Advertisement
Dr Matt Dunn: There are reports of nystagmus occurring with MDMA but no direct studies have been done looking at it specifically. Having said that, there are reports of other drugs – things like cocaine, for example – causing something called opsoclonus, which isn't quite nystagmus but it's very similar. I've found some videos on YouTube and it looks to me more like what you would call opsoclonus. In this case, it's not technically nystagmus but these things are very similar: they're involuntary wobbles of the eyes.
Advertisement
Well, if your eyes are moving uncontrollably, then you will find that it's difficult to focus on what you're trying to see. We often forget how focused our vision is. You've got about two degrees of visual space, at the very centre of your eyes, in an area packed with cones called the fovea. If you hold your hand out at arm's length and look at your thumbnail, it's about that size; a dense area of photo receptors. So that's all you've got to do your reading and your focused visual tasks.Zooming out, everything in your peripheral vision isn't quite as detailed as that. Although we have the illusion that everything looks clear all the time in fact we're only really seeing clarity in the middle. So when your eyes uncontrollably start moving around in different directions, then you become aware of the fact you're unable to look at something that you want to see because your vision is only clear in that central area. And if you are then unable to focus your central vision on the object you're looking at – like something on your phone screen – it'll be really hard to see.
Advertisement
It's speculation. No specific studies have looked at it. An educated guess would stipulate that what's happening here is within the brain itself. So the muscles would just be an effector in that long neurological chain. If there was a feedback loop in the brain, then it's causing that motor signal to be passed out to the muscles. All you're seeing there are the muscles doing the job they're told to do. It's just not the appropriate response.If your eyes wiggle, does that mean you've taken a good pill? People speculate about that a bit when talking about this.
That's hard to know, really. Is that something desirable? Probably not. There are people who are affected by nystagmus constantly. Many people develop this after birth. It's a very debilitating condition. Other people will get nystagmus later in life in response to an injury or multiple sclerosis, things like that. And then they have uncontrollable eye movements for the rest of their life. Now they're not quite the same as what it would appear as we're seeing here. They're still uncontrollable eye movements and they're not very desirable at all. I can't imagine it being construed as a good thing!Can the wobbles physically damage our eyes?
I cannot see any specific reason why it would. In people who have nystagmus, we find that over long periods of time, they can sometimes develop an astigmatism – or distorted images – in the eye. This amounts years and years of constantly having the wiggles every waking moment of your life. I should imagine it's unlikely to cause permanent damage to the eye from short durations like this, from recreational drug use.
Advertisement
In some people, that is the case. Although, I'm not aware of any reports where it'd been induced by MDMA. It's usually in response to a serious brain injury of multiple sclerosis. It's not out of the question.But once they've started, is there a way to stop eyes from wiggling like this?
Presumably, if it's something affecting the fundamental level of the brain stem related to consciousness, I would imagine probably not. It does sound to me as though if that's happening, that's someone overdoing it somewhat!One thing worth mentioning is there are some people who can do this voluntarily. They have this ability; on command they can make their eyes wobble at anytime when they're asked to. Is that a very desirable thing? I can't imagine it would be.Thanks, Matthew.@its_me_salmaMore on VICE:How Your Low-Key Cocaine Habit Actually Affects Your BodyWe Got an Advertising Expert to Analyse Drug Dealer TextsTabloid Scare Stories About Drugs Actually Make People Buy More Drugs