Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: Some forms of horror are subtle, they are not about monsters inhabiting the world, or strange, unexplainable events. Some horror hides between the lines of text plainly stating facts, it comes from the implications and our empathy putting us in the shoes of those affects. In this excerpt a mage discusses the possible negative effects of magic, and there is a small, silent horror inhabiting the empty space between each line.
A practitioner of oculomancy should be prepared to self-medicate, as needed, with over-the-counter pain medication.
The most common type encountered is tension cephalgia [54,58,59] can be treated with ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, acetaminophen and aspirin, with the latter two displaying superior efficacy [55]. Tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline or protriptyline, may be used as a preventive measure when frequent or prolonged usage of the craft is required [56,57].
Long-time practitioners develop migraine cephalgia (according to studies [58,59,60], between 35% and 55% of mages who practice oculomancy actively for over ten years). These are commonly classic migraines but may include hemiplegic migraines [60] when the craft puts the body under exceptional duress. Symptoms can be treated with triptans such as naratriptan, sumatriptan or zolmitriptan [60,61].
Instances of cluster cephalgia require particular attention [62,63]. In the case of oculomancy practitioners, they may suggest degenerative changes in the hypothalamus or trigeminal ganglion. Immediate relief of symptoms can be achieved with triptans [61,66], but cluster cephalgia becomes intractable over time. Some surgical solutions exist but remain experimental [65,66,67,68,69].
While the physical strain oculomancy can have on the body, primarily due to hypertension and related aneurysms (statistically, practitioners face a 0.0073% yearly risk rate, compared to 0.0024% among non-practitioners [113]), should not be ignored, the primary long-term risks are psychological.
Cross-contamination between souls cannot be corrected by the body in all cases, causing changes in the brain [110,112]. Due to this, there are two separate avenues of risk to a practitioner.
The onto-cognitive factors may be addressed through rigorous application of self-affirmative meditation (including traditional practices such as vision quests [113] and the Rites of Diocletianus [114,115,116,117]). If kept in check, this significantly reduces the risk of other issues.
Physical changes to the brain, if allowed to develop, are homologous with the spectrum of Schizoaffective disorders. Symptoms may be regulated using anti-psychotics such as aripiprazole, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine and risperidone [109,110,118]. It is advised not to self-medicate in such cases but instead contact a trusted expert.
Furthermore, onto-cognitive abnormalities can be spread from practitioner to practitioner, or even from practitioner to norma, when using any form of reciprocative oculomancy [112], which is recognised as a root cause of the stigma associated with mental disorders.
Esoteric Musings... 