My first post! Techniques and tips

Welcome
Hey everyone! :D ... Ok, now I’ve visited a large number of other sites on eye spots and floaters. They all seem to be quite grim, very medical and not very personal or supportive.

Truth is, there seems to be a lot of technical data on the subject, but wheres the solutions?? Where is the love??? Thats what I was left asking!

Paul's Background Info
I thought I would create my own site, I’m a 26 year old guy who has had “spots and floaters” since I was about 14 – truth is that they didn’t really bother me much until I had a pretty chaotic year last, and towards the end I was really noticing them more and more. So much so that I booked the an appointments at the opthamoligsts just to make sure everything was alright as the spots and floaters seemed more intense. The checkup from their point of view was fine and I got a few great lines that were supposed to make me feel better when I was told there wasn’t a lot that could be done. “Even today I’ve seen people with a lot worse that you have” ... "Theres nothing that can be done, you'll get used to it" ....

Hmmmm, well seems it wasn’t that easy! … They just kept annoyting the hell out of me, my left eye has this kind of dark spot, and its quite hard to “not worry about it”. My left eye also includes numerous other clear dots, strands, cacti haha, you name it I think its in my left eye. My rights not as bad but it does have the largest thread ... during really bright lights all are visable, but at night time its not toooo noticable … but not un-noticable. Lucky me!

Anyhow I thought well, since I can’t wait for some kind of operation, or some kind of special cure – I started to think what other things I could do to make it not bother me!

I know that one day there will probably be a 20 min procedure which clears out these annoying eye bits and pieces, and when they do I’m going to be first in line, but until that moment it would be a real waste to let life past me\us by!

One thing I can suggest, and its not just in relation to spots and floaters - any problem that you are dealing with in your life. Try and iron out the other creases in your life – which I think means, sort out the other aspects of you life that you do have control over, as it can be quite a balancing act. You can give yourself a lot more flexability and stamina if you are not fretting about other life aspects as well as this, easier said than done I know, but give it a whirl!

I'm not sure about your story, but for me - it was a bit confusing as I had had the spots and floaters for a while and I had "got used to it" but then I suddenly "got un-used to it".
To put it in an example, I think it’s a bit like driving a car with automatic transmission – when life is going great, your body and mind and able to cope with a lot more, you can take on more responsibilities and to a certain extent more pain, but when you get enough pain, or responsibitlites – your mind\body almost say “whoa, I can’t do this automatically anymore, you need to sort out some of these big problems, and then we will get back to automatic mode – but for the mean time – this babys going to be using manual transmissions. Hence then you notice the spots and floaters a lot more, they are no longer being filtered out automatically by your brain, hmmm doesn’t sound like too much fun! And I’d know!

Alright that’s the explanation – already – here and some techniques I’ve figured out – you may need to select the one that works for your situation – and if other people have other explanations or techniques that could help everyone – then please email me and I’ll put them up with the authors name! :D

Techniques

“Shields, Acknowledge, Relax”
This is a phrase I’ve been working on, its something that you can do to make you feel like you are in control, rather than the other way around. I think of being a person a bit like being the captain of a ship, you are in command of the ship, but its individual tasks are not done by you.
Sometime I’ve tried to ignore the spots\floaters, doesn’t really work – it’s a bit like walking down the street and trying to ignore someone that you could say hello to, its an awkward feeling and you’d feel much better if you went for a wave even If they didn’t see you. So that’s why its quite important to acknowledge the floaters, hello! Hi, or acknowledge!

The shield and relax part, come in to play – because saying shields, I’m not sure why – but when ever I say that to myself, its like having some extra armour – not to suggest that what I am about to observer is dangerous, but just to say – heres a bit of extra comfort. And relax is an important part also, the relax part comes after you have put up some shields, you’ve acknowledged the spot\floater – then you can say relax – I find this valuable because sometimes I get myself in a loop – rather than then focusing\wasting energy on other worrying\ or thinking of alternate solutions, it reminds you that the objective is to be relaxed, where-ever possible. In the simple respect that it will make you feel better! And that’s what we are trying to achieve here.

"The cramp reflex"
I had this thought the other day, its a bit like when you get cramp - when you feel it coming on, what happens if you tense up ... thats right the pain radically gets worse and you could find yourself in quite a bit of pain. Its strange though isn't it, because when cramp pain starts to creep in, the last thing you want to do is relax - but yet thats exactly what you need to do.
So as soon as you notice the spots\floaters - its the hardest thing in the world to do, but at that moment you need to try and hard as you can to relax. One huge point to say is that its important to be as kind to yourself as possible, try and relax and if you can't then its alright. Treat yourself to something nice, reward yourself when you can relax and at the times you can then go easy on yourself.

“The Oscar Speech”
This is a technique that I use quite alot.
When you know all the other techniques, when you know that’s theres no danger involved, but maybe you just wake up in the morning and you have a hard time dealing with it, maybe your just feeling a but lousy and its making it a bit harder to just try and relax, then try this:

You know how at big speeches they seem to thank every person for every single thing, what I do sometimes is (a great place to do this is in the shower) – Thank yourself, for all your efforts dealing with this problem, thank yourself for being so patient, for putting up with this, dealing with something others may not understand, flood yourself with praise – this works a bit like if you were going into your bosses office to give him/her a piece of your mind, and before you start talking they say they have been meaning to thank you for all your hard work and efforts, bit hard to say anything in return!

Things to try to enhance your ability to cope

“Make sure the relaxation well is full”
Sometimes when you want to relax on cue – it can be harder than other times –that’s why sometimes it can be beneficial to have some already in your system, what do I mean. If you can set aside ten minutes a day for relaxation, or twenty if you did it twice daily, I’ve noticed it really helps my ability to cope during the day. The process is quite simple, sit somewhere quiet – and for ten minutes, focus on either your breathing – a word or phrase. If thoughts come to your mind, then simply acknowledge them, and let them pass (sounds familiar). If you can do this with thoughts during relaxation, then the better you will get at doing the same with the floaters – woohoo! Another piece of the puzzle!

“Don't loose hope”
Sometimes I can feel a bit bogged down with this, thinking well there must be a better solution, I mean why do I have to put up with all this management, when getting rid of the problem would solve everything! Well I couldn’t agree more, and when there is an easy solution then I’ll be first in-line. Who knows maybe this website could stir up some activity in the medical field, I’m not sure – but I know that soon enough – either I will get so get at these techniques that I will become oblivious to them, or they will be obliverated by some technique – either way it is a win win for me\you. So hang in there, and remember that where there is a will, theres a way.

Conclusion
Well there are a couple of techniques I've figured out - I guess some work better at times than others - if you have any techniques of your own then let me know and I will post them up here! I'm going to create a proper website soon but I was excited by the prospect of maybe being able to help other people in the same situation, and maybe you can help me too.

It can be a bit of a hard lonely road, and far out - sometimes I'll have all these techniques in mind but trying to get them to work is really hard, and I have to remember not to be too hard on myself - and its a bit like having a pet inside when theres a thunderstorm going on outside. Its hard for them to understand whats happening, you just have to be as caring and calming to yourself as possible! You can do it!

I'm always here if you need someone to talk to or email: I'll make sure I reply! Let me know your progress and who knows, maybe this can make life easier for everyone - they can have a a resource available!

Thanks for reading
Paul
floatbusters@gmail.com