Meet Khaled, our #WarriorOfTheWeek, & hear his #VSS story. ???
Spotlight on: Khaled Al Refai ?
“When I first started suffering from VS, I always thought that I’m stuck in this situation of dots flickering & shaking forever & there will be no cure so I’ll have to cope w/ this for the rest of my life. But w/ the VSI, I started to have hope again that someday a cure will be found.
Visual Snow is really hard when you think about it all the time, because that makes your symptoms worse. When sometimes you sit w/ a group of people & start having a sensory overload from all the symptoms affecting you, I start feeling isolated & that I can no longer sit around w/ people. Since I’m studying computer science, I had to stay in front of a computer screen for long hours. That’s where I had to become stronger, I didn’t drop out of university or stop attending classes even though I had strong headaches from all the visual disturbance going in my head. Instead, I got stronger & believed in a cure so I worked hard on my assignments & finally achieved good grades. Over the past year I have found some ways that make life w/ VSS easier & really helped me stay strong. One of these are tinted glasses, either fl-41 or any yellow tinted glasses. For me, they reduce the flickering & intensity of the VS itself, & it tends to help night vision & brighten dim areas. It can also help w/ photophobia. Secondly, sufferers must stay away from stress as for me it’s the main trigger. Reducing caffeine intake, alcohol, sweets, & processed food might help. Lastly, I’ve noticed when not thinking about VS it is easy to ignore & not notice it often as for me it gets much worse when thinking about it all the time.
To all out there who suffer from VSS, you are not alone, thousands are suffering from this syndrome. All you can do right now is do what you love, exercise & live your life, don’t let this condition take control of your life, & stay positive that a cure will be found.”
