Apparently Vincent suffered the same thing as my "Visual Snow."


(self portrait, 1887)


(the starry night, 1889)

So did this guy:


(georges seurat, pointilism painter)

It's happy to share such parallels, but sad to realize the disease endures.

Just think of it as a biological plug-in : )

Hope things get better.

Heres my two cents:

Do you spend HOURS in front of monitors/tv sets?

Have you tried a visual media fast? Would you?
Give it a try. I find it helpful in many ways.
This is IT: DONT USE/WATCH ANY CRT/FLAT/PROJECTION SCREEN (INCLUDING MOVIE THEATERS) FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
Kind of hard in this day and age but worth a try, considering the stakes.

Also, VanGogh was colourblind-- check out the red/green action in the self-portrait!

quote:

Originally posted by Pauline:
check out the red/green action in the self-portrait!

Huh?

Apparently he was also a porphyric who drank absinthe and turpentine.

Sorry you are still having trouble with that visual snow.

metro

after re-reading your original description of your snow, i can relate. when i lived in alaska i worked on a trail building crew, and every day we had to hike some miles up a mountain and out some ridges. i would get visual snow very much like you described when we hit a certain altitude, and it would stick with me for a few hours (there was mist that high, too, and the snow effect made it appear that everywhere i looked was slowly moving away from me). the snow would last until a few hours after we actually started working, and would hit again on the way out. but it would go away completely by the time we got back to town.

i think part of the reason i had those symptoms was from general lack of physical fitness at the time. i wasn't used to going up onto mountains. do you get regular exercise? do you have any other symptoms (dizzyness, anything)? have you tried any eye training techniques (there are many, and i could probably find some to point you to, if you're interested).

I'd very much appreciate the pointing, subject. Thank you!

i've worn glasses most of my life. about a year ago i managed to get into this accelerated learning program, and there was a heavy focus on optimizing, preparing your apparata(-uses?) (eyes, face, head, neck, back, everything). this page seems to have many of the same techniques we used (i find palming to be exceedingly helpful and also relaxing/strengthening, so i do it often). i'll look for other good sites when it's not quite so late, but you can google eye exercises and use your bullshit detector. most of them focus on improving eyesight, and not necessarily eye health-type stuff, but careful meditative use can only help. remember to move slowly and carefully when doing this type of thing, not because you can really hurt yourself, but because you'll be able to feel where your muscles are weak or tense; they'll tend to "skip" in a rotation (sort of a blink or a quick glance away or defocusing at certain points in a rotation). be fastidious in making yourself put extra care into those spots.

okay, this is too long now. i hope it's helpful in some way, although it might not address your issue at all, and i'll look for more when i'm not so beat.

here's one more

I've gotten something like 'visual snow' when I was about to faint (I've never actually fainted but the 'almost' happened once or twice). From what I understand anxiety it can produce the snow as well.

hey metro, you get my email?

Received.