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HOPE FOR VISUAL SNOW SUFFERERS AND IT’S SURROUNDING SYMPTOMS
WHAT IS VISUAL SNOW?
Visual Snow is a persistent neurological symptom where a a persons field of vision is covered by a blanket of static or ‘snow’. What is interesting about this condition is that it’s visible in the dark and with closed eyes. Many people describe the ‘snow’ as thousands of coloured dots; mainly reds, blues and greens flashing randomly and very rapidly in the whole field of vision. Others only see black and white.
Many sufferers compare symptoms with that of television static, old cell phone cameras, sparkles or tiny bits of snow. I prefer the description of an old style cell phone camera, this is because people with Visual Snow are not blind and can see their environment, however it is covered by a sheet of static, just describing television static doesn’t quite give you the whole picture. Anyone who has used an old styled cell phone camera notices the grainy static that often covers the view because of the low definition on older style cell phones, this is most similar to Visual Snow. From my experience with talking about Visual Snow with others is that it is starting to become more and more prevalent, this is interesting to note as it seams to be more of a late 20th – 21st century condition. On several occasions I have discovered cases of Visual Snow within others who have many other related health problems that are seen alongside Visual Snow; without their understanding that they actually had Visual Snow. After questioning them it was quite clear that they also had Visual Snow too.
There are some people that say that visual snow is always ‘there’ in everyone. There may be some truth to this to some extent. However, if this is true visual snow sufferers see the static more. I understand this to be true because out of the 30 symptoms I had a few years ago visual snow is my only mild symptom. However it is noticeable enough to slightly change my personality at the night time because I find it harder to see. In the day I am fine, this is how I realise that Visual Snow sufferers are 100% affected by the static as no other people around me have personality changes at night.
The main problem with the snow in general is that many people wrongly assume it’s normal and are often totally unaware they even have the condition. The main reasons why people believe that that there’s nothing wrong is that
1. It’s not well known therefore not many people have heard about it or understand it so it never gets read about or brought up in conversations.
2. Because it’s quite subtle and often accompanied by other health problems like anxiety and depression people assume that this odd sensation (Visual Snow) is actually what depression or anxiety manifests itself as however as many people have realised Visual Snow sometimes comes only by itself and because of this notion its right to assume it is it’s own entity and a separate symptom. From personal experience I attributed it as a by-product of depression. Now I understand it’s not a automatic symptom of depression.
People often relate and experience Visual Snow with depression, anxiety, despair, schizophrenia, brain fog, poor vision, fatigue, floaters, organ damage, skin problems and more. Although I feel it can be part of the same root problem and it may work alongside these other issues, really it is separate as a symptom in of itself.
Often people cannot make the distinction between their Visual Snow because of all the other debilitating symptoms that surround this syndrome.
There are swamped in depression, brain fog, fatigue, floaters etc that they are just overwhelmed and this adds to their despair. I hope I can give people hope in the fact that your other symptoms can be healed and when they are and your depression lifts, derealisation goes, energy returns, self-esteem improves then Visual Snow really isn’t a huge problem. Although I still see visual snow at night, In the day I can finally say I am completely ‘normal’
Focusing more on your other symptoms is a great way to move forward with dealing with visual snow. My improvement of Visual Snow actually came as a bi-product of focusing on other areas. My Visual Snow was much worse than what it is now. It was very thick and black with floaters, now it’s very mild.
Visual Snow seams to be present in 3 distinct instances.
1. Is that it appears combined with a multitude of other debilitating symptoms where there is a whole systems problem. Whether people call this an auto-immune disease, sympathetic dominance, Lyme disease etc. Really it is a whole systems break down that has happened over a period of years. Visual Snow as an extra symptom along side many others. This can be through stress in general which can wear out or ‘burnout’ the body, diet related where too much sugar or toxins are involved, emotional reasons such as self esteem or depression related, traumas which can damage a persons self worth, pregnancy and more. You can call this the manifestation of a stressful situation or a whole systems problem. Usually it’s a multitude of lifestyle, diet and childhood trauma stresses.
2. The other people I see is where a person develops Visual Snow through an accident involving the structure; for example in a car crash, whiplash, a sports injury, jaw displacement, spinal injury etc. This seams to be purely do to an acute, mainly structural issue. This is quite rare I feel and is one of the few cases where Visual Snow can literally be a single symptom a person has. TMJ however although seams like an acute misalignment can be very much due to stress, poor eating habits and drugs like accutane.
3. Other people develop Visual Snow by taking an hallucinogenic drug or other recreational drugs which is usually psychedelic in nature and Visual Snow appears after as a result. This is recognised somewhat in a condition called HPPD. This is perhaps one of the more interesting ones. However I believe people who experience Visual Snow through hallucinogenic drugs more like will have already have issues with certain minerals, especially copper. The mineral copper is very much integrated with the type of personalities that are interested in hallucinogens. Copper which is talked about more below is most likely to be a major factor in the onset of Visual Snow.
As a person who developed Visual Snow without injury I attribute my condition to a systems stress problem based upon lifestyle, emotions and personality and medicinal drugs like accutane (isotetrin), steroid creams and anti-biotics. Although I did do recreational drugs they wasn’t of the hallucinogenic type and Visual Snow didn’t seam to appear suddenly from an isolated incident. However I was drawn to these drugs because of my copper type of personality, like most others.
WHY IS VISUAL SNOW SO TROUBLESOME FOR A PERSON?
The main reason Visual Snow seams to be so cumbersome in peoples lives is for a multitude of reasons.
The main reason is that it is often combined with other seemingly unknown or even un-felt symptoms. Some people for example suffer from fatigue but they don’t relate to it or understand it, they can ‘get on with their life’ so to speak on a form of false energy, they are so far removed from their actual bodily sensations that they accumulate visual snow just out of know where but they attribute it to their anxieties and depressions. Because a person has visual snow but is not aware of their other problems, they only seam to concentrate on the fact they have visual snow, when in reality the main reason they feel so terrible is because their bodies are completely burned out , depressed and damaged.
It seams rare that Visual Snow appears only as a symptom by itself but when it does what Visual Snow seams to do is slightly detach a person from their surroundings and environment. This is the result of the constant mild snowy vision blanketed across the Vision. This detachment often can put people ‘inside their head’ which feels like one is viewing the world from a cave with a snowy entrance, this enhances the experience and enhances its debilitating effects.
The snow is also always ‘there’ as well, often 24/7. As a result a person literally builds their life, their habits and their personality around Visual Snow so that they can adapt to their environment. This can be anxiety producing because the true personality and heart of a person is skewed, as a result a person may stop speaking much in-front of people for fear of missing a social cue, or they may stop going out more and focus more on video games or the internet, they may wear clothing that they don’t feel as comfortable in for fear of being humiliated and so on and so fourth, this is stops personality integration of a person. After many years people have totally forgotten about their true personalities and start to believe that how they feel is who they are. This makes people think they have bad psychological issues when in reality they have had to change their personality to feel comfortable.
Vision of course is our most prized possession for engaging with the world any deviation in this functionality diminishes the experience with our immediate environment, being able to clearly understand social cues for example is very much more difficult with just Visual Snow alone and almost impossible if people have other health problems like brain fog, heavy metal toxicity, depression, anxiety and fatigue for example. This can all be very anxiety producing and can make people feel alone and disconnected in the world which can further enhance the problem. Connecting with the world and forming meaningful relationships with people is a natural human trait that is very much linked up with our happiness and well-being. Depersonalisation and derealisation comes as a by-product.
My personal history with Visual Snow was like with everyone, an intimate one. Mainly because it was the one symptom that was very visible all the time. Due to it’s lack of research and understanding it took a number of years especially combined with my other symptoms to understand exactly what was going off. Layers of ill health combined together into one confuses people. The only way for me to understand what was happening was to slowly peel and heal back each layer of illness and adaption. This happens in a timing made not by you but by your body. This is the fascinating process of teleology.
BRIEF PERSONAL CASE STUDY
To try to give people an example of how Visual Snow may come about this is a very brief personal case study of my experience with Visual Snow and the symptoms is manifested alongside.
In my teenage years looking back now I was a very sick person, although on the outside this probably wasn’t a case to many if not all people which only went to complicate my personal issues more. I worryingly never new exactly when I contracted Visual Snow but I do know it was after the age of 14/15 (25 now). It was only by an unraveling of symptoms that I fully came to understand what had happened to me and what I had.
At the age of 15 I had become a very stressed, depressed and an extremely confused individual, like many other teenagers in the 21st century. I was working around 20-25 hours per week whilst studying full time at school and sixth form. My diet at the time was extremely poor, a diet mainly of ready meals, sugar, bread, candy. I did eat some vegetables, some fish, not too much meat etc but on the whole it wasn’t a good diet at all compared to my standards of diet now. However it was quite a normal diet compared to my peers. I enjoyed drinking at the weekend, often I drank too much but never anything to ‘worry’about (again this is all classed as ‘normal’ behavior now). At the time I was taking recreational drugs often at the weekends with friends. Internally it was as a release but at the time it felt quite normal for me, there was a lot of people taking drugs and partying and at the time so I just went along with it like many. In terms of a regular a teenage lifestyle, I’d say I was quite regular. I used to be able to handle a lot of drugs however which was odd, I was quite proud of this but I now realise that In actual fact I couldn’t ‘handle a lot of drugs’ but in reality by body was so depleted it didn’t have much of a response to the drugs apart from making me sicker in the long run and to feel worse.
Looking back with fresh eyes it’s clear to me that a vast amount of teenagers these days are having terrible health problems and taking more drugs and they just don’t understand their own feelings and emotions as a result because modern day see’s activity like this as normal. The teenage years is a move up and out into a confusing world as an individual. Suddenly as one moves forward into life they can become disconnected from family life, they grow up around confusing and dull education, they have a lot of poor influences from the media outlets, diets are often very poor, they like to go out and party, they have poor sleeping patterns etc etc. These combinations makes many teenagers confused and depressed they then become too confused or embarrassed to talk about how they feel as many haven’t had the experience, knowledge or support of their surrounding guardians to understand whats right and wrong and to be confident about how they should feel and who to talk to if they feel off. This is the sad facts of many teenage years and I feel it can set teenagers up for a struggle through life both emotionally and physically.
By the time I was 21 (6 years later) I had very severe health problems even if I didn’t fully understand them yet, however the damage had accumulated and no drug/ quick fix in my opinion could have reverse the effects. However like many, I was talked into thinking my problems were psychological by my Doctors. Even though I had an array of physical problems the Dr’s didn’t seam to focus on them, and instead informed me that I was much better off seeing a psychologist. Clearly this only made me feel more depressed and confused especially as any ‘mental’ work I had done didn’t get me too far and only confused and depressed me further. Below I have tried to list the symptoms I used to have.
Depression
Forgetfulness
Dry Skin
Hair Loss
Bleeding Gums
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (extreme)
Anxiety
Brain Fog
Hoplessness
Light Flashes in periferal
A buzzing sensation throughout the body
A heavy dullness at the bottom of the brain
heart palpitations
dark eye bags
floaters
prolonged afterimages
trailing images
tight muscles
bad breath
candida / chronic yeast infections
chronic ear infection
confusion
depersonalisation
derealisation
disconnected from reality
feeling of living inside a bubbl
Visual Snow
Teeth Aching
Involentry hand movements
Tingling Skin
Electrohypersensitivity (EMF problems)
Anger
Defensiveness
Toe Fungus
Allergies (hayfever)
Inability to sweat in the sun
I have tried to list as many symptoms as I can remember but I’m sure there are more to add to that list, it is quite shocking to me reading that myself. This is to try to give a clear indication of the severity of my condition and the complexity that it had. It was safe to say that I did not feel like a normal human being in the slightest or have any idea or a reference point to what ‘normal’ actually was anymore.
I’m very grateful and happy to say that I am fully recovered apart from mild Visual Snow and a little toe fungus. However recently my Visual Snow is unnoticeable only mildly at night. I can have normal, open and connected conversations with people now which is hope I feel for VS sufferers. I do believe that many VS sufferers can achieve this, but only when they understand the other seemingly separated health problems which are actually clear signs of your body that there’s a bigger problem at work. The key is not to focus on healing your Visual Snow, but to focus on problems that can be healed, have been healed and have a lot of research.
Unfortunately I wasn’t fully aware of the importance of loosening up the body and muscular structure as a healing modality for Visual Snow. It has only been within the last year or so have I come to understand It’s importance, and in recent light of hearing a handful of Visual Snow cases to have improved due to a release in muscle tension this has only further signified it’s importance. It is very interesting to me to understand the relationship between copper imbalance and forward head posture / cringing posture.
It’s understood that often there is a long process of unwinding and loosening up the body structure and a tight core, I have begun the process of this and have started to see some positive signs in my Visual Snow symptoms. Many therapists I have visited have all commented on my unusually tensed muscles (even after 5 years of a very healthy lifestyle). Unwinding the muscle tension, body structure, tightness and adhesion’s is notoriously difficult but not impossible, it doesn’t surprise me therefore that more Visual Snow success cases have not appeared solely for this reason alone. Making the muscles not only more flexible but more flaccid and expanded is not only an external process but an internal process not only physically through diet, water and detox but emotionally through a learning to let go of certain attitudes, traumas and beliefs than can all contribute to a tightness in the structure. A properly performed healing program like a Nutritional Balancing development program I recommend I feel is one of the only methods around to bring a more permanent relief to sufferers of not only Visual Snow but just as important the surrounding symptoms that often accompany it.
There’s a few reasons why I believe people have not been finding the results they would like with stretches and yoga is because copper toxicity and metal toxicity is a major player in muscle, bone and posture issues, which balancing and removing these metals and others you cannot fix the muscles. Another reason is that its hard to understand what to do or why to do it. If you research on posture you will never find anyone who has a definitive description on what is the perfect posture. We are researching this area and have currently found a lot of promising signs using a special mouth piece. Hopefully more research can be made on this in the future. I know a few people who already have the mouth piece and have noticed improvements but not full improvements and not full improvements in their other systems. Again I believe this is because they have not addressed the problem from a whole systems perspective.
Hopefully more research into loosening up the body structure correctly as a modality for healing Visual Snow can be established, I am personally exploring this area. Tools such as single light infrared heat therapy coupled with rolfing, light yoga techniques, epsom salts baths, posture work the starecta method, ALF, twinblocks and and others explained later in this article seams to help.
“CURE CLAIMS”
I have seen a few cases of people claiming to have ‘cured visual snow’. However after further investigation It is clear through their words that their has been a significant decrease not a necessarily a cure. This is important to be aware of because I feel many related symptoms of Visual Snow like depression and brain fog can give a feeling of a reduction in Visual Snow if they lift, but in reality there has been a reduction in another symptom like brain fog and anxiety for example.
Personally this has happened to me on numerous occasions whereby healing related symptoms has made me think that my Visual Snow was improving but in actual fact my brain fog was improving.
That’s not to say that my Visual Snow didn’t improve but healing brain fog for example can hugely increase the clarity of vision and thinking. When I first started the healing program I recommend I actually got a huge improvement in the brain fog the first improvement for 6 years. I thought I had an 80% improvement in my visual snow, when in reality it was something else. Regardless though I didn’t care.
This is great however and it goes to show that focusing on healing other symptoms can help you massively in dealing with Visual Snow. This is not me putting people down in anyway, it is just making an observation through experience that healing other conditions actually helps massively in living with Visual Snow.
Anyone who suffers from Visual Snow should take a close look at any other symptoms in order to separate them. My healing came from a deep belief that these other symptoms can and will be healed.
It may not be the wisest idea to only focus on Visual Snow when other symptoms can be healed and will result in an improvement of day to day living such as fatigue, depression, anxiety, skin problems, IBS, multiple chemical sensitivities and more.
I assure you improvements can be made in these areas and one of the best ways is shifting the attention away from Visual Snow onto other symptoms of healing but also giving the body the tools to improve Visual Snow also. This is how I healed, however I am fully aware of the mass of poor information out there to heal, it’s important to find a very thorough, honest healing modality which is very also rare. A development program is at the moment the best tool around in my view which Is explained at the bottom of the article to help tackle whole systems problems. Accompanied with other methods of healing such as chiropracy, rolfing, light yoga, mouth pieces and others are great additions in my experience.
When the surrounding symptoms diminish vitality improves, depression can often lift easily, brain fog and other visual symptoms abate such as blurry hypoglycemic eye episodes, floaters etc and life will improve drastically. If this happens the feeling of an improvement of visual snow occurs. This can often safe lives.
WHAT ARE THE OTHER SYMPTOMS THAT MAKE VISUAL SNOW CONFUSING?
Its important to note that Visual Snow often does not appear as a single symptom, there are actually layers of symptoms that can get people confused.
BRAIN FOG
Brain fog is a dull fogginess in the brain it can certainly detach a person and blur their vision and outlook. This in fact is quite separate from Visual Snow but can easily merge together to feel part of the same problem. Brain Fog can occur from a multitude of sources that all need to be addressed appropriately for complete improvement. Often if you have brain fog it is combined with the issues below.
1. Candida Albicans / Yeast on the brain. This type of fungi breads heavily on the brain and causes a type of brain fog. It also releases a type of alcohol called formaldehyde that can make you feel a little drunk and hungover. It can be felt as a a drunken sensation at the back of the eyes. These symptoms can get worse if you starve and kill the candida which is important to understand.
2. Hypoglyceamia – This is a very common problem in most people which often gets unrecognized. It is the stage before diabetes, the rise and fall of blood sugar regulation can blur the eyes, it also contributes to a foggy feeling in the brain and can reduce the brains ability to think clearly. Many many people have problems with sugar management but it doesn’t show in blood tests so it’s pushed to one side.
3. Copper Imbalance – This is a very important mineral today and I believe the vast majority of Visual Snow sufferers if not all have a problem with copper imbalance. Although not mentioned too much in mainstream medicine. Copper imbalance is most definitely an epidemic and can contribute to a amazing array of health problems including but not limited to: racing thoughts, depression, PMS, skin problems, cancers, blood sugar imbalances, bleeding gums, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, spaciness and the list literally goes on and on. Copper dysregulation was an everyday problem for myself. Copper used to raise on my tests and be eliminated and balanced, after each ‘dump’ I felt much better.
To make living with Visual Snow worse copper toxicity produces a detached spacey feeling which contributes to derealisation and depersonalisation. In fact copper tends to seriously detach people from reality in cases in schizophrenia and bi-polar, when copper is brought back into balance the schizophrenia and bi-polar instances often just disappear, this can baffle many health professionals. Interestingly some people use copper unknowingly as a coping mechanism to ‘space out’ and detach themselves from reality in order to deal with it.
One interesting observation with copper toxicity, brain fog and visual clarity is it’s relationship to cadmium in cigarette smoke. Some people including myself would feel an almost instant sense of clarity when smoking a cigarette, infact it was so powerful at times when I was younger I would actually fall back into a complete reality for a short while until the effects wore off. It was only until after I discovered that cadmium is able to shunt copper directly into the cells temporarily, this would explain the reasoning behind the sudden clarity. In fact it was one of the ways that brought me into the understanding that
1. This was not a psychological issue, and
2. I did have something biochemically (neurologically) happening in the brain. This was an important eye-opener.
4. Brain Parasites – Can sit on the brain, release poisonous toxins which contribute to brain fog plus many more.
BLUE FIELD ENTOPIC PHENOMENON (MOVING SWIRLS IN THE VISION)
This is a common problem with Visual Snow sufferers. One reason I feel it’s more talked about in the Visual Snow community is because people tend to focus more on what they are seeing because of the Visual Snow, however a poor immune response is most likely the real problem. Blue field entopic phenomenon is seeing small white squiggles in the field of vision. It’s usually more easily seen by looking up at the sky or on white paper. Anything near to the color blue you can see them more (thus the name). If you focus closely you can see the squiggles move in harmony with your pulse. The small squiggly dots are actually white blood cells. They appear more so and more vigorously in Visual Snow patients because their white blood count is higher than most. The white blood cell count is higher because of a very poor immune response, making the white blood cells increase and this is more visible in ones field of vision.
From my experience as the immune response increases the white blood cell count decreases and after a while you no longer notice blue field entopic phenomenon.
HEAVY METAL TOXICITY
This problem is often at the very core of most health problems if you follow the path backwards. It is very much overlooked but often ingrained into many peoples bodies, cells and structure. Heavy metal toxicity is so wide spread that I have personally seen it on every properly performed hair mineral test. Even if it doesn’t show up on initial tests, it will show up on future tests once detoxing occurs. In fact aluminium is almost always high even on initial tests.
Heavy metals are everywhere, in our foods, drinking waters, pollution, pesticides, paints, cosmetics, metal cans and cookware, drinking pipes, antiperspirants and many many more.
The main issue with these metals is that they should not be in the body at all, the body cannot as we know utilise them for any part of normal functionality however they can replace the more preferred minerals in the body, making them harder to remove, this seams to be a survival mechanism for the body. Replacing less preferred metals with correct metals can and does take years of work. If you can imagine it’s impossible to replace these all at once because the body must substitute these metals for new more preferred minerals. The minerals have to be there to be replaced and often this is not the case. Even the best organic food today doesn’t seam to be enough at times. This is why many people suffer with chronic health conditions. An example is cadmium. Cadmium can replace Zinc in enzyme binding sites, most people are terribly low in Zinc, so you have to really nourish the body properly and get your bodies vitality to a level that it finally replaces the metals.
These heavy metals contribute to a vast amount of health conditions and with a person living with Visual Snow it’s extremely important to release and replace these metals for their symptoms to improve and for their posture, muscles and structure to also improve.
EMOTIONAL TRAUMAS AND THINKING HABITS
Many people suffer from old traumas as children and even newer ones. These can be benign to us now but they stick with a person when they are young and begin to shape a persons life. These thinking patterns can lead to low self esteem, a tendency to overthink, a trend for addictive personalities, issues with personality integration and more. What’s interesting is that body needs energy to process these old traumas. Following a properly performed healing program can literally give a person the energy for the body to purge these old traumas and to therefore heal and more past them. Many people go to counselling and psychotherapy in order to help deal with their traumas. They often think that as a result they have dealt with their issues. On a healing program these people are often shocked when these traumas rise to the surface again. This is because the body needs energy in order to process traumas properly.
Poor thinking habits reduce self esteem, in turn this can tense up the muscles, bend the posture hold onto more metals and toxins and can even twist the bones and muscles. Have you ever become angry and tensed and your jaw the muscles at the back of your throat tense up? Chronic anger = chronic tensed muscles. Coupled with heavy metal toxicity and burnout can leave a person with chronic tension, adhesion’s and more that can be difficult to unwind. A learning to let go, a need to heal physically and to do a special type of meditation in particular are great tools for overcoming this. These tools are all recommended in a development program.
SPIRITUAL ISSUES
When you mention the word spirituality many people can turn away or disregard it. Tending to the spiritual side of you means tending to you as a human being in an honest, natural and truthful way all humans are born with. It can be related to your values, your beliefs and who you are as a person. The financially minded, 9-5, materialistic mentally can really effect a sensitive empath individual who feels like they just don’t fit in with the world around them. This I call a spiritual problem or spiritual crisis. I myself was a very sensitive individual and I still am. The world around me confused me and I didn’t quite understand that ‘this was all it’. Understanding that the world has real truths and values was an important lesson to me. That love, compassion and a care for others are very real and much more real than money, cars and even certain jobs. Understanding this alone can greatly help people with Visual Snow to think more clearly and more positively. Interestingly there are hair analysis patterns that can show whether a person is more spiritually orientated and are having a hard time dealing with the world around them.
Not caring for yourself spiritually can certainly make you depressed. Following the views of the people around you rather than seeking real truth is one of the reasons many people turn to drink or drugs which for a short while as it is able to separate them from reality and make life seam better.
BEING GROUNDED
You may hear people say ‘he isn’t grounded’ or they are ‘upside down’ or ‘spaced out’. These are all words to describe people who are ‘ungrounded’. Being ungrounded is a real thing and someone who is ungrounded are not connected to reality and to the earth properly. They live and reside in their head like a top heavy person. Reducing copper, slowing down lifestyles, eating more meats and zinc, taking long walks and pushing your energy downwards are all excellent ways of becoming more grounded. When you have a feeling that your ‘feet are on the ground’ you feel much more connected and ‘with it’ and it certainly helps with derealisation and depersonalisation. Over the years I have slowly become more grounded, this was a gradual process whereby I ate better, slowed down my lifestyle, meditated and pushed energy downwards and others.
Many vegetarian or vegan people are often ungrounded. They become spacey and upwards thinking. Many people think they are becoming more ‘spiritual’ but in actual fact they are often hypoglycemic and copper toxic. A vegetarian and vegan diet for example promotes heavy copper toxicity. I once thought I was a very spiritual person. I realised that although I was interested and understood spirituality I was actually heavily spaced out, hypoglycemic and copper toxic. When this was brought more into balance my feet became more fixed to the ground and I was much more clear and grounded on my views and outlook.
Being ungrounded, up in your head, or having your energy inside your head as some may say can actually detach you from reality, it can cause vision problems, depersonalisation problems and derealisation problems and more.
The point im trying to raise here is that Visual Snow can get lost into all these other symptoms making detachment, derealisation, confusion, depression, anxiety much worse and it becomes almost impossible to connect with the environment. Clearing up conditions like the ones above can considerably improve your life. The good news is that I believe everyone can achieve this.
PREGNANCY
I have seen many woman complain that their Visual Snow started or increased with pregnancy. I don’t think this is an unusual situation. There are a few reasons why I think this occurs.
1. Pregnancy puts pressure on the back, neck shoulder and spine, pulling the body and posture downwards. This can tense up the neck muscles considerably and skew the bodies structure. Women who are more copper toxic in the beginning become more copper toxic under stress and higher estrogen levels.
2. Pregnancy can send hormones out of balance, this naturally promotes a high copper environment coupled with high estrogen. Copper can sit near the brain, neck, liver and other areas producing many health problems that are related to Visual Snow such, headaches, depression, anxiety, sickness and more.
3. The adrenals of a pregnant woman are under more stress this can mean that the muscles become more tense and circulation is reduced.
4. Similar to 3 the body is having to circulate more blood around the body and to the new fetus. This reduces the quality of the blood going elsewhere, blood supply to the new baby is vital and can push blood away from the extremities and the brain.
A couple of pregnant women I’ve spoke to have both mentioned that they also have a congested liver and scoliosis. Both problems than can affect the structure/ posture and the quality of blood.
TINNITUS
Interestingly tinnitus is often an accompaniment to Visual Snow, personally this was not an issue for me. However it seams to be that manganese in the ear is often a cause of tinnitus. However this doesn’t explain it’s relation to Visual Snow too much although I do think heavy metals are a problem for VS and tinnitus sufferers. A more viable explanation would be body structure or jaw (TMJ) problems. These are known to cause tinnitus which is interesting as I feel that body posture and structural issues are related to Visual Snow.
One observation is that when I do coffee enemas which is able to remove toxins from the system I would get sudden appearances of tinnitus. This for me a clear indication that a metal / toxin / chemical was being released / circulated around the ear and caused the sudden tinnitus. It soon dissapeared. People who have constant tinnitus most probably have a metal lodged in the ear.
HIGH BILIRUBIN
A few people have noted that they have high bilirubin in their liver tests along with Visual Snow. High bilirubin is associated with a congested liver and inflammation of the liver. I do believe that many VS sufferers have a congested liver. These people also had eye floater problems which is a liver congestion issue for the most part.
MORE ON COPPER TOXICITY, VISUAL SNOW AND IT’S RELATING SYMPTOMS
Copper toxicity has been talked about a lot however I feel it is so important it needs more attention because of it’s very intimate connection with an astonishing amount of health conditions including visual snow. It’s important to note that copper toxicity doesn’t often show as a high copper on hair tests, you must read other factors involved in order to understand a copper imbalance on a hair test, I never recommend anyone read their hair tests unless advised by a professional who understands the importance of washing the sample at the laboratory.
Copper imbalance is related to
Chronic Yeast/ Candida Albicanse – Infections – PMS – Pregnancy issues and almost all womens problems – Growth development – Depression – and many many more. I believe that copper toxiciy plays a big role in visual snow patients. Copper effects the brain drastically, lodging itself deep within the brain, it also has effects on serotonin levels which I feel is also related to Visual Snow. I’ve spoke to a few Visual Snow sufferers who’ve all had properly performed hair mineral analysis test and they all have a copper imbalance. Often a severe one.
There are many reasons why people can have a copper imbalance today. Many children are born with an imbalance from their mothers for example. Others are
Zinc deficiency – Vegetarian / Vegan diets – Eating high copper foods such as dark chocolate, certain teas, nuts, avocados, yeast, soy, dried fruits and more.
Medical Causes such as copper IUD’s (intravene utererus device), hormone therapy, streoids and others
Certain multi-vitamin Pills
And others such as drinking water through copper pipes, jewellery, fungicide residue and more.
One of the most important is the lack of available Zinc. Zinc has been heavily removed from the diets, it is often one of the first minerals to be used by the body in stressful situations. It also has a very intimate relationship with copper. Zinc is used to keep copper in balance. It is referred to as the ‘balancing mineral’. It is also a powerful copper synergist. Zinc is able to reduce copper and Visa Versa.
In terms of copper and Visual Snow I believe some important considerations should be highlighted.
1. Coppers relation to depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia, brain fog, detachment, spaciness.
2. It’s connection to the bone and tissue structure
3. It’s relationship to headaches, migraine, migraine aura and other similar issues.
4. It’s ability to lodge in the brain and effect serotonin levels.
Visual Snow is very much related to migraines. Many people who have been on a development program have suffered terribly with migraines & headaches. After removing and balancing the copper from their bodies migraines and headaches often vanish. Considering that Visual Snow is in fact related to headaches this is very much worth exploring.
Although my headaches were not extremely powerful or prolonged I did have them, luckily for me they quickly disappeared. However whats more fascinating for me is that when I was dumping copper I would, as copper was released from the tissues and entered the blood create very intense headaches & migraine aura and my visual snow increased! After the dump was over the headaches stopped and the visual snow improved. I believe copper imbalance is thoroughly overlooked in a leading number of neurological conditions.
I am aware of many people on the Nutritional Balancing Development program who have been balancing copper for years. It is often lodged very deep in the organs and brain and it can take a while to come out. I have been removing toxins and copper for over 5 years now and I know there’s still a lot more to come so start today!!
COPPER, BONES AND CONNECTIVE TISSUE
Someone who has a copper imbalance automatically has other imbalances as a result. Bones and muscle problems are one of these.
As much as Visual Snow has been mapped as a neurological condition. I believe that the body needs to be viewed as a whole unit always. The brain is part of the body and it is an organ just like any other, the skull structure, spine, quality of blood and muscles all effect the brain drastically. I feel it’s no coincidence that sufferers find relief from certain stretches for example. Especially around the neck, back, jaw and shoulders area. I also don’t see any coincidence with Visual Snow being mapped to the lingual gyrus at the back of the brain, with the main artery supplying the brain being situated deep inside and to the back of the neck it’s clear to me that the importance of the quality of blood reaching that area of the brain and others is a vital one. I feel that tight neck, shoulder and back muscles as well as facial and deep myofascial muscles can contribute to the poor functionality and adds to the strength of the circulation through and up to the brain especially towards the back. Poor adrenal functionality another problem with a lot of Visual Snow sufferers is an extra blow to the quality of the blood circulating through and up to the brain. This along with poor nutrient density and toxic accumulation coupled with a weak congested liver and poor kidney functionality all adds towards the poor blood circulation and quality.
Copper is needed to fix calcium in the bones and to build and repair all connective tissue. This includes the tendons, ligaments, skin, hair, nails, arteries, veins and connective tissues. Copper imbalance is very much related to tight muscles and tissues. I have spoken to a few people who have had a properly performed hair mineral analysis for a laboratory that does not wash the hair (this is very important) and ALL of them had some form of copper toxicity, in fact all were showing a serious copper imbalance on their tests. This is important to note because I feel the tight muscles, poor connective tissue and a weak bone structure is a major factor in the manifestation of Visual Snow.
My own personal relationship with copper has been interesting the say the least. Like most people, I didn’t take it seriously in the beginning and it wasn’t until I started detoxing copper and seeing both the typical copper detox symptoms and the raise in copper on my hair tests did I realise the importance of how copper can affect so many people on a very serious level. There are other metals, toxins and dysregulations of course but copper is a very potent and fascinating one.
COPPER AND THE EMOTIONS
Copper has a great affinity to the emotions. Dr Paul Eck one of my mentors used to say that copper sits in the amygdala or old part of the brain and can contribute to a wide array of mental afflictions. Copper stimulates the production of neurotransmitters, epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine. It is also required for monoamine and dopamine. It is also required for monoamine oxidase, an enzyme related to serotonin production. As a result copper is involved with several aspects of the nervous system.
Copper imbalances are strongly associated with most psychological, emotional and often neurological conditions. These also include memory loss especially in young people, depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorders, schizophrenia and many others.
Copper makes your mind race and overthink which was certainly the case for myself. Chronic overthinking is common and it only serves to burn out the body further. Like most I thought I was just an overthinker, I was elated when I realised the copper played a role. And there was no surprise then that when copper was eliminated my thinking just slowed down naturally. This was a huge relief alone, after years and years on chronic thinking, understanding that copper serves to keep the thinking up then reducing it takes a large weight of your shoulders. What’s frustrating for many people is the seemingly relentless task of calming the mind down. Some people have personally said to me that they must meditate or do yoga for hours in order for their mind to slow down a little. I wished that more people knew about the importance of copper imbalance, luckily more and more people are becoming aware but there needs to be more.
VISUAL SNOW AND THE MUSKULAR / SKELETAL STRUCTURE
When the body is under a large amount of stress and copper is out of balance this directly effects the muskular and bone structure in many ways. In fact many mineral imbalances cause muscle tensions, more notably imbalances with copper, manganese, cadmium, mercury, zinc and many others all contribute to a diminished in the structural stability of the body. You may not even notice a problem it can be very subtle.
From personal experience I never had any pain or anything ‘out of the ordinary’ apart from inflexibility. It wasn’t until I saw a multitude of health professionals that they began to tell me about my very much above than average muscle tension. It took me 4 years into my health regime to realise this as I brushed it to one side.
Now I am actively trying to loosen up the structure, however it is notoriously difficult to unwind. Considering many people today have fairly severe mineral imbalances its not uncommon therefore to also have a tight muskular structure.
Emotions of anger, frustration and fears can tense muscles up and keep them tensed up into a spasm. Over a long period of time the muscles are tensed up in a chronic state all of these emotions need to be let go of to allow the muscles to return back to flaccidity.
Other problems are the common use of mobiles, computers and iPads, where a persons posture and structure are in an unusual position for prolonged periods of time, this starts to give people a hunched back with forward rounded shoulders, upwards facing buttocks and a concaved chest. Again over many years of a similar posture the body molds itself into it’s new position, muscles lengthen and tighten in unnatural positions in an attempt to keep the eyes facing forward.
Another reason for poor posture is a low self of esteem. Low self worth tends to round the shoulders downwards, with a downwards faced head. Whats interesting I’ve found is that self esteem is often related to your health, when you are energetic and full of vitality your posture naturally straightens out. Healing physically then is able to heal mentally and provide natural self-esteem.
Another very common situation which is related to burnout and many over-thinkers is the over use of the fight or flight system of the body. This is where a person over works, worries too much and basically runs themselves ragged. The body switches into a constant high alert mode called sympathetic dominance. This fight or flight mode becomes chronic and is certainly another cause for tight muscles and a tight structure. In fact most people today have some degree of burnout.
Problems with the neck can occur in accidents. Another very interesting problem is when people feel like they are unable to express themselves properly, seen a lot in sensitive individuals. This actually effects the neck area, these people feel held back in life and are basically unable to express themselves properly. Working towards a passionate job or creative endeavor, writing and learning to speak and seek the truth really helps with this area.
Rape victims and other trauma victims can also have serious neck issues from what is called ‘bending (or breaking) the neck backwards’, this is often used in rape cases and other harmful cases to bend the neck backwards into submission. This damages the neck. The people doing this often know this is the case that’s why they do it because it is so effective.
THE LINGUAL GYRUS
I don’t think it’s unwise to note where this part of the brain actually sits. This part of the brain sits are the back of the head, close the top of the spine where many chiropractic problems can occur. It is also directly below the blood supply at the back of the neck. Any poor blood reaching this area from the back of the neck I don’t think is unwise to assume that it will cause problems. This area of the brain is associated with migraines and migraine aura something associated with poor posture, bone misalignment’S and copper imbalance. Copper tends to sit on the brain, whenever I ‘dump’ copper I can always feel it at the back of the skull releasing. I note one time when I was releasing a large amount of copper in Thailand I woke up one morning and the Snow was completely gone!!
CAUTION WITH MEDICAL DRUGS
It is quite alarming reading many forums relating to Visual Snow whereby people are taking an array of medicinal drugs. Drugs in my opinion are hardly every needed in a healthy body and they cannot heal a body properly or at deep levels. Many are toxic and antibiotics, steroids, statins and other drugs actually deplete and cause the body many more problems.
I think its unwise for anyone to be the guinea pig when it comes to medicinal drug taking in Visual Snow. Without a ton of research and being given different drugs and diagnoses by Dr’s who have no experience with the Visual Snow is just unwise in my opinion.
People seam to be happy to seek advice from Dr’s that give different opinions and drugs with each visit. This is just illogical.
I’m not saying medicine is all bad I just feel in this instance people are being guinea pigs to a problem that is quite deep. I had a history of steroid tablets (accutane), creams, antibiotics, influenza and many more. It’s taken me years of healing to start to heal the damage that these drugs have caused for me. I believe copper imbalance and toxic metals play a major role in all of the symptoms mentioned in this article. No amount of medicine can deal with these root problems.
I believe Visual Snow to be a deep seating full body problem for the most part. I believe that anyone suffering from Visual Snow and has other relating symptoms should not take drugs to heal visual snow there just isn’t enough research. Accutane for example was originally a medicine for cancer, people found that it healed acne and therefore re-packaged it as a acne therapy. Ruining thousands of lives.
Healing properly takes time and effort but it is well worth it. Healing deeply and getting down to the root of the problem is a far better commitment and investment than ‘trying out’ an array of drugs which I feel won’t get you very far and will most likely make you more toxic. There’s been 1000’s of people put on drugs not designed for Visual Snow, if there was a drug out there that fixed the problem it would have been found by now. I think that says it all.
Our aim on a development program is to slowly reduce the need for drugs and heal deeply from within allowing the body to rejuvenate and heal itself.
HPPD AND VISUAL SNOW
HPPD and Visual Snow is said to come about after a person takes mostly psychedelic drugs. This is possibly the most interesting causes of Visual Snow. I’m not sure on it’s origins but here are some thoughts.
Psychedelic drug users often want to move away or detach from reality. Often because they don’t really like too much reality and the prefer to space themselves out elsewhere. This chronic form of wanting to ‘go’ could effect the brain and body. I believe the mind directly effects the body and as a result of not ‘wanting to see the world’ for what it is the bodies response to this is Visual Snow. A condition that literally does stop a person from being in reality. Copper often plays a major role in this way of thinking.
I’ve noticed in me for example, I didn’t like the world I was living in, I was ungrounded and detached. In reality I didn’t want to see the world for what it is. It’s interesting that the eyes are closely related up the liver in Chinese Medicine. The liver has a lot to do with how you relate to the world, therefore a mindset like this can damage the liver and the eyes simultaneously and the act of thinking about not wanting to be in the world therefore manifests as not wanting to be in the world. I know this is quite an esoteric thought but it seams to be the truth. Thoughts effect organs directly.
I have not spoke to many people with HPPD but it would also be wise to check their diets, lifestyles and others. I find that when the body is properly nourished and grounded one simply just doesn’t want to drink, smoke or take drugs. It just doesn’t appeal anymore because the body is grounded and strong. Cravings disappear. Wanting to take drugs and especially very mind altering drugs could be the cause of a run down depleted system that just wants to let go or ‘beam me up’. I see the body as like a plank of wood between two rocks. Its sturdy but as you put more and more stress on it is bends to take the strain. It’s good at adapting and it will take more stress when more weight is applied and will bend more and more. Eventually it will snap. This goes to explain why many people live seemingly normal lives and then suddenly are diagnosed with cancer or heart disease for example. This is not a sudden occurrence, this is the problem of years of abuse. In the end the body cannot handle it anymore. A cancerous tumor for example is just your bodies last ditch attempt to shunt all of the toxins into one area, a tumor.
More research needs to be done with HPPD patients, Id love to see their hair tests and see how burnout they are and whether they have any spiritual or emotional traumas that need to be dealt with.
Being ungrounded maybe a big problem for these people.
I remember one time I was healing for a few years and things were great, then all of a sudden I was extremely stressed. I woke up in the middle of the night and my Visual Snow was the worst it had ever been, it was if something had ‘snapped’ (probably my adrenal glands), luckily I had healed enough whereby a few days rest cleared me up. But this was a very sudden appearance due to a large amount of stress on the body. I feel like this can happen with some people especially with hallucinogenic drugs. If you don’t have the support (diet, rest) etc the body snaps and it flips into a chronic state.
ADRENAL BURNOUT A 21ST CENTURY PROBLEM
More and more the word ‘burnout’ is being used. But not many people understand what it actually means. The interesting thing about Adrenal Burnout is that it’s not the same as fatigue; fatigue can be slept off with a good nights rest or a vacation. Burnout however is more of a prolonged derangement in the body whereby a person is chronically depleted and as a result the body runs out of energy and vitality. Many many people today have some sort of burnout, in fact the majority of hair tests from people show some stage of adrenal burnout. Larry Wilson says that burnout is much more prevalent than it was 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. The burnout of the adrenal gland brings many many problems that spread site wide around the body. Hormone levels drop and derange, blood pressure and circulatory power diminishes especially to the extremities, blood circulation moving up to the head becomes more difficult and weak especially with tight muscles. Unfortunately 100’000’s of people are not being properly diagnosed with adrenal burnout.
Most mainstream medicine again does not seam to recognise this, although it is starting to gain momentum. Addison’s disease is a very rare disease of complete Adrenal Insufficiency, however Dr Lawrence Wilson and Dr Paul Eck have assessed 1000’s and 1000’s of people and have never come across 1 real case of addisons disease. Most have severe adrenal burnout symptoms. Depression is closely related to adrenal burnout. Depression is not necessarily psychological it is really the body’s way of slowing a person down. Depression is used often to slow a person down, to sleep more and to turn more inwards, this is a survival mechanism for the body to stop and heal often misunderstood.
I feel adrenal burnout has a close relationship with visual snow. Not only does it reduce circulation, it tightens the muscles, makes people feel depressed, it raises copper, causes anxiety, makes people feel fatigued and worn out even after rest. People with low adrenal output have often have a congested liver, weak kidneys and a slow oxidation rate.
Healing adrenal burnout is possible, but can take a number of years to correct properly. Plenty of rest and nourishment is needed with lifestyle changes, correct amount of drinking water, supplementation to support the glands, mediation, detox methods and a few more things in the development program. However after healing properly the adrenals many symptoms will just disappear, the most amazing for people is often depression, anxiety, social anxiety and more. Healing the adrenals help heals candida, detox metals, increase vitality and many more. Candida for example was chronic for me especially in the ears. For years and years I was prescribed antibiotics, steroid creams and others with no real long term effects. Although diet can reduce candida symptoms it was only until my adrenal glands were working well that it finally cleared up.
My own adrenal glands work in harmony with the clarity of my Visual Snow. When I’m well rested my Visual Snow is unnoticeable, when I’m stressed, eating poor foods, getting poor sleep etc my Visual Snow increases in intensity. Its a very interesting combination. Luckily a properly performed hair mineral analysis detects many stages of Adrenal Burnout and once detected a whole program can be situated around healing these glands and bringing people properly back into balance and health. Please note, adrenal output is directly related to increases and decreases in copper.
A quick note on adrenal output and Visual Snow, when I was well rested and my adrenals are working well my VS improves, when I used to have certain stimulation recreational drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy my Visual Snow also improved, along with the smoking insight this was another insight that made me realise that my clarity was not related necessarily to any psychological problems. When I started a development program my Adrenals we’re terribly weak I was in the exhaustion stage of stress. In the beginning I would sleep, rest my adrenals and have good clarity for around 30 minutes in a morning. This gradually improved and improved over time where I don’t feel any fatigue in the day or night unless I sway off the health program. Alot of people will notice Visual Snow get worse as soon as they wake and then gradually improve as their body wakes up, this is the product of a very low adrenal activity as soon as you wake (after a nights rest), when the adrenals kick in sometimes very quickly or after breakfast the Visual Snow improves.
QUICK FIX?
The Nutritional Balancing Development program is not a quick fix program. Although results can often be very rapid full reguvination of the body takes time and years for very sick people. Will, determination and a close relationship with your mentor is needed to refine your program and to help you over any bumps as there will be some. My brain fog for example lifted instantly but only for a short time, this was enough though for me to have faith in the program. Chronic fatigue took several years, hypoglycemia several too, trailing images disappeared in a few months.
It’s well known that replacing one mineral properly in the body can take up to a year, there are literally dozens to replace.
AM I SEEING ‘ENERGY’
Many more spiritually orientated people often think that they are seeing ‘energy’. This was the case for me at one point. I don’t really believe this to be the case although it’s interesting. The main reason I don’t think this is true is because of my own experience with improving Visual Snow and the new research out there. There is a book about a kundalini practitioner who started to see what seams to be Visual Snow, however he was at the time under alot of stress. Kundalini also pushed the energy upwards which is not too healthy today and can really unground a person. I believe this to be the main reason.
If this was some sort of spiritual development I don’t feel it’s exactly a beneficial one. I do believe in spiritual development and I do believe in humans having abilities that are not well known but all of these abilities seam to enhance not hinder a person. However I do believe Visual Snow does appear in more spiritually orientated sensitive people which is why I feel this idea is talked about a lot.
WHAT IS A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
A development program was first coined by Dr Lawrence Wilson, an incredible M.D who learned about hair mineral analysis testing from Dr Paul Eck his mentor. Over the course of 40+ years the healing program based on a properly performed hair mineral analysis has been immensely refined. As far as I know it is the most powerful program for a full body healing modality.
Lewis Rowlands Nutritional Balancing Practitioner.