Random1

Do you think it's possible that you have had double vision issues before the night you got hppd?

What is your visual snow like and how does the klonopin affect it?

Do your symptoms come back when you stop taking tramadol?

See which antidepressants he would suggest for use with HPPD. Depressed people without HPPD act like you are all the time, you're just channeling your depression towards your HPPD rather than something else.

That's one of the ones I was going to suggest. The migraine dosage seems to be 4mg three times daily; I would try doing that, and experimenting with the amount of dosage at once (seeing if 8mg makes a difference over 4mg). This may require higher doses than normal, as we're trying to upregulate the receptors.

How long have you been drug-free with HPPD?

What type of doctor did you need to get a Keppra prescription (neurologist, etc.)?

Why the disbelief? Just the lack of a precedent?

HPPD seems to be caused by substances of all types that cause excessive 5-HT2a agonism (such as psychedellics, serotonin drugs, and high-dose SSRI). This 5-HT2a agonism leads to severe down-regulation of the 5-HT2a receptors in the visual cortex (among other places), and this leads to severe overexcitation of the neurons and hence visual anomalies. Research has shown that 5-HT2a agonists can provide temporary relief from visual symptoms (which would be expected, as the overload of 5-HT2a activation supercedes their downregulation), but can cause further 5-HT2a down-regulation and thus don't serve much benefit in the treatment of HPPD. Now research has also shown that 5-HT2a antagonists cause exacerbations of HPPD visual symptoms, but this would be expected; as the already down-regulated 5-HT2a receptors are receiving even less activation than before. But, over time, the lack of activation of 5-HT2a receptors (due to the antagonists) would cause a significant upregulation in the 5-HT2a receptors; back to their normal level. This means that after a period use of the antagonists the 5-HT2a receptors will return to their natural level of activation, and the visual symptoms should subside; even though during treatment the visual symptoms would be exacerbated, it would eventually lead to complete remission. Articles (use Google for more): 5-HT2a antagonist causing HPPD symptoms in someone without HPPD: http://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodium/pharmacology/risperidone.palinopsia.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antidepressant "While MAOIs, TCAs and SSRIs increase serotonin levels, others prevent serotonin from binding to 5-HT2A receptors, suggesting it is too simplistic to say serotonin is a happy hormone. In fact, when the former antidepressants build up in the bloodstream and the serotonin level is increased, it is common for the patient to feel worse for the first weeks of treatment. One explanation of this is that 5-HT2A receptors evolved as a saturation signal (people who use 5-HT2A antagonists often gain weight), telling the animal to stop searching for food, a mate, etc., and to start looking for predators. In a threatening situation it is beneficial for the animal not to feel hungry even if it needs to eat. Stimulation of 5-HT2A receptors will achieve that. But if the threat is long lasting the animal needs to start eating and mating again - the fact that it survived shows that the threat was not so dangerous as the animal felt. So the number of 5-HT2A receptors decreases through a process known as downregulation and the animal goes back to its normal behavior. This suggests that there are two ways to relieve anxiety in humans with serotonergic drugs: by blocking stimulation of 5-HT2A receptors or by overstimulating them until they decrease via tolerance." Notice the bolded text. This effect of 5-HT2a receptors is analagous to the effect it has on the visual system. With HPPD-downregulated 5-HT2a receptors, our visual system continues to search for visual information (is disinhibited), and very rarely receives the "saturation signal" from the 5-HT2a receptors. This causes the visual anomalies. Using 5-HT2a antagonists would understimulate them and cause them to upregulate themselves to normal levels, causing a normal amount of "saturation signals" in the visual cortex and eliminating any visual anomalies. Further evidence: Many people with HPPD verify remission of the most debilitating visual symptoms over time, leaving them with only a light case of visual snow. This would be expected, as their 5-HT2a receptors begin to upregulate themselves to approach their normal range, the severe visual symptoms disappear; however, they may only upregulate themselves to the bottom of their normal activation range which would leave a light speckling of visual snow and not a complete natural remission, as most anecdotal evidence shows; and an extremely light level of visual snow is considered a normal occurrence, even people not affected by HPPD can see it if they concentrate very hard and look for it. This 5-HT2a antagonist treatment would allow the 5-HT2a receptors to upregulate even beyond the bottom level of the normal range, to a level where the visual snow becomes virtually invisible. Anecdotal reports, even on these very forums, show exacerbation of visual symptoms while on 5-HT2a antagonists, followed by a strong reduction in visuals after their discontinuance. Had these cases been treated in an intelligent manner with supporting actions, it is very likely they would have received a complete remission of all symptoms. Any input from knowledgeable others?

Thanks for the thread bump, see a psychiatrist about your schizophrenia. Still looking for people to partake in this experiment, it has profound implications for discovering the causes of visual snow.

Where did you find the release date?

I am looking more into the nature of this visual snow, its causes, and its implications for the visual cortex. Please go to the following link: http://dragon.uml.edu/psych/mach.html Read the description, and take a look at the Mach Bands image. Please supply the following information in your reply: - Do you see the Mach Band effect as described, or do you see 7 uniformly colored bands without any effect? - How did you get your visual snow? - Any other accompanying symptoms? If you do not see the Mach Band effect, try to confirm with someone who doesn't have visual snow that they see the Mach Band effect and post the result with your reply. Determine whether they experience greater or lesser Mach Band effect (greater would mean larger discolored bands near the edges), if possible. The information gathered from this experiment will be helpful in pinpointing the neurological nature of visual snow and help all sufferers. Thanks, I await your replies.