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I am having this problem too. Iāve been using computers for 30 years. Suddenly this summer I started developing vertigo whenever I use a computer screen. It seems to happen worse when I am under fluroscent lights, but it will still happen (more slowly) under good lighting. If I use a computer all day, I feel like Iām on a rocking boat for the next 12-24 hours. It always fades in time as long as I donāt look at another damn computer screen.
I went to my eye doc and got special computer glasses. They helped a bit, but I am still getting extremely dizzy from just using a computer. I am 100% fine doing anything else, including going out in boats. The only places Iāve felt dizzy are in front of a computer or in places that are lighted 100% by flickering fluroscent lights.
Iām not sure what Iām going to do. I just had a baby and now Iām looking at losing my job because I can no longer use computers. Iāve worked as a computer programmer since the day I got out of collegeāI really have no fallback position. Iām really not sure what Iām going to do. The doctors want to run multiple thousands of dollars of tests on me like brain MRIs and I suspect that they arenāt going to show anything.
This whole thing is just crazy. How can doing something that Iāve been doing constantly since the age of 10 suddenly make me sick, when otherwise I am completely healthy?
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Finally a fellow programmer to share my pain (literally and figuratively). What language(s) do you write in?
I can echo your symptoms exactly. I have been writing code since I was 12 (on an 8-bit Atari, no less) and this past winter Iām at work, hacking away on my keyboard as usual and WHAM. Been getting dizzy staring at computer screens ever since. The only upside was that I now have an office with a window so that I can have natural light as opposed to the fluorescent crap that most (all?) office buildings have. Frequent breaks help, but even with that I find it very hard to write code while it feels like Iām out at sea (rocking, swaying, nausea, etcā¦). I do it because I have a family and Iām the primary income (i.e. I have no choice).
Iāve found that doing activities that arenāt so intense are far easier and the dizziness isnāt as bad. Iām not sure how many other programmers we have on this board, but writing code takes your brain to a whole new level of concentration. If I was just doing data entry I donāt think things would be so bad, but having to focus so intently while staring at a screen just sets everything off. Itās almost as if my brain can only handle so much at once. It doesnāt help that I write in about 6 different languages (not by choice, a lot of legacy stuff plus a bunch of pieces cobbled together by a bunch of different people with no commonality) so Iām constantly having to re-train my self and Iām constantly switching gears.
Do you find things the same? Is it just the screen or does coding seem to make things worse? Can you get away from the lights at all? Work from home? Have you tried different screens? I went through a bunch of different things before settling in with something that at least allows me to keep my job.
Hoping the best for you.