Ever present film grain effect, normal for everyone? Normal with autism? Something else?

[PTZ]

I remember in elementary school often wondering if other people see this same 'film grain' visual effect, but I never had the words for it and didn't know how to ask. I had completely forgotten about this until it just now hit again as I've been going over my symptoms and effects and preparing to go for a diagnosis. Is this just a normal part of sight or is this maybe related to autism? Similarly I've had tinnitus for as long as I remember, and as a kid wondered about this too, but at least with this I learned about tinnitus as a teen and then later on that some people are actually born with it. But now I wonder if this is more prevalent in autists?

 

[SusanLR]

From what I've seen written about it here on the forums, it seems to be a curious
thing that many have talked about.
I haven't read any articles about it being more prevalent in autists, but I had it
also.

Around age 13 the visual snow, as it is called, started.
Also, I saw blue halos at night around certain lights. Streetlights in particular.
I went to an eye doctor and told him it looked like an old tv with grainy pictures.
He had never heard of such a thing and had no idea what would cause the blue halos. He couldn't find anything wrong with my eyes. This was over 50 years ago.
Now it is a known phenomenon with a name.

Tinnitus is fairly common and can be caused by many things.
Ear problems and even anxiety can make it worse.
The doctors used to say it was from little hairs in the inner ear.
Now they are saying you don't hear it in your ears at all.
It is something in the brain that makes it sound as though it is in your ears.

The visual snow and blue halos went away in a few years. Never came back.
The tinnitus never stopped and does get worse with anxiety along with
sensory issues of normal sound being too loud.

 

[Luca]

Hi! I have the same problem but it improves (but doesn’t go away) when I wear glasses. The culprit was apparently astigmatism.

I had no idea that I didn’t have 20/20 vision until I had an eye exam and they basically told me that my vision is terrible.

Without glasses, everything looks grainy and blurry to me. Especially in the dark.
Astigmatism can also cause “starburst” effects on streetlights and car headlights, even with glasses. I don’t like driving at night for this reason.

Do you wear glasses? Even if you think your vision is fine, it might not be. I was shocked that I needed glasses.

This might not be helpful at all, and sorry if it isn’t, I just wanted to offer it as a suggestion just in case!

@SusanLR What’s the phenomenon with the halos called? I’m wondering if there’s an alternate explanation for why I see starbursts around lights…

 

[PTZ]

Thanks @SusanLR that's exactly the phenomena, cool to see that it's scientific description is so recent! If I had been able to ask about it as a child I probably wouldn't have asked here so I would never have found out!

And @Luca no I don't have glasses and my vision is just the same as it's ever been, so normal healthy vision as tested in childhood. I see a starburst effect on bright lights too, I think they're beautiful. Neither of these visual effects bother me, I just always found it odd that no-one ever talked about or even mentioned in passing this thing that was such an obvious part of my experience, so combined with the general problems with socialising I just felt really odd about it.

The tinnitus though is really annoying sometimes

 

[PTZ]

So, with a bit of scouring scientific publications, Visual Snow and Tinnitus are somewhat linked and have a degree of co-occurrence and Tinnitus has a higher prevalence in autistic persons. Then again, everything in the brain is connected to everything, but I think there's something here of real value.

 

[Richelle-H]

I have had both tinnitus and snow for as long as I can remember. It is still the same, even after I started wearing glasses. My tinnitus also consists of more than one high-pitched tone and doesn't that play hob with hearing tests. Even now, with hearing aids more or less mandatory, it persists. However, it has been around for so long I can ignore it completely for days at a time. The same goes for the TV snow effect and that was there in my young adult years when I had 20/10 vision.

Never complained about either to anyone and I still keep it to myself, mainly because I accept it as normal for me.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I remember in elementary school often wondering if other people see this same 'film grain' visual effect, but I never had the words for it and didn't know how to ask. I had completely forgotten about this until it just now hit again as I've been going over my symptoms and effects and preparing to go for a diagnosis. Is this just a normal part of sight or is this maybe related to autism? Similarly I've had tinnitus for as long as I remember, and as a kid wondered about this too, but at least with this I learned about tinnitus as a teen and then later on that some people are actually born with it. But now I wonder if this is more prevalent in autists?

It's called "Visual Snow Syndrome". A significant percentage of autistics have this,...I believe around 30-40%. It is also associated with concurrent tinnitus. Right now, within the context of autism, it is believed to be a form of a thalamocortical dysrhythmia. 10 years ago, there was almost no literature on the topic, 5 years ago it gained some attention, and within the past 2 years, there is a significant amount of literature on the topic.

 

[Ms Muffinz]

I googled visual snow and got this meme.
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[Neonatal RRT]

I googled visual snow and got this meme.
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View attachment 89620

Well, now it explains why I haven't been able to see the "mother ship" in order for it to pick me up off of this foreign planet.

 

[MildredHubble]

Huh! I had no idea that this "film grain" thing wasn't normal until just now. Well normal as in not what it appears most people see.

I definitely have this film grain thing going on too. I just assumed everyone shared this. Seeing film grain on DVDs just made me feel like the visual fidelity was really good so it was apparent in the movie.

Hmmm, this is interesting! It gets worse for me with migraines, I think the term is "phosphenes" it's like a swarm of multicoloured mosquitoes that I see. A bit like the film grains have lights attached.

One movie that I have always thought perfectly captured the "grain" effect is Star Trek First Contact. If you watch a good copy of that, that's basically what I see.

It seems I learn something new on here every day!

 

[Azul]

I've had a few of these a few times, mostly in he last four years. My doctor described them as visual migraine.

I've seen the one that looks like a floating, zigzaging hair / halo effect and white snow like detritus floating in the air. Never had them before. They're probably due to stress.

The film grain thing I only notice sometimes. I also have tinnitus, but the sound and the grain only apear if I pay attention to them. They're more noticeable depending on the situation. At night, if my ears "clog" despite me cleaning them, in deep silence. Or in certain lights of the day.

I remember a very bright day in a rural setting when the sky seemed grained, and then I freaked out, since I've never noticed it that strongly. But it passes or is conditioned to the ambient light. The grain thing is more noticeable at night too. I'm not sure of this but I think I always noticed that night's blackness had 'irregularities' in its texture.

 

[MildredHubble]

I've had a few of these a few times, mostly in he last four years. My doctor described them as visual migraine.

I've seen the one that looks like a floating, zigzaging hair / halo effect and white snow like detritus floating in the air. Never had them before. They're probably due to stress.

The film grain thing I only notice sometimes. I also have tinnitus, but the sound and the grain only apear if I pay attention to them. They're more noticeable depending on the situation. At night, if my ears "clog" despite me cleaning them, in deep silence. Or in certain lights of the day.

I remember a very bright day in a rural setting when the sky seemed grained, and then I freaked out, since I've never noticed it that strongly. But it passes or is conditioned to the ambient light. The grain thing is more noticeable at night too. I'm not sure of this but I think I always noticed that night's blackness had 'irregularities' in its texture.

I recently found out that the visual migraine is called Scintillating Scotoma. It started happening an awful lot to me and was also accompanied by suddenly everything seeming extremely over stimulating. Like everything suddenly felt novel and attention grabbing and it was rather unpleasant.

When I started seeing the bright zig zag thing it freaked me out as all of the weird experience along with that made me worry I was having a stroke or something. It of course would have been nice if the doctors had said to me "oh hey, that's just scintillating scotoma, don't worry!" But instead they just smirked at me. Rather typical treatment from the NHS these days sadly!

Another thing that worried me was that after one of these attacks, I would have real bad problems remembering words or suddenly couldn't remember entire counties existing. Rather worrying when you don't know what is going on!

 

[Azul]

I recently found out that the visual migraine is called Scintillating Scotoma. It started happening an awful lot to me and was also accompanied by suddenly everything seeming extremely over stimulating. Like everything suddenly felt novel and attention grabbing and it was rather unpleasant.

When I started seeing the bright zig zag thing it freaked me out as all of the weird experience along with that made me worry I was having a stroke or something. It of course would have been nice if the doctors had said to me "oh hey, that's just scintillating scotoma, don't worry!" But instead they just smirked at me. Rather typical treatment from the NHS these days sadly!

Another thing that worried me was that after one of these attacks, I would have real bad problems remembering words or suddenly couldn't remember entire counties existing. Rather worrying when you don't know what is going on!

I was super scared too. I thought that I was going blind.

I don't remember the sensation, but I also felt "dumber" or weary after it.

 

[MildredHubble]

I was super scared too. I thought that I was going blind.

I don't remember the sensation, but I also felt "dumber" or weary after it.

I think you put it perfectly into a nutshell! I certainly felt dumber and often do after these attacks. Though I have become better at recognising them these days!

I almost forgot the lack of vision too! I also thought perhaps I wouldn't see properly again, in fact for a week after I had this void in my vision where I couldn't recognise objects a lot of the time but could in my peripheral vision. A very weird and unpleasant situation.

I hope you don't get them too often!

 

[Azul]

I think you put it perfectly into a nutshell! I certainly felt dumber and often do after these attacks. Though I have become better at recognising them these days!

I almost forgot the lack of vision too! I also thought perhaps I wouldn't see properly again, in fact for a week after I had this void in my vision where I couldn't recognise objects a lot of the time but could in my peripheral vision. A very weird and unpleasant situation.

I hope you don't get them too often!

No, not too often, thankfully!

 

[Fino]

A medication gave it to me and it didn't go away when the medication went away.

 

[Au Naturel]

Thanks @SusanLR that's exactly the phenomena, cool to see that it's scientific description is so recent! If I had been able to ask about it as a child I probably wouldn't have asked here so I would never have found out!

And @Luca no I don't have glasses and my vision is just the same as it's ever been, so normal healthy vision as tested in childhood. I see a starburst effect on bright lights too, I think they're beautiful. Neither of these visual effects bother me, I just always found it odd that no-one ever talked about or even mentioned in passing this thing that was such an obvious part of my experience, so combined with the general problems with socialising I just felt really odd about it.

The tinnitus though is really annoying sometimes

A lot of people suffer from tinnitus. I wouldn't associate it with autism. I associate a glow or starburst effect around bright lights with cataracts.

I have very mild cataracts that I don't notice unless there's a very bright light in a very dark place. If I didn't mention it they'd never have noticed it in exam. They can become a problem when you age but cataract surgery is routine these days. Wife has had both eyes done for a couple of years now, and she loves her new vision. Now she is safe to drive at night again. (I made her stop driving because she couldn't read street signs at night.)

 

[Slime_Punk]

I used to see a lot of visual noise, trail-like stuff and even really trippy versions of both in the dark where everything would kind of turn pink and green in a slowly-oscillating fashion - not a hallucination so much as something really going haywire with my eyes when they adjusted to the darkness, or when it was too dark.

Over the years, all of this has slowly gone away and I have no explanation for any of it. I've never needed glasses (knock on wood), although my vision could be terrible and I'd probably have no idea. Maybe that's why the 'pink and green dots' of my childhood can't be seen anymore.

 

[SusanLR]

I had cataract surgery two years ago and the reverse happened with me.
The halos and starbursts didn't start until after the cataract lens implants.
They are so big around the lights at night it is hard to drive.
Doctors don't know what to do for them. Some people this just happens to
after the implants they say.

I've had astigmatism all my life and wore glasses.
The new implants were supposed to take away the astigmatism and I was told
my vision would be much better.
It was worse. I needed stronger glasses. My nearsightedness is worse.
And now the halos and starbursts are too much.
They can't take them out, so I have to live with it.

I get those ocular migraines too.
More so when too much stressed. Mine looks like a zig-zag bright silver thing that
moves slowly across my eyes. When it hits the middle of my vision, I can't see.
I thought I was having a stroke the first time I had one.
Shopping in a store with my Dad, I told him what was happening.
He had me to sit down and ask me to describe exactly what it was like.
He told me he had gotten many of them in his life and the doctors said they won't
hurt you. It passed just as he said it would.

@MildredHubble thanks for the new word. Scintillating scotoma. No one ever called it that!

 

[MildredHubble]

This is essentially what I see with scintillating scotoma...

I spoke to a doctor, and I expressed how concerned I was as I had never gotten this sort of thing since I was 14 and was attacked in the school playground and had a serious head injury.

This phenomenon was the precursor to me completely loosing my connection to reality, short term memory, consciousness and spending the best part of 24hrs in intensive care. They were taking about drilling holes in my head. So my frame of reference quite reasonably made me concerned.

Now you'd think that they would have explained that it was nothing to worry about really but they didn't. Instead they behaved like I was making it up or something :-(