I have a problem that is known as the silent migraine, in which there is no headache but there is migraine. It could last upto to an hour. The symptoms include visual disturbance usually in the right eye with bright flashes, various colors and hues ( it is not a floater which is different) and partial blindness in some visual field mostly the peripheral area. It is actually a wonderful sight when it is on except for the fact that it creates temporary blind areas in the visual field, so I cannot work during an episode. The frequency is quite variable usually happening once or twice an year and occasionally a burst of several episodes in a short span of time. The first time I had it , it scared the heck out of me and went rushing to the hospital as I was half blind, but it became allright after an hour and then repeated itself occasionally. Inspite of detailed examinations of the eye and scans of the brain no cause was found.
Today being a holiday I thought I would spend a lot of time palming and was palming for close to an hour and a half. I have not had visual auras in over six months but as soon as I finished my palming session I had the attack of visual auras and was nearly peripherally blinded by the aura for 45 minutes. I wonder if I had strained duing my palming( I never did it for such a long time at a time) that brought about such an episode? Could something of eye strain or mental strain be responsible for my auras? Did Dr.Bates ever discuss about auras in his book, as I dont recollect them. Does anyone else here have this ?
omg omg i think i might have the same thing but im not sure -- this is wot happens sometimes randomly i just start to blind completely all i see is something indescribable but i rarely have this. couple of times. is it somethin serious oris it too much strain?
I think the cause of migraines is unknown and it is believed to be related to the temporary spasm of blood vessels in the brain ( at the back of the head). Most people have severe headaches with many other symptoms such as fatigue, visual disturbances, nausea and vomiting, numbness and other neurological symptoms.
For me there is usually no headache, or sometimes there is mild headache.( I have it today). I experience many different colors and bright flashes that form some C or L shaped patterns. I almost always have visual loss in some area usually in the periphery and thus experience tunnel vision. I also experience excessive sweating ( even in A/C) and mild fatigue and also have a craving to eat sweets. It subsides in an hour after which some fatifue persists till I have the nights rest. I did not have them as a child but only for a few years.
This can be caused by neurological and brain disorders and must be screened for those possibilities. Otherwise it may be harmless but can be momentarily debilitating for eg if you get such an attack while driving. I almost always got them upon waking up from rest and today after palming. Makes me wonder if it is related to some kind of strain related to sleeping or resting? Dr.Bates does talk about how some people strain while they sleep because they stare when their eyes are closed. Palming can cause strain if done for long periods especially in highly myopic people. But if it works it can do wonders.
If you have these see a doctor to screen out serious possibilities.
Palming CANNOT cause strain if it is done right. You can't strain to see something if there is nothing to see.
However, it CAN cause serious strain if done wrong....i.e. straining to see an image that is in your imagination. As Ram said, I can see that it could happen when trying to palm for extremely long periods of time as you become more "bored". Go for quality, not quantity.
What where you doing besides covering your eyes? Did you feel your eyes being completely relaxed while you palmed? It could also be a reaction to light after you covered your eyes for a long time. In this case, try some sunning.
Paul
PS: I never get headaches, I sometimes get feeling of discomfort/pain in the back of my eyes. Those are usually relieved while I palm, and might not return depending how long and how well I palm
apavel Wrote:Palming CANNOT cause strain if it is done right. You can't strain to see something if there is nothing to see.
However, it CAN cause serious strain if done wrong....i.e. straining to see an image that is in your imagination. As Ram said, I can see that it could happen when trying to palm for extremely long periods of time as you become more "bored". Go for quality, not quantity.
What where you doing besides covering your eyes? Did you feel your eyes being completely relaxed while you palmed? It could also be a reaction to light after you covered your eyes for a long time. In this case, try some sunning.
Paul
PS: I never get headaches, I sometimes get feeling of discomfort/pain in the back of my eyes. Those are usually relieved while I palm, and might not return depending how long and how well I palm
I was not doing anything. I was not bored coz I was listening to pleasant music. Maybe I will avoid long time palming. But note that I have got them in the past much before I knew Bates so perhaps it was not related to palming and just a coincidence. I will make a note if these symptoms return after a palming session.
Palming usually helped me and caused slightly improved vision but occasionally caused more strain and more blurred vision. I dont know why the same thing causes different reactions at different times.
I had migraines with flashing lights, temporary partial blindness, memory, concentration impaired for many years.
I discovered that the following things cause migraines'
MSG in chinese food, potatoe chips, snacks, soups and many other food.
Check all food labels.
chocolate
aspartame and other artificial sweetners,
sulfites, nitrates in wine, bolona, hotdogs, processed, smoked meats, foods, some dried herbs, teas, snacks and other food.
Many herbs, teas sold in oriental markets contain these chemicals.
HRT - hormone pills, patches, creams can cause migraines.
Skin, lung contact with certain chemicals, paints cause migraines.
A disaligned vertabrae in the neck can cause migraines.
Chiropractic can help but choose a doctor carefully.
See warnings on http://www.cleareyesight.info.
The herb feverfew leaf can prevent and stop a migraine before or after it starts.
Some people experience muscle tension, and easy sprained muscles when on feverfew.
Others have no side effects.
Drug companies sell drugs for migraines.
The drugs cause heart damage and other serious health problems.
It is best to try feverfew when needed and, also eliminate the food, chemical... causing the migraine.
I am a pure vegetarian. I dont take processed food or food items like chips. Dont eat chocolates, cakes etc. Take natural food and lots of vegetables, fruits etc. I dont think anything I eat is harmful to me.
As you correctly said I have a bent vertebra at c5 which is a birth defect. It could be a cause of migraines but then I am having them only for a few years and not since birth. But I have neck pain from time to time and it may be a contributing factor in my visual defect. I go to a local massaging centre and have my neck massaged periodically which helps. I do neck exercises regularly but too much of it can cause problems with my bent vertebra. Incidentally I have a minor pinched nerve in the neck due to the bent C5 - this may also contribute to my vision defect and migraine.
I have to find out how to minimize neck issues otherwise it might intefere in my vision improvement campaign. After my yesterday's migraine attack my vision has come down a bit and can read only 6/200( it was 12/200 at best since I started). A lot of sitting and computer work is not good at all. If possible I will take an early retirement and then do part time consulting. I have been planning on this for a few years and it is getting time.
Quote:I was not doing anything. I was not bored coz I was listening to pleasant music. Maybe I will avoid long time palming. But note that I have got them in the past much before I knew Bates so perhaps it was not related to palming and just a coincidence. I will make a note if these symptoms return after a palming session.
Palming usually helped me and caused slightly improved vision but occasionally caused more strain and more blurred vision. I dont know why the same thing causes different reactions at different times.
You can't be doing "nothing". You were probably thinking about everyday things.
Read the palming section in the Bates book because there are special things that you must think about or imagine that bring you benefit from palming (i.e. imagination of the black period, black letters as well as practicing swinging, shifting, central fixation etc...). These things aren't just in the palming section, but they are all over his book. I remember him talking about a man who was asked to palm, and imagine two mountain tops. If he tries to see them both at once, he gets severe headaches, but when he focuses on one of them, and sees it better than the other (central fixation), his headache goes away.
His book can be found here:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.iblindness.org/books/bates/">http://www.iblindness.org/books/bates/</a><!-- m -->
Just keep in mind, the benefit from palming depends on what you do with your mind during that period of time. Simply covering your eyes is useless.
I do imagine the alphabets and the dots when I do smaller sessions. Mostly I do mental swinging and have not got them right yet. I did them for the first twenty minutes or so and after that just covered my eyes for a long time listening to the song to see if that was useful or not. Sometimes I lay on my bed switch off the lights, cover my face and like that for an hour or so. Most commonly I experience an improved vision after this lasting for a few minutes. So I cant be doing palming incorrectly everytime. But Dr.Bates himself states that high myopes sometines do not find palming useful due to the inability to see black and may need to improve their vision through other methods before palming will be useful for them. I use shifting more than all other methods at this time because it is possibly the easiest to do and the instructions are pretty clear for that.
Palming has the possibility of increasing intraocular pressure - I have high intraocular pressure and am speaking from my own
experience. Please take this into account before doing marathon palming sessions. google for "palming + intraocular pressure".
Is the C5 vertabrae bent = the bone itself or; is it tilted, or is it pulled out of alignment to the left or right side?
If it is only tilted or pulled out, maybe doctors, chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapists can straighten it and remove pressure from the nerves.
Is the cartilage impaired?
You do not want a inexperienced doctor to goof up the cartilage.
I have a friend that has extreme neck muscle tension and disaligned vertabrae with other complications.
Doctor wants to operate but says possiblity of stroke, becoming crippled...
Doctor keeps advising a chiropractor but that has chance of accidents, more problems although if done right it can cure blindness and other vision/health problems.
Have you tried strengthening the neck, upper body muscles with a bicycle machine for the hands/arms?
You pedal forward and backward with the hands while keeping correct posture and its strengthens and relaxes the neck, shoulder, arm muscles.
When the muscles are strong and relaxed, neck vertabrae stay aligned when lifting.
Also using a large rubber cord to do exercises to strengthen muscles and improve posture helps.
I will be placing diagrams, instructions for these and more physical therapy on cleareyesight.info in future.
A physical therapist and other movement exercises can help improve many problems that dishonest chiropractors wont tell you about.
Improving balance, movement can bring instant improvement of vision.
Have you tried tai chi, qi gong?
I have trouble with C4 going out to the right side a bit. Due to accident.
It affects my ear tubes.
I maintain it in alignment myself now.
C1, 2, 3 are the vertabrae that are directly connected with vision.
Lower vertabrae can affect vision if problem is pronounced.
The bone itself is bent. I had episodes of neck pain when I was around fourteen ( the same time I start wearing glasses so the initial connection is obvious) and an Xray revealed that C5 was abnormal. It was difficult to identify a cause at that age for a bone deformity other than some birth related defect. But I do rememebr a fall from a height of about 6 feet at the age of ten and that might be responsible. I had experienced a week long back pain after that fall and since it went away I never went to a doctor at that age so I dont know if the problem is related to the fall or existed even before it.
Any tampering of the neck is not good amd I dont want any alignments to be done there. Chiropractors can often cause more problems than the original one. I do upper body strength exercises but not much. I do pushups, bench presses and also dumbbells moderately. I have not tried rubber cords or bicycle machines. I also had a neck injury( and also tore my pectoral muscle) while squatting with a huge weight in the gym. This was in 1991 and it took two months to heal and from that point neck has never been normal.
I have recovered from the temporary loss of vision and today was reading 11/200 - and had occasional flashes of 15/200 during the 20 minute session when I just kept looking at a blank wall and shifting gently on the wall. I did not find any benefit from wall gazing earlier on but recently it is one of my favourite routines.
Palming has the possibility of increasing intraocular pressure - I have high intraocular pressure and am speaking from my own
experience. Please take this into account before doing marathon palming sessions. google for "palming + intraocular pressure".
Regards,
- Gary.
Well I did not get a single hit on this search. Maybe u could give a specific link?
As a sidenote, I dont see how closing one's eyes would increase intraocular pressure. Palming is just an improved form of closing the eyes where even the moderate light stimulus of the closed eyes is eliminated. Bates was very specific that palms must not cause pressure on the eye balls which can cause an increased pressure. So palming at its worst is like closing eyes or sleeping and cant do anymore harm that either of these. Yes, if your eye feels tired or sore after sleeping then you are straining while sleeping. You can strain in a similar way in palming but on no account palming will be worse than sleeping. I tend to have bad vision after sleep time - and unless I sleep in a dark room I wake up with very tired and hazy eyes. If I sleep in dark I feel OK.
Palming has the possibility of increasing intraocular pressure - I have high intraocular pressure and am speaking from my own
experience. Please take this into account before doing marathon palming sessions. google for "palming + intraocular pressure".
Regards,
- Gary.
Ram is right about the palms not being supposed to touch the eyeballs or put pressure on them. Also, when starting out with palming, I find that a lot of times it feels like intraocular pressure has been increased, but after a day or so, it will suddenly reverse itself and the eyeball will start feeling much more relaxed. Same goes for suddenly starting going for walks on a bright day, my eyes look achy and tired at first at the end of the walk. But after getting accustomed to those walks in subsequent days, the walks actually make my eyes look brighter and more energetic. Palming may just take accustoming at first. It would be a good idea not to do marathon palming sessions until you have become accustomed when starting out.
