eye floaters?

[Darrell]

I saw a doctor who

Well at least you were on safe ground were any Daleks to appear.

[Raminagrobis]

I never realized that this was such a common and widespread thing

this is not america, no
this not
sha la la la la

Without wanting to deviate too far from the thread topic, YOU ARE BANG WRONG! My MHRA style guide (which is the standard for academic writing in the humanities in UK universities) says that where there are alternative spellings of -ise/-ize words, the -ize spelling is always preferred (with one or two exceptions). In any case the word 'realize' is always spelled with a z in British English. The OED doesn't even deign to include an entry for 'realise'; it only lists 'realize'.

[hands cold, liver warm]

Without wanting to deviate too far from the thread topic, YOU ARE BANG WRONG! My MHRA style guide (which is the standard for academic writing in the humanities in UK universities) says that where there are alternative spellings of -ise/-ize words, the -ize spelling is always preferred (with one or two exceptions). In any case the word 'realize' is always spelled with a z in British English. The OED doesn't even deign to include an entry for 'realise'; it only list 'realize'.

just because realize is considered to be the standard spelling in humanties  doesn't mean its right. It means that the standrads are wrong, possibly written by yanks and our university humanities system is either too skint or too lazy to change them into english.

[Raminagrobis]

I don't see how any pedant supporting the cause of proper British English can possibly ignore the authority of the Oxford English Dictionary. Surely that should be your Bible?

[no_offenc]

I also have these and didn't know what they were til I read that thing there.

Not too big or annoying, just little floaty specks that appear in bright light, like.

[mr rou-rou]

it's pretty damn common then, I take some comfort in that,

don't know about you but it's ruined reading books for me, grey worms wriggling in and out of the text, rubbish!

And the only time I find they disappear in bright conditions is when I'm drunk, so there's a solution, I'm going to stay pissed all summer.

Some of you buggers have it pretty bad, I'm reminded of Ray Milland's 'the man with x-ray eyes' where he goes insane and stumbles into the Church in time to hear the preacher deliver the lines 'if thine eye offends thee then pluck it out' - great ending to a cheesy film, sorry to have spoilt it, also I'm sure it was black and white but this appears to be colour, maybe there are two.


but the side effects were permanent nudey vision


re: posture spasms, it's just a label I gave mine, I get jump-out-of-the-seat ones if I've been sitting all lopsided for any length of time, I agree with Tracey, it feels like a heart hiccup.

[Mister Six]

Hang on a minute, how do they laser the floaters without burning a little hole in your cornea? Or do they just shine a light through it and use the cornea to focus the beam, like burning ants with a magnifying glass?

Floaters remind me of that kids' book Hydra, by the same person who wrote Room 13. Anyone?

[Jon]

I've got a couple of floaters in my right eye, they appeared when I was about 18 and have slowly got a bit worse.  They really piss me off sometimes, so I read up on if it's possible to get rid of them.  The "standard" way is to have an operation to drain the fluid of your eye, but doctors won't do it unless they're so bad you're almost blind.  There's also the laser treatment mentioned in the first post, which is pretty new.  I've read conflicting things about how safe/reliable it is, some people saying it's trivial, others saying you're risking blindness.  In any case, the only two clinics which seem to do it are both based in the USA, so that's pretty much out barring a lottery win.

The thing that worries me is, while they're not so bad now, these things are supposed to get worse with age and I started with them when I was 18.  What the hell are they going to be like when I'm 70?

[Frinky]

Is this in any way anything to do with having the occasional bout of conjunctivitus? Cos I sometimes get le eye du crustique while I sleep, maybe my fair mass of floaters is debris of that nature?

Since reading this thread, they're so much more apparent in my field of view. This is why I won't let myself read the Daily Mail.

[Raminagrobis]

The thing that worries me is, while they're not so bad now, these things are supposed to get worse with age and I started with them when I was 18.  What the hell are they going to be like when I'm 70?

Shit, they get worse with age?!! My optician told me that they can decompose and break down and somehow become absorbed into the vitreous (aqueous?) humour.  I must admit I was slightly dubious about this, since I've seen no change in several years. If it's going to get worse I might as well get two glass eyes now.

Opticians are crap: the medical profession doesn't even trust them to refer you to an ophthalmologist, you have to get a GP to do it. And we let these people tinker with our EYES for God's sake.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I don't see how any pedant supporting the cause of proper British English can possibly ignore the authority of the Oxford English Dictionary. Surely that should be your Bible?

To be fair, most British people son't speak proper English anyway, in particular Geordies:
no - nar or nee
don't - divent
going - gannin'
town- toon
right -reet

And most of our pronounciations of words are wrong because they're taken from European words (the 'h' shouldn't be pronounced in herbs, fillet should be pronounced filay, etc)

That said, I refuse to take out u's in words or spell with z's.


So, erm, eye floaters then...

[Raminagrobis]

The thing is, the -ize form isn't an Americanism; it's the form used most often in Early Modern English orthography, and it pre-dates the -ise form. Just because Microsoft Word tells you that -ise is British English, doesn't make it so. Don't you see the irony in championing the authority of Microsoft Word over the OED or the MHRA?

[Raminagrobis]

I don't see how any pedant supporting the cause of proper British English can possibly ignore the authority of the Oxford English Dictionary. Surely that should be your Bible?

To be fair, most British people son't speak proper English anyway, in particular Geordies:
no - nar or nee
don't - divent
going - gannin'
town- toon
right -reet

Yes, but what's that got to do with the spelling of the -ize form? Pronunciation's completely irrelevant.

[Cerys]

Plus if you spell it with a Z you get more points in Scrabble.

(I always use 'realise', before you shout at me.)

[Lord Spong]

Some of you buggers have it pretty bad, I'm reminded of Ray Milland's 'the man with x-ray eyes' where he goes insane and stumbles into the Church in time to hear the preacher deliver the lines 'if thine eye offends thee then pluck it out' - great ending to a cheesy film.

Apparently the original planned ending to that film was for the guy to put his own eyes out, run outside the church, and then realise that he could STILL SEE!!

[Almost Yearly]

Look, Raminagrobis, it's "-ise", ok? It just is. Shut up.

Right, I'm glad we've got that sorted out. The thread's supposed to be about ize.

*shit*

[Spaced Cadet]

Thanks Rou, I've always thought I had scratched by eyeball or something, at least I know now. I used to have copy of The Man with the X-Ray Eyes on video, it was in colour, but maybe there is more than one version, it's a great B-movie though.

[Alberon]

I haven't got any permenent floaters, but when I look at somethin bright and white for instance I can see a 'rain' of small particles. I always used to think they were small bits of dust and cells on my eyeball, now I know they're more likely to be inside it.

A few weeks ago, though, I had a frightening experience where I lost all vision in my left eye; all I could see was a nebulous shimmering effect, and this lasted about an hour. I was with a friend of mine at the time who happens to be a doctor, but he didn't have a clue what it was, and told me to go to Casualty. By this time I'd turned into a Woody Allen-like nervous wreck, convincing myself that it was a brain tumour or something like that (and my doctor friend didn't help when he started mentioning epilepsy). Anyway, six hours of sitting around in a Casualty department later, I saw a doctor who, unsurprisingly didn't have a fucking clue what it was, and since the effect had died down, he just told me to go home, muttering something about migraines.

I had something similar to this a few months back. It alarmed me at the time, but I didn't let on to anyone else present and it seemed to go after an hour. It's very hard to describe. It was like the vision in one eyeball went in one part and then spread out like a wave across the whole field of vision in that eye, but my vision returned where it started while it was going elsewhere. I didn't see it as a moving grey patch, but it was like my blind spot was growing. If I closed my good eye and looked sideways at the TV across the room the whole thing seemed to disappear. The area affected was that big. I suppose my brain was doing it's usual job of filling in the gaps, but just had a bigger gap to fill than usual. After an hour the effect had passed over the whole eyeball and I was back to normal. Apart from that I didn't feel strange or ill at all the whole time. Never had anything like it before or since.

[MojoJojo]

Look, Raminagrobis, it's "-ise", ok? It just is. Shut up.

Right, I'm glad we've got that sorted out. The thread's supposed to be about ize.

*shit*

The -ise form came about around 18-19th century, as an attempt to move away from french style spellings. This didn't happen in America.

I believe either ending is acceptable.

I don't have any eye floaters that I am aware of.

[Raminagrobis]

The -ise form came about around 18-19th century, as an attempt to move away from french style spellings. This didn't happen in America.

I believe either ending is acceptable.

I don't have any eye floaters that I am aware of.

Actually it was an attempt to harmonize with French spelling, which uniformly uses the -ise ending (the reason being that the French were always seen as being more sophisticated when it comes to language and orthography). So all these champions of the -ise form are nothing but Agincourt-deniers and traitors to the language of Shakespeare!

That said, I don't really give a shit how you spell these words. As the man says, either form is acceptable. I just get flummoxed when people start getting dogmatic about it.

[hencole]

I too suffer from these things as does everyone I know. Anyone not suffer from them?

[MojoJojo]

I don't. All possibly only in an extremely mild form ... I can sort of remember seeing the sort of things you are describing, but in practice i can't see any if i try.

I also have no idea about the spelling of things.

[Darrell]

I have one of these now - a dot in the middle of my left eye that I keep thinking is a fly.

[Cerys]

I also have no idea about the spelling of things.

T-H-I-N-G-S

(Sorry)

[Gazeuse]

Everyone's got 'em...I remember noticing them when I was at primary school, but then I was always looking up at the clouds.

I would also like to commend AY for quoting Daevid Alien.

[mr rou-rou]

bump* whoops didn't see that there, must have been my worsening eye condition.

Just to say I've written to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital's Clinical Director to ask if they (or any other NHS area) are researching a treatment for this massively distracting condition, will keep you posted.

[hotvans]

ive had these little buggars for as long as i can remember - im short sighted so guess i have a fair few - they look like bacteria - tip - if bored stare at white wall and move eyes up and down and back and forth really quickly - the little floaters zoom about and then slow down and go all floaty - some even turn around and its like 3d floater - v cool......
um.........should get out more yup

[Capuchin]

I can't remember when I started noticing mine; it can't have been that long ago as I thought they might be a side effect from taking too much acid.
And the scratched eyeball was one fear, but I'm glad to at least know what they are now.
Mine are more like worms,  but usually they're almost see-through so I can ignore them. There are just those occasions where I see a mosquito or something fly past and when I turn there's nothing there.
It was me all along!

[DuncanC]

I get these too, but just recently, it feels like my left eye pulses very slightly in and out a couple of times in succession. I suppose it might be something else that just feels like that, that's actually something to do with the eyelid or something, but it's freaking me out.

[Still Not George]

As I mentioned recently, I get this infuriating little tic in my upper left eyelid, probably caused by my prodigious caffeine intake. It annoys the hell out of me.

I, too, have eye floaters, but I get the bacteria ones mostly and I quite like them.