• AbstractOther

  • Treatments, desensitization, pills, exercises - solutions

I haven't read the thread, but i'll share my 2 cents.

My screen strain was caused 2 years ago by a combination of:

  • Huge doses of Aripiprazole and Escitalopram
  • 5 days of taking Pregabalin
  • Withdrawing too quickly from Aripiprazole (antipsychotic), Paroxetine (antidepressant), Biperiden (antiparkinsonian), Baclofen (muscle relaxant), Pregabalin (antiseizure) all at the same time. I didn't stop them cold turkey, but reduced the doses by like 90% down.

Only later did i learn that the medication withdrawal syndrome was the issue. See survivingantidepressants.org. That site has changed my life.

What helps my screen strain a lot:

  • Vitamin C liquid form, drug grade, 1000mg
  • Magnesium in any form. Currently am taking a mix of magnesium forms totalling about 550mg/day. I find that it's key to make the dose big, and to make sure it's a highly-bioavailable form (I take this one by Doctor's Best - 2 pills at breakfast and 2 at lunch)
  • gently washing my closed eyes with running water, without touching them with my fingers
  • A supplement called Acomodin

What makes my screen strain worse:

  • The baclofen that i'm currently taking
  • Wearing glasses that are too strong (-3.75D) for my eyes.

The best diagnoses I've been given are Spasm of Accomodation, and Dystonia.

9 days later

I am wondering if anyone else has had reduction of their flicker symptoms by using SSRIs?

  • JTL replied to this.

    ryans I'll be brief. Given some past bad experiences and the fact that related issues could potentially be related to some eye problems I was born with (before I had that issue) I wouldn't place too much into it.

      24 days later

      ryans I was having daytime sleepiness issues so my doctor switched me to a combination of Trazodone (25mg) and Prozac (30 mg). (And I'll add the usual warning that I'm not giving medical advice.) My best guess is that this combination is "only" resolving my issues 80% (vs. Paxil helping 90%). But that's pretty subjective, so it's possible that they're equally effective.

      Based on the good experience I've had with Paxil, Fluoxetine and Trazodone, wish I had tried migraine medication years ago. One of my doctors said I was having migraines, but I didn't believe him because I didn't have the usual symptoms (aura, sensitivity to light, headache in one side of the brain, etc.).

          7 days later
          8 days later

          If it helps, I am on escitalopram 20mg and only had to go back on the meds when this display mess started happening. When I bought the LG OLED CX and couldn't watch it without feeling dizzy, I thought all new screens were like this. I tried a high end Samsung after that and felt the same way. Since I coldn't find any answers, my Anxiety went to places it had never been before. Panic attacks and all. Now that I am hopefully starting to figure out what the issue(s) are, I am gaining small parts of my life back. So far a year wasted of my life because of screens and not being able to find answers…

            Clokwork Has the escitalopram helped you tolerate the display at all? Or just the anxiety caused by this condition?

                ryans it’s purely for the anxiety from the whole situation.

                  Clokwork I wish I could take it, but escitalopram gives me blurry vision. When I was on SSRI all this situation was more bearable. I was taking escitalopram together with sulpiride, but it made no change for symptoms from bad screens.

                    9 days later

                    Any recommendations for dry eye syndrome? Interestingly that all started in April last year, after using for about a month a pixel 4 which has pwm starting from around 176 Hz which is extremely low. In the past year I had 2 eye checks. Eye doctor said I have perfect vision, but dry eye. I wake up with reddish eyes, feels like burn/sand in them. The other interesting thing is it just debuted for both eyes on the same time. I find it hard to accept that I have dry eye just out of nowhere. I've used amole phones in the past like Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S1, Note 3 with no issues. But after finding about PWM I can't exclude also some symptoms because "I know I should have them" 🙂 I've started taking Vitamin A and Omega 3 supplements. Symptoms seem to be more noticeably when I do stuff which involves moving the eyes a lot (watching tv, computer). This makes sense as the eyes being irritated moves a lot. I have a computer with flicker free display, I take 5 mins after each 25 minutes. I carefully set brightness on the low side and high contrast, turn night shift in windows. Used F.Lux for a few months. Some artificial tears seems to have some effect, but not much. I do not feel that my eye sight has degraded in any way, however there's the discomfort.

                    We know that is hard to keep a schedule, so my solution for this was to use workrave app on windows. It allows me to set break intervals with the important feature of BLOCKING the display (yeah, no Ctrl+Alt+Delete, no Taskbar, no TaskManager 🙂 ) .

                      ban The only artificial tears that have a very good effect on my dry eyes are Thealoz Duo. I've tried Hyabak, Lumixa, Doppelherz and half a dozen others, to barely any effect.

                      I also clean/wet my eyes regularly, with some cheap cotton pads that are supposed to be used for makeup removal. (I wet a pad with tap water, then wash my eyes with it).

                      • ban replied to this.
                      • ban likes this.

                          Thankyou logixoul Actually after you mentioning Thealaz Duo in another thread I've tried them. I was not aware of them. Both Thealaz Duo and Hyabak are ok for me to use. However, the others simply felt like poring fire in my eyes 🙂

                              ban

                              Yeah, I know the "pouring fire" feeling. Happens mostly with drops that contain preservatives.

                                a year later

                                I went to see a neurologist who specializes in headaches. In January, I began to take Nortriptyline (a very old antidepressant). I started at 10 mg nightly and every two weeks added 10 mg. By the time I hit 40 mg, my headaches, tinnitus and nausea were gone.

                                Note that 40 mg is a typical dose for migraines but a very low dose for depression (typical starting dose for depression is 75-100mg).

                                Unfortunately, I started having other side effects of the medicine (extremely tired during the day, sadness, unmotivated, heart palpitations, and feeling dizzy when standing), so I discontinued it.

                                I'm going to see a neurologist again next week to try a different medication. There are tons of anti-migraine medicines out there. I guess my advice would be to visit a neurologist who specializes in headaches and give something a try. I'm definitely kicking myself for not doing this earlier.

                                  mike I have not tried it. I'm in the US and it appears that Rinexin is not available here.

                                  • mike replied to this.

                                      GregAtkinson If you have the possibility to try something similar for a week or two, perhaps it works for you too.

                                        dev