Am I going to go suddenly blind? Very Scary brief vision blackouts and rapid fading

[SkinNBones]

I first thought the lightbulb must be loose or have a short - flickered off to complete black for a split second. To make long story short, eventually when it happened during the day with no lights on I realized was me…

its very rapid and by time id panic vision is back. Lately its more of a brownout or dimming or only too half of visual field

note its both eyes and this grratly narrows doenwn snd eliminates many parts of visual system. Am wondering about basilar artery in back of head

The other scary thing that happens is fixate on something with one eye at a time, I get extremely rapid fading to complete black, It comes back to normal the moment I move my eyes I know that it’s normal after many seconds to have fading with retinal stabilization (fixation) but I’m talking about two seconds if that long . It seems to have gotten worse with time it takes to fede having become more rapid, almost like practicing, has made it stronger! (the way I first discovered this was I was looking at an Amsler grid and everything started to fade) So I try not to test it very often but it still has got me worried.

I am not getting much help in the medical world one Nuro ophthalmologist order an MRA but then when I let it expire, he refused to rewrite the order. He also got sidetracked by the fact. That I appear to have normal pressure glaucoma. So my pressures in my eyes are quite low yet. There is optic nerve atropy and thinning of RNFL measured by oct Last visual field test was maybe four years ago and so far I can’t get anyone to re-order it. The Nuero ophthalmologist just wants me to go to a glaucoma doctor, but for various reasons I want to deal with these blackouts first, and as far as I know, that’s not a symptom of glaucoma.

Does anything here resonate with anything anyone has or has heard of? One of my clever doctors said not to quote him on this, but it sounds like a spasm of some sort to him.

I wonder if I take a visual field test if anyone will give me one whether I’ll even be able to do it because that requires fixating, and when I do that everything turns to black

I also have another visual disturbance which almost looks like around sometimes scintillating aura acceptance there every single day on awakening and is not followed by a headache. Sometimes I wonder if this was actually caused by all the OVTsI’ve had.

please don’t tell me to go to a doctor. I just need to know if anybody has any info on any of these things. Thank you so much.

[Leaf100]

Hmm...vision loss/return can be a symptom.of MS ...have you been tested?

If you don't want to see a doc maybe talk to someone at an MS society.

[Lady4]

You could also contact a sight helpline at one of the charities. In the UK we also have Sight Concern.

The fixation could be to do with habit, if you do something continually, your brain, will automatically make that prediction if all the concepts (sensory/environmental) inputs match and cause you to action (ie fix your attention on the same thing). If you sense this may happen can you quickly divert it. How often do you practice this?

This article may be helpful, it details what the test is for and what they look for:

visioncenter.org/conditions...

Also, you seem very stressed out (understandably) but self-diagnosing isn't really the solution, although I appreciate that the medical world can fail us at times.

Speak to the sight helplines, they may be able to direct you to someone who is an expert in the symptoms you are experiencing.

[Lady4]

Also a silent migrane may be the cause:

Visual symptoms

The most common visual symptoms of migraine aura without headache, or silent migraine, include:

Seeing flashes, or flickering or shimmering light

Seeing zigzag lines, waves, spots, stars, halos, circles, or other shapes

Blurry or cloudy vision

Loss of vision or blind spots

Double vision

Dilated pupils

This is the article:

migraine.com/migraine-aura/...

[Prosaic_One]

I had many visual disturbances for about 2 years and it coincided with my blackouts. I described it to my doctors as feeling like someone put a sock over my head. There was a cross-stitch type pattern to it. I watched them roll their eyes right in my face. No tests done, no exam, no answers. But they did immediately revoke my drivers license. That was a terrifying period for me, as my mother threatened to lock me in an institution because “it’s all too much.”

I haven’t seen a doctor in almost 4 years now because I’m afraid of the power they wield over how myself & my illness are perceived. Since receiving this diagnosis, I’ve been treated like absolute trash by the medical community. This treatment made me attempt suicide at one point and because I have no advocacy, I’ve been victimized repeatedly with no protection.

My visual symptoms & blackouts eventually stopped. Not sure why. I’m sure they could figure some of these things out if they ever bothered to listen to us with curiosity, rather than doubt. I found my visual changes were more pronounced when I was exposed to direct sunlight or bright indoor lights (and mirrors, interestingly…I guess because of the refraction/reflection of light).