Chiggs17

Yeah it just has such a negative connotation, I think that's what bothers me. Although it also isn't the case for me. I have a lot of anxiety over my visuals but other than that my cognition is okay. I don't feel like I'm tripping. Rather I just have some messed up vision.

At the worst of my HPPD (still occasionally) I would experience profound warping of objects in my visual field almost exclusively in the dark. This was most pronounced when I would first turn all of my lights off

Am I the only one who hates this term? It's what people (average people, not docs)usually respond with when I tell them what's going on with me. I don't think it accurately describes what most of us go through and it aggravates me. That term makes it seem like we're a bunch of people just walking around fried. My vision is messed up and I have a lot of anxiety, but I think for me and most of us, what we experience isn't really like what being on an actual trip is like.

K.B, supposedly acid although probably a research chemical. And around nine months at this point. Progress is sooo slow but I do appear to be moving forward. But you know I'm not 100% sure and that's the worst part.

Well the idea Iof permanent worsening is a little scary. I have a neurologist appointment coming up, my pdoc prescribed the Lamictal so I'm going to wait until I see this dr to start anything.

For me it's not knowing. If you're a long termer this probably doesn't apply but for somebody who's had HPPD for less than a year it's absolutely brutal. Constant worries "Will I recover?" sometimes I think I'd be better off if somebody just said "it's never going away get used to it" Holding out hope is somehow kind of terrifying.

Lol thanks for your enthusiasm, I'm not sure Lamictal will give me "happiness" but perhaps. Some people have seen improvements in depression with it but others have become more depressed.

I'm trying Lamotrigine but I'm a little worried about possible side-effects. I'm wondering not only about people's experiences with effectiveness but about side-effects. I'm also concerned that some seem to have reported the drug making their symptoms worse. Any input would be very welcome.

No worries I think you just misunderstood what I was trying to say. I mean maybe I'm wrong but for somebody like me (and others) with mild-ish HPPD part of the problem is obsessing over things that in fact could be perfectly normal. If we could separate the true symptoms from physiological responses maybe we could gain a small amount of piece of mind.

I don't think you really read my post very carefully. I would never downplay the suffering we endure. All I was trying to say is that on top of the numerous things that occur that aren't supposed to, sweeping trails of my arms, movement of stationary objects etc, the anxiety that many (not all) experience causes us to be concerned about things that are in fact normal. I can't speak for anyone else with HPPD but prior to it I didn't pay a bit of attention to any visual anomalies I may have had, consequently I'm always paranoid that normal things are symptoms, causing more anxiety. I made this post really just to see if we could identify things that are normal physiological responses and perhaps ease our minds a bit.

I also think that the idea that normal symptoms become unbearable has more to do with anxiety than HPPD itself. I'm constantly questioning my vision, once I realize the thing I was worried about are normal they become easy to ignore. Of course I could be wrong.

Bugger my after images are like if I'm looking at the professor for awhile while she's giving a lecture and I move my eyes an imprint of her will be visible. If I'm staring at anything for any period of time some image of it will be visible for a bit of time after I look away. It's nothing really distinct. Like I said it could be perfectly normal.

No for sure that's not normal, if you get halos off your phone or car lights that may be an issue haha

That's definitely true. Halos are another one, I think we all see halos around streetlights, it's just that for some they are much more intense. I would consider my halos within the normal range. What about trails and afterimages? Waving your phone around in the dark should produce some trails even to someone without HPPD no? And some afterimages are normal. That's the one I struggle with the most, are my after images within the normal range or not? Of course everybody experiences some after imaging.

That's definitely true. Halos are another one, I think we all see halos around streetlights, it's just that for some they are much more intense. I would consider my halos within the normal range. What about trails and afterimages? Waving your phone around in the dark should produce some trails even to someone without HPPD no? And some afterimages are normal. That's the one I struggle with the most, are my after images within the normal range or not? Of course everybody experiences some after imaging.