Vision Going Weird in T

A few times in T I have found my vision losing focus and everything almost looking like a photograph negative and perspective changing in the room. It happened today when I made a disclosure that was really difficult (probably the most difficult disclosure I've ever made in T).
Physically my heart rate was high and I was shaking, but I can't understand the way my vision altered. Does anyone else experience this?

Could be that your aren't breathing properly, breathing really shallow. Could be your are so physically tensed up that your blood pressure changes and affects your vision. I have had this happen to. It helped to stop, do some deep breathing exercises, some full body relaxation exercises.

Thanks. I never thought of that.
I told T about my vision going weird (after the fact, not at the time) and he didn't really say much, he was mostly focused on why the panicky feelings happened. I guess I should ask him about breathing exercises, only I am too self-conscious to tell him what's going on physically till its over. I would probably be too self-conscious to do breathing exercises in front of him (not sure why that is)

Mine always clued in pretty quickly. They could see the tension and shallow breathing and were always very good at stopping and helping me get more grounded and relaxed. That was actually one of the reasons I think I was able to get beyond always dissociating or having panic attacks; they were really good at helping me be self-aware of things like that. It's worth discussing with your T. Good skills to learn and use regularly.

It might be a good topic of conversation for next week to find out what he did see when that was happening so we can talk about what he can do to stop me when it gets too much. He's an experienced T but he's still getting to know me in some ways so he might not know what to be on the lookout for yet. Thanks, these are interesting ideas that might help me to get further, and feel safer with T.

that happens to me a lot, Echos! Actually it used to happen more often in T but it has lessened some. I think it's just part of how we go into panic mode. The sympathetic nervous system can change your vision through blood vessel constriction/dilation and can affect your optic nerves too when it gets activated.

Yes. Everything becomes really bright. And I hear buzzing

It's part of dissociation for me. Either tiny details like the texture of the drape fabric are suddenly magnified intensely and take up.my whole vision field or everything gets super fuzzy

Jeez that would scare the crap out of me. Sounds horrible!

I wonder if it could be a type of migraine? I have started getting migraines (with no headache, but vision distortions and feeling totally wiped out) when severely stressed, and didn't know what was going on for ages. Took a while to figure it out! I think they are called ocular migraines, maybe read up on them?

I have a similar thing, and have recognized it as part of a panic attack after years of it happening and seeing a doctor about it. I, too, never tell my Ts when I'm freaking out in session. Sometimes they notice when if I'm really fidgety, but other times they have absolutely no idea.

Ditto. Dissociation symptom for me as well. Fuzzy & Bright. Can't focus. It's become a signal to tell her certain key words about my vision so that she knows and can help keep me present.

the only times that has happened to me is when I have disassociated due to the discussion of a very painful topic. T knew I was in pain and showed little emotion but I still answered question appropriately. She never realized I had disassociated. I didn't realize it happened until I walked out of her office and got in my car. It was like I woke up. So I contacted to figure out what happened. She said that itth sounded like I had disassociated and she wished I had told her in session so that we could work on it. I didn't say anything as I didn't know what was going on but it gave her a better idea what to look for.

Thanks everyone. It's interesting that it seems to be a symptom of dissociation, I will definitely raise it with him. That's how it feels - like losing my sense of the present, but I don't have a history of dissociation so I don't know what to look out for.

Google "Derealization"

I hope the information helps you.

Wishing you the best of luck and health.

Respectfully,
Xena

Thank you, that is a good idea.

It happened to me, too. It happened every single time I was in therapy, for the entire hour, for the last month or so. No, maybe more than a month. It started after I decided to fire my T but didn't have the courage to tell her so. I think in my case it was a sort of self-protection. If I couldn't see her properly I couldn't hurt.

Ive been seeing my T for a year and this happened for the first 11 months. I used to freak out before going in that sometimes I would need to step out the office to catch my breath. In the sessions I would feel like nothing was real until I got home and was drained from everything. It's normal !

Yes, I get similar, like a really weird shift where everything moves a bit to the right
Also, distances change and things look 2D, and colours are bright and hypnotic. I can't speak when I get like that and I feel like a right wally.
T says I dissociate, and this feeling above is, I think, what happens before I do, or when I come out of it. Yuk. Horrible feeling out of control.

Thanks, the brightness is definitely a feature of it for me, I messed around with some photo editing software on my phone and turning a photo's brightness to the top and the contrast right down was the closest thing I get to how things look for me. I don't think I've ever fully dissociated, but maybe I'm hovering round the edges of dissociation?

Yeah, dissociation... My vision gets hazy and 'unreal'. Like everything is far away. Sometimes I'll hear buzzing or simply not understand the words I'm hearing. And I usually don't realize it happened until a few hours later.
It happens a lot less with T than it did with previousT. He has always spotted it when it happened too, she never did. Makes a world of a difference when your T understands what's happening, even if they can't actually pull you out of it.

I get this too, only it's more like pain and an "out of it" feeling when I'm really emotional or have been crying.