Who here experiences sensitivity to light.

[Concernedgal]

Today was a good bright day. My eyes can't stand the light and I don't know why. The sun gave me anxiety. Is it my severe depression? Or do I have have an unknown medical condition? Lord help me. Does anyone else experience this? It causes dizziness and sometimes even lightheadedness. And sometimes it even makes my eyes water. This is crazy. I don't like it.

 

[janemariesayed]

When I am feeling particularly low I shut out the sun I'm afraid. I love the sun but the brightness makes me feel that life is happening. In my depression, I don't want life to happen and so I shut it out. I think that your lightheadedness may be due to your anxiety and depression. Don't take my word for it though. Please go and see your Doctor just in case it is something else.

 

[AngelaMc]

Today was a good bright day. My eyes can't stand the light and I don't know why. The sun gave me anxiety. Is it my severe depression? Or do I have have an unknown medical condition? Lord help me. Does anyone else experience this? It causes dizziness and sometimes even lightheadedness. And sometimes it even makes my eyes water. This is crazy. I don't like it.

No I have never experienced this. The sun with my depression is a mood elevator for me, it makes me feel good. If you're experiencing lightheadedness, dizziness and watery eyes then I think you should ask your Doctor to check these symptoms out.

 

[Kaynil]

Are you getting regular times of and enough sleep? Do you have a pain around your skull's eye sockets? I don't know how accurate this but someone explained to me like this: There is a soft cushion that protects the friction in the back of our eyeballs when they rotate that we wear off while we are awake and sleep time is used by our body to regenerate the 'cushion' that supports the friction of moving our eyeballs. So when we stay awake longer than usual that causes the pain around the eyes.

When I have anxiety it might mess with my sleep cycles, I tend to sabotage myself too and stay up later than usual. When I get sleep deprived even for one night I get that pain you describe. I get disorientated, my eyes hurt when I get out or look into something bright and overall can't do anything fast without feeling vertigo and that delayed balance alignment. The lightheadedness tends to go away after a while but the eye sockets hurting and the photophobia tend to linger. However, once I get good sleep I tend to wake up feeling fine.

I agree with the notion that you should make time to see a doctor about it, especially if it is chronic and you don't relate to my overall experience. Take note of all the symptoms to make it easier for them to recognize what could most likely be the cause.
When it comes to the eyes and

 

[Concernedgal]

Hi @Kaynil . The sensitivity to light that I experience can only be described as... well... yo uh know when you wake up in the morning and your eyes need time to adjust to sunlight ? Well, it seems that mi e never do. I find myself squinting and wearing sunglasses all the time.

 

[Kaynil]

That sounds pretty much like what I have in mind when I say photophobia. During all of my day, my eyes can't bear any ray of light going my direction. When you wake up that lasts like a few second on its worst days but here it never passes that stage so it actually becomes painful. You also don't realise just how often there is light reflecting everywhere until you have light sensitivity.

That said it sounds to me like yours is more acute than the sleep-deprivation one I have on occasion.

Next time you have that I'd recommend you to observe the area around your eyes, see if your eyes are red if your eyelids swallow if you get dark rings under the eyes and add that to the list to bring with the doctor. you could even try to get some pictures to compare.
By the way are you prone to allergies? It could also be related to that.


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[Concernedgal]

No. Not on any medications. I simply refuse to take SSRI. My doctor just gave me paxil. And i'm scared half to death of side effects. I've had very bad experiences with ssri in the past. I don't want to do it again. The only allergies I have are shellfish.

 

[Natasha0717]

Many, many problems with light...especially when I first wake up. I wear sunglasses for the first 3 hours of every day. My eyes can't adjust quickly enough from sleeping (darkness) to daylight. It could be my meds making my nervous system and eyes a bit "lazy"...I'm not sure.

But my bigger problem would be loud TV's going in the background, or two people talking at the same time having a mixed conversation and interrupting each other. And if you wanna really see me go nuts, just have two people say something to me at the exact same time....WITH a TV going on in the background. Oh boy.

 

[Concernedgal]

I understand what you mean except my annoyance seems to be music. Very loud music. I can't stand it. . Not techno or dance music. Please. Lol.

 

[Decentlady]

@Concernedgal what you experience is photophobia. This is an occular condition that could have a different organic reason than your anxiety state.

It would be a good idea to consult an ophthalmologist at the earliest so that the problem can be solved. All the best.