SUBJECT>Visual Symptoms Described
POSTER>Matt
EMAIL>
DATE>Tuesday, 25 January 2000, at 10:55 p.m.
Static vision, for me, is the appearance of small squiggly points of light that seem to move around my field of vision. It is only noticeable in a bright environment, especially when there is a lot of sunlight.
Apparently this is a normal phenomenon, I can't remember the name, but apprently it is just white blood cells moving around in the retina.
The thing is, I never noticed it before. I guess LSD does make you aware of new visual phenomenon, though not neccessarily in a good way.
Trails are when you look at an object (especially lights- fluorescent, headlights, traffic lights, LED displays, etc.) and then turn your head away. A light trail will form and linger for a couple of moments.
It doesn't sound bad in theory, but it is very distracting. In severe cases, even normal objects that don't give off light can produce trails. Try using your computer screen as a test, especially with the lights off.
Afterimages are when you look at an object for a few seconds, then shut your eyes. You will see an image of the object you were looking at.
In my case, I have negative afterimages. Dark objects look white when I shut my eyes or turn away, and vice versa.
Pre/post-sleep hallucinations are not as scary as they sound. For me it is post-sleep. Just before waking (sometimes, not always), when I open my eyes, I will experience weird hallucination-type things (don't know how tto describe it any better than that).
I'll open my eyes, and for a few seconds, objects around my bedroom will morph into people, animals, weird ojects.
As I said, this isn't really frughtening, although it does jolt you awake in a hurry.
Some people also experience brief sleep paralysis, although again, this is not dangerous, and only lasts for a few seconds.
If you have one or more of these visual syptoms, you may have HPPD (Hallucinogen Perception Persisting Disorder). Technically, if you don't hallucinate, you don't have HPPD. But it is generally accepted that these visual symptoms, even if hallucinations don't manifest, constitute HPPD.
People with HPPD almost always have mild-severe DP. HPPD is almost always drug-induced (LSD especially, but also MDMA, psylocibin, marijuana, etc.)
People with non-drug induced DP are much less likely to have HPPD than people whose DP symptoms are drug-induced. For more information about HPPD, check out www.hppd.cjb.net
It's the only site I know of that deals with HPPD in-depth.
People with DP, HPPD, and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) share many common symptoms. In fact, the only real difference seems to lie in the cause of the disorders.
That's why I'm interested in PTSD research in addition to DP and HPPD.