Should I seek treatment for Palinopsia?

[Blunderbuss89]

My Palinopsia has continued to get worse month by month for over a year and a half and it has gotten to the point where it is a real problem for me.  It's incredibly distracting and if it gets much worse I think it will begin to affect my driving.  I have a primary-care doctor's appointment Monday.  I've brought the problem up to her before but she basically just told me it was all in my head.  Do I press the issue?  Should I ask to be referred to a Neurologist?  If I do push for treatment, is there even anything anybody can do for me?  After researching on this forum and elsewhere it seems that when it comes to Palinopsia, there isn't shit anybody can do about it.  I've considered canceling my appointment because I'm not confident it will help me at all and I don't want to undergo a series of expensive brain scans and tests that my insurance may or may not cover (I live in the U.S.) only to be prescribed medication that I'm not sure I'd want to take.  Should I continue to wait it out?  Will it resolve or will it continue to get worst until the day I die?  I know I've asked this before but if there is ANYBODY on this forum who has/had persisting/increasing palinopsia I'd love to hear from you.  Or if anybody else has any advice.  I'm feeling pretty desperate right now. 

[LaizzesFaire]

Sorry to hear that man. My palinopsia has also increased steadily for about a year now. Well, actually it´s been pretty stable ever since I started taking Zoloft. The first 4-5 days it got a bit worse, but I decided to just stick with it anyways and now it´s actually slightly reduced. Like yesterday was the first time in about a year I´ve been able to watch a movie in a completely dark room without being distracted by crazy negative afterimages. No idea if it´s due to the Zoloft or just a coincidence, but that´s my point; There is no way of knowing whether  the palinopsia will increase forever, if a certain medication is gonna reduce it, if you´re better off just waiting it out etc. So you just gotta weigh your options, make a decision and be content with the consequences it might yield, both positive and negative.

 

That being said, I´d probably try to get referral to a neurologist/neuro-psychiatrist. Keppra and Lamictal are the ones I´ve seen popping up the most in cases where people have reduced palinopsia. Somebody with a more profound understanding of the mechanisms of various medications should chime in.

 

Good luck

[Blunderbuss89]

Thanks for the reply.  I decided to cancel my appointment and just try to relax and give it more time.  I was kinda freaking out for no reason.  I'm recovering from the flu so it makes sense my visuals would be flaring up right now.  I'm gonna try to stay away from meds for now.  I look at that as a last resort and I haven't quite gotten there yet.

[jimmyb84]

After all the research I've done, in some cases it goes away by itself with time but in most cases it doesn't and one just has to adapt to it

[Blunderbuss89]

At this point I don't even care if it goes away or not.  I just don't want it to keep getting worse.  If it would just level out then I think I could adapt.