ryans Is cannabis the only thing that has helped?

Pretty much. Why should I use less effective anti-seizure medications that have worse side effects?

Could it be related to anxiety?

Doubt it. I guess it's some sort of neurological interaction between eyes and over excitation of neurons? Similar to photosensitive epilepsy in my case.

This post from the iPhone X eyestrain thread is interesting.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x.2085427/page-40#post-25832913

I'm reading over the forum, AFAIK the main issue with iPhone X is PWM because of the OLED display? I've found other iPhone models like iPhone 8 to cause eye strain, even though it doesn't use PWM.

I'm a big fan of Android and still stuck with my Galaxy S5, going to try the S9 when it comes out, but I'm not holding my breath.

  • JTL replied to this.

    ryans AFAIK the main issue with iPhone X is PWM because of the OLED display

    Yes, possibly the Face ID as well since it's a pulsating infrared LED, and staring at an infrared LED is similar to looking at the sun. I've accidently looked into a gaming mouse sensor with an infrared LED and it hurt real bad. DON'T DO THAT.

    • KM replied to this.

      Has anyone tried any supplements like L-Theanine or Ashwagandha to help them? The only one seeming to help people on here was Lutein which has done nothing for me.

      ryans Yes, and he also mentioned the see sick syndrome - https://www.seesicksyndrome.com/
      Has anyone here tried the exercises yet?
      Im doing it now and I must say that it starts very similar head-pressure and headache symptoms like the screens that give me issues. It is the first time I was able to reproduce this feeling without using any computer.
      It mentions photophobia, dizziness, anxiety, headaches... its visual motion allergy basically, which is what flicker and whatever else that new win 10 and some OS updates seem to be doing.
      Also in the testimonials some people mention it in connection with TMJ etc., which were discussed here earlier too.

      I will keep doing it and see if it can make me desensitized to the stressors completely.

      • JTL replied to this.

        Might be worth trying the exercises.

        Interestingly, in spite of all the things I've been doing RIGHT lately (diet, exercise, supplements) I've had a bit of a slide the past few days...

        My new Nintendo Switch is pretty much unusable (which makes me sad, might have to return or sell a system I saved up for), and even my XBox One was giving me issues last night just watching YouTube which normally NEVER bothers me.

        On the other hand, I had a couple other health issues that caused me to discontinue my supplements for a few days, so I wonder if I'm really so retinally deficient that...

        I've experienced some improvement in my photosensitivity lately, for about 2 weeks now. Found out that my SSRI medication was causing mydriasis. I researched the mechanism and was able to counter it with a low dose of a drug that blocks the serotonin receptor responsible (5-HT2a).

          ryans Olanzapine 1.25 - 2.5 mg has decreased my pupil diameter dramatically. Doesn't touch D2 receptors at 1.25 mg and hardly at 2.5 mg (antagonizing D2 receptors is the anti-psychotic action of these drugs).

          The other thing that would work is very low dose risperidone (0.25 -0.5 mg). This might be the better option since risperidone doesn't block H1 or muscarinic acetylcholine significantly at that dose. However I wanted the mild sedative effect of olanzapine so I chose it instead.

          Passive 5-HT2a agonism is probably the MOA of SSRI-induced mydriasis. Someone not taking an SSRI probably wouldn't get the same miotic effect of these drugs.

          Second generation anti-psychotics in low doses are the most selective 5-HT2a antagonists available on the market. The other commonly available 5-HT2a antagonist is mirtazapine but it is insanely sedating at doses needed to significantly occupy that receptor. It's one of the most potent H1 receptor antagonists available.

          For a natural supplement one could try a Feverfew extract standardized to 600 mcg parthenolide. Mygrafew is one such product. I haven't tried it myself.

          I have a "Pupil Size" PubMed collection if people are interested.

          Here is a recent study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28504010

          Pupil diameter was significantly larger in patients receiving SSRIs for <6 months and ≥6 months than the control subjects (3.53 ± 0.71 mm, 3.48 ± 0.60 mm versus 3.11 ± 0.72 mm, p < 0.05) but this effect was independent from the duration of SSRI treatment... Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors cause mydriasis which is persistent during the treatment...

          The eye-drop Alphagan-P reduces pupil size in dark conditions in healthy people.

          https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21333872

          Under dark conditions, the mean pupil diameter was 6.76 ± 1.08 mm before instillation of brimonidine 0.10% and 5.30 ± 0.85 mm after instillation; the difference was statistically significant (P<.001). There was a clinically significant reduction in pupil diameter after 6 hours in 90.4% of eyes. The antimydriatic effect under dark luminance conditions was more pronounced in eyes with light irides... Brimonidine 0.10% ophthalmic solution had an antimydriatic effect under dark luminance conditions and had a negligible effect on pupil diameter under light luminance conditions...

            Has anyone considered the merit of filing a lawsuit against these companies like Intel for damaging our health?

              ryans Would be hard to prove in a court of law without medical studies, no? Plus many consumer products come with lots of disclaimers absolving the companies from liability.

              And lot's be honest. They aren't malicious. It's just an unfortunate side effect that comes with the central nervous system causing photosensitive epilepsy type problems (as it was in my case), or similar.

                JTL Sure, I wouldn't care about winning the lawsuit, but it'd be nice to apply pressure for these companies to reduce these problems. Almost all of us on this forum had no problem with older devices.

                ryans

                I think it is not very specific of what is happening to each case. Don't get me wrong, I would like to put some pressure on them to research more.
                For example In my case I had visited the optometrist in the evening after a hard day on the job with lots of eye strain and headaches. He did not find anything strange or exceptional except some minor eye irritation. However the symptoms were there at the time of the examination.
                If we had asked the optometrist to testify, he would not be able to backup my claim with objective evidence.

                How about the idea to ask a manufacturer (e.g. China has so many these days) to make systems for us? We seem to be a significant minority. We could even make ccfl displays.

                  Peter That's totally my thoughts! Do you have any idea as to how could we start with manufacturing idea? I believe some funds would be needed for this and with number of "eye strain people" rising, there might be no problem in that. Yesterday I found two interesting projects - Librem 5 phone (https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/) and EELO OS (https://eelo.io), which both raised funds through crowdfunding (Kickstarter, etc.). Might be an option. What do you think?

                    I think we need to stop using the simple term "eye strain". It trivializes the symptoms that some of us have.

                    Everybody gets eye strain working on computers or close work for too long. What people don't have is a very sharp headache behind the eyeballs that will last for days after just a few minutes of exposure to LED-backlit computer monitors like I have. Using a CCFL-backlit computer monitor, I'm fine like everybody else.

                    Explain that. I've been trying to for over 6 years...

                      MagnuM indeed. Id call it migraine. But then noone knows how to solve those. So then noone will help. Ive started another thread about my experience with a faulty driver and resulting migraine on a setup that was before problem free. It really puzzles me.

                      I have come to think that it is led displays + modern graphics cards.

                      I recently purchased two desktops, an Win 10 HP desktop with GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card and a Win 10 Lenovo 300 i5-6400 with graphics card AMD Radeon R7 350. With both i used the same ccfl displays i am using for the last 10 years and boom, extreme eye strain, headaches etc.
                      However at work my Win 10 desktop has GeForce 950 with a led display LG 23MP57VQ, and i even feel nice looking at it. I honestly do not know where to look anymore, I purchase only by trial and error.

                        randomboolean

                        I have not really thought how to go about it. The idea came of an engineer friend of mine. She works at company that design parts for tanks, including navigation displays. She told me that they pay attention when designing displays to be comfortable for users. Their displays are not always led, they design panels with ccfls as well and they ask to build them in some factory in China.

                        I will get more details and come back.

                        dev