[wtrpk]

I feel awful after 20 mins of watching tv. I've been pushing it to an hour...but I just feel like crap! My chiropractor said when he got his high def tv he initially felt awful and so did his wife. He said he would get dizzy.

I did try watching shows in the non-high def version...but don't see a difference.

We now do not own anything but high def tvs (50" to boot).

I'm not sure its even the tv or just the stimulation!

I know Mark commented about the high def...but anyone? Any suggestions?

[Mark in Idaho]

Non-hi def is still a simulated hi-def picture. If processes the standard def picture to fill in the definition to use all of the available pixels.

The size of the picture can also be a problem as well as the sound. If there is too much surround sound, that is a lot of information for the brain to process. I can not handle any surround sound.

Regarding picture size, it is relative to filed of view. The larger the picture, the farther one needs to be from the screen. There is a recommended distance I saw somewhere.

The amount of other visual clutter is also an issue. Since most HD screens are mounted on a wall, they are at the same visual plane as the other wall mounted visual stimuli. Re-arranging the wall hangings and such to be out of the field of view may make a difference.

In time, the brain may get used to the other visual clutter but as we know, many of us do not filter out visual clutter very well.

It is only going to get worse as the TV producers try to use the HD to include more graphics and such into the programming. The graphics for football are driving me batty, even in standard definition.

[greenfrog]

I tried watching the hi-def TV at my parents' condo during the first couple of months of my recovery. It wasn't overwhelming, but I don't think it was helpful either. At times it did bother me, possibly causing an increase in symptoms. It just felt like too much information for my brain to process.

I'm now back in my own place and watch some TV on a traditional Sony (probably about 8 years old) - lower pixel count, smaller screen, less glare. It seems better and doesn't seem to trigger symptoms, although I try not to watch too much, as I doubt excessive TV stimulation is good for the healing brain (or any brain, for that matter). Also, I try to avoid watching commercials, to keep the overall level of stimulation down.

Watching movies at home is OK as well, but I find lighter, slower-paced fare better (the classics can be good - fewer special effects), and try to limit my viewing time to about an hour (or half the movie).

[PCS Mikey]

Originally Posted by wtrpk

I feel awful after 20 mins of watching tv. I've been pushing it to an hour...but I just feel like crap! My chiropractor said when he got his high def tv he initially felt awful and so did his wife. He said he would get dizzy.

I can attest to this one. A group from work went to see Cars 2 when it came out. I was fine until trying to follow lots of motion during the movie. My brain was getting behind, not being able to process all that movement and I was getting dizzy. It lasted for a couple of hours even after the movie ended and contributed to some anxiety too.

Another time we watched Avatar at home and just trying to process the visual vibrancy of the movie left me with a headache.

Months ago, I used to get this same visual stimulation overload when driving and turning to look in the blind spots. Was a pain in the butt. However, I did see an eye therapist to work on tracking and focusing, and it has helped. No more issues while driving.

Getting better with Hi-Def movies too. They don't seen to bother me as much.

Mike

[musiclover]

TV isn't a problem for me but going to the movies just wipes me out - even the low-key movie "Dolphin Tale" sent me straight home for a long nap - my brain was worn out!!!

[nightnurse30]

Whats weird to me about you guys talking about "pixels" is that for the first 2-3 months of my injury, i saw the world as if it was pixelated, or like an old tv screen that wasnt as clear. Towards the end of that time frame, it was mostly happening when i was fatigued, and everything i looked at was grainy like that. Makes me think that maybe my brain wasnt able to handle images the way it was and needed this pixelated version because its all it could process.

[Mark in Idaho]

For those who want to try to understand the eye in scientific terms, here is a link:http://clarkvision.com/imagedetail/eye-resolution.html

What it basically says to me is the eye and brain need to do a lot of work to process a large complex image, especially one that occupies a large percentage of the field of view. Field of view is the amount of image defined as a vertical angle and a horizontal angle. 90 degrees is a rough number excluding peripheral vision areas. Think of it as looking through a cone that has a 90 degree angle between the opposite sides.

It would be like looking at a wall hat is 10 feet by 10 feet from 5 feet away. If the whole wall is active visual stimuli, that is a 100 percent being visually processed. If there is a 5 x 5 foot screen, then 25% needs to be processed if the brain can disregard the the images on the wall. But, if our visual filtering is not functioning well, the brain will still try to process the images on the wall.

This is why it is sometimes easier to watch a screen in a darkened room.

This same problem is a big part of ADD/ADHD struggles in the classroom. Teachers often have too much visual stimuli on the walls, especially at the front of the room. This over-stimulates the ADD/ADHD student. If the disruptive student has been seated at the rear of the classroom, his struggles become much worse.

I know, too much information. I'll turn off the fire hose.

[wtrpk]

I know Mark had mentioned (or someone) watching a low key type movie a while back. I've been watching half hour episodes here and there of shows (Modern Family...hysterical) or sitcom type stuff. I will occasionally push it to an hour. Well last weekend my husband picked the movie Unknown with Liem Nelson. It started out ok...but then the car chasing, fast paced stuff. I could completely follow what was going on...but I felt awful. (Let me say that I had a slamming headache all day and felt like crap to begin with but I figured just watching a movie maybe I could "relax"). Well, I felt even worse the next day.

I'm going to try watching next time with my sunglasses on ...and watch a chic flick and see if thats any better. You can't really rent any of these movies in non-high def or even blue ray (not even sure what that is)

As for my vision, its never blurry but I do have specs of dust in my vision. I see this when looking at something light colored..white ceiling. When my headache is at its worst I will notice my vision "off" but can't describe it. Its not blurry but it just doesn't feel right.

any other suggestions to try other than sunglasses?

[xxxxcrystalxxxx]

When I was about three weeks into my injury my husband thought he would cheer me up and take me to see Bridesmaids. It was torture. The whole theater was laughing and I was struggling. I couldn't wait for it to
end. I stayed for the whole film because I didn't realize it was the movie making me worse. I was still walking sideways and felt awful anyway. At the end of the movie my husband and I walked out. I was so dizzy and scared. I just started to cry on my way to the car. I haven't gone back since.

At home I have an old projection tv. I notice at times it makes my head worse. If I'm tired than my tolerance is less than.

[SpaceCadet]

Just thought I'd add to this thread instead of making a new one.

So this football season, I made it a point to only watch certain teams that I liked in order to tone down the visual stimulation. Well, its the playoffs now and things are starting to heat up. I just got cable hooked up to my 32" Sony LCD TV. I can't watch more than 20-30 min of anything without becoming a space cadet. Anyways, yesterday I watched the second half of both the games in HD because I knew I wouldn't be able to watch both of them in their entirety. Apparently that was too much. After the games were over, I was real foggy. I felt as if I was pushed just a little beyond my limits.

Today, same thing. Except this time I only watched the 4th quarter of the first game and the second half of the second game, on their standard definition channels. I also put the TV on mute and turned away for the commercials to reduce stimulation. I felt better than I did yesterday, but it still kind of put me out of commission. No physical symptoms - I'm one of the rare cases that don't get headaches, only cognitive problems. Anyhow, I ended up crashing out for a couple hours.

So I'm just wondering, for the people who have problems watching television due to over-stimulation issues...how do you work around these issues? So far I got:

1. Keep away from the HD channels.
2. Mute during commercials and look away.
3. Keep the volume down.
4. Back away from the TV and watch at a distance.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.