#498 tamster0125's son

"I have been reading a few postings from all of you, postings from the last few years. My twelve year old [subject #498] started complaining of a t.v. static in his eyes. He says it started about 3 months ago, and is now within the last couple weeks become all of the time. After seeing the pediatrician, she sent us to an eye doctor. We saw the eye doctor today, and he says my sons vision is better than 20/20. Everything looks wonderful. He sent my son out of the room for a minute, and asked if I thought this could be something he was making up. He said some children will say things, just to get glasses, etc... I do not believe he would make something up like this, it seems if someone would 'want glasses' they would simply say they couldn't see, then maybe fake the eye exam (just my thoughts). The doctor then suggested we go back to the primary doctor and schedule an MRI. Of course I plan to have that scheduled, but wanted to look for ANYTHING out there that resembled what my son was talking about (since I have never heard of this). I am very familiar with vision problems, had eye surgery at age 6, and have been wearing glasses all my life (mainly eye muscle problems). I have not heard of what my son is dealing with, and want to educate myself.

He is also saying it is becoming more and more difficult to see in the dark and shadow line when turning a corner. The main thing is the t.v. static vision, or snowy vision, as I am reading.

Does anyone have any suggestions? My main concern is to help keep the frustration levels low, it seems from what I am reading, this doesn't pose any serious health risk, but I can imagine what it does to the mental health."

(tamster0112 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Twelve year old son complaining of "t.v. static", December 14, 2007; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"That is pretty much what I have done so far. There were a few pictures that I showed him earlier, with the snowy effects. He says that is what he is seeing. I have been reassuring him, letting him know we will find out what is going on. I just want to be sure he does not let this get him down. He is very athletic, a good student, and an all around good kid, and I don't what something like this to change that. I'm sure any parent or anyone would understand that. Thank you for your input."

(tamster0112 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Twelve year old son complaining of "t.v. static", December 14, 2007)

"I have had a few, in recent years, with the strange, colorful, blurry loss in vision, followed by an awful headache... feeling like a pillow is a pile of bricks... Only a handful of times, and I believe I have associated them with high intake of salt. Since I have been conscientious of that, I have not had another. No other mentions of them on my side of the family. I am unsure of his fathers side. I know there is diabetes, and bipolar on his fathers side. I know diabetes can cause vision problems, however; diabetic vision problems would not consist of 20/20 eye exams. Both of my brothers had problems with epileptic seizures. One out grew them by age 6, and the other had them up to age 20 (now 30, fortunately without for 10 years). My son has had no signs of that either."

(tamster0112 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Twelve year old son complaining of "t.v. static", December 14, 2007)

"This is obviously something I was never familiar with. Being a parent these days, you have to watch out for so much. I have been blessed with 2 very health boys. My twelve year old does tends to be very sensitive, which is why I want to be sure I keep him positive with regards to this. Obviously, our next step is the MRI, to rule out any serious problems. I want to be sure I can understand in a way that helps me help him. This is such a sensitive age for things to be 'different'."

(tamster0112 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Twelve year old son complaining of "t.v. static", December 14, 2007)

"He says it started at night, in the beginning. Then he would start to see it in the morning too. About a month ago it started appearing periodically throughout the day. As of a few weeks ago, it does not go away, still worse at night."

(tamster0112 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Twelve year old son complaining of "t.v. static", December 15, 2007)

"He says the night it started, it has been every night since (beginning of August). Not during the day at all in the beginning Then it started occasionally during the day, becoming more and more frequent. Leading to the present, all the time, but still worse at night."

(tamster0112 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Twelve year old son complaining of "t.v. static", December 15, 2007)

Commenting on the TV film Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1971), based on the short story by Conrad Aiken (1934), tamster0125 recorded:

"I took it as a reference to trails too. Only because of his reaction.

The other thing that really caught my eye. His way of staring out the window, yet knowing what was going on. I received an email from one of my son's teachers about a month ago. He said my son has not been paying attention in class. So, my immediate reaction (since my son is typical a social bug) I got on his case telling him to start paying attention in class and quite socializing. He insisted he did not talk to anyone in that class. I spoke to his teacher at conferences, and he confirmed that. He said my son had a tendency to stare out the window and day dream. (This would be during the time frame he had told no one about this.)

At the time, I was concerned about his blood sugar levels, but that was not the case. Now I am thinking otherwise?!?!"

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Question to ChelleWMCN, December 15, 2007)

"Well, last I spoke here, my son [subject #498] was twelve, with the beginning of visual snow. He turned 13 this past Friday. We went today to get his results of his MRI. They mention 'Oval area of altered intensity in the anterior aspect of the left lateral ventricle. Asymmetric choroid given first consideration." Not sure what all that means, but we have to start documenting headaches. My past posting in December, I stated he did not have major headaches to go along with the vision. Unfortunately, last week, he had his first migraine experience. It lasted a few hours. Color aura, nausea, dizziness, pain, the whole nine yards...

The vision snow seems to be getting worse, and starting to effect his mind-set. I have been very reassuring, trying not to lie to him. Of course, he just wants it fixed. As of right now, we are to record any and all headaches for the next 30 days, then we return to the neurologist."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 29, 2008; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"All he really said was, he does not think that is what is causing the snowy vision. He does believe it may be what is causing the headaches. Like I said though, last week was his first migraine. He has complained of mild headaches, but nothing near as bad as last week. I was hoping to find an explanation on line, but had no luck. I am really going to need to prepare myself with questions for our next visit."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 29, 2008; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"My son says, the migraine started with nausea, then while in the restroom, bright flashing colors covering both eyes, 'swirling'. Appx. fifteen minutes into it, bright 'dots' appeared (which were solid, not flashing or moving). The headache started appx. 20 minutes after the colors, the colors and 'dots' lasted appx. 15 more minutes after the beginning of the headache. He was so 'out of it' while walking to the school office, one of his classmates said, he tried asking him if he was alright, and he started mumbling, and he just spit on the floor right there in the hall way. (My son does not remember spitting, nor what he said to is friend, he barely remember walking to the office, just remembers being scared). From what he remembers, the colors lasted about 35 minutes, the headache was major for appx. 2 1/2 hours. He did have a slight headache the rest of the evening. By the time I got to the school, he was completely pale, with very dark rings under his eyes. (Dark rings are something that runs in the family, but his looked worse than I have ever seen them).'

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 30, 2008)

"They do plan on a follow-up MRI, from what I am understanding. As far as activities, he is soooo active. He's on the basketball team, football team, skateboards, snowboarding club, and just started guitar lessons. Between him and my youngest son, I can barely keep up. LOL"

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 30, 2008)

"OMGosh, after I left this site, I went to the Wikipedia, to check out those definitions. I looked up visual snow, and read the details. The part that caught my eye...'non-visual symptoms such as tinnitus or depersonalisation-derealisation'. My son has stated, SEVERAL TIMES, he feels like he is 'not himself, on the outside looking in'. He started saying this when he got back from his trip to California. Same time the vs started. (Another note, when looking up depersonalisation, it mentions bi-polar disorder, his father has been diagnosed bi-polar???) Does any of this change anything????"

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 30, 2008)

"He is telling me the depersonalization is constant, he has felt like this since his trip back. His vs started 3 days before he left to come home, and his depersonalization feeling started when he was on the plane flying home.

We did some searching on the internet, since I am not able to do any graphics myself. For a close replica of the vs, go to visual snow simulator, snow density (47), and flickering rate (4). For the migraine aura, go to visual migraine... visually, press start. (He says it was more circle like rather than squares, but this is what the colors were like.

Thank you for all your input!"

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 31, 2008)

"VS became worse the morning after the migraine."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Son's MRI results, January 31, 2008)

"Speaking of sense of humor about it. It snowed here yesterday, and my son said... 'look Mom, now my vs is starting to stick and accumulate'. I know it drives him crazy right now, but I always tell my children to keep smiling, dwelling on it wont make it go away (no matter what the problem may be)."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - will this get worse, February 3, 2008)

"I regularly visit this site to try to understand what my son is dealing with. I signed in this morning and was shocked to see the title of this forum. My son (age 13) has the snowy vision, but seems to be getting more frustrated by the 'depersonalization'. Last week his Dr. put him on Topamax. He says it would help with the headaches, which are pretty mild, (only one major migraine so far). But he says it will 'indirectly' HELP with the "depersonalization".

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - topamax and depersonalization, February 29, 2008)

"He has not made a picture yet. Matter of fact, we were just discussing that a couple of nights ago. They did a 24 hour EEG, which we do not have the results of yet. Any time I ask him about the vs, he just says 'its the same'. One interesting fact, a couple of days ago he said he was in class, all of a sudden he felt 'there', like things were normal again (with regards to the depersonalization). He said it only last about a minute and it was 'back to fantasy land'. He has had no migraine attacks since the one in January. At this point he does not see any change with the Topamax, but has been only taking 1/2 a pill (25mg) for one week, and took his first full pill last night."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - topamax and depersonalization, February 29, 2008)

"In regards to my sons interpretations, he doesn't really understand. He really doesn't associate the headaches with the vision/depersonalization. When we recorded the headaches for the month, there were several mild headaches, but nothing that was extreme."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Email to Klaus Podoll, February 29, 2008)

"Something that I have not discussed, I am not sure if this would have anything to do with any of this, but seems to me that it is quite a coincidence.

Last May (2007), my son stayed home from school sick. I left that morning to go to work, appx. 15 minutes after I left, someone attempted to break in our house. They did break into the garage, and gained access to my youngest sons bedroom. My son called me and 911, and we reached the house scaring the intruder off before he made it further than the one bedroom. The individuals involved we caught and put in jail.

This was obviously very traumatic, and I believe caused some anxiety. After this, he would not stay in the house alone, and being 12, couldn't go to daycare either. This is when I spoke to his father about going to California for a month or so, try to help recover from the situation. All of this, vs and depersonalization, started 3 day prior to coming home. He did not show fears of coming home. He did express missing us (we have not been apart for that extended amount of time at any point in his life).

I have thought about counseling, however; I don't want to cause more stress. PTSD? I am not sure. I brought up stress to his new pediatrician, and he disregarded it. What do you think?"

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Email to Klaus Podoll, February 29, 2008)

"During the first month before he left for California, he would have a look of fear on his face when the door bell would ring. (The intruder rang the door bell several times, and banged on the door before heading to the back yard.) My son did look out the door and saw the individual, at the time not know what was going on. Even to this day, when the dog starts barking, he get nervous. He will stay home by himself after school now, but if he is in one room on the computer, he would have the tv on in the other room. He does express wanting to get over his fears.

Yes, that is the order of events. I can not help but wonder if this has been brought on psychologically, rather than physically. He is a really healthy, outgoing, good kid. I wonder if proper professional counseling could help his physical symptoms."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Email to Klaus Podoll, February 29, 2008)

"Hello. Busy, busy these last couple of weeks. I did want to update you on the latest with my son. We went to the neurologist last week. The overnight EEG was normal, as suspected. I brought up the matter that happened last summer. He told my son that everything was going to be o.k. He sent him out of the room. (I really hate when Doctors do that to him, he worries so much). His neurologist said that he wishes I would have told him about this in the beginning, unfortunately, I did not put the two together right away. He definitely recommended therapy. His first appointment is next week. He started discussing the brain creating the vision. He made sure to say, 'not making it up'. I did come home and do some refresher reading in my psychology books. (Can't they see the hippocampus on the MRI?) I know that is all theory, but I would really like to know.

Currently, I have been making it a point to be very positive with him. Unfortunately, he is 13 and still needs discipline. Being on the Topomax, I have noticed a more study 'up', but I can't help but wonder if that could be him depersonalizing himself more? Hopefully these sessions will help, and medication will be unnecessary.

I will keep you posted. Thank you..."

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Email to Klaus Podoll, March 18, 2008)

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