Involuntary Eye Movement, Blurriness, "Blackout"

Hello, and welcome to Mayo Connect. We are a community of patients and caregivers, living our best with a wide variety of conditions and diseases. We are not medical professionals, and cannot provide medical advice, but we can share what has and has not worked for us.

You have already taken the first step - to do your research. This is another source for information. https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/what-is-nystagmus

I have had experiences with eye shifting, and in my case, the doctors were able to attribute it to inner ear disturbances, which also give me vertigo (dizziness.) As a matter of fact, the involuntary eye movement when trying to read often is my warning that a bout of vertigo is about to begin. At that point, I do a series of anti-vertigo exercises for a few days and it usually resolves. Do you ever experience vertigo?

With the sudden onset, you may want to consult an ophthalmologist to see if a cause can be determined, such as a head injury or a previously undiagnosed eye condition. Also, it may be helpful to keep a diary of all the things you eat and drink and all drugs or supplements you use, then track when these episodes occur to see if there is a correlation. (Hint: it may not happen immediately - there could be a lag between a specific thing you ingest and an episode.)

Perhaps there are more people here with additional suggestions.
Have you asked whether anyone else in your family ever has this happen?
Sue

Thank you for sharing, and it was really helpful to remind me that this isn't exactly a doctor's consultation. I highly assume that I haven't experienced vertigo, because my mother (during her menopause) said it is painful – and I can't relate to half of what she describes. As for injuries, I fortunately rarely ever had such, especially concerning the head. I'm going to continue doing more research as well, including the link you shared.

Indeed, I've been thinking of visiting an opthalmologist soon. There aren't any other symptoms that accompany it so far, but I noticed it would happen only whenever I fix my eyes on one thing long enough – mostly when writing – and it doesn't seem to matter whether I've eaten or not. But I will try to keep track of whatever I feed myself and maybe find a pattern. A factor could be due to stress from staring longer than my eyes can handle (I have to remind myself every now and then to blink) since I do often end up doing that unintentionally. Currently, I'm the only one troubled with this, both in known history and present. Thank you again for your suggestions! 💖

Hi,

I saw your post. The exact thing is happening to me, seemingly out of the blue. I have an appointment with an eye Dr set up, but my gut is telling me it’s neurological. Just wondering if you would mind to share any answers you got.

Thank you!!