Warped and Zooming Vision After Walking?

[[To...]]

So I went for a walk today for about 20 minutes, didn't want to sit around the house for to long, but I usually notice when I stop and stare at something after walking, the object appears to warp and zoom out a little. Does anyone else have this? I have actually have had this for a while. I assume it is Benzo related but it just seems more noticeable now.

[[me...]]

So I went for a walk today for about 20 minutes, didn't want to sit around the house for to long, but I usually notice when I stop and stare at something after walking, the object appears to warp and zoom out a little. Does anyone else have this? I have actually have had this for a while. I assume it is Benzo related but it just seems more noticeable now.

 

Oh yes, seeing part of my field of vision, such as a lawn, "crawling" for a second was one of my symptoms.  Also the feeling of seeing "something" in the corner of my eye, that wasn't really there when I  tried to find it.  Visual distortions of all kinds.  I had these, and countless other visual symptoms, but they all went away by the time I was about 6-7 months off.  This is from The Ashton Manual:

 

Hallucinations, illusions, perceptual distortions. The benzodiazepine withdrawal symptom that raises most fear of going mad is hallucination. Terrifying hallucinations have occurred in people undergoing rapid or abrupt withdrawal from high doses, but the reader can be reassured that they are exceedingly rare with slow dosage tapering as outlined in Chapter II. If hallucinations occur, they are usually visual - patients have described hallucinations of a large bat sitting on the shoulder, or the appearance of horns sprouting from a human head - but auditory, olfactory and tactile hallucinations can also occur. Somewhat less frightening are hallucinations of small creatures, usually insects, which may be associated with the sensations of insects crawling on the skin (similar hallucinations occur in cocaine and amphetamine withdrawal). Sometimes hallucinations merge with illusions and misperceptions. For example, a coat hanging on the door may give the illusion of being a person. Floors apparently tilting and walls that seem to slope inwards are perceptual distortions.

 

The mechanisms of these bizarre symptoms are probably similar to those which cause delirium tremens (hallucinations, classically of pink elephants or rats, in the "DTs" of alcohol withdrawal). As mentioned in Chapter I, benzodiazepines cause profound perturbations throughout the brain, and abrupt withdrawal may be accompanied by uncontrolled release of dopamine, serotonin and other neurotransmitters which cause hallucinations in psychotic disorders as well as in alcohol withdrawal and cocaine, amphetamine and LSD abuse.

 

Once the hallucinations, which seem real at the time, are recognised as "merely" hallucinations, they quickly become less alarming. They do not herald the onset of madness; they are simply instances of benzodiazepines playing tricks on the brain which will right itself in time. A good mentor can usually reassure and "talk down" a person suffering from benzodiazepine withdrawal-induced hallucinations. In any case they should not worry anyone undergoing slow withdrawal.

 

[[ea...]]

I had this one badly and it lasted a couple months. A few weeks ago, it returned briefly...I looked at one of my striped towels, and the pattern seemed raised (to the point of looking like 1 inch deep stripes!) This scared me for a minute, then I remembered everything I had read here and realized that an old symptom had come back to pay a call. The distortion went away rapidly.

When it happens, tell yourself firmly that the distortions you're seeing are just that: distortions. You have not lost your mind. You are in withdrawal, and its a well known symptom.

east

[[To...]]

Thank you Megan and East.   Yes I read that on the manual a while ago, so that is reassuring. I guess I might go to a neurologist or something in the future just to be sure, cant hurt to get something checked out.

 

It is weird it happens only when I walk or commit to exercise. Probably effecting the Vestibular System I would imagine.