Scrutable

Although this hap't months & months ago, I thought you might yet find it interesting.
Usual caveats; I'm not after medical advice, wun't take it anyway but if it's a known thing, then let's give it a name.

I went down to my mum's for a cup of tea: usual thing, she's 90+, on her own, I drop in a couple of times a week, brother does the same, sister also. I'd been doing something, can't remember what, that involved much extended concentration but was now all wrapped up and just wanted to get down there make the tea, sit on the sofa, collect m'thoughts, have a quiet moment. (Which is what we do, once we've covered the traffic on the high street, the trees in leaf and the weather, that's about it, not much more to talk about; optimum time of visit: on hour.)

This particular time however m'brother's girlfriend was round. She's very chatty. The local sports centre was mentioned, I said I had always thought it a shame that, the site on which it was built on had not been restored to the lake that used to be there to give a wide open amenity space with easy access from the shopping centre but it was swimming this and swimming that and walking up there and exercise and always done swimming since younger days and...

And I mentioned having to go to Bracklesham Bay and it was beach here beach there swimming this walking that did I ever, have I been to...

No I just sat on the beach and read some of the Thomas Hardy short stories and counted the waves and it was Tess this and Jude that and Dickens here and Thackerey there and have you read and did you like...

And all I wanted to do was to sit on the sofa and have a quiet moment to collect m'thoughts.

Now. I don't suffer from stress, let me say that to start. I live work and play on m'own and I take most things as they come. But just at that moment, this was all too much. Something triggered in m'head, I don't remember if I could still hear her going on but my vision flipped: I completely lost all peripheral vision (including her, who was sat beside me but at an angle) and all I was looking at was a perfect circle within which was the far side of the room - foot-stool, fire-place, vase of flowers - all normal size and nothing else. I don't remember if the surrounding vision (where my peripheral vision should have been) was dark or light or black or white, but that was it. I think it only lasted a couple of seconds and my vision was back to normal.

I've stressed that what I saw was normally sized because it wasn't tunnel vision (as I understand it) which would be like looking down the wrong end of a pair of binoculars - seeing everything that you normally would but very small and far away; and it wasn't, either, a 'hawk' vision, where by everything else was normally sized but the centre section was magnified: it was like looking down the centre of a small cardboard tube (smaller than a kitchen roll tube, I just tried that to see and it was smaller than that)

So I just wondered if anyone knew anything about it, whether it is a latent evolutionary trait that we've forgotten is there, or whether (with or without certain pharmaceuticals) people are able to access it at will, or anything else.

Tell me what you think.
Happy days
TB

Sounds like what some people who get migraines describe.

If you're noticing peripheral vision loss, it's probably a good idea to get your eyes tested for glaucoma.

Yes, it does sound a bit like some of the visual phenomena that Oliver Sacks mentioned in his work on migraine. Stress can definitely be a factor for that. And migraine doesn't always cause the debilitating headache, I've had a scotoma that didn't go on to cause any pain.

One thing that it's worth doing if you are aware of anything like this is to cover one eye and then the other to see if the effect is specific or general.

I occasionally get a scintillating scotoma, and this is caused by a transient neurological effect in the brain, as such it is visible whichever eye is closed.

Earlier this year, I had a combination of flashes and short lived blacked out areas in the edges of the field of view - but by covering up each eye in turn, it was clear that it only affected my left eye.

A quick trip to the local specialist eye hospital gave a diagnosis of vitreous detachment - when the clear gel that fills the eye thickens and shrinks and can pull away from the retina.

Fortunately, neither is a particular cause for concern, though it would be worth getting your eyes checked regularly. NHS eye examinations will give an early notification of any problems - I was diagnosed with high Ocular Pressure about 10 years ago, but this is now very easily managed with eyedrops to reduce the likelihood of developing Glaucoma in due course.
I know someone who "hadn't needed to go" to the opticians for years, until the arm of her spectacles broke, as she was there, she agreed to have an eye test that diagnosed a relatively advanced Macular Degeneration, that could well have been slowed if diagnosed earlier.

I get that occasionally under stress. It is usually a precursor for a migraine attack and I will immediately take strong painkillers, as my migraines always start with visual disturbances.

If weird things happened to my vision, I'd go get it checked, even if it was temporary. And as gfamily says, you should be doing it regularly anyway.

Something similar used to happen to me occasionally. My outer vision would start swimming and swirling around, and the area affected would slowly expand until I could only see a pinpoint directly in front of me. It was fairly sporadic - only happening once or twice a year and would pass after about half an hour.

Some googling led me to the NHS page on Retinal Migraine and I'm pretty certain this is what it was. It's not happened for a few years now.

Thanks all for the replies.
I will keep the medical advice in mind, I know it is well intentioned and I know that, from here, it is likely to be sound but that's where it ends.
I've got to say though, I'm a little disappointed.
Whilst I was reasonably sure I was not on to anything that would redefine what it means to be human; I washoping for some psychological insight, of some sort, regarding entering trance-like states as a defensive mechanism in times of stress.
It was just two seconds, and then it was gone. Most curious. I wonder if it happened to any of the old writers and influenced their writing in any way. I suppose it may well have done but next to and combined with the effects of all that laud'num, who would have ever noticed?!
Curiouser & curiouser!
Happy Days and thanks again,
TB.

The closest I could think of would be derealisation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization

Stephanie wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:19 pm The closest I could think of would be derealisation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization

I think that's a good suggestion. The wiki even mentions experiencing a "dolly zoom" effect, which is similar to tunnel vision. And it's pretty common without other pathologies.

Bird on a Fire wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 5:18 pm

Stephanie wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:19 pm The closest I could think of would be derealisation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization

I think that's a good suggestion. The wiki even mentions experiencing a "dolly zoom" effect, which is similar to tunnel vision. And it's pretty common without other pathologies.

Yeah, I figured if not, then there might be links to follow that get closer to what tenchboy was experiencing.

I've had tunnel vision on a few different occasions, it looks to me a bit like the circle at the middle of my visual field is clear but the distance I percieve is variable, the rest of my field of vision is a bit like a kaleidoscope*. It's happened when I've been oxygen deprived during hospitalisations** and when I've been in autistic meltdown. I reckon it is a stress response and I'd definitely get my blood pressure checked if it were me.

* Love that word. Good woody word that.

** Respiratory acidosis. Another lovely phrase that just tumbles from the tongue.

Stephanie wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:19 pm The closest I could think of would be derealisation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization

Thanks S, lots to choose from there (I'm just going through the pick n mix at the end), but I don't think that's it (if I've understood it correctly) as I neither left myself nor the room (so to speak) to enter any state of self observation.

nezumi wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 7:27 pm I've had tunnel vision on a few different occasions, it looks to me a bit like the circle at the middle of my visual field is clear but the distance I percieve is variable, the rest of my field of vision is a bit like a kaleidoscope*. It's happened when I've been oxygen deprived during hospitalisations** and when I've been in autistic meltdown. I reckon it is a stress response and I'd definitely get my blood pressure checked if it were me.

* Love that word. Good woody word that.

** Respiratory acidosis. Another lovely phrase that just tumbles from the tongue.

And thanks nezumi too, yep t'were a bit kalaidoscopy (and possibly a bit meltdowny but in an ultra calm sort of way - a sort of mental nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn)
Blood pressure's fine. It just is
Trouble is it didn't really last long eough to take notes. It was more a hello,-this-is-interesting,-oh,-it's-gone sort of moment.

It's an interesting effect you describe and it made me think of reading stuff about how what we "see" is largely constructed in the brain, built up over time rather than just using the more limited raw data we're currently getting from our eyes, and that peripheral vision is really much less detailed than we suppose. Just made me wonder if the effect is due to that processing of information closing down briefly and just leaving you with what your eyes currently see.

But then I don't even have a biology O-grade so <shrug> probably nothing like so simple.