Strobe lights and vertigo?

[Brilig]

I was speaking to another diver that had experienced an episode of vertigo at 115' fsw. After decending the anchor line to a wreck the diver came apon several other divers with strobes attached to their gear. There were also divers lights angling about. The diver suddenly was overcome by vertigo but was able to maintain control and conduct a controlled accent safely back to the surface.
I personally had a dry land episode of severe vertigo as a result of looking at a flashing red light used on a bicycle.
I'm would like to know if any other divers have had any similar experiences that they can relate.

 

[kelemvor]

Could be a petit mal siezure, as those can be caused by strobes. Easy to get tested for that by a neurologist. They hook you up to an EEG, have you lay down, and strap a strobe light mask thing to your head. It's not painful or anything like that. I might be describing it poorly, as it's been a decade or so since my last test.

My bet is that your incident was merely narcosis. It can be quite pronounced for some people at that depth.

I had "adolescent epilepsy" as a kid. It included both grand mal and petit mal seizures. I outgrew it and that's that I guess. However, I don't recall being aware of any of the seizures. From my perspective, neither event happened. It's like that section of time didn't get recorded in my memory. I only know about it because when I had a grand mal, someone called an ambulance. That resulted in trips to the doctor and testing where they discovered I was also having petit mal.

 

[JackD342]

I always remember a flashing light induced seizure as a key plot element in The Andromeda Strain.

 

[EireDiver606]

Could be or his ears had a pressure differential between them. Who knows

 

[Brilig]

Could be or his ears had a pressure differential between them. Who knows

Yes, pressure differentials and temperature differentials of the inner ear are known to cause vertigo as well as strobes .
I was looking for instances where strobes were thought to have played a role.

 

[stretchthepenn]

Strobe lights almost always make me feel queasy; in fact, on one memorable occasion, I puked violently.

 

[M-Cameron]

ive not experienced vertigo because of strobes........but i did get a pretty severe case of vertigo in a pool session due to the reflecting light