Thanks for the nice article. It helps understanding dithering I know nothing about.

diop Why would he ask for people to be cautious

I think the guy just meant to emphasize how strong the effects of dithering can be, but did not intend to make any medical statement. I red similar warnings multiple times at art exhibitions where strobing lights were employed.

It should not be difficult to confirm whether dithering triggers epileptic seizures, should it? Pick a bunch of people affected by the pathology, let them play with a modern electronic toy and see what happens. Maybe someone does not want to find out?
When I lived in the States I heard jokes about California, that every product from there comes with a warning, like, this could cause cancer, etc. etc. I have not read anything on the backside of iPhones :-)

100% believe that this could be a symptom of some sort of mild epilepsy and have thought that for years. I've been suffering from this since 2008 after a head injury. I've had the same symptoms as everyone else: extreme brain fog and confusion, inability to focus, headaches, etc.

Interestingly I've built up a tolerance to all my devices by just using them every day for years. I do use f.lux on my laptop and a similar app on my phone, but my TV was unbearable for a few months and I gradually desensitized myself to it.

What really kills me and has drastically altered my life's course is fluorescent lighting. I can't be under them for longer than 10 minutes without these epileptic symptoms. I went to law school in the early 2010s and barely passed because all of my classrooms had fluorescent lighting. When I graduated I was terrified to realize that all of the courtrooms have them as well.

I've been fortunate to be able to control the lighting in my office and whenever something involves going to court I just send another attorney to cover for me. I also can't go into malls or box stores like Best Buy or Walmart or Target. It's a pain in the ass but I've managed and don't really think about it at this point. I would have loved to have been a courtroom litigator but it's not in the cards.

I hadn't checked up on this condition in a few years. Very saddened to see we haven't made much progress on it as far as treatments. But I'd bet if I went to Target for an hour and then went and got an EEG I'd absolutely test positive. Might have to schedule one. The question is... what then? Wish there was a less intense epilepsy medication that would help me out.

    4 days later

    Seagull My sister has systemic mastocytosis, but that isn't meant to run in the family. It took them 10 years to diagnose her and she had pretty obvious autoimmune symptoms. Tick that and other histamine related disorders off the list if you haven't yet. Screens could be a trigger for histamine release.

    I don't have many allergies, but I do find high histamine foods give more fuel to the symptoms (beer or wine especially). And I have trouble processing caffeine. It causes psychodelic effects, sore stomach and vomiting after about half an hour (my body more or less reacts like it is a poison).

    Web Thank you for the info. Eye misalignment can also be commonly caused by head injury. Did you by any chance got checked for possible vergence/accomodation problems? Feel free to write me an email at mjanas555 (that at sign) googlemail (dot) com
    I am collecting data on this, as so far theres a clear connection.

    It may sound useless philosophizing but I wonder

    • is there even a single person with diagnosed strabismus who is capable of utilizing a modern electronic device, let's say, a Samsung S10 that knocks me down in a few seconds?
    • is there a single individual who suffers from epilepsy who can use a recent smartphone? I tried to search literature and I bumped into People with epilepsy can benefit from smartphone apps to manage their condition. Not a proof of anything but a bit confusing...

    I would bet my dollar on yes. I think medical doctors in the respective fields should know the statistics.

    • JTL replied to this.

      screenjunky I tested negative for epilepsy. So the only thing I ever found, and that ever helped, is heterophoria and the treatment. If anyone needs, write me a message or email and Ill help with your self diagnosis. Once I can provide some network of good professionals, Ill share it here.

      • AGI replied to this.
      • AGI likes this.

        martin I tested negative for epilepsy.

        What was the trigger? Did they let you "play" with a device which you know gives you problems or did they apply some kind of default impulse? Thanks.

          AGI it was default. They didnt let me use any device.

          • AGI likes this.
          2 months later
          a month later

          AGI is there a single individual who suffers from epilepsy who can use a recent smartphone

          I remember during the hayday of the iPhone X someone who said he already had "photosensitive epilepsy controlled by medication" that the iPhone X was making him feel like he was going to have a seizure. So I believe there's some overlap of negative symptoms and epilepsy.

          Which specialist would you go if you suspected to be photosensitive?

          • JTL replied to this.

            AGI A competent neurologist, but that's easier said then done

            • AGI likes this.

            anyone have experience with the new home eeg kits? $500

            6 months later

            Did anyone else from this thread go for an EEG and get a result one way or another? Very curious about this as the more I read about it the more I can see how the symptoms align in certain places.

            I'd love to go for an EEG but I do worry that a positive result would lead to losing my drivers license for a period which is impossible for me. Is that the case, even if you've never had anything other than a focal aware seizure (which is what I suspect I've had, triggered by temporal dithering sensitivity).

            2 years later

            I've been working with a neurologist for a while, and she suggested that an EEG and MRI may be helpful to potentially rule out neurological conditions. I specifically asked if it would be possible for me to do the EEG while using a problematic device (I'm bringing an iPhone XS Max, which causes symptoms very quickly in my case), and she said that would be fine. She seemed relatively confident that they may be able to see what happens to my brain in real time while looking at flicker.

            I'll definitely post back here with my results, I'm really curious if they'll be able to see anything.

              bkdo Do your prism glasses help with the iPhone XS Max at all?

              I will note that EEG is sometimes abnormal even with "normal" patients. But I would be very cautious about taking any kind of anti-epileptic drug if you get an abnormal EEG; they can have brutal side-effects (and apparently a minority of patients can have permanent ones). I don't know what other non-surgical treatments are available. But lots of Doctors hand out pills like candy.

              If you are able to get a doctor saying you have abnormal EEG while looking at the XS Max, that could be something to take to Apple.

              By trade, a Neuro-ophthalmologist should be the most "helpful" in treating our condition, but a few folks on here have found them not helpful. I've yet to try one.

              • bkdo replied to this.

                ryans

                ryans Do your prism glasses help with the iPhone XS Max at all?

                Yeah, the prism glasses do help for sure. Unfortunately, not by enough to make OLED phones okay for daily use though. I don't think I'm going to wear them for the EEG, I want to make sure I get symptoms (Never thought I'd say that, lol)

                ryans I will note that EEG is sometimes abnormal even with "normal" patients. But I would be very cautious about taking any kind of anti-epileptic drug if you get an abnormal EEG; they can have brutal side-effects (and apparently a minority of patients can have permanent ones). I don't know what other non-surgical treatments are available. But lots of Doctors hand out pills like candy.

                Thanks for the heads-up. Yeah, I don't think I'd be comfortable going on anti-epileptic drugs on a long-term basis, especially if there are nasty side effects.

                ryans If you are able to get a doctor saying you have abnormal EEG while looking at the XS Max, that could be something to take to Apple.

                100%. If the doctors give me any kind of neurological diagnosis, I'm definitely going to call the accessibility department back and supplement my other info.

                ryans By trade, a Neuro-ophthalmologist should be the most "helpful" in treating our condition, but a few folks on here have found them not helpful. I've yet to try one.

                I asked my ophthalmologist about it - the official response from the neuro-opthalmologist that she referred me to was:

                "After thoroughly reviewing your file, I do not feel that I have much to offer you for your sensitivity to flicker. I suggest that you reverse the contrast on the screen to see if this is helpful. I don't know if you have already tried this before. I feel that there is a low likelihood that a visit with me would add anything more, but I am willing to see you if you'd like to come in."

                My current plan is to get an EEG and then see a neuro-opthalmologist. If nothing comes of that, then I'll probably get the MRI. From there, I have no idea 😐

                Is anyone else planning on doing an EEG or MRI? Would be useful to compare our results and see if there's anything in common.

                • AGI replied to this.

                  bkdo A couple of years ago I was taken a brain MRI because of strong twitching of the eyelid of the left eye when exposed to LED lighting and electronic devices (in addition to unbearable eyestrain and continuous tears / excessive photosensitivity). The MRI was negative and there was no difference between the left and the right side of my brain (if I understood, the eye doctor was after differences between the left and right optical nerves).

                  I am seeing a neuro-ophthalmologist on a regular basis. She has never found anything anomalous. She prescribed a visually evoked potentials (VEP) test, that did not highlight any issue. Based on those results, I was told that an EEG was not necessary. I just repeated the VEP test after a year. Preliminary results were better than the year before.

                  A few days ago my orthoptist gave me jump vergence exercises, the goal being to jump from convergence to divergence 20 times within 2 minutes. After figuring out how to get a single image beyond the divergence prism, a day later I could easily do 30+ jumps in 2 minutes using my right eye. I was told it was not necessary to do the exercise with the left eye, but I was still curious and tried. It was much harder. However, after an initial struggle I could do 20 jumps with the left eye as well.

                  Despite there not being a clear diagnosis and my tests being all okay, my eyestrain and neck pain have been pretty bad for a month after some updates passed through my laptop. I cannot find a way out.

                  • bkdo replied to this.

                    AGI A couple of years ago I was taken a brain MRI because of strong twitching of the eyelid of the left eye when exposed to LED lighting and electronic devices

                    That's strange, my neurologist specifically asked me if I had any kind of facial twitch or spasm while viewing flickering screens (I don't), I'm surprised that they weren't able to find anything with the MRI if you actually did have those symptoms. Was there any indication on what was causing the spasms?

                    AGI Based on those results, I was told that an EEG was not necessary. I just repeated the VEP test after a year. Preliminary results were better than the year before.

                    I don't know exactly what the VEP test entails - did you have flicker symptoms during the test at all?

                    AGI Despite there not being a clear diagnosis and my tests being all okay, my eyestrain and neck pain have been pretty bad for a month after some updates passed through my laptop. I cannot find a way out.

                    I'm really sorry to hear that. I know it's incredibly frustrating to have new updates suddenly cause issues 😐

                    I don't recall if you've mentioned this already - have you had luck with an eyepatch or prism lenses before?

                    • AGI replied to this.

                      I have had more MRI's than I can count as well as an EEG and live brain visualization test (they hook you up to electrodes and monitor things while exposing you to different visual stimuli). Nothing abnormal was found at all. I also have passed every bison test, field acuity test, and every test they have thrown at me.

                      The only outlier was a biofeedback analysis which should lower than normal "high beta" brainwave activity

                      • bkdo replied to this.
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