VisualDude

neurons … hold built-in structures that should not be changed during your lifetime … but I can't imagine how our vision could work if those neurons didn't hold a very reliable anti-replication mechanism. Love your logic and thinking! And you are very right about something here. Nearly all cells in the body grow old and replace themselves. The brain is different (with very minor exceptions) – it does NOT replace its neurons, but must keep them alive and healthy. This is because of all the complex synaptic connections that would be lost if a neuron replaces its predecessor (think what would happen to memory when a neuron actually dies). So brain growth (learning) is not through cell growth/replacement but through the growth of new synaptic connections and changes in existing synaptic connections. What do you mean with seeing in frames? You could only see 1 image per second? Seriously? Yes, 1 image per second. Like a slow web ‘network’ meeting. For me, there would be a frame (whole picture), then (when someone was moving) a perceptible blur (comet trail?) then another whole frame, … A couple medical words for this sort a thing are Akinetopsia and Dyskinetopsia There are even some people who suffer multiple frames (old one hang around). So a guy is watching a dog running and it becomes a bunch of dogs running. See: http://www.ajo.com/article/S0002-9394(99)00177-4/abstract and http://www.nature.com/eye/journal/v17/n9/full/6700551a.html Why? Vision is a time-consuming task, so the brain pre-processes the next frame (what you are viewing) while still working on the older one(s). The brain makes this all smooth so people don’t normally see in frames. Something to consider: Old silent movies 18 frames / sec Modern films 24 frames / sec TV (in USA) 30 frames / sec TV (in UK) 25 frames / sec Yet (with possible exception of old silent movies) you do not notice flicker or ‘jumping’ movement Vision is a massive process and there are actually multiple systems involved. The nerve fibers from the peripheral retina go to a fast section called Ambient Visual Processing. This is foundational for much cognition since it literally feed-forwards its info to 99% of the Cortex. This section is responsible for orienting a person in space and time. It is how you ‘feel’. It allows you to jump and respond to a ‘fast ball’ (feeds into the Amygdala for sudden ‘flight/fight’ response). The nerve fibers from the central retina go to the Focal Visual Processing centers. This is where you ‘think’. When the ambient system is struggling, then the focal system tries to compensate and you get all sorts of problems. Frames, stationary objects ‘move’ or wiggle, reading is difficult, walls seem bowed, fatigue, anxiety, … Also, since you see with two eyeballs, both sets of information need to be processed and coordinated. Problems here (binocular convergence) can further delay and confuse vision. So … lots of weird, complicated stuff going on … it is amazing that it works so well and that we can 'see' at all

Do u feel physically weak Yes, suffer fatigue. This is part of the nature of brain injuries. The various systems in the brain are not in balance/harmony, so more effort is expended than when healthy – even for simple tasks

HPPD is a neurological dysfunction. Throwing molecules at your neurons won't fix them. It's like trying to fix a damaged computer punching it until it rewires by itself At the heart of rehabilitative exercises/therapy/whatever is to rebuilt/relearn activities and thinking patterns. Drugs CAN be used therapeutically. A personal experience: Used to see in frames for over a year. The frames were about 1 sec apart. Within 4 hours of 75mg Wellbutrin CR (dopamine and norepinephrine agonist) frames noticeably improved. In 3 days frames were about 1/2 sec apart. On 6th day increased dose to 150mg. By day 7 frames about 1/8 sec. On 10th day discontinued altogether (dose too high causing other problems). Frame problem slowly degraded (at rate of drug half-life) but never got worse than about 1/4 sec. How did this work? Did it ‘un-stuck’ ‘jammed’ neural circuits? Did it stimulate growth and repair? Did it ‘knock-out’ some sort of toxin? I don’t know but would put my money on #1 and 2 because this is characteristic of nerve cells. Today (18 months later) frame-rate is tight enough that I would never have ever guessed it is frames. More like drunkish Another personal experience: Pulse dosing B12 with GPC and MSM. This improved visual acuity (but didn’t affect frames). This also repaired nerve damage to left fingers – despite being told by a neurologist that too much time had gone by for it to ever repair. Moral of story – you just have to try things (but not fry things). Drugs can help fix things. 　 Why do you think molecules could be capable of intelligently rewiring synapses, resynthetizing dead neurons and messing with receptors to give your brain to the exact structure it had before HPPD? Drugs can NOT intelligently rewire synapses. But your brain design (DNA) will try to do its best. If you feed and stimulate it, it will do even better. Rule of Thumb: Nerve repair is NEVER the same as the original. But if damage isn’t too extensive, you won’t even notice the difference.

Larry, So you have tinnitus as well. Am curious about other non-visual symptoms. Do you have (or had), change in pain perception? reduction in sense of smell? muscle cramping? numbness anywhere? Or course we are all just getting older, but changes such as these should not be quick. 　 As for things that have helped, to start with I’ve always approached this as treating a mild brain injury (oxidative stress and/or undesirable plasticity changes). ‘Alternative’ stuff. Big topic. Couple pointers: 1) Glutathione – major converter of intermediate metabolites. Glutathione is mainly made from Vitamin C, E and Selenium with cystine as the major catalyst (which are cheaper to buy). 2) Encourage nerve repair/growth with nutrition ~5000 mcg of sublingual B12 – 1 week on, 2 weeks off ~1000 mg GPC – 1 week on, 2 weeks off ~3000 mg MSM – 1 week on, do what you want the rest of the time Medication: Increase Dopamine (agonists) – there are only a few available. You want to use small doses (think of it like super nutrition instead of medication that is often dosed like a sledgehammer) Sinemet 25/100 (carbidopa/levodopa) has been the overall best. Dose ½ pill 1-4 times a day. But some doctors don’t like to prescribe it if you don’t have Parkinson’s disease. Note: Parkinsonism is brain injury involving dopamine pathways – thus a no-brainer for this application. The second best has been Wellbutrin CR 150mg. Many doctors readily dole out anti-depressants. This is the first DA I tried. It is harder to take because in increases Norepinephrine (and thus pro-convulsive at high doses). Dose 50-75mg in morning only. I found 150 mg improved vision more but caused problems. Note: noticed significant improvement of visuals (and non-visuals) within a few hours of first dose of 75mg. You can try Requip and others, but they are more selective (D3) and do affect visuals – but not good enough for me. [ In harmony with above, SSRIs and anti-psychotics can make visuals worse ] DA is used by some doctors for brain injuries. Perhaps not used much with HPPD as the gut reaction is ‘psychosis’ and in the medical community, you just don’t give dopamine to a psychotic individual. Recently a doctor just recently told me that seeing trails and/or tracers is definitely a dopamine problem. 　 Increase GABA – this is common with both brain injuries (to slow excessive activity) and anxiety. Benzos are anti-seizure. You mention having problems with Klonopin – I would like to understand your story more. I’ve used Gabapentin (Neurontin) with success. It is considered a mild anti-seizure. Only a little help with visuals, but reversed deterioration. Started 1800mg a day but now 600mg and reducing. Well, hopefully this is helpful to you and other members here. For me there has been immediate improvement of frames, contrast issues and depth perception.

Hi Larry (and everyone else), It is joyful for me to meet people also suffering this vision crap - though it is sad that you are suffering such. New to this forum but have visual anomalies do to toxic poisoning (am the fellow Ludwig mentioned in #10) Am happy to share my experience - details are long so will be brief to start now...lol Cutting to the chase, Vision is a massive, multiple system that some feel is like the operating system (the foundation) in a computer. It takes time to cognitively see. And so to make this smooth, instead of actually seeing in frames normally, the Ambient visual process system is a high speed, feed-forward system and pre-process information for the rest of the brain (actually feeds 99% of all cortical functions). It provides orientation and 'feeling' for ones environment. It feed right into the midbrain for motor control and balance. A lot of its processes use dopamine (anyone familiar with Parkinson's might know about dopamine and the midbrain areas). So, for whatever reason, these pathways have been compromised (oxidative stress? placidity changes?) When this system isn’t up to snuff, then most cognitive functions suffer from this to some degree. While everyone is different, so it isn't as straight forward as swallowing dopamine, this neurotransmitter is intimately involved. Note: virtually all recreational drugs affect the dopamine system directly or indirectly. Overloading any neuronal circuit causes changes. I've had wondrous help with dopamine agonists - but you must use only small amounts. And sometime you need to compensate other areas with calming meds such as Gabapentin or benzodiazepine. Have just begun working with a vision rehabilitater who is familiar with many of these symptoms – time will tell on this but at least it is refreshing to find a doctor who understands. If anyone wishes more information, then I’ll describe it. (otherwise this post will go on and on and on…) Question: Has anyone here actually used carbidopa/levodopa (Sinemet 25/100)? Best wishes for everyone here …