chahahc
Just an update.
So It's been about 2 weeks since I've started using the setup from the above previous post. I've tried various lcd monitors, crt, dlp projector, ambient light setups/backlights and this is the least problematic setup I've come across so far. It's slightly worse than reading books on my kindle 4. I would say it has reduced my symptoms around 70%. I don't really get that stinging searing eye strain that feels like you're looking into a light bulb and makes your eyes water and go blurry with this setup. After a bit of use the very cold color temperature of the backlights do indeed make my eyes uncomfortable and makes me feel like squinting but wearing uvex sct orange glasses eliminates that issue. I'd encourage anyone to get one of those cheap 1080p monitors that are frequently on sale for $60-$70 and try this out just for experimentations sake. I did remove the antiglare film on the lcd panel. This setup beats out my modified shimian qh270 which was the previous best lcd even though this hp22es monitor is a 6bit+frc and the qh270 is native 8bit.
Some observations.
The massive blue spike in these monitor leds do contribute to eyes fatigue as my sct orange uvex glasses help. The color temperature is so cold that even looking at the wall illuminated by the leds tends to make me fee like squinting.
Backlights themselves are probably the main cause of my eyestrain/brain fog issues, though not all. I would say it's probably a factor for most other people too since "dark themes" are so popular. Dark themes don't just reduce brightness, they make the lcd panel block the backlight so you're focusing on the lcd panel itself and not the backlight vs normal light themes where the majority of your vision is looking through the transparent lcd panel onto the backlight.
There is indeed something about the lcd panel that just feels "odd" on my eyes. Part of it is probably the dithering of the 6bit panel. I think ppi is also a factor as standing farther back does make the lcd panel easier to look at.