mycall81

Damn WuWei. 10 years?

I completely appreciate both sides of the 'argument'. I am certain that worrying and focusing on the visuals and headaches is of no help. I do, however, feel like the visuals are most definitely getting worse, regardless of how much I focus on them. They're at a point where any little movement causes trails, looking at anything for more than a split second causes negative after images. This was not the case in the beggining, prior to starting lamictal or lions mane - at least, not that I remember. If it's just a matter of focusing, so be it. That will self resolve with time. I think it's more than that though. I hear cases, however rare, of people having progressive hppd despite abstinence from drugs. Same goes for VS. I can't imagine that my worsening symptoms are just me focusing on it. I do appreciate your help though. I don't take offense either way. We're all in this together.

Okay, so how do I discontinue it? Slow or cold turkey?

Yeah. It sucks. I don't know. It's weird since I had smoked a massive amount of pot while I first had hppd (which I guess was a mild case) like, for 8 years, and it never bothered me. I also drank a ton and even dabbled in coke. I stopped everything besides drinking for 7-8 years. Smoked a few times in the midst of a stressful breakup and, BOOM, full blown, severe hppd. MUCH worse than I ever had it before. Now, it needs to be said that I had a migraine the morning after smoking one of those times and I've had a headache ever since. Could this be something besides, or in addition to HPPD, like persistent migraine aura? It's possible. Maybe that is why something as 'mild' as pot had made such a strong impact. I don't see why it would continue to worsen though. Anyways, I am happy for you. Hopefully we both get lucky and all the visuals go away. I just hope they stop worsening at this point.

I'm trying to figure out what is he cause of my worsening symptoms by eliminating some of the meds/supplements I'm taking. I'm starting with Lamictal and Lion's Mane. Does anyone know if Lion's Mane needs to be slowly d/c or if I can just abruptly stop it?

That's good news! Are you taking any medications? I have the same symptoms...negative Afterimages, trails, photophobia, mild snow. I hope to one day be able to accept and live with the negative Afterimages. They only seem to be growing in I intensity and I am constantly checking for them 6 months in. I don't do any illicit drugs. I drink very infrequently. I wish you the best of luck with a full recovery.

Yeah. I've been in lions mane for maybe 3 months now. I guess that is long enough to tell if it would be helping/harming right? I'm weening off lamictal too. That may also be worsening things. I don't know if I should keep taking lamictal or what. It seemed to be making afterimage was worse.

I will NEVER EVER touch another drug. Even if I drink a few beers now, I get more intense visuals for days. I am not digging being on prescriptions either. Any input on whether I should come off lamictal, Paxil? Any reason this is getting worse? That's not normal, is it? Umit...I exercise pretty frequently. It takes the mind off things, temporarily.

Thanks granite. I haven't been rubbing out. I do have 1 coffee every morning as I feel it's impossible to function without it. I stopped drinking. I don't smoke cigarettes. I eat relatively healthy. I wonder if one of my supplements is worsening things. Lions Mane maybe? I am a medical provider and feel that my ability to take care of patients is steadily dwindling. I am literally watching my career die. I worked so hard to get here and now, because I smoked a little pot, my life is over. The headaches are a deep squeezing within the center of my head. I occasionally get a sharp pain in the right temple. Dr. Abraham was thrown off by this. He doesn't believe it has to do with HPPD. He suggested migraines. He did think smoking pot again caused all of this to flare up. There are so many people on the VS site that have said their visuals progressively worsened, and have an associated headache connection. This is what worries me. I mean, I am certain my first suffering was HPPD. No doubt. This time is so different. It doesn't feel the same. Maybe my underlying HPPD made me susceptible to visual snow syndrome or migraine aura?? The briiiiight headlights shoot straight into my head and cause an immediate headache. All I did was smoke some pot a few times. It's crazy. I have little time left. If it continues this way, I will end things.

It's not just the visuals. I have a headache that has not stopped for 6 months. I have mild derealization secondary to the insane afterimages. I have such bad light sensitivity that I can't even see what illuminated signs at night say, especially blue ones. On top of all this, I am a migraine sufferer so the light sensitivity triggers migraines essentially every night. I have no clue what to do. I don't want to be on meds anymore. They don't help anyways. This is SOOOOO much worse than the first time I had HPPD. Maybe the first round of HPPD never really went away? I don't know if it even is HPPD or visual snow syndrome because of the headaches/migraine connection. Why would it be getting worse??!! Unless the lamictal worsened things, there's no reason after 6 months, this should be worsening.

I hate to be the guy that vents and moans about this, but I need to know there is hope. I had mike HPPD 16 years ago and it went away...at least I thought it did. I haven't touched a true hallucinogen in 16 years. I smoked pot 7 months ago and developed severe HPPD symptoms. Insane afterimages from any contrast that last for many seconds. They keep getting worse and worse and worse. I cannot handle it anymore. I feel like I will have to end this soon if it continues this trend of progression. I am weening off lamictal because I started 2 months ago and things seemed to worsen while on it. I have no idea if it worsened directly as a result of the lamictal. I thought this would be a short term, temporary flare. Alas, it has proven to be a permanent and progressive case. There is no hope for recovery with this trend. How could my life be destroyed from smoking a little pot? It's despicable. All other members have said it only temporarily flares things. Everything was going so well. Maybe if I hadn't recovered from HPPD before, I wouldn't be so upset, but to be thrown back into hell from a little pot, that's too much for me to cope with. I haven't much resolve left. I'm too weak to handle it. Sorry for the rant, but nobody else understands. FML - it's a joke.

I don't feel comfortable delving into narcotics. Thanks though. Hopefully with time, the visuals resolve. I don't now why they are worsening. I probably have VSS and not HPPD

I've been on Lamictal for only 2 months now. I have seen nothing but worsening of my symptoms since starting it. My light sensitivity is worse. My afterimages are MUCH worse. Trails are worse. Headaches have not improved. It may be the lamictal or just a natural progression of symptoms. I'm not sure. But I am going to stop it. I'm only on 100 mg daily. I should report I'm also taking Paxil. I also plan on stopping that.

So I know I've touched in this before, but has/does anyone on here suffer from a chronic daily headache?? I find that my visuals are getting worse every week and I have a headache that hasn't gone for 5 months. I am torn between calling my condition HPPD or visual snow/persistent migraine. Funny thing is, I haven't really had the static until just the past week or so. My main issue is worsening negative afterimages. Any input is appreciated, especially with suggestions on treating the headache.

Interesting. I have had a chronic daily persistent headache for 5 months. I assume it is migrainous in nature. Doc put me on Lamictal to try and prevent them, but it hasn't helped. In fact, if anything, the headaches and afterimages are worse. I am considering asking for a taper of prednisone to 'break' the headache cycle. I have read on the visual snow forum that this has helped some people. Will keep you updated.

That's odd though. The pot, maybe. But alcohol? I have been getting hammered for years with absolutely no problems. I even smoked weed for 8 years, heavily, after I had initially had HPPD. It never made anything worse. Maybe the length of time OFF cannabis caused a new baseline and smoking again threw everything off. My docs totally disagree and they blame high stress and migraine for this new condition. I am actually more inclined to think this is the case because I am getting worse and worse every week despite a 6 month abstinence from any illicit drugs or alcohol. My afterimages are nuts and when it first started again, they only lasted for a ait second. Now they last for like 10 seconds.

^^^shit that sounds rough. So you have a strobe effect from any artificial lights?? Did your Lamictal help that? I have this compulsion of looking at the blue iChat bubbles and looking to the side of it and watching a yellow afterimage appear for a second, fade for a second, then return and slowly fade away. Same with green/pink. It's so hard to not look for. Illuminated signs are awful. An exit sign leaves a 3 second afterimage after looking at it for <1 sec. I also see major afterimages from unilluminated things like picture frames.

I was wondering with my inquisitive mind... Can you all describe your afterimages in some detail? For instance, what object/lights cause them, how long do they take to fade, are they positive or negative, are they noticeable in the dark? Examples are always helpful. I would like to compare mine and see how they gauge with others.

I've been wondering about that. My headaches are continuing to worsen, as are my visuals. 6 months in. My doc suggested I get tested for all the tick illnesses.

^ interesting post. Wonder how nerve growth/repair plays a role in people who have HPPD from marijuana. Is the belief that cannabis actually damaged the nerves??

I am wondering, has anyone experiencedasting negative effects from any seemingly beneficial supplements or herbs? I stared taking Lion's Mane, phosphatidylcholine, B complex, B2, fish oil, Lutein, Zeanthaxine, CoQ10, and Butterbur about a month or two ago. My visuals seem to keep steadily worsening. Has anyone noticed any worsening visuals from any of these sups, especially Lion's Mane?? Afterimages are definitely worsening. I also started Lamictal about a month ago.

^lolz Don't smoke pot. I haven't recovered in the slightest since smoking 6 months ago. And my HPPD was a distant memory at that time. Talk about regret.

So WuWei seems to be slowly improving. How would you go about rating severity of HPPD? It would be neat to have some universal guidelines for this.

So you get them every night?? No mater if you are sober? What caused your HPPD? Do you still smoke pot or anything else?

I am hungover from a night of drinking: I got these before the hppd too. Now though the hppd flicker I get combines with the images, and freakily makes the people I see transform their face every flicker - and usually it goes a bit nightmarish with them turning into demons/monsters.