Have you experienced any problems having a sight test?

[sealiphone]

I've written before about one of my symptoms, which seems to be quite rare, I can have a absence brought on by a number of things including sound and vision. First thing to say despite people raising epilepsy it's not but due to my right frontal lobe injury.

I don't know what the particular test is called but it's testing peripheral vision, you press a button when you see something appear in your field of view. I'd warned the optician as previously it'd been a problem. "Different test not a flashing light", "It's not photosensitive epilepsy but let give it a try".

I had to stop after 30 seconds as I could feel a absence coming on.

Anything like that out there?

[pinkvision]

Hi when you say absence to you mean consciousness or vision. Have you had your whole visual system tested or just your eyes?

[sealiphone in reply to pinkvision]

It was a straightforward eye test, I stood on my glasses?!!!

It's lost periods of time, others say I appears disorientated and confused during the event.

I thought I had a bad memory for 12 years, that was until I did the 'Elevator test' in 2014, this test is you concentrate on 2 different sounds. I Had to stop less than half way through, then 2 hours of lost time. God knows what I was doing, I've thought about it as a good legal defense.

The Elevator Test measures Attention, mine, abnormal and attention is vital for vision and involved in many other abilities.

There was a meeting of disciplines to decide, as I'm also epileptic and the attention is said to be the cause.

[pinkvision in reply to sealiphone]

Have you had any advice on route mapping your brain processes. A 'good' neuropsychologist should be able to do this.

[sealiphone in reply to pinkvision]

I don't think so but I don't know what route mapping means in this context.

[pinkvision in reply to sealiphone]

Hi, your system of processing, vision, hearing, balance, spacial, etc. they all connect with each other in one way or another. So if there is a fault, your injury, the connections are broken or disrupted. A neuropsychologist should be able to put together a map of your brain functions identifying the working and disrupted areas and over time come up with a strategy to try and solve some of the issues you have.

[sealiphone in reply to pinkvision]

Balance etc perfect, unless I'm having a 'episode. By the time my Attention problem was found, I had been able to identify the triggers and how to reduce the risk of a 'episode', although I didn't know I was having periods of lost time.

In fact I told the Neruopsychatrist & psychologist that it was connected to my brain scanning my environment at a subconscious level, one rather risky but effective approach when I can't make out such things as buildings is to look at the floor as I walk.

My daughter's at Leeds uni and some visits have been 'unpleasant' from my perspective. However this years I've been over and we've ensured I'm in big open, quiet spaces, the Corn Exchange is incredibly relaxing and things have gone OK for me.

In the past I've had to go via Manchester Piccadilly and a 20 second walk through the concourse and it'd take a hour on the train to recover, then walk through Leeds station and I'm 'gone' again.

Now I can go via Manchester Victoria, no problem big light filled open space, love them.

In fact 7 November is my TBI anniversary and we're going to have a celebratory (?) meal in Leeds.

I always try and avoid periods when traffic is busy and just won't go to some places unless I'm with a 'carer'.

[Pip70]

Hi I have seizures caused by congenital hydrocephalus and not known to be photosensitive. The one time(never again!) I had a peripheral vision test the one with all the random lights flashing It made me feel so unwell/disorientated I had to stop the test! The brian is a weird thing... Kate 😀

[Pip70 in reply to Pip70]

ps it makes you unable to spell brain(ha ha)! 😀

[sealiphone in reply to Pip70]

So are you saying your unwell feeling wasn't a siezure, as I could call the onset of my experience as unwell.

To be more precise, it feels like I'm becoming disconnected from the 'world', never been hypnotized but it feels like that(?).

I've not given my brain a name yet, I'll have to give it some thought, although I used to call my AVM, "My little butterfly" (chaos theory).

[Pip70 in reply to sealiphone]

Hi no it wasn’t a seizure just made me feel really horrible an experience I won’t be keen to repeat! I have also had bleeding discovered on CT that I wasn’t aware of until much later something that my my damaged brain was able to cope with alongside the hydrocephalus weird eh? 😀

[sealiphone in reply to Pip70]

I'm sorry to say that gives me some comfort, as I suspect we're experiencing something which is very similar.

My absence would have come on if they'd carried on with the test, easy to self monitor then but when you're doing other things at the same time, I won't recognise the first signs and then before I know it it's a blank and apparently people have to guide me.