Hello, first just wanted to say thanks to everyone that contributes here. It's given me a number of things to try and has been a great deal if good info.
I'm wondering if anyone has/had a similar issue to me, or if anyone can possibly point at what might be going on.
I've got an issue with PCs- Windows and Linux. They cause pain in my right eye/nerve, and it travels down into my back and arms. Shooting/pulsing pains- It usually starts within seconds to minutes of looking at screens, and continues to grow. It also leaves fogginess that can last for hours, even after only looking at the screen for a few minutes.
This seems to happen regardless of monitor, resolution, refresh rate, brightness, contrast, gamma, dithering, etc. For hardware, ATI vs NVidia vs Intel doesn't appear to make too much of a difference. There are some things that make it better, and some things that make it worse, but it pretty much happens like clockwork, varying levels of intensity.
The thing is, Macs don't do this to me. I work on Mac systems, and can stare at them for 8-9 hours a day without too much problem, without the severe symptoms coming up. Both Intel and Silicon macs seem to be fine.
Right now I'm working on 34" curved monitors and Mac systems- The issue does seem to happen regardless of curve/flat as well. Plugging a PC into the same monitor/desk/ergonomic setup results in the problem coming up.
I'm looking at potential lighting issues as well- The home office I'm in is dimly lit- I've been trying all kinds of LED bulbs I can find, as well as CFLs. It seems that all LED bulbs (even the "flicker free") make the issue worse. It's still present with CFLs, but doesn't seem to be made worse by them.
Windows 11 seems to cause less pain than Windows 10. X11 seems to cause less pain than Wayland. Gnome vs KDE vs etc (or distro) doesn't seem to really matter too much.
For Linux, the least painful solution I've come to so far is- Ubuntu 22, Nvidia 1050 TI (default settings), turning up the brightness to max on my monitor (seems counterintuitive, but it helps), and turning off the lights in the room (this allows minor ambient natural light). This allows the pain to be bearable for about 30 minutes, and doesn't leave the fogginess for hours. If I introduce LED lights into the mix, it instantly worsens.
For Windows, I haven't really found anything that helps. However, playing Dota 2 seems to be ok on Windows. Very minor pain, and I can make it through a few 1 hour games. Playing it on Linux causes pain (although not as much as using the desktop environment). The biggest difference here I've noticed is the "Renderer" in game settings- On Windows, it's default as DirectX. On Linux, it's Vulkan (only option).
For physical issues, I've been diagnosed with a very slight astigmatism in my right eye- I have glasses/prescription for it, but they actually seem to make the Windows/Linux issue worse. I do ok with them on Macs, but if I don't take enough breaks, they start causing the nerve in my eye to flare up. Tried getting bluelight filters on a pair as well, no real difference noticed (possibly slightly better?). Just hit 40, and have really started to notice this become an issue over the past few years.
With all this being said, anyone have any ideas for things to try, directions to head, or what might be causing this? Can anyone provide some high level info on differences in renderers for video games vs desktop environments? PWM on Mac vs Win/Linux?