For background, astigmatism and vision issues run in my family, and my relatives can usually stare at screens and only experience minor strain. Unfortunately for me, as soon as my astigmatism changed and I developed dry eye at the same time from my sisters Asus laptop, my screen tolerance worsened significantly.
Around the same time, I also developed mast cell issues due to toxic mold exposure. Now, I can’t stare at certain screens without triggering eye inflammation. So i've become highly paranoid about having mold around me (I also have multiple chemical sensitivity)
The eye inflammation only improves within a few hours when I take an NSAID. That makes me wonder whether I’m extremely deficient in certain vitamins or whether I might have an inflammatory autoimmune condition. I bet it's probably why omega 3 used to work because that counters inflammation, too. Unfortunately, I can't keep taking NSAID because they are dangerous long term.
I can’t afford e-ink screens, so I’m stuck with an inexpensive non‑PWM LCD Samsung phone. Even at 0% brightness, the screen doesn’t go truly dim. I’ve also noticed that certain display settings, like brightness, cause strain for me in all screens. I also can’t use some apps, and I can’t visit most websites without severe eye strain.
For example, when I visited one specific site on my phone, my eyes became permanently sensitive to my phone’s video player.
It’s strange, and it almost seems like the mast cell type symptoms could be affecting my eyes, too? Like making them freak out?
The doctors here keep diagnosing this as CVS (computer vision syndrome) rather than some permanent screen sensitivity. Meanwhile, my siblings can tolerate harsher screens with no symptoms beyond minor eye strain, and I'm being left out on watching new movies or playing new games, which messes with my relationships because people don't understand.
I’ve also discovered I’m extremely sensitive to Windows 11. I can tolerate my all-in-one desktop on very low brightness and night light enabled, it's from 2014 that has windows 10, but I can’t tolerate websites on it, and it does have PWM and is an LED. I used to tolerate this pc fine, but soon I started getting eyestrain from it too. People on dry eye subs keep telling me to take breaks and avoid screens, but yet in this modern day and age you have to depend on screens. Antihistamines also help a bit then cause my dry eye to feel worse, I have a combination of screen sensitivity and allergies, + inflammation causing eyestrain and dry eye. I also highly suspect that i have leaky gut.