Migraine prevalence in visual snow with prior illicit drug use (hallucinogen persisting perception disorder) versus without

Dongen, Robin M. van; Alderliefste, Gerard; Onderwater, Gerrit L.J.; Ferrari, Michel D.; Terwindt, Gisela M.

doi:10.1111/ene.14914

Cited by 23 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…The HPPD patients had similar comorbidities (migraine and tinnitus) ( 11 ). Van Dongen et al did not find a difference in VSS manifestation (intensity) in a group of 24 HPPD patients and 37 VSS patients, but the VSS patients were significantly more affected by migraine ( 49 ). Drugs that were reported to cause VSS in HPPD were ecstasy, cannabis, psilocybin mushrooms, amphetamine, 4-FMP, 3-MMC, 2C-B, ketamine, and nitrous oxide ( 49 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Van Dongen et al did not find a difference in VSS manifestation (intensity) in a group of 24 HPPD patients and 37 VSS patients, but the VSS patients were significantly more affected by migraine ( 49 ). Drugs that were reported to cause VSS in HPPD were ecstasy, cannabis, psilocybin mushrooms, amphetamine, 4-FMP, 3-MMC, 2C-B, ketamine, and nitrous oxide ( 49 ). This is important since these recreational drugs can obviously “trigger” a VSS-like disorder in subjects who per se do not have increased risk due to the non-increased prevalence of migraine and migraine aura.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Visual Snow Syndrome as a Network Disorder: A Systematic Review

Schankin

2021

Front. Neurol.

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Aim: By reviewing the existing clinical studies about visual snow (VS) as a symptom or as part of visual snow syndrome (VSS), we aim at improving our understanding of VSS being a network disorder.Background: Patients with VSS suffer from a continuous visual disturbance resembling the view of a badly tuned analog television (i.e., VS) and other visual, as well as non-visual symptoms. These symptoms can persist over years and often strongly impact the quality of life. The exact prevalence is still unknown, but up to 2.2% of the population could be affected. Presently, there is no established treatment, and the underlying pathophysiology is unknown. In recent years, there have been several approaches to identify the brain areas involved and their interplay to explain the complex presentation.Methods: We collected the clinical and paraclinical evidence from the currently published original studies on VS and its syndrome by searching PubMed and Google Scholar for the term visual snow. We included original studies in English or German and excluded all reviews, case reports that did not add new information to the topic of this review, and articles that were not retrievable in PubMed or Google Scholar. We grouped the studies according to the methods that were used.Results: Fifty-three studies were found for this review. In VSS, the clinical spectrum includes additional visual disturbances such as excessive floaters, palinopsia, nyctalopia, photophobia, and entoptic phenomena. There is also an association with other perceptual and affective disorders as well as cognitive symptoms. The studies that have been included in this review demonstrate structural, functional, and metabolic alterations in the primary and/or secondary visual areas of the brain. Beyond that, results indicate a disruption in the pre-cortical visual pathways and large-scale networks including the default mode network and the salience network.Discussion: The combination of the clinical picture and widespread functional and structural alterations in visual and extra-visual areas indicates that the VSS is a network disorder. The involvement of pre-cortical visual structures and attentional networks might result in an impairment of “filtering” and prioritizing stimuli as top-down process with subsequent excessive activation of the visual cortices when exposed to irrelevant external and internal stimuli. Limitations of the existing literature are that not all authors used the ICHD-3 definition of the VSS. Some were referring to the symptom VS, and in many cases, the control groups were not matched for migraine or migraine aura.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Visual Snow Syndrome as a Network Disorder: A Systematic Review

Schankin

2021

Front. Neurol.

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“…Participants who experienced VS almost always, for at least three months, completed the Visual Snow Handicap Inventory. 11 Adapted from the Tinnitus Handicap Index, 12 the VSHI is a 25point scale assessing perceived disability caused by VSS. It is the only complete subjective severity scale used in the published literature to assess people with VSS.…”

Section: Assessment Of Subjective Severity Of Vssmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Symptom Onset and Photophobia Predict Severity of Visual Snow Syndrome

Thompson¹,

Goodbourn²,

Forte³

2022

Preprint

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Visual Snow (VS) is a perceptual anomaly which manifests as flashing pinpricks of light (dynamic noise) throughout the visual field. Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS) has an estimated population prevalence of 2.2% and is thought to be at least moderately debilitating for all who experience it. However, some people who meet the criteria for VSS seemingly have no awareness of it. This may be because they have lower sensory sensitivity, allowing them to ignore these visual phenomena. To investigate this, we recruited two distinct samples of people with VSS: a sample of people with confirmed VSS, recruited via online communities associated with the condition; and a sample of people who met the criteria for the condition but had no prior knowledge of it, recruited and screened for VSS via a crowd-sourcing platform. In total, 100 participants with VSS (49 with confirmed VSS, 51 with latent VSS) completed the Visual Snow Handicap Index and three measures of sensory hypersensitivity. Photophobia predicted both the perceived severity of VSS (β = .35) and the number of VSS symptoms endorsed (β = .45). On average, participants with VSS experienced elevated sensory hypersensitivity across all measures. Additional analyses showed that participants who knew they had VSS endorsed significantly more symptoms than those who did not (p <.001). Furthermore, longer duration of VSS was associated with lower perceived severity (p = .001). Our results suggest that sensory hypersensitivity may be prevalent in people diagnosed with VSS, and indicate that inclusion of cases of latent VSS in future research may be important for a complete understanding of VSS.

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“…In the control group, over half of VS patients without the use of hallucinogen had a migraine. 38 Zobor reported an HPPD patient with abnormal electrooculography and electrically evoked phosphene thresholds, demonstrating the dysfunction of the retina and retinal pigmental epithelium. The causes of visual symptoms could be attributed to both retina and cerebrum.…”

Section: Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (Hppd)mentioning

confidence: 99%