If you are light sensitive how do you function on your day

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to day life? Are you able to work?

I would rather be light sensitive than noise sensitive. But I'm not light sensitive. In fact I'm more dark sensitive.

im light, noise, pain, smell sensitive but focussing on light the best help ive had was getting phillips hue bulbs for home which can be controlled by your smart phone. Iv gone out with shades before. I wouldnt be able to work in a supermarket or something like that. I struggle with strip lights and naked bulbs

No, I'm not able to go outside or get anything done in the house during daytime.

I have blackout curtains and special coloured glasses but I'm still incapacitated during daylight hours, even in the winter. Winter is worse actually because of the light waves. I don't use any electric light during the day. In evenings / at night I use candles or traditional coloured string lights. I can't do LED at all.

My phone and laptop have the dark screen settings and the night softening setting.

I feel dead until the sun sets. It's hard to even read a book or make my bed during daylight.

They are both bad. They have similar effects on the body.

For me being light sensitive means being unable to go anywhere. Because there are strong lights everywhere. Even at home, which is the environment that I can control the most, I have overwhelming pain everyday.

I have strong headaches everyday and sometimes trouble sleeping because of that. And when I struggle to sleep I get chronic stress, which means having meltdowns and shutdowns, and being unable to communicate properly: I find it hard to find the words, and people find it hard to understand me. I also stutter a lot when i'm under stress, and a lot of times people don't have the patience to let me finish the sentence because it takes me a long time to finish it.

Another thing I struggle with is reading: when I have visual stress I either read very slowly and inaccurately or I can't read at all. I have trouble remembering things, even after a couple of minutes that they have been said to me. I have trouble concentrating.

I get tired a lot. After a couple of minutes under strong lights I struggle to keep my eyes open, and I'm basically blind, which means that if for example I have to cross the street I don't look both ways, but I use my sense of hearing to tell if cars are coming. I'm uncoordinated because of the visual distorsions and because of tunnel vision. I often feel dizzy.

I find it difficult to drive cars because there's rarely a good window of time in which i'm able do that safely. I struggle to find a job that is good for me, because I don't want to be in pain all the time. In my town there's nothing in terms of jobs: there are supermarkets, shops, bars, restaurants. They all have very strong lights inside.

We have those too, but they're non-LED and we use remote controls rather than our phones.
I don't love the colour gradients on them (the red is too thin), but they're better than regular light.

I don't shop anywhere in person anymore, because fluorescent lighting makes me wanna hurt things.

Reading is hard for me because I only read print books.
In the daytime I have blackout curtains and can't use electric light.
At night I use coloured light.
It's very hard to find an ambient daylight time when I can see well enough to read, without feeling sick.

@XSara,
See if you can find an Occupational Optometrist. They're like an OT for vision.
They helped me with my four pair of coloured glasses.
They haven't fixed my problem at all, but they do help a bit.
I'm less likely to throw up or get angry about light, when I wear them.

I also sleep with six blindfolds layered on top of each other every night.
They usually fall off so when I wake up there's at least one or two.

I take a lot of vitamins (methylated B Complex in particular), but also Lutein for eyes.
The Lutein makes a difference.

I'm in heaven right now because the days are getting shorter and shorter until Christmas.
This is my favourite time of the year because there's more dark-time, for me to function.
Christmas until June is like slow torture for me.
I used to have light-sensory breakdowns every February, and call off work for weeks.

I already wear colored lenses, they are useful for reading but they don't eliminate my headaches. I've never heard of that vitamin though, I'll try that, thanks

The glasses don't eliminate mine either.
Mine are a dark blue tint and they make the white paper less glaring.
They feel good when I'm reading, but they don't help when walking around the house.

Yes, Lutein is good stuff.
Lutein with Zeaxanthin is even better, but harder to find.

Here's some info:
https://www.allaboutvision.com/nutrition/lutein.htm

https://www.viteyes.com/understanding-photophobia

Have you found any eyedrops that help with dry eye or sensitivity?
I've tried them all to no avail.

me either. one time i wanted to try contact lenses, but my eyes itched so much because of light sensitivity that i wasn't able to wear them. my optician suggested some eyedrops. they didn't work.

I wear tinted lenses or sunglasses.
Usually wear a hat.
Use reverse colours on device screens or reading mode.
I used to like dim lighting but since my vision has deteriorated i need things a bit brighter.
I'm able to work, no problem.

I am light sensitive. I can't really wear sunglasses at work, and I don't have tinted glasses or anything like that. If I start getting too overwhelmed from it I try to go somewhere that's not as bright, if I can do that. After the car accident I was in though I've been a lot more light sensitive, to the point it gives me migraines, hurts my eyes, and quickly pushes me to feel panicky and like I'm going to have a meltdown. I think I may have gotten a concussion, so when that heals I hope that the sensitivity stops, too.

I’m light sensitive, I hate my hallway light, it’s too bright & makes it very hot.

I'm not currently able to work but it is because of a combination of sensitivities and other things. My light sensitivity right now is worse then its been in years as I am still recovering from bad burnout after two years.

It has been a bit better sometimes too in the past when I have been happier and less stressed and more supported. I still occasionally have days in the midst of my burnout where I can enjoy the sunshine and even be without sunglasses outdoors. Artificial lighting and snow glare are the worst culprits of pain for me. It has also been worse as a child with me having to be in a completely dark room puking and crying and having to miss school for days.

So, I don't know if I have very much insight what can help to function because it is so individual experience day by day. But some things I do are:

-having lots of different kind of dim lights around the rooms with yellow warm tone bulbs and adjustable necks. I don't really use overhead lighting for anything except cleaning and cooking sometimes. I have one brighter work light that I can use when doing detailed work but its about a 10minute window. I also constantly adjust my screen lights up and down and try to take note if I am getting to feel strange if my lighting is not good to close things down. and generally to try to take breaks from screens and reading and watching in general.

-using dimmers and darkener apps and extensions on both phone and computer and browsers and tv is set to a warm tone that is good for me.

-having both long thick curtains as well as the blinds. I don't often have to pull the curtains in front but when I do, they are very necessary and can save me from having to lay on the bathroom floor for hours. People don't often think about it but blinds can have a really bad glare too if the sun hits them in the wrong angle.

-trying to make a point to get some hours of light in the early morning when it's still not too bright, on overcast days and in the evening when its the easiest for me to tolerate to keep my biorhythm somewhat checked and not to get even more sensitive by accident (complete avoidance can cause more sensitivity). But everyones ability is different so the exposure needs to be adjusted to their comfort accordingly.

-experimenting with different colored lenses can also help, warm brownish and orange tinges soothe me personally and give a bit more light then darkened ones and are not too bright to me like pinks and blues are to me. Cheap lenses you can get 1€ a pair just to try the colors out and maybe to try for exposure on overcast days. Then if you can afford maybe try a service where they send a pack of better quality glasses for you to try and choose from so you can return the rest so you don't spend money on something that doesn't end up working for you.

Last edited by Trachea on 08 Sep 2022, 1:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

Blinded by the Light , cannot transition outdoors to indoor bright bright store lighting,the effect is intensified
If I attempt to do this at night . And I prefer to shop at the stores that are open evenings and nights .
Less people are out , been trying to do early mornings . Still working out the bugs with that .
But if they have that brilliant style illumination , sunglasses at night in a store can seemingly be strange appearing to those without the problem , which seems to be almost the entire population . Yes on colored glasses . At least they help alittle .For daytime . But stores at night ….Nope it’s better if they are dark sunglasses.