Stress and eye floaters

[ivyonthewall]

Hi all,

Just looking for some reassurance, I’ve had eye floaters since I was a child, I’ve recently moved house and been very stressed and I am seeing them all the time now.
I have booked an eye test just to check all ok but I’m pretty sure they’re no different to the ones I usually see occasionally.
Trouble is I’m now seeing them all. The. Time! It’s driving me bonkers. They swirl across my vision and I’m getting in a bit of a state about them.

I think it’s a combination of the stress of the last few months and also that our new house is quite bare/light coloured walls. Plus we have no blinds etc up yet so it’s very bright everywhere.

Has anyone else found theirs got worse and then settled down again?

Mine come and go. They are very obvious at the moment and I'm also stressed and run down. I have loads as I'm very short sighted so I'm kind of used to them but they do keep distracting me atm, more so than usual.

@CreatingHavoc sorry to hear you’re having similar problem but it’s nice to hear I’m not the only one!
Maybe they do just get worse if we’re stressed and then settle down, just seems impossible to believe I’ll stop seeing them so much again. I have loads too and they whizz about all over my vision 😫

Mine are getting worse with age (I’m 42). I got a very thorough check in the eye clinic and the specialist said they are completely normal and that they are not dangerius, just annoying. And boy are they annoying!! One of the floaters moves so fast and covers part of my vision. If I’m reading I have to blink to make it go because it covers prt of a word or an image.

@Antares444

Mine are getting worse with age (I’m 42). I got a very thorough check in the eye clinic and the specialist said they are completely normal and that they are not dangerius, just annoying. And boy are they annoying!! One of the floaters moves so fast and covers part of my vision. If I’m reading I have to blink to make it go because it covers prt of a word or an image.

“Mines”, not mine. It was the eye floater I guess😅

I have this too and it definitely gets worse with stress and anxiety. But even when I'm not stressed or anxious I have a few threads that are continuously in my vision in my right eye, it's really annoying. It's hard but the best thing to do is to ignore them and not worry about them.

@Antares444 I can relate to the one that gets in the way of reading!

@Moppincraxy yes I’ve always got a few that I can see but they don’t bother me. Just seems I’m seeing a lot more than usual - hopefully it’ll settle down soon as it’s not nice at the minute

Yes, around this time every year I rush to the optician for an eye check as the increase in daylight and being outside more makes me see them more! Apparently it’s normal to see them more in the spring because of the increase in light levels. I get more used to them as the season goes on. Your white walls will be contributing to this too! If you’re worried you can always get them checked out.

@honeybushbunch you’re totally right, it’s definitely a combination of all those things !
Hoping, as you say, that in time I’ll readjust and stop seeing them so much. Including adjusting to the new white walls!

When mine get bad, I close my eyes and look up to the ceiling and down to the floor a dozen times quite slowly. It seems to shift the little blighters and tuck them away - a suggestion from the eye clinic.

@Billandben444 will definitely be trying this!
As silly as it sounds they have really got me down over last few days so thank you

I don't know if it's particularly stress that causes them. I had a huge spidery-shaped one appear out of the blue a couple of years ago and found it really disconcerting and depressing. The optician reassured me and said it was likely to start to disperse within six months. A year later I still had it. But I realised before Christmas that I hadn't experienced it for a while and after reading the OP's post I sat and waited and rubbed my eyes and looked up and down to see if it was just hiding round the back of my eye — but no, it's gone and I'm back to a couple of small ones that I can easily ignore. Give it time. Good luck.

Thank you @Pluvia fingers crossed

@ivyonthewall Hi! I wonder how are your eye floaters now? I’ve had them for a month, and they are really annoying me. I’ve seen three different doctors and they said everything is okay and I’ll eventually get used to them, but I can’t. I am also extremely stressed. I developed health anxiety after a miscarriage back in February, and had to have a surgery bc of a uterine polyp after that. I’ve never had floaters and didn’t know anything about them until a someone mentioned them to me. A week later, I suddenly started to see them. I think I need some reassurance and positivity because I’m so afraid of losing my eyesight.

Worrying about losing your sight because of a couple of floaters isn't normal or healthy, but nothing we tell you will persuade you. You have to tackle your anxiety the hard way, with therapy.

You need to see a psychologist or have CBT from a qualified professional. Please, see a specialist so that you don't pass the anxiety onto your children.

@Ebik Im an optometrist so hopefully can offer you some reassurance. Floaters are for the vast majority of people completely normal and harmless (though annoying!) and you do get gradually more over time. Whenever you get new ones your brain alerts you to it as a new thing. Once they’ve been there a while your brain loses interested and you become less aware. If you’re anxious you’re probably on high alert and hence why it’s difficult for you to ignore them. In some people floaters can be a sign of a retinal tear or detachment so these do need to be ruled out by either an optometrist or ophthalmologist (a GP wouldn’t have the equipment/expertise) usually by them doing an examination after using a drop to dilate your pupil. Provided this has been done and they have confirmed your retina is ok then it is just a care of learning to ignore them I’m afraid x

@Allsizes8to14 Thank you so much for your reply! Yes, I think the anxiety makes them worse. My idea is that because it happened to me after I learned about them, I already had them but my brain was ignoring them. The ophthalmologist said that my retina is fine, with no signs of tear or detachment. I hope my brain learns to ignore them again soon.

@Ebik I’ve name changed. Sorry to hear you’re struggling, I totally understand. I can’t say mine are any better but I definitely find they bother me less now so I hope they will for you too

Oh, I’m so sorry you still have them. But also glad to hear that you’re bothered less by them. Most of the time I try not to think about them, but I can’t always control my emotions, especially because I have too many floaters. I used to love outdoors, sunny weather, etc. But now I have become a night owl. I have started yoga and meditation and hope these can at least help me to be less bothered by them. I also heard that Omega-3 supplements can be helpful. I don’t know if any of these would help, but I think they are worth trying and pretty harmless.

Yes they will settle. Try wearing sunglasses and give yourself a break.

How on earth will you cope when you have something really serious happen to you? Get help to deal with your problem — which is health anxiety.

The problem with being anxious about the floaters is the more you think about them the more you know they are there and the more you think about them. It’s a viscous circle.
I have loads of floaters. Always have had. Didn’t realise for years that not everyone has them. Most of the time I am hardly aware of them. Right now they are driving me up the wall and disrupting my vision.
The only reason they are doing this is because I read this thread and started thinking about them!
If you have had anything sinister ruled out then the next step is to just relax and allow your brain to do it’s job and learn to ignore them.

When you say the optometrist said your retinas are fine, did they dilate your pupils and do a slit light examination? This is the only way to check if there is a tear on the periphery. The photos they take of the back of your eye only show the centre of the retina.

I say this as someone who had a sudden increase in floaters and it was a detached retina, but was misdiagnosed by the first optician because they didn't do the proper tests.

I don't want to make your anxiety worse but if the increase was sudden then you need a dilated eye exam. See if you have an eye casualty department in your area and pop down or go to specsavers and ask for a dilated eye exam.

For the people saying that you are panicking over nothing, sudden increase in floaters can equal retinal detachment which can cause loss of vision in the affected eye...so while they are probably fine, until the proper tests have been done the poster is certainly not worrying for nothing.

Floaters are common and nothing to worry about. If you get larger black patches or especially a shadow eg on one corner go to a&e ideally an eye hospital because it's an eye emergency eg detached retina. Fixable but sooner is better - cryo surgery is amazing

I see a flash every now and again, normally if I'm looking down and to the side and I had an enormous floater right in the centre of my vision, the optometrist is correct, my brain has adjusted to it and I don't notice it much at all now. I have had my retinas checked and all is ok , it's just an age thing for me.

@Largethighsbadeyes Hi! Yes, I saw a retina specialist and they did a very detailed examination, including dilating the eyes and an OCT scan.