Can Anxiety Cause Vision Problems?
Having tricks of vision is most definitely an anxiety symptom. The type of tricks vary but generally speaking they involve blurry vision, tunnel vision, and just plain thinking you saw something when there was nothing there.
Most of this can be chalked up to stress. Stress was not named the silent killer because it just sounds good. Overtime stress can take a real serious toll on you psychologically and physically. Now when stress and anxiety join forces is when you may encounter a problem with respect to your vision.
I want to keep this basic so I will simply say that if you are having vision problems because of your anxiety it is mainly tied to fatigue, muscle tension, and the excessive production of adrenaline.
Chronic stress (because of ongoing anxiety) leads to an over production of adrenaline. This has several potentially nasty effects on the body but of importance to us is the fact that it can increase intraocular pressure. And although the elevation of intraocular pressure may not be significant it can cause blurry vision.
Tunnel vision is also related to the excessive production of adrenaline. One of the bodies mechanisms most clearly tied to anxiety is the fight or flight response. Among other things, this bodily reaction pumps adrenaline into the blood stream which may temporarily cause tunnel vision.
In life or death situations tunnel vision can be a life saver (literally) because it brings focus to the task at hand. However, if you’re sitting on your lazy boy and having a panic attack the benefit is lost.
In addition to blurred or tunneled vision you may have also experienced peripheral vision tricks. That is, you thought you saw something from the corner of your eye when nothing was there. This is one that can be related to lots of things, but in my view it happens to all people.
It may however happen more to anxious people because they are hypersensitive to their surroundings and also anticipate things all the time. Being cranked up on adrenaline can also make you jumpy and super aware of gleams of light, shadows, and even slight variation in wind velocity. In other words, don’t worry so much about this one.
In terms of seeing spots of light and wiggle worms (floaters), this is probably due to an actual vision problem. Please remember that if you are experiencing new or different vision problems to speak with an optometrist so you can obtain a proper evaluation. You know what happens when you assume things.
This is by far not an exhaustive list of things that can go wrong with your anxiety driven vision problem. Indeed, you may have dealt with some very strange vision problems before as a result of being anxious. And that is my main message to you.
Anxiety can do seemingly everything when it comes to our bodies. It can strain muscles, temporarily raise blood pressure, create tension and many other things that can affect vision. So once more let me be the one to verify for you that you’re not crazy. This stuff does happen to anxiety sufferers.
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hi paul, am having constant tunnel vision and focus in on every little deatail for about 2 weeks now, my mind is constantly blank and i feel like am becoming distant from freinds family etc. what going on !!
I have had these symptoms for about 1 and a half and it’s horrible! Please help!
@ Jake and Brian,
Hey guys, first things first, get your eyes tested. If all is well there then please address your anxiety. Because it may be anxiety prompting your physical symptoms. Don’t wait for this to go away on its own because it likely will not.
Hi everyone, I posted on here a while back when I was real sick and having vision problems. At the time I was having anxiety like symptoms for months. I would feel faint, heart palpations, dizziness, vision problms, weakness, nausea, sometimes vomiting and I couldnt hardly eat anything. I was having stomach problems before all of that and I went to several doctors over it. They just said I had gasteritis and acid reflux but after a year of suffering with stomach problems I started getting severaly sick with all of those other symptoms I mentioned. With my vision things seemed to bright. Going to stores really bothered my eyes things just didnt seem right or to bright like it had a glare. Sometimes if something looked to bright I would feel like I was going to pass out or my eyes would go dim trying to adjust. It would scare me and then I would have real anxiety over it and would have to go home. It bothered me looking at the computer screen for very long I would get dizzy and it would hurt my eyes like I was straining them. It bothered me sitting in my house with the lights on. I went to my doctor over it at first she was going to do a CT Scan but she did blood work and checked my b12 (which most doctors dont do) and sure enough my b12 was low which can cause all of the symptoms I was having. From my stomach problems I couldnt absorb the food I was eating right which caused me to have a vitimin b12 defficency. After getting b12 injections and getting my gallbladder removed I can now eat, sit on the computer and go to the store in peace. Im not 100% better but I am a lot better then I was. I have anxiety once in a while but most of them time Im fine. I do believe anxiety can cause vision problems but it shouldnt be constantly and I would always recommend going to the doctor and getting tests done just to make sure its not something else. I also did go to the eye doctor and in one eye I had 20/20 vision and the other one I needed a contact but other then that they didnt find anything wrong. So I would recommend going to the doctor telling all of your symptoms and get some tests done and the eye doctor would also be good. Better to be safe then having to suffer and not know for sure. Just thought I would share my story.
I have had anxiety problems for over two months and now am suffering vision problems. Please help.
I’ve had my eyes tested as well as had a CT Scan and everything comes up fine…I am attributing this to my anxiety…therapy is not really working…
What do all you guys do for anxiety.. Do you guys know anything to take or do to fight anxiety?
Anxiety Guru, you mention “address your anxiety.” how would you suggest that?
Hi Ash, there are many ways to address your anxiety, such as therapy, medication, self-help, excercise, certain supplements and so forth. There is no one way. The important thing is that you choose what works for you and stick to it.
Many times people with anxiety dabble with solutions but never get serious about resolving their anxiety problem. This is unfortunate because like I said there is a lot that can be done to bring this under control.
Hope that helps.
Hello, I understand the feeling. I have dealt w anxity since age 19, I am now 28. I KNOW we can be rid of this as my attacks totally went away for a few years until our infant daughter passed away! Now the symptoms are way worse than they used to be.
I thought I had anxiety about driving or riding in a car but notice if I look downward I am fine, I think my eyes try to hard to focus. I am going to the eye dr this weekend and hoping this helps the issue as far as driving.
I do have GAD but will NOT medicate myself as there are more deaths from meds than from actual anxiety.
Hi guys, i started getting major anxiety 2 months ago, about a month ago my vision started changing as well. after plenty of research i came across a term called derealization which is similar to what your all talking about. it’s honestly like living in a nightmare. after research i’ve discovered that this symptom is tied to anxiety. worrying about it just makes it worse. i don’t know if this helps but i just thought i’d give my opinion because i know what it feels like to feel all alone..
hi guys ive been struggeling with my eyes for around a year and a half now ive had eye tests also ive been to see a neurolagest she said i was fine ive now managed to be refered to have an mri scan to see what the problem is my eyes are constantly blured and also fuzzy its a constant worry as i have a 15 mounth old son and life will be a worry untill i know whats up with me i have consatant headache i just want to know if it my nerves or maybe something worst ? all i can think of is would my eyes be having these problems constantly when im not always anxius would love to hear peoples veiews
Hi, I just want to add on here that I also have blurred vision issues but this didn’t start until I came off of Klonopin for my anxiety (about 1 month after completely off of it). I saw an neuro-opthamologist 1 year ago and it looks like I suffer from an issue with “square wave jerk” so that I can’t properly focus on things, especially looking out a moving vehicle. Because of this I can’t drive (now not just because of my anxiety, but because I can’t see well enough!) or read for longer than about 1 minute. All of this makes my anxiety even worse.
The neuro-opthamologist said the square wave jerk problem should go away over time but it has been 1 year now and I still suffer from this and nothing has shown improvement. I will be seeing him again next week so I hope he will have some advice or something to help me! I am worried I might have brain damage from Klonopin but it might just be linked to my stress and anxiety.
Whew, this made me feel better. I was driving and kept getting lost and I got so frustrated my anxiety level was going through the roof. Just as I finally found the place I was going to and started to pull into the parking space, my vision suddenly got blurry. It only lasted about 30 seconds or so, but it was really weird.
thanks for this paul.
old time reader here, having anxiety issues again. just googled about this as i’ve been having some spots and vision issues and wondered if it was the anxiety. nice to find you right at the top of my search results. hopefully this will help me relax about this so i can accept my anxiety away. thank you again!
Hello cori w – I have been living with varing degrees of anxiety for about a year, and vision issues are one of the major symptoms that seem to keep me anxious. I have had a vast array of medical tests to rule out something serious – CT Scan, MRI, stress test, Opthomologist, etc. The Opthomologist told me that my spots are nothing more than eye “floaters” which are totally harmless for me. He said I have had them for years, but that for some reason my brain has decided to start seeing them. I know the reason – anxiety and nothing more. He also said that in time my brain will retrain itself to ignore them. Some days I don’t notice them at all (usually when I’m relaxed), and some days they make me crazy.
I also have some surreal vision during anxious periods that I used to describe as blurry or being dizzy. I have come to realize that what I am actually experiencing is derealization. It has never made me unable to function or drive, but it certainly isn’t pleasant. It does however make me even more anxious and that seems to make the derealization more intense. A vicious cycle.
What I have learned, at a great expense to my insurance company, is that there is nothing wrong with my eyes, body, or brain. I have some inappropriate anxiety that causes me to experience vision tricks. At times I feel like I can’t bear to take another minute of it and that I’ll crawl out of my skin. But when I find myself calmly accepting the vision tricks I realize that they are not dangerous to me at all. It is at these times that I feel the most hope and see that the real solution to anxiety is calm acceptance. I am trying how to figure out how to do it more consistently. Hope this helps.
hey..
i am 16 years old and i have been suffering from anxiety for the past 2 months now . and i always have this feeling that im gonna die soon and i even stopped going to school because my anxiety became more and i get alot of panic attacks and i went to alot of doctors checking up on me and they said i am okay .. i started taking inderal 10mg it helped for a bit but now its even worse i have blurred vision and its hard to concentrate on anything . and when i sleep and wake up i feel like someone was breaking my bones while me sleeping . i am really suffering and im always tired .. depressed .. confused , muscle craps , and i think alot about it .. i just dont know what to do because i think my life is actually over . please i need help thanks!
I’m Paul 19 years old i experienced similar to what they mentioned above, like i feel that like I’m going crazy, palcipatating of heart, i have blurred vision, i even use eye glasses….and most of all thinking that im goin to die…i even go to doctors. take herbal medecine and etc.
please i need a help….there something in myself that iwant to find but icant…i want to live but i hate please help me… contact me ashlymontenegro@yahoo.com(my yahoomail}099993760179 my cell number…
to those who have anxiety please contact me let share our problem no one will understand us but we who already has,,,i know it can help us alot to regain our strenth.
paul…
I have had anxiety for 4 yrs now. I’ve had all the symptoms from having chest pains (thinking I was having a heart attack) stomach pains, to now my vision. Which has been going on for almost 2 yrs now. My vision seems to looking like it shimmering/vibrating. Its gets really bad when looking at patterns for lines. I’ve noticed the more anxious I am or the more I think about it the worse it is. This is a everyday thing. I’m scared that something is wrong with my brain. Does anyone else experience this?