proteins, but I hate them! I also feel a bit of disgust looking at holes/seed like patterns as they remind me of skin disease. In bright light I can see that my floaters are composed of these.

I read that caffeine makes you see floaters more. Love coffee but also have to give up for other health conditions (endometriosis and adenomyosis). Had so many health problems these past two years that I'm starting to wonder whether I have an undiagnosed autoimmune disease...

Really hope I too will unsee them soon. In the meanwhile trying to stay distracted and think positively, though it's not always easy.

I have been feeling exactly the same recently and came to the MH forums and found your thread so I thought I had better reply!
I’m 37 and have floaters in both eyes. I’ve had them since I was about 24 and totally got used to them. It took a good few months though and was hard - I did a lot of crying too. I do still see them mainly when driving but I wear sunglasses for that.
For some reason they’ve become more vivid and noticeable recently, to the point where it was hard to work on my computer screen as they kept floating into my line of sight and the anxiety kicked in again as I can’t avoid using a screen at work. I don’t know whether my prescription has changed, or it’s linked to the ocular migraines I’ve been having this year, or my eyes are just getting more tired. Last time I had an eye test they said everything was fine but my eyes are a bit dry. My vision is pretty much normal but I am getting slightly short sighted.
Anyway I am trying to do the things I did last time. I don’t look for them, it doesn’t help as for me it just makes them more visible and pulls them into my line of sight and once I’ve looked for them they hang about all day. It’s hard not to keep checking, I know. If I see one I roll my eyes up and down until it clears away. Get a good pair of sunglasses for outside that cover your whole eye. I’ve tried to cut down on caffeine and drink more water. I was thinking about taking supplements but I don’t know whether they might have contributed to the resurgence (if that’s even possible) so I’m going to leave alone for a bit and see how things go. Good luck - it will pass, I promise. Your brain and eyes will work to compensate. Either way you won’t hold on to the anxiety forever and that’s easily the worst part.

That's my problem too 2018already--they just come into my line of vision when I'm not thinking of them and remind me of them. I have cried a lot, now I just feel a sense of dread when I see them in my vision. I hate dirty/scratched lenses/screens, now this has happened to my eyes and it's what the world looks like.

When it's bright but cloudy I see cobwebs and a translucent worm in the centre of my vision,

When the sky is blue I usually see three black dots (like mosquitos) interconnected by a few translucent worms.

The floaters are worse in my left eye--the small ones in my right eye don't really bother me. I think the issue is all the floaters in my left eye are connected.

I have some sunglasses but want to get better ones. Sad at the thought I'll be in sunglasses for the rest of my life though... :/ Wonder whether mine seem worse when I get ocular migraines and/or sinus issues too.

I've had loads of floaters for more than ten years (started in my early 30s) and had the same story told by my consultant. To be honest, I'm quite intrigued by the way our brain works. I know my floaters are there 24/7 but my perception of them varies a lot. I was absolutely appalled by them when I first started to notice just a few and then, years later, when I had many many more, I couldn't care less. So basically, it's not a question of having tons of floaters but more how you react to them, regardless of the numbers. I could spend years without being distracted by them. I travelled round the world for 6 months, I went to beaches, sunny places, white-capped mountains, deserts you name it, and I couldn't spot a single floater, however terrible these bright places can be for any floater sufferer. When I came back home, The only things I could see was floaters. I was nostalgic of my trip and felt quite anxious being back to daily boring life. There's definitely a connection between your level of anxiety and the amount of attention you (obsessively) pay to the inner part of your eyes. The more you think of your floaters, the more your brain identifies your floaters. Why so? because you condition your brain into projecting anxiety and stress onto those floaters. The floaters become a receptacle of your stress. It's no coincidence you seem to notice them more when you're tired or stressed. Now the (not so) tricky part of the job is to decondition your brain, to accept that the floaters are there and to let them go. Deconditioning and acceptance are the keys to habituation.

I really feel for you OP. I had mine checked and they said my eye fluid was really clear I was like what?! So I have learned to live with them. The flashes I get make me anxious but think there related to my stigmatisum in my eyes x

Hi OP,

Firstly, there have been many amazing replies with great advice in this thread which I hope have helped you :)

I'm sorry that this is an older thread I am reviving, but I felt really compelled to respond and hope that my story will help at least a little bit, to reassure you that someone in a similar position has been ultimately able to enjoy visual activities even with the floaters being very distracting :)

I have really bad floaters, almost like a 'swarm', sometimes it feels like a misty, webby cloud swooshing across my vision when I move my eyes. Have had them since I was a teenager (I'm short-sighted) as well, and I'm like you, almost all of my hobbies are visual (art, video games, looking at nature, my job is looking at a computer screen, etc).
My degree was also in illustration, so I spent many days in a bright white studio looking at bright white paper to draw on, and subsequently being distracted by the swooshing of the floaters going across my eyes!
(I also have bad anxiety/depression/OCD for the same amount of time.) /end background

The reason I'm writing that bit of backstory is that I had similar anxieties to you - grief over not being able to see clearly, worry about whether it would get worse, etc etc.But - as others have said - the moment I begin to get distracted, I can't 'see' them anymore. I don't mean that in a 'just don't think about it' way, as that's like telling you not to think of a pink elephant, but more in the way of it won't physically stop you from seeing the nice things you want to see. :) Your brain can ignore them when you look past them.

I wanted to reassure you by saying that many many times (as I've got used to them over the years) I have looked up at the sky, at a sunset, flowers, animals, trees, blossom etc and thinking 'Wow, that's beautiful', both with and without noticing the floaters as well.

I won't lie, as others have said I do still notice them, and sometimes it is a bit of a 'tch' annoyance moment, but it's seconds/minutes at the most now, and maybe once every week or more, rather than multiple times a day as it was at the start. As time marches on, I'm sure it will be the same for you too, once this wave of anxiety begins to die down.

I also have obsessive-compulsive disorder and amongst other things/anxieties that go with it, I also can't ignore scratches and smudges on my glasses and want totally clear vision. However - as I am short sighted, have floaters, and also have minor double vision in both eyes (which also upset me for a long time), well, my perfectionist nature is having to come to terms with that! If I can manage it - anyone can!

Maybe try making yourself actually focus your eyes on an object that's pleasing to you (which I know is hard when you want to track the floaters instead). Really -look- hard at that tree, flower, landscape, try to notice details in it, and if a floater gets in the way, maybe blink/look around a bit, acknowledge it's there and go back to focusing on the object again. Sometimes I also find giving my eyes a quick look side to side a few times 'shakes' them out of the way long enough to distract me from them if I'm having an anxious day.

Another thing that's helped a bit is paying more attention to sounds and smells and textures of things that please you, such as a nice spring breeze, tasty food cooking, your favourite throw/blanket, cuddling your family, etc. It's a nice non-visual distraction sometimes if you really can't ignore the floaters at that moment.

Finally - and I hope this has indeed been the case for you since you originally posted - "This too shall pass.", both the anxiety and the floaters :) (I can never remember where that quote is from, but it has helped ground me in the past).

Wow - that was a long post! Apologies, and I hope it isn't too rambly to read and helps a little. All the best to you

I had vitrectomies in both eyes last summer and it transformed my life. No floaters since. Yes, there is a risk, but it is slight, and well worth taking.

If offered: go for it. Good luck.

Hi Kittywithwings,


Thanks for getting back to me and sorry for the slow reply. I don’t get email notifications, though I checked back here today as I’m having a particularly anxious today. Reassuring to be reminded I’m not the only one with this problem. Seems an overwhelming amount of women who suffers from floaters!

The issue with looking past them is that now I feel I can’t go to the desert—look at bright screens or solid colours—spend time in snow. I feel like my life has been change irreversibly.

My husband wants to go on holiday to the desert in Chile, to the desert in Central Asia. I had to say no. I used to love travelling, but now I prefer being inside.

I also have OCD, anxiety, depression and a number of other things that make it worse. Being a perfectionist, I can’t stand this huge imperfection.

How did yours appear? Do you genuinely feel better about them now? Do they stop you from doing/seeing anything you want to see now?

I’ve had mine for about 10 months. They haven’t got better—if anything worse. I feel less desperate than I did initially—tbh when I got them I thought “but how will I live now?”

Fredfrik,

I've felt the same, wondered whether it's connected to other health issues though, not just how well the brain is processing them? When I'm tired I see them moreI often see them more after arriving somewhere by planemust be the jet lag. Also when I have a headache.

I've been travelling this past year, and I've seen them all years. It's made me anxious--I doubt I would be anxious without the floaters in the first place.

Randall Wong in Fairfax, VA does Vitrectomy for Floaters! I had my eyes done a year ago and am DAZZLED by the results! Highly recommend!

1 year on, still suffering :( any advice would me much appreciated. Will I ever get used to these, or are my floaters just worse than everyone else's?

You mustn’t have “bad “ floaters if you have stopped seeing them! Cause the bad types you can’t ignore!

You do stop seeing them after a year or two. Don't try to look at them or you teach your brain to acknowledge them. Its the same as the power light on a tv. You can see it, it's right in front of you but your brain is conditioned to ignore it. You don't notice it unless you actively look at it.

How do you know it was caused by nerve damage?

I am the same, “how will I live now”?

Hello ellack, last year I was bothered by a an almost central dark spot on one eye, with a few cobweb effects... Turned out to be what is called a Weiss Ring , it's common in older adults.. Once I realized that it wasn't a threat, I noticed it less, though when in bright light it is still there... Flashing lights in the eye I was warned would however be a sign of trouble, and to always get those checked immediately.

(forgot to add, it was finding out that the visual effects were not likely to be dangerous that quickly helped me ignore them and I think my brain has learnt to ignore the visual effects.)

Well said!

I have had floaters for a long time. Some days are worse than othets. I still see them, but they are worse when relaxing or reading, during a busy day they don't bother me somuch. Found a long , down blink clears them when they get really bad. I also clean my glasses which seems to work ! Clearly psychological but I don't care, whatever works . I go to the optician once a year to check on them.