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Are trails the worst thing?


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Hey all,

I am new to the forum and I am a 6-month veteran of visual HPPD, with occasional DP/DR. My current symptoms include heavy visual snow, strong afterimages, severe ghosting, geometric patterns, CEV's, double vision, vertigo, so AKA pretty much everything in the HPPD repetoire. But within the past couple days my afterimages have evolved into trails. These trails are by far the most annoying and anxiety-inducing symptom I have developed. The trails appear on pretty much everything, in any lighting situation, that I am not immediately focusing on, not just tail lights on cars at night like I read about a lot on forums like these.

I was wondering if anyone suffers from trails as bad as this and if it is equally as annoying. I have not seriously considered getting on anxiety medication until this latest symptom developed, and now I am certain I will need it to function without severe anxiety all the time. I had grown fairly used to the other symptoms of HPPD but this one seems like it will be the hardest to overcome and ignore.

Thanks.

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Just remember that none of these will kill you. And that it is common for symptoms to progress worse for a few months before getting better.

One doctor told me that trails is a dopamine thing. You have a full list of symptoms.

As far as being 'worst thing' ... that is a personal preferance so to speak. Really just another piece of crap that goes with the package

Are you taking any meds? Most people report good management with Klonopin, certainly it helps anxiety.

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I have to agree with Visual on the symptoms getting worse before they get better. As long as your symptoms are changing I think you can regard that as a good thing. I started out with a few symptoms. That were then replaced with others, these stayed calm for a while, but suddenly began to worsen. They got worse and worse and worse. A few days ago I noticed my symptoms were acting up. These last few days I have been waking up clearer and clearer. Reality is within my grasp at this point. I feel like any day I'll have that final breakthrough. I had many of the symptoms you had for almost a year now. On tough days I like to remember John Lennon singing "Nothings gonna change my world." As long as you stay sober, in one way or another it can only get better. As for trails being the worst, its hard to say. For me it's starbursting, that one really gets under my nails. When my trails were worse than they are now, which is to say practically non existent, I got over the anxiety of them by having fun with them. I would shine a light in the air and write my name and shit. You really need to adopt a sense of light hearted humor and humility to get through these tough times. That's my advice to you. Best of luck.

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I think VS is the worst of my visual symptoms..... DP/DR and anxiety are, by far, the worst of my overall symptoms.... Whether one causes the other, i'm not sure.... But you do get used to the visuals, as shit as they are. "Better than being blind" is my philosophy.

Careful if you get onto anxiety meds, especially benzos.... It is not a sustainable long term treatment. Go check out the benzo board to see how long some of our members have been trying to get off that stuff.... Used occasionally, they have merit though.

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I have to agree with Visual on the symptoms getting worse before they get better. As long as your symptoms are changing I think you can regard that as a good thing. I started out with a few symptoms. That were then replaced with others, these stayed calm for a while, but suddenly began to worsen. They got worse and worse and worse. A few days ago I noticed my symptoms were acting up. These last few days I have been waking up clearer and clearer. Reality is within my grasp at this point. I feel like any day I'll have that final breakthrough. I had many of the symptoms you had for almost a year now. On tough days I like to remember John Lennon singing "Nothings gonna change my world." As long as you stay sober, in one way or another it can only get better. As for trails being the worst, its hard to say. For me it's starbursting, that one really gets under my nails. When my trails were worse than they are now, which is to say practically non existent, I got over the anxiety of them by having fun with them. I would shine a light in the air and write my name and shit. You really need to adopt a sense of light hearted humor and humility to get through these tough times. That's my advice to you. Best of luck.

Interesting. Most of my visual symptoms, especially the VS, ghosting and afterimages, I have come to accept as reality. Ironically, it seems like it would be weird for them to go away, because I have become so used to them. And yes starbursting can be difficult to live with sometimes, I agree with you on that. It is good to see that your trails have improved, as that is the ultimate goal and aspiration.

Out of curiosity, as ghosting is concerned, do any of you guys see multiple images (even 4+ copies) scattered around when looking through multiple panes of glass? This is one of my more annoying symptoms for sure.

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  • 2 years later...

It seems I have all of the visuals you have mentioned, not quite the same distortion when I look through glass though. The best thing I've found to help with anxiety from the visuals is to just accept it and roll with it. The more you fight it and freak out, the worse your anxiety gets. That is at least my experience.

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dp/dr which is a symptom of anxiety was the worst thing i have ever encountered in my life...when i had hppd it was the visual snow, dp/dr, morphing  and the very physical feeling of driving backwards while just sitting on my chair or trying to sleep..dont know what this is called...but im glad that i dont have to deal with any of these no more. :D

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Personally, the trailing is nothing more than a minor annoyance and I'm able to ignore for the most part. Double vision/ghosting is the worst for me. It makes everything requiring visual focus 1000x harder to do and it makes being outside, at night especially, incredibly difficult and distressing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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