Could anxiety be causing me to see these heat wave like swirls while driving or in the sun ??

[Scaredofeverything]

To make a long story short for years I have had this fear of unavoidable death, I hate growing up. I feel like I will be diagnosed with a disease like cancer (hearing the word or saying it gives me fear) or I have a tumor on my brain. I have always had huge fears which cause me not to enjoy things and hide away. Etc. besides this constant fear I deal with I try to mask it and live a normal life. For a year or so now when I drive I have been seeing a super light grey heat wave swirling in the center of my vision.. I’ve been to an ophthalmologist twice and my eyes are completely healthy. I have this huge fear there’s a tumor in my brain causing these episodes because I know now it’s not eye related. But I NEVER see this swirling heatwave extremely light gray thing in my central vision while inside. It only occurs when I am driving and or outside in the sun (more common when I drive or if in a car in general) I find it really hard to ignore. Has anyone else had this ????? Or have this ?? My ophthalmologist just labeled it under ocular / visual migraines. I just feel that’s not the case. I feel something is wrong with me.

I just feel like I’m dying ...):

[Scaredofeverything]

I would also like to mention it’s not floaters, I know exactly what those dreaded things are to a T. This is like a super light translucent grey swirling heat wave in the middle of my sight.

[JAYnLA]

I get what I call ‘electric worms’ - these undulating zig zags - and they are definitely ocular migraines, sometimes followed by an actual migraine. Does this sound familiar to you?

[Agora1 in reply to JAYnLA]

I had migraines for years at one time. Now I never get headaches

but do get the zig zag ocular migraines on occasion.

[JAYnLA in reply to Agora1]

I'm wondering if our original poster will find something familiar here.

[Agora1 in reply to JAYnLA]

Not sure Jay. I know what they are talking about, I've seen that myself

at times on a hot summer day while driving. For me, it's different then

what I experience in my home with the sun shining through the windows.

[Agora1]

I just looked up what you may be talking about since I have seen the same thing when

driving on a hot summer day. It's called "heat waves" and happens when the asphalt

gets close to 130 degrees. Air pockets form between these heat waves causing us to

see that disturbance. Considering you had your eyes checked by an Ophthalmologist,

I would tend to believe your eyes are okay and that it is not coming from anxiety but a

natural phenomenon. Hope this helps calm your fears some. xx

[Scaredofeverything in reply to Agora1]

I wish it was as simple as heat waves on the asphalt!): but sadly it’s just in my central vision wherever I look on the sky, even in winter ); i don’t want to say it’s a hallucination, I fear sounding absolutely crazy but it develops out of nowhere almost.

[Agora1 in reply to Scaredofeverything]

Scaredofeverything, you don't sound crazy in the least. I can only go by my own experiences. I will say, if it were me, I would see a Retina Specialist and maybe

even a Neurologist. Get the assurance (for yourself) that this is indeed nothing more

than an ocular migraine. Anxiety can hype up our symptoms but is not always the

root of the cause. xx

[Hidden]

I experience something similar and they call it "palinopsia". I see after-images of things that are happening live, I do have floaters, sometimes my vision can seem like TV static or ocular snow/visual snow. Much like you, I had a MRI done for a tumor (nada), eyes checked (nada), and it all ended with probably migraines without the headaches. It's really annoying though I've worked on just minimizing how much I focus on them. I wish I had an answer, but my neurologist was even surprised by the term. He knew it but he obviously hadn't heard someone complain of it. Try looking around at various websites. Anxiety and panic does impact our eyes, so I don't doubt there's a connection there.