What does it mean if you see "floaters"

I am in the hospital and just had an episode of about a minute where I saw little yellow floating light spots. I will tell my nurse as soon as she comes in but I'm fraked out and wondering what it indicates.

 

It definitely is a sign of Pre-e. Has your BP been elevated? :hug:

 

no - my blood pressure is fine but I do have plus 2 protein in my urine

 

At 23 weeks i was seeing bright white lights and was sent to l&d. Urine came back perfect, and bloodwork showed i am extremely anemic. i continue to see them now and then, but have no other symptoms. Even my bp was only 94/46. They have no idea why i am seeing them, but simply had this to say about them :

Seeing stars, lights, or floaters is usually due to a lack of blood reaching the brain, and thus a lack of oxygen. Most commonly this happens after standing up quickly or straightening after bending over. You don't see it all the time because the arteries serving the brain reflexively dilate to maintain pressure, but those reflexes may be disturbed by lack of sleep or food, a hangover, or an infection. Physical trauma may also cause the reflex to malfunction, which is why stars float around Sylvester the Cat's head when he gets bonked. Seeing stars, lights or floaters can be caused by too much blood reaching the brain also. This doesn't happen much outside of the laboratory or a jet fighter, as the arteries have a very strong constriction reflex to keep it in check.

The stars, lights, or floaters you see are actually neurons in your visual cortex misfiring, a hallucination at the lowest possible level. When the neurons' oxygenation changes drastically, their membrane potential also changes. Ordinarily this wouldn't matter, because all of the surrounding neurons' potentials would change at the same time. When it happens due to standing quickly or taking a few G's of acceleration, the change happens so fast that the neurons closest to capillaries change well before the surrounding neurons. This causes them to fire spontaneously which your brain interprets as vision; you see stars, lights, and even floaters.


27W1D mono/di boys

 

I'm sorry you are in the hospital and I hope you feel better soon! Yikes you're falling apart today. Take care of your self and your sweet babies! At least you are already at the hospital so they can take care of you!