Does anyone find that fixing your gaze on something e.g. when driving leads to feeling 'spaced out' followed by exhaustion?

[Gwenen]

I had my injury 10 months ago and apart from nerve sensitivity on my scalp with some burning sensations, the hardest symptom for me is a bit odd. If I fix my gaze on something, e.g. the road when driving or even a person (I'm a counsellor and have to maintain eye contact) I start to feel spaced out and my eyelids become heavy. Afterwards I feel totally exhausted.

[cat3]

Hi Gwenen. I know of studies where staring at a wall or object can induce a meditative state resulting in feelings of unreality, and even hallucination. And, in my twenties, I used to worry, about an occasional trance-like state when driving, where my gaze would become fixated, despite the obvious danger to myself, my kids and other road users.

When I suggested to a psychiatrist that I was entering hypnotic states he agreed and said I needed either an opt-out trigger to regain alertness, or a method of avoiding it completely.

But the solution turned out to be simple ; low blood sugar. A small amount of chocolate before setting out and the problem was no more.

…….just a thought Gwen ?

Cat x

[Gwenen in reply to cat3]

Hi Cat, thanks for your reply, thats very interesting and I'll definitely try the chocolate trick! I suppose we all do things on automatic pilot sometimes, especially driving, but the sensation of heaviness in the eyelids at times is very disconcerting, and sometimes I have to turn the air con in the car on full blast, even when it's freezing outside. The one thing I've learned about PCS is that there's no definitive set of symptoms, everyone's experience is different and sometimes new symptoms can happen later on when you think you should be getting better! Thanks again x

[sealiphone]

I recognise similar symptoms, which are brought on by visual information, in my case I feel as though I'm being hypnotized and I'm becoming detached from the world, if I don't stop this results in a a total blank of lost time., afterwards it can take hours to recover.

No expert here but when you say you fix your gaze, that's a edited highlight when in fact your brain is constantly scanning your surroundings, switching attention, this will be especially true when driving.

When I discussed this with a Neuropsychologist, I said from experience I thought this was data overload and to reduce symptoms I would look at the floor when walking. I could see from their knowing smile that he thought I was a idiot.

Anyway my impairment is abnormal attention and after some research I found that attention is involved in visual processing and it's located in the frontal lobe, which is where my brain injury occurred.

If I manage to catch myself before I'm in a trance, sitting down and closing my eyes charges my battery for another short period of walking.

Since by BI when having my eye sight tested by a optometrist I can't do the peripheral vision test, as it has the same hypnotic effect.

This may have nothing to do with your difficulty but the symptoms do sound familiar.

[Gwenen in reply to sealiphone]

Thank you Sealiphone, that's an interesting viewpoint. I'm forever amazed at the wealth of information out there that people with these injuries have acquired. I'm not sure if you're in the UK but there's very little info available on the NHS and GPs seem reluctant to refer people to neurology. Take care, Gwenen x

[sealiphone in reply to Gwenen]

I'm in Greater Manchester and I had to really push my GP for a referral even though my injury was well know, scans etc.

I suspect because your condition is diagnosed as PCS, they will expect your symptoms to be relatively short lived, the standards mantra you hear is that it should last no longer than 12 months.

After a year if symptoms persist I'd be pushing hard to get a scan, to see if there has been long term damage.

[Gwenen in reply to sealiphone]

Thanks Sealiphone, I'm in Manchester too. It's been 10 months for me, I'm just hoping these effects will go soon. I'm lucky compared with some of the other awful stories I hear, but even those subtle changes can be life changing and my anxiety has definitely increased. I'll definitely push for more support if it continues. Take care

[Feebie8]

Yes, I was speaking with my vision therapist about something similar last week. I have issues with fixation where my eyes can't hold on to an image. I get flicky eyes, blurred vision and the dizzies.

If I am multitasking (using my body) as well as trying to look at one point it becomes too much for my brain to process so my brain shuts down the bits that are overwhelming my system. I can turn into an instant zombie. This can and has lead to extreme fatigue. To help with this I am doing double vision training which is holding a finger infront of my eyes, I find an object to look at, look at my finger (focusing on it) while noticing that there is now two of the object, relax my vision again to focus on the object while noticing I can now see two fingers. Sometimes I have to wobble my finger to notice I can see two. My fixation is getting better.

[Gwenen in reply to Feebie8]

Hi Feebie8, I'm glad to hear things are improving for you. I find one to one conversations hard too sometimes, especially when the person talks non stop, it's almost like I panic that I might appear to be glazing over and become self conscious about the chance that I may look spaced out. Then this quickly turns into agonising free floating anxiety which can hang around for hours, completely ruining the day. I hate this condition!

[sealiphone]

Another thought, regarding your workplace, this may be due to the flicker rate of the lighting, led lights are known to be particularly bad .