FEEL LIKE I’M GOING BLIND!

[Anneber04]

My anxiety and depersonalization are really bad at the moment… Yesterday I had a panic attack, and since then my vision has been kinda weird… I don’t know how to describe it, but I can’t focus on anything… My eyesight is “off” and I feel like I can’t see… I’m sure I’m going blind! I can’t focus on anything else! I’m so scared! My biggest fear is to become blind! I don’t know what to do! I’m sure I have brain cancer, eye cancer or an eye disease… This can’t just be anxiety!

[Agora1]

Hi Anneber04, of course the easiest way to reassure yourself that your eyesare in good health is by having them checked by an eye doctor.

If they have been checked more recently and this issue comes from having a Panic Attack

then I can tell you it is very possible for fear and apprehensive anxiety to cause the muscles behind your eyes to tighten. This of course will play havoc with your vision. However,

once your body starts to relax and your fears are put aside, your eyes will re-adjust and

your vision will be clearer once again.

I'd like to Welcome you to the support sight. We speak from our own journey with

anxiety. I'm happy you are here with us. xx

[grudgekyoko]

Hi, I get the same thing and have the same fear. But it’s been going on a long time for me, and so far it’s not anything serious (knock on wood). I would second the idea of getting an eye exam because it will reassure you, but chances are that it’s anxiety. Anxiety can make your pupils dilate and I think that’s part of why we feel like our vision is weird and freak out. And because we’re hypersensitive to any symptom we notice stuff that non anxious people would just brush off or ignore.

[running_out_of_road]

Hi. You could certainly get your eye symptoms checked by a doctor, but remember that anxiety can cause very strong physical symptoms; often these may even focus around our worst fears (it's maybe significant that the very thing you are most scared of, going blind, is being echoed by the part of your body you are experiencing trouble with, ie your eyesight). I once had a panic attack so bad I couldn't sit up, focus or even stay properly conscious. I was checked out in hospital and it was entirely caused by extreme anxiety. I now try (not always successfully) to work on the basis that 'the worst thing we have to fear is fear itself' and try and remember that panic feeds on itself; when you let go of it, it is less powerful. Good luck.