Help Me Understand This Eye/vision Involvement In Pots

[IDreamInColor]

I don't even know if this is related to pots, or what is happening. It's hard to describe, but i'll try....if you can imagine your eyes being dizzy, different from head dizzyness. It's like the muscles holding my eye aren't working propery, when I shift my eyes to look at something it's like they are shifting quick enough. I also have alot of pain behind my eyes, like a headache in my eye. And lately my vision is becoming blurry.

Does anyone else have these problems? Have you found anything to help alleviate it? Is this a pots thing?

[lieze]

I had a lot of this in the beginning and it has improved for me quite a bit.

I just think of it as the whole nervous system being affected.

Sometimes we just notice it more in one area than another.

Eyes and vision are directly related to CNS function.

Eyes send a message to the brain and you're just getting a little bit of static with that.

Also yeah.

Eyes move rapidly to keep up with everything.

Nerve conduction has to occur for that to happen.

Once again you are just experiencing a little static that may come and go.

[lieze]

My solution was resting my eyes.

Just close them.

You might try a cool cloth for the discomfort or a Motrin.

[Katybug]

I often feel like when I try to look from one place to the next my eyeballs are a second behind the thought that I want to look somewhere else, like the muscles moved and then my eyeball had to catch up...does that make sense? I get this when I am having an acute pre-syncopal attack or I am really exhausted and need to rest. It is all part of the feeling that I am in a surrealist painting and I feel all warped and disoriented like the world around me is moving a few seconds faster than I am.

It is definitely related to my POTS and my migraines which seem to be completely intertwined with each other. I have found that (when I am not experiencing a migraine when it happens), the only thing that helps me is to lie down and rest. With a migraine, I need to take acute migraine treatment (Maxalt MLT these days which is really working well) and I still need to ly down and rest.

[HopeSprings]

Yup, it's a HUGE problem for me too - Katybug describes it well. It's disorienting, often feels muscular, fatigue makes it worse, and laying down is the only thing that helps. I cannot figure out how it's related to POTS either, but many of us describe these feelings, so I'm pretty sure it is.

[Rachel]

I get those symptoms also. I know what you mean about eyes not shifting quickly enough. Sometimes I will turn to look at something on the other side of the room, and my brain will tell my eyes to move, but the movement is slow and delayed. During that second that it takes my eyes to move the whole room looks like it is spinning even though I'm still.

I get blurry vision from time to time, and it is just from dysautonomia. Sometimes my nervous system just can't keep up with focusing my eyes. It is especially hard if I am going back and forth between looking at something that is close and something that is far away (for example, crocheting while watching television). I try not to do that much anymore because my eyes can't keep up. Sometimes I will have blurry vision that lasts for up to two weeks, making reading almost impossible, but then my vision always goes back to normal.

I do get pain behind my eyes too. I have seen both a neurologist an eye doctor about this. It was determined that the pain was from migraines. I have had a full eye exam, but everything looked good. The eye doctor said that the vision problems and pain aren't from anything wrong with my eyes.

The autonomic nervous system controls so much, so when it isn't regulating properly you can get a whole host of different symptoms. Even if it doesn't seem to fit with POTS, it can go along with it under the umbrella term of dysautonomia.

Rachel

[Lette]

yup I get this too and have blurry vision a lot when my symptoms are at their worse, I also get a strange thing at night sometimes, when I turn off the light at night and there is still ambiant light in the room, I am blind in one eye for a few minutes!!! Its really strange but I put it down to lack of oxygen with the pots, it comes back eventually but looks and feels very odd when it happens

[IDreamInColor]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with this problem, although I dislike you all have to deal with it also. And Katy you described it perfectly, I'm going to write that down because I've been trying to explain what it feels like to my doctor and I never could find the right words.

For me it lasts for days on end, sometimes over a week, and then I'll get a day or a 1/2 day break from it, but then it comes right back. And it's always worse in the evening time and when I'm tired.

[bensman]

I have multiple eye problems, too. I have been examined regularly by my eye doctor and have determined it is related to my POTS and I may have mast cells involved, too.

I get blurry vision, eye pain, have floaters, and often feel like there is a film across my left eye. My eyes water and I see bright lights as well.

You're not alone!

[ramakentesh]

Theories about this tend to focus on reductions in cerebral blood flow or excessive vasoconstriction/dilation of the retinal blood vessels.

[GingerA]

I have this too. I think it must be common for people with dysautonomia.

[tinkerbella]

I also have numerous eye problems, yet almost normal vision. My vision will change from day to day. I HAVE flashes of light, lose vision, INTENSE COLORS @ TIMES, when I type the black turns to purple @ times, it drives me crazy, as the line will get wavy, I also have a piece of vision (cyst/hole) on my retina. My pupils can be different sizes, other times they tell me are they always so big? They are severely dry and I require plugs in my tear ducts along with Restasis eye drops.This last one is just WEIRD, I feel like I have ADD of my eyes...I can't just look straight ahead my eyes are always roaming even when I'm talking to someone. (((((crazy))))) try explaing all that to your eye doctor ~ lol

I think it's dysautonomia and the eye spec, don't know enough about it ~ Most are being chalked up to varients of my migranes...with the added commet, we don't think you'll go blind from any of this, but continue to see your eye doctor.

OK doc eye will ; ) Bellamia ~

[louloutinks]

I get this too. Feels like my eyes are trying to play catch up!

I have flashing neon lights (the way I describe it is like Windows media player visuals - alchemy), esp if I am in a dull light or I close my eyes. Had tunnel vision only on one occasion. Sometimes I find it hard to read in a straight line as it feels my eyes jump up and down the page. Get blurring out of vision too.

[HopeSprings]

I also get a strange thing at night sometimes, when I turn off the light at night and there is still ambiant light in the room, I am blind in one eye for a few minutes!!! Its really strange but I put it down to lack of oxygen with the pots, it comes back eventually but looks and feels very odd when it happens

Me too! I have asked the Dr. Doctor about this - I figured the pupil in my right eye wasn't dilating (or constricting?) as fast as the other eye and this is what was causing those few seconds of blurriness. He said my pupils reacted normally. I give up.

[Chaos]

Good description Katybug. I've tried to explain it by saying it feels like my eyeballs don't line up with the eye sockets correctly at times when I move my eyes. Also have a very frustrating time due to blurry vision. My prescription changes dramatically even over the course of a day at times. I've pretty much given up trying to get contacts I can see out of for more than a couple days at time.

[Nathaniel]

I have the same affect with my vision, as well as when I go outside in the sun my then go inside or face a darker area my eyes take longer to adjust and I see blue for about 5 minutes. Also, I have this weird feeling in my esophagus, it's like it's raw. Can anyone say they have the same feeling? 

[toomanyproblems]

I know this is an old thread but maybe new people would like to know you can have some weird eye problems with dysautonomia. My list includes but is not limited to, blurry vision, one eye blurry while the other fine, failure of both eyes to converge and focus properly, tunnel vision, and lately, double vision at night when I'm tired. When I have these problems (and I have vision problems every day), they usually go on for hours. I think POTS is one of the few conditions where one gets tunnel vision. Apparently, the accurate tracking and detection of images, and processing the information takes up a huge amount of "brain power." (That may be one reason some people close their eyes when they're thinking.) Lack of oxygen in certain areas of the brain could explain the various, weird eye problems in POTS patients. In tunnel vision, which I have often, especially when I'm about to pass out, it's easy to imagine one's brain is trying its best to compensate by processing the main images directly in front for as long as possible and simply reducing the brain power needed to process peripheral images clearly.

I've had pain behind the eyes quite a bit in the past. I think that must be from migraine, as people have noted. I don't recall having it much since starting on Gabapentin a few years ago for my CRPS. It doesn't decrease the frequency of my migraines but it decreases the intensity. An added benefit     

[AissaJ]

I have the same problem. Sometimes when i try to focus on something then my vision gets really blurry and i have to close my eyes for a few secs. When i look at something far away and then quickly to something up close, like my phone, then its almost like it takes my eyes a little longer to adjust. I have poor vision and have to wear glasses anyways so i had always assumed it was because of that. I dont know if its related to pots or if its juat my poor vision. 

[Mary11354]

Wow you gals described me exactly. I have not been able to explain it to my doctors. So ty for sharing I will be back.

[Maitri]

Hi everyone, I'm new. I go for my tilt table test on Friday, but I do have EDSIII and many of the POTS symptoms so it seems likely.

I've been experiencing blurry vision for over a year now. My optometrist did an ocular CT and says that my optic nerves have damage due to poor circulation. Since POTS affects circulation, that makes sense.

[Peter Charlton]

I have this thing where if I keep my head horizontal, and turn my head slightly, its fine, but if I lean my head to the side, and then turn my head slightly as before, the two images no longer converge to become one. I think its more a question of my brain not working properly than my actual eyes.

Another thing I get, sometimes when I am making tea or washing up, my eyes will both shoot from side to side and back and forth really quickly, I think this is something I have subconsciously learned to do to give my eyes/brain a rest as they no longer have to produce a detained image when I do that, but I can still sort of see.

[molleke1402]

On 10/23/2011 at 11:53 PM, IDreamInColor said:

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with this problem, although I dislike you all have to deal with it also. And Katy you described it perfectly, I'm going to write that down because I've been trying to explain what it feels like to my doctor and I never could find the right words.

For me it lasts for days on end, sometimes over a week, and then I'll get a day or a 1/2 day break from it, but then it comes right back. And it's always worse in the evening time and when I'm tired.

hi ,i live in Belgium and i found your post by googling "blurry vision because of pots"

With me it feels like someone squizes my eyeballs and my vision gets blurry for a short but frightning moment.I have it sometimes when i get up from sitting a while like when i step out of the car but i also have it out of the blue.

 

[Pistol]

11 hours ago, molleke1402 said:

With me it feels like someone squizes my eyeballs and my vision gets blurry for a short but frightning moment.I have it sometimes when i get up from sitting a while like when i step out of the car but i also have it out of the blue.

Hi, welcome to our forum! - What you describe happens to me often. I have HPOTS as well as neuro-cardiogenic syncope. The squeezing eyeballs and blurry vision when getting up is caused by blood not reaching the brain fast enough when changing positions, in other words blood pooling in the lower body. It is a form of pre-syncope. The best way to avoid this sensation is by deliberately taking deep breaths and standing up SLOWLY. What also helps is right before you stand up move your feet toes-up and tip-toe a few times, ( only the toes touch the ground then only the heels, do this about five to ten times ). This will activate blood flow UP the legs.