Level 1

43 points

Eye Pain, Headaches, Nausea in Newer Versions

If I use MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 through Ventura 13.?, I get awful eye strain, headaches, and nausea. It can start within seconds, and persist for hours. I have tried different versions, different screen settings, different types of font smoothing, etc. with no luck. I managed tbreak a Monterey installation when I switched the refresh rate and the monitor went blank, and ... there was no way to switch it back because the monitor was blank.

If I use MacOS Mojave 10.14.6, I don't, unless I encounter flashing, animation, or certain types of scrolling. I also get migraines from bright lights, flashing lights, and so on.

I have tried 2 different monitors, a Benq LED Monitor was was supposed to be flicker-free and an Eizo LCD monitor which is usable at much lower brightness. Both have maximum resolutions of 1920x1080. I can't afford a monitor which has higher resolution *and* lower minimum brightness *and* color.

Yes, I have seen a doctor-- a series of doctors-- for my migraines. But they haven't been able to help, and only using Mojave *does* help. So please don't ask me to see another doctor again.

Yes, I have tried Dark Mode, but I have trouble reading text in Dark Mode.

I did have trouble a couple versions earlier, and used Tinkertool to switch my font rendering settings. My Benq monitor worked best with old-style strong font smoothing, my Eizo monitor with the default settings.

I see that a number of users had trouble going from Catalina to Big Sur, rather than Mojave to Catalina.

Is there any workaround at all? At this point I'm planning to stick to Mojave for MacOS, and dual-boot Linux for when I need an up-to-date system.

Mac mini, macOS 10.15

Posted on May 30, 2023 11:53 AM

Best reply

kuwilileni

Level 1

8 points

Posted on Sep 7, 2023 5:22 AM

Just jumping into day that this seems to no longer be “unique” problem. There’s an issue with the the new Macbook pros. How are people all over the world (google) experiencing the same issue when we never have before? I just came back from a month of traveling, used my old Macbook the entire time, one day into retuning to working on my new one and my headaches have returned.

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28 replies

May 31, 2023 7:35 AM in response to Marja E

Marja E wrote:

Please don't insist users should give up on accessibility help, and only search for medical help, especially when we've spent years seeing various doctors without success.

In my case, Mojave is usable. Catalina is painful. It's clearly a combination of my neuro issues and Apple's design changes. If I knew what those design changes were, I might be able to find a workaround in MacOS, or at least, figure out what might be worth trying in Linux instead.

I am sorry you are having issues and I am sorry I could not help you. I hesitate to advise users with medical issues that are somehow related to or aggravated by their use of a computer. If I was to advise you to change some dispaly settings and this caused additional harm to your eyes I'm sure you would not be happy and would be posting back with even more criticism.

If it was me having eye issues when using a computer I would consult with an eye specialist to get their advice regarding what was causing the issues and ask for their recommendations regarding ongoing computer use. We have no idea what may be causing your eye issues, frequency, color, font size, etc. Maybe it is your environment and not the computer operating system that is contributing to your issues. Maybe it is deteriorating health that is contributing to your issues and not the computer.

Maybe an analogy would help understand where I am coming from. If I was to post that my leg hurts whenever I walk, contributors here could advise me to walk slower, walk faster, walk more, walk less, walk downhill, walk uphill, etc. Any one of these suggestions could cause additional pain/damage and would be inappropriate recommendations without knowing the root cause of the pain.

Hopefully you will work this out to your satisfaction.

Once again, sorry I could not help.

Marja E Author

Level 1

43 points

May 31, 2023 4:01 PM in response to Marja E

I use Reduce Motion as matter of course. I also reduce the refresh rate from 60 to 50 hz to cut down on the disorientation from smooth animation. I wonder if it's possible to use libstrangle in MacOS, to cut selected apps to 1 or 2 hz.

I sometimes use Increase Contrast, but it doesn't improve text contrast, which I'm looking for. Catalina and Monterey, at least, have a slider to further increase contrast, but it further reduces contrast.

I have tried Dark Mode, it just turns everything from bad to worse.

I have tried different display profiles. Switching profiles makes the Finder snap into readability and then fade back out. On the while the ACES profile is a bit better for text, worse for images; it's still not good enough to use the Finder.

I have tried color filters. Apart from grayscale, I can't get them to work.

I can't use the Display Calibrator, because step 1 is to maximize brightness.

I tried sunglasses with my old monitor. It didn't work. It's possible that my current sunglasses and current monitor might work better.

I could try a few more combinations of font smoothing preferences.

Marja E Author

Level 1

43 points

Jun 1, 2023 3:49 PM in response to ku4hx

Well, it isn't treated.

I've spend more than a decade trying to get treatment. The only thing that ever works for me is finding and avoiding the triggers. Which can be hard.

Now Mojave still works, but Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura do not. I'm going to have to wipe the partition I've tested these on, and install Linux instead.

Old Toad

Level 10

208,105 points

Sep 7, 2023 9:41 AM in response to Marja E

I don't know if this would make the problem worse or not but have you tried Dark Mode? I have an eye disease that reduces the contrast that I can see so I went to Dark Mode for maximum contrast, white text on black background. It's available on Mojave and later systems.

Marja E Author

Level 1

43 points

Sep 7, 2023 12:07 PM in response to Old Toad

Yes, I've tried Dark Mode. No, I haven't been able to use it. I have more trouble reading light text on dark backgrounds, so I have to increase font sizes even more, and Apple doesn't that many system-wide customizations.

Nov 30, 2023 5:41 AM in response to kuwilileni

kuwilileni wrote:

Just jumping into day that this seems to no longer be “unique” problem. There’s an issue with the the new Macbook pros. How are people all over the world (google) experiencing the same issue when we never have before? I just came back from a month of traveling, used my old Macbook the entire time, one day into retuning to working on my new one and my headaches have returned.

You're mixing up hardware and software changes.

The OP says that they have problems when running some versions of macOS, and not when running others – on the same hardware. I can believe that if the OP is using a non-Retina display, text quality got worse. I have read that Apple removed sub-pixel aliasing. That made for better text on standard-PPI monitors, but might also have created non-modular dependencies throughout the macOS code. I believe there have also been some changes with regards to font smoothing.

If the OP has a monitor with a resolution of less than 4K, or has a very large 4K monitor that is not running in any Retina mode, the OP might be among those affected by text rendering changes.

I could be mistaken, but I doubt that there are any changes from one version of macOS to the next which would have any effect on PWM flicker rates for a particular built-in display or external monitor. Whereas replacing one notebook computer or external monitor with another might lead to changes in PPI, text/object size, presence or absence of PWM, and PWM flicker rates.

Nov 30, 2023 8:21 AM in response to Nik.Kov

Nik.Kov wrote:

I have used a lot Macbook Pro 2019 16' with Retina Display (A)

And then I've bought a Macbook Pro Max 2023 16' with Liquid Retina Display XDR (B)

<snip>

3) Why your product not use technologies to make screens comfortable for all types of eyes? Now feeling like apple try to burn my eyes out and it's a contract with medical companies.

Seriously?

See a medical professional if your eyes are are being affected negatively by certain environments.

Marja E Author

Level 1

43 points

Apr 26, 2024 8:01 AM in response to Marja E

I don't have too much eyestrain in Sonoma.

I prefer not to wear sunglasses when working, because I need to check back and forth between the computer, reference books and notebooks. I occasionally wear green sunglasses, though.

I have a lot of trouble with all the animation in Sonoma; at some point Apple nerfed Reduce Motion.

I'm sensitive to bright lights. I can't turn most monitors low enough. I think there are low-brightnesss 4k monitors, but they aren't widely available; I don't think there are any 4k no-brightness monitors.

Another user suggested Stillcolor. It requires an M1-M3 chipset.

Old Toad

Level 10

208,105 points

May 31, 2023 3:06 PM in response to Marja E

Have you tried Dark Mode?

Have you tried different colored lenses or polarized lens?

dialabrain

Level 10

122,807 points

May 30, 2023 1:44 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

👍

Old Toad

Level 10

208,105 points

May 31, 2023 4:08 PM in response to Marja E

You might try getting different colored plastic and hold them up to your eyes to see if a particular color might be better. If one does help you could get glasses with that tint or clips.

Kjb323

Level 1

8 points

May 24, 2024 2:28 PM in response to BogdanBAS

what did you change your monitor back TO that made it better?

BDAqua

Level 10

240,269 points

May 24, 2024 2:58 PM in response to Kjb323

Have you tried Night Shade in Display settings?

Eye Pain, Headaches, Nausea in Newer Versions