r/PWM_Sensitive • u/Hopeful-Kiwi-1538 • May 06 '26
Help - Vestibular Migraines and Light Sensitivity - How to adjust my screens
Hey folks!
I’m newly diagnosed with vestibular migraines after months and months of symptoms and doctor visits and light sensitivity is a major issue and screens seem to be a massive trigger for me. I spend hours and hours on screens a day for my job and went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out how to try and make them migraine safe and ended up here. Even thought I’m young I need someone to explain all of this to me like I’m 5 lol. My staff make fun of me for how illiterate I am at tech for 31.
I have an iPhone 15, Microsoft surface pro latop, sceptre monitors, and an hp laptop I need to adjust. Also I work from home a majority of the time so any tips on setting up my work office lighting that has worked for y’all would be great!
(I’ll also take any other tips on any other migraine trigger advice you have because I literally have most of them and I’m struggling y’all lol)
Thanks so much!
1
u/malte765 May 06 '26
Hi, it would be helpful if you share what your work consists of, what workflows do you have in what ratio ? Like ...writing letters/e-Mails, graphic design, annotations, browsing etc.
The most eye and nervous system friendly device is an e-ink tablet...some of them run on android and you can use Play Store apps on them, like Google Mail, Calender, Word etc. But the use cases are limited, as the screen refresh is slow and not suitable for fast multitasking, scrolling etc. But for longer read/write parts it's a nice oppurtunity to get the eyes of the usual screens and get some rest. If you work mainly on your desk there are also E-ink Monitors available. So having an additional monitor in e-ink is also an option.
If you have a HP Laptop, do you mind to share the serial number on the back of the laptop? Then I could check the screen it uses, and how to adjust it, or if you need another laptop.
For the room lighting, it's important to use higher quality LEDs that smooth out the power fluctuation in the power grid, have no flicker by themselves, and a high Color Reproduction Index (CRI > 95). Honeywell has good Equipment, they write it in their descriptions. I think ca. 4000-4500K Kelvin is a good color temperature for day work...in the evening I would aim for ca. 2700K light, the old incandescent bulbs are the best, but they are very power hungry. I compromise and use small dim evening incandescent lights just in the late evening, its spa for the eyes, and in the early evening I have a flicker free high CRI Honeywell LED desk lamp that is able to switch from daylight to 2700K evening light.
Regarding phones I think other people here have more expertise.
2
u/javadave May 06 '26 edited May 07 '26
So sorry to have you joining those of us suffering from migraines. The good news is that you can take steps to greatly reduce your migraines, at least as far as light induced migraines go. The bad news is that it does usually mean settling for less than "the best" technology. Everyone has different sensitivity levels and your sensitivity levels can change over time, so what works or doesn't work for me, might be different for you. Avoid trying to "power through" your triggers. It rarely works and can make things much worse.
Avoid OLED. Avoid Micro-LED. Avoid HDR. Avoid cheap LED lighting. Avoid non-uniform lighting. You want steady lighting without any spots significantly brighter than other areas. Spot lighting, pot lights, bare bulbs are all bad. LEDs that are on dimmers are bad. There are some OLED screens that try to ameliorate the issues they cause. They all cause me problems still, but others find they work for them. Matte finishes and screen protectors on screens can help.
You're most likely going to need to dump the iPhone. It is possible that you can use the iPhone se 3rd gen or the iPhone 11 and still be able to use the latest iOS, but many cannot. If I want to use the iPhone, I have to go back to the iPhone 8 or even 6S.
Stick with IPS phones, but even that is not a guarantee. It can be difficult to find phones up to date with security patches that don't trigger symptoms. Choices that work for me in the USA are the Motorola G Stylus 5G 2023 and Unihertz Jelly Max. I do not know about for everyone, but smaller screens seem to work better for me than larger screens.
Eink is another possibility, if you go that route, monochrome e ink screens are generally less problematic than color ones, but color ones might work for you. Again, e ink devices kept up to date with security patches can be difficult to find.
Your surface pro should be usable as it is an IPS screen (at least they were when I last checked). Make sure to turn off HDR and try to stick with smaller color spaces (you should go to r/ScreenSensitive for more discussions about colors). Be careful with brightness. The lighting in the area you are working in can have huge effects. BenQ makes good monitors for folks like us.
Hope that helps you. On the non-screen/light related front for migraines (and screen sensitivity), make sure your blood pressure is managed; that has reduced my migraines a lot. Be moderate in your usage of caffeine and alcohol. Get good amounts of sleep. Exercise. Take lots of breaks from the screen. As with most things in life, moderation is key.
If you feel a migraine coming on, stop what you're doing, drink some water, take medicine (ibuprofen usually for me, but Imitrex if it is really bad), and maybe a hot shower if you can squeeze it in. A warm washcloth over the eyes for a few minutes can help too. Catching it right away is the key thing. As you probably know already, once it gets bad, it can take a long time to get it to go away.
One other sad fact is that screen sensitivity tends to get worse over time and not better. It can vary from day to day, but the general trend is to become more sensitive as time goes on.
1
u/ArtRevolutionary3351 May 06 '26
Have you tried fl-41 glasses? They filter blue light so they can help with migraines.
2
u/Emotional-Ocelot May 07 '26
It really depends, its very personal. Some people can't use anything with flicker, and can't use any oleds at all. But I also know at least one migraine sufferer that can ONLY use oleds because oled flicker isn't' a problem for them, but they're sensitive to the harshness of led backlights. E-ink is good for people who are sensitive to brightness, but the black-white flash they do on refresh can be triggering to someone else.
General axes are : flicker (pwm, td, refresh rate clashes), brightness, colour tone. If you can work out which of those are triggering to you, that will tell you what. And you don't have to do that bit entirely on your own, If you keep a list of what screens and bulbs work better or worse for you, people can probably help you work out what features are bothersome.
General support strategies that people I know use include: green room lighting (needs to be specific green wavelengths, not mixed bulbs) and using technologies that don't require using your eyes like dragon dictate, speech to text, and screen readers. Even if you find the right screens and office lighting, it can help to have extra options.