Visual Snow

Ive had it, and it has always been a temporary thing. But, I should note that I have done my fair share of tripping, so I don't have quite the clean slate like you do. GL.

 

HPPD from weed? Never heard of it.

Something fishy going on!

 

I found this thread by searching for "snow" in the search bar after having come from about ten pages related to visual snow, wondering what gc would have for answers. I've had this for almost as long as I can remember, along with the tinnitus and depersonalization(which can be scary). For me it's like a colored visual snow over my entire visual field.

Now when I was a little younger I use to take alot of Benadryl, and may have taken something along the likes of lsd or something but my memory of those events are pretty much useless. I've wondered for a long time what this was and have read on hppd and other stuff like MS, possible untreated lyme disease, heavy metal poisoning (which I have). So until I have my fillings replaced and the rest of the mercury and lead I have chelated, I won't have much to go on for my case.

To the OP I came across this tonight in my searching:
Visual snow or static - group
Colored snow? - ARCHIVE 4 - Archives from ezboard - Visual snow or static - Message Board
I have yet to explore the site fully though it may provide some answers for you. Also a quick search for "visual snow" or "visual noise" should lead you to some helpful links.

Here is pretty much what I see out of my eyes:




Edit: I forgot to mention at night time it provides an almost psuedo blindness as the effects are overwhelming and I have to feel my way around in the dark, where as daytime its 90-98% unnoticable. I've also noticed that it has increased over the years, where as I had my parents wondering why I was asking em about the funny colored blue and red dots I would see at night early on. Funny thing to note too in my mind it seems to correlate/start with the work ive had done on my teeth over the years, (quite a few mercury amalgam fillings).

OP good luck in your search and I hope for the best, it sure can be an unsettling experience.

 

origambiD I'm just like you. I took a shitton of benadryl a while back, and now i have severe visual fuzz and even bizarre shapes/colors. Especially in the dark, I can't even see. Just trippy colors/shapes and what not. It makes me feel high even when I'm not sometimes. The more I smoke weed, the worse it gets. It's kind of saddening, because it doesn't get better. But as origambiD said, usually it's unnoticable in the day time.

 

I believe the proper term is "noise" and that must be pretty crazy!

 

When I was smoking this summer it would get worse and turn into translucent parts of my vision warping sort of, like in place of the static. Hard to explain but yeah. So yeah it's either my stupidity with Benadryl or a combination with my high lead/mercury levels. As I said I might've taken lsd or mdma or something, i just know it was something hardcore and can't recall much from it. All I know is it's caused me some anxiety issues as well wondering what the fuck was happening with my eyeballs but now ive learned to sort of accept it and hopefully ill mellow out about it.

OP if im helping you or not helping you, best of luck.

 

I've had it all my life and thought it was only me until I saw another thread on here about it a little while ago.

 

It was a relief for me to find out that im not the only one, that's for sure. If I ever get more advanced in my reasearch about this topic I want to find out its mechanism and see what can be done about reversing or taming it. (wishful thinking but hey, were all allowed some)

Edit: Adam Bomb how does it affect you and your smoking? Does it become a put off or is it manageable/acceptable in your case?

 

That's crazy, that would drive me nuts. I didn't even know hallucinogens could do that. I pretty much thought HPPD wasn't real. I've done shrooms twice and I smoke weed everyday, I never had anything like that.

Sometimes while high, I'll stop noticing what I'm seeing and I'll start focusing on my vision itself and then I'll notice like thousands of flickering color dots, like pixels. Even now, if I try to focus on that I can see it, but I don't think that's the same because I can control it.

Also, sometimes when it's dark in a room, then I'll notice like purple colors around the edge of my vision. Like shimmering and morphing shapes, usually always purplish, because my eyes have nothing to focus on. Is it anything like that?

I dunno, that sounds really shitty though, I hope it goes away for you. And I hope it's not like brain tumors or anything. Maybe you have too much intra-ocular pressure or something.

 

IT HAS DRIVEN ME FUCKING NUTS AT TIMES!! Especially when I knew nothing about it, and im sure it's the same for the others here too. Pretty much like a screen of blue red and a few other colors I don't know the name of because they appear and do their thing so quickly it's hard to tell but yeah like my vision is "pixelated" with these colored dots. Ive not discovered much yet with a link between pressure but it has crossed my mind. All of my research has been done in just curious splurges with nothing too deep but ill keep looking around. My eye doctor hasn't said anything about glaucoma but ill ask him about the noise (finally, ive been keeping it to myself) at my next appointment. Now I wonder what herb deals with occular pressure................?

 

actually, you can get visual snow without taking hallucinogens.

 

It doesn't ever really change unless I take so big of a bong hit that I "go blind". Then it sort of explodes for about 10 seconds tops.

Sometimes this will happen off hitting a bowl, but its a little different and it will be so much shorter and lighter.

Its gotten to the point that since its so normal and "comfortable", I don't even notice it until i try to or think about it.

 

I think i've had this once. It was like my vision was flashing in and out, and at the time i described it as being like there was a strobe light in the room. But it went away in like, 20 minutes.

 

get an eye test?

change one Dependant variable every time you smoke, eventually you will find what it is..

If it doesn't go away, please, please go in for a full check up (sane for you adambomb). Things like this are 99% symptons of something else.

Just stopping smoking is like taking asprin for a headache.. your dealing with the problem not the cause. I would say it's probably not psychologically related, as vision distortion general only happens with biological change. But don't forget psychology, biology and behavior can all affect each other.. if you believe some models.

Source: Training psychologist.

EDIT: Just a general thaaang guys.. visual distortions and visual changes when smoking MJ are rare, so rare that i would put money on there being an underlying problem. Don't freak though, chances are it's a nutrient deficiency or low BP or something, just go for a check up if this is happing on a regular.

 

So.. seeing dots, hearing noise, and smoking makes it worse? Thinking about it, maybe you have low blood pressure or low blood sugar or something. Because when people have low blood sugar and smoke, it can cause you to "green out" which is basically like standing up too fast, I think. Is it anything like that?

Weed lowers your blood pressure, lowers your blood sugar, and also it decreases your intra-ocular pressure.

 

This has been happening to me for a long time, almost since I was 7 or 8 I think it started. As for nutrient deficiency, I found out I have a gliadin (related to gluten) allergy a month ago so ive been on a gluten free diet for about 3 weeks? now, and while it has had an enormous impact on my mental physical health and hope it does continue to do so, ive seen no improvement in the visual snow as of yet. Personally im really banking on my lead/mercury poisoning as a major contributor but until I have all my fillings replaced there's not much I can do but hope for the best.

 

Yes. Smoking MJ can actually be amazing for diagnostical pupouses. Often the 'problems' you face when high, you just don't notice when sober.

Take the fact that smoking weed can bring on psychosis... wrong. If you get it you would of got it later on anyway, when your less susceptible to treatments. So this can be a major win.

Just learn how to read the signs.

I once had a crazy 'difficult trip' when i could hear peoples thoughts. AHAAA, at least, i thought i could. I would think of someone and then hear there voice in my head saying just.. stereotypical stuff they would say, and relative to that time. It was pretty late and i could here some of my friends complaining how they couldn't sleep, but some people i couldn't here.. as if they were asleep. Crazyyyy cool man.

 

Exercise would help I think, poisoning from 'hard' metals is due to the fact we suck at breaking them down. Increasing your metabolism through exercise will speed this up.

 

Restarting smoking again in late 09 and some of the issues it has exacerbated or precipitated has led me on this journey to find out what the fuck is really going on, so yes I would agree that it can be a great diagnostic tool.