[wtrpk]

I met someone today who told me her husband has pcs for 5 years from an auto accident. She said that he wears sunglasses when he watches tv.

does this sound like it would potentially help? I'm so bored and desperate to watch more than an half hour a day!! I usually just feel like crap from everything I do...I just don't understand WHY I can just veg out in front of the tv

[nightnurse30]

Its worth a try. I wear sunglasses when i am at work and using the computer. Also try changing the brightness on the tv, maybe that would help if its the light that bothers you.

[wtrpk]

nightnurse....I don't seem effected directly by the light. I don't know what it is. I just feel like crap after watching even a half hour of tv.

I feel like this after I drive, computer, etc. Even just being in company with people. My neck feels tight and throbs ...I get tingling in my entire body, fatigue. I actually felt it coming on while I was sitting chatting with a friend today.

[Mark in Idaho]

Have you tried watching TV with head phones? If I watch TV without head phones, I end up over stimulated and fatigued. I have used both wireless head phones and direct wired head phones. I don't have to strain to understand the voices with the head phones on. If I don't wear them, I get exhausted trying to focus on the words.

Most TV sound systems have a micro-size phone plug similar to the head phone plug on an iPOD. Radio Shack has extension cords and a decent assortment of head phones. I find the head phones with an inline volume switch are the best. Koss sells a few models of good head phones at Radio Shack.

I can not watch High Definition TV. It exhausts me.

[wtrpk]

Mark....I've even tried the non high definition channels...no difference. Why do you say you can't watch high def?? We have a Sony high def new flat screen tv...
wonder if that's part of the reason.

would it be better if I tried watching tv shows or a movie on my computer??

I'm not sure the headphones would work because I am not having trouble keeping up with what's going on with whatever I'm watching....I just feel off balance and weird after I've watched tv....sometimes even my head starts tingling.

[Mark in Idaho]

When I try to listen to the audio from the TV, my brain has to do extra work to sort out the TV sounds from the ambient noise, even if the room appears to be quiet. Surround sound is even worse because my brain cannot process the intensity of the 5 different auditory stimuli.

The hi def is just too intense. It is hard for me to describe.

Just because you feel like there is not a problem does not mean there is not a problem. Until you have experimented with different ways of filtering the stimuli, you will find it is hard to tell what the cause of the over-stim is.

An example of this problem was explained by my optometrist. I need strong correction for astigmatism, some near sightedness and serious presbiopia (reading lenses) When the optometrist finds the prescription that works for each eye, he has to detune or make is less precise so my brain can stitch the two images together with less effort. By tweaking the prescription for each eye, he finds a point where I can look at the chart with a relaxed feel in my eyes. My corrected eye sight in each eye is then only 20/20 or 20/30 or so even though he can correct it individually to 20/15.

The high definition takes more brain power to stitch the two images together. Hi Def with 3-D is impossible for me. Just too much visual data to process.

Same goes for audio. The faint echoes in the room are too much auditory stimuli to process. Once I put the head phones on, I can relax and watch and listen to the show.

It is no different than being in a room with lots of people talking at the same time just on a smaller scale.

If you struggle in the room full of talkers, I would bet you have a similar problem watching TV.

You could try watching a movie on your computer with a set of head phones on. I use head phones at my computer for multimedia video, too.

My best to you.