Aa
Are there concrete causes for very severe eye strain?
Hello everyone,
I am 25 years old, male, and from The Netherlands. Since about a year I have been having severe problems that are related to binocular vision disfunction. So far, nobody seems to be able to give me an appropriate diagnosis. I would be very glad to hear from people that have had complaints comparable to me.
Since a couple of years I have had trouble reading. Looking at a book or computer screen for like an hour, words would start to float, and I would feel a weird sensation in my head. This usually faded away if I wouldn't read for a couple of hours. I did not constantly have this problem, mostly it would come, last for about a month, and then go away again. I never knew that this problem was eye-related, until one day I decided to put on glasses that I had had for a long time, but had rarely worn. I have a little bit of nearsightedness, these glasses corrected for this, but I could quite easily do without so I preferred not wearing them. When I put them on my problem disappeared.
About a half year later, I had a flu, after which my problem came back. Now I knew my specs had to do with this, so I visited an optician to get new ones. Once I got the new ones, things went completely wrong. A very bad eye strain arose. Especially a felt a lot of pressure on my left eye. I would wake up with this eye strain, it would be there all the time during the day, but mostly it faded away at night. I got other complaints too, that I find very hard to explain. For example, it felt like I lost my balance. Also, it felt like my vision got really narrow. If someone would walk up to me from the side, I would only notice them once they were right next to me. Another thing was, if I would go to e.g. a grocery store, I would feel really overwhelmed. My eyes had to switch position all the time and I just couldn't deal with that. There was a myriad of other vague complaints, but I find it hard to explain them well, and I don't want this to get too lengthy. I went back to the optician, who gave me other glasses, which resulted in the same complaints. Sometimes it gave a bit of relief taking the glasses off, or putting them on. I think this was because then my eyes could sit in a different position for a bit. For about 3 weeks I have been switching between different pairs of glasses and wearing or not wearing them.
I went to an opthalmologist, who sprayed a liquid in my eye allowing him to properly measure my nearsightedness. This gave very different results from the optician's. When I got the new specs, the pressure I had on my left eye switched to the right one (I myself think this has to do with eye dominance). The opthalmologist couldn't find anything else, and reffered me to an orthoptist. Here they diagnosed convergence insufficiency, and they prescribed eye exercises. After a week I felt relief thanks to these exercises, but a few days later all my complaints were back again. The second appointment they diagnosed a vertical heterophoria, which I got a vertical prism glass prescription for. This resolved the pressure on my right eye, but a lot of eye strain remained. The appointments so were spread over a 2 month period, and the new one was scheduled in 2 months. They said I couldn't come sooner because it was too busy. I was so desperate that I resorted to an alternative practitioner (in NL we call these homeopaths, but I don't know if that works in English). She had a degree to be a GP too, so she had a lot of medical knowledge, but I can't say she was specialized in eyes. She said I needed horizontal prisms. I got those, and I noticed my complaints getting a bit less. After about 6 weeks I had a second appointment, she said I needed more prism. Again my complaints got less, to the point that I would finally wake up without the eye pain in the morning again. This was such a blessing. A few weeks later, my complaints got worse again, so I went back and got more prism prescribed. A few weeks later I felt so good I thought I was finally over my problems, but then they got worse again. Then in the course of about 2 months, they gradually got better. Now I am at the point that I don't feel absolutely horrible anymore, but I have a hard time reading, I still feel eye strain, but at least it is not there right when I wake up, and there still is other complaints. I am also anxious every day that things will get worse again.
I had another appointment with the orthoptist last week. She said that the horizontal prisms need to get out. To my understanding, all orthoptists in NL hold the opinion that horizontal prisms are bad, and only offer temporary relief, since your eyes quite soon adjust to the new situation. I however, know that I feel a lot better since I got those horizontal prisms. I think my eyes did indeed adjust, that was at the time I had the horizontal prisms for a while already, and started to feel worse again. But then later, I started feeling better. So to me it seems the relief was not just temporary. Then there is also the fact that on the internet I have read about a lot of eye vision centers (from e.g. the US and the UK) that do say horizontal prisms can be appropriate treatment. At the least, it seems like there is no consensus on the matter.
I would always listen to my medical specialist, but the problems I have are so complex that sometimes it feels like they don't fully understand them. For example, I have asked what the reason is that the eye strain is there in the morning, but fades away at night. They can't seem to answer this, but they also seem uninterested in the things I ask or say, just relying on the measurements they obtain.
Hoping to find people with the same complaints, I need to dwell a bit on the eye strain I have mentioned:
- When getting used to prism glasses, my eyes would feel like they had a good workout the day before. I then liked to close my eyes and move them in specific directions where the stiffness was. This would feel good, just like stretching your arm when it feels sore due to a workout a couple days before (1)
- After my horizontal prism prescription, I felt like I was almost done with my problems. At that time, eye strain would only build during the day, but I felt it getting less when I closed my eyes for a bit. Mostly at night it felt like I had given them a good workout during the day. They would burn, just like when e.g. you have gone on a walk and had a quick pace. Also I would sometimes feel my hard beating in my eyes (2)
- Before all the prism glasses, the eye strain felt very stubborn. I would wake up with it. Closing my eyes would not offer relief. Moving my eyes it felt like I couldn't move them as much. They felt really cramped (3)
The three things above might seem pretty much the same. But to me they felt very distinct. When I read or hear about eye misalignment problems, the eye strain that is described to me seems to be (2). (1) seems to be normal when getting used to new prisms. I have never read about (3), and no one has been able to explain me what it originates from. I would be so happy to hear from anyone who has had the same feeling.
I am getting a fixation disparity test soon. Having read about it, I think it is what I have. But then again, it doesn't describe (3). I am very afraid that even when that gets diagnosed, they will tell me to get my horizontal prisms out. But I am so scared to do this. I know there must be people out there that have had the same problems as me. I would be so happy to get chatting with them.
I think these medical forums want to avoid people giving medical advice to others. In that regard, I will not take anything as such. If you could just share with me your experiences, I hope to get a broader view on my problems, and maybe you can point me in the right direction as to what tests I should take etc.
Kind regards and thanks in advance,
Mark
I am 25 years old, male, and from The Netherlands. Since about a year I have been having severe problems that are related to binocular vision disfunction. So far, nobody seems to be able to give me an appropriate diagnosis. I would be very glad to hear from people that have had complaints comparable to me.
Since a couple of years I have had trouble reading. Looking at a book or computer screen for like an hour, words would start to float, and I would feel a weird sensation in my head. This usually faded away if I wouldn't read for a couple of hours. I did not constantly have this problem, mostly it would come, last for about a month, and then go away again. I never knew that this problem was eye-related, until one day I decided to put on glasses that I had had for a long time, but had rarely worn. I have a little bit of nearsightedness, these glasses corrected for this, but I could quite easily do without so I preferred not wearing them. When I put them on my problem disappeared.
About a half year later, I had a flu, after which my problem came back. Now I knew my specs had to do with this, so I visited an optician to get new ones. Once I got the new ones, things went completely wrong. A very bad eye strain arose. Especially a felt a lot of pressure on my left eye. I would wake up with this eye strain, it would be there all the time during the day, but mostly it faded away at night. I got other complaints too, that I find very hard to explain. For example, it felt like I lost my balance. Also, it felt like my vision got really narrow. If someone would walk up to me from the side, I would only notice them once they were right next to me. Another thing was, if I would go to e.g. a grocery store, I would feel really overwhelmed. My eyes had to switch position all the time and I just couldn't deal with that. There was a myriad of other vague complaints, but I find it hard to explain them well, and I don't want this to get too lengthy. I went back to the optician, who gave me other glasses, which resulted in the same complaints. Sometimes it gave a bit of relief taking the glasses off, or putting them on. I think this was because then my eyes could sit in a different position for a bit. For about 3 weeks I have been switching between different pairs of glasses and wearing or not wearing them.
I went to an opthalmologist, who sprayed a liquid in my eye allowing him to properly measure my nearsightedness. This gave very different results from the optician's. When I got the new specs, the pressure I had on my left eye switched to the right one (I myself think this has to do with eye dominance). The opthalmologist couldn't find anything else, and reffered me to an orthoptist. Here they diagnosed convergence insufficiency, and they prescribed eye exercises. After a week I felt relief thanks to these exercises, but a few days later all my complaints were back again. The second appointment they diagnosed a vertical heterophoria, which I got a vertical prism glass prescription for. This resolved the pressure on my right eye, but a lot of eye strain remained. The appointments so were spread over a 2 month period, and the new one was scheduled in 2 months. They said I couldn't come sooner because it was too busy. I was so desperate that I resorted to an alternative practitioner (in NL we call these homeopaths, but I don't know if that works in English). She had a degree to be a GP too, so she had a lot of medical knowledge, but I can't say she was specialized in eyes. She said I needed horizontal prisms. I got those, and I noticed my complaints getting a bit less. After about 6 weeks I had a second appointment, she said I needed more prism. Again my complaints got less, to the point that I would finally wake up without the eye pain in the morning again. This was such a blessing. A few weeks later, my complaints got worse again, so I went back and got more prism prescribed. A few weeks later I felt so good I thought I was finally over my problems, but then they got worse again. Then in the course of about 2 months, they gradually got better. Now I am at the point that I don't feel absolutely horrible anymore, but I have a hard time reading, I still feel eye strain, but at least it is not there right when I wake up, and there still is other complaints. I am also anxious every day that things will get worse again.
I had another appointment with the orthoptist last week. She said that the horizontal prisms need to get out. To my understanding, all orthoptists in NL hold the opinion that horizontal prisms are bad, and only offer temporary relief, since your eyes quite soon adjust to the new situation. I however, know that I feel a lot better since I got those horizontal prisms. I think my eyes did indeed adjust, that was at the time I had the horizontal prisms for a while already, and started to feel worse again. But then later, I started feeling better. So to me it seems the relief was not just temporary. Then there is also the fact that on the internet I have read about a lot of eye vision centers (from e.g. the US and the UK) that do say horizontal prisms can be appropriate treatment. At the least, it seems like there is no consensus on the matter.
I would always listen to my medical specialist, but the problems I have are so complex that sometimes it feels like they don't fully understand them. For example, I have asked what the reason is that the eye strain is there in the morning, but fades away at night. They can't seem to answer this, but they also seem uninterested in the things I ask or say, just relying on the measurements they obtain.
Hoping to find people with the same complaints, I need to dwell a bit on the eye strain I have mentioned:
- When getting used to prism glasses, my eyes would feel like they had a good workout the day before. I then liked to close my eyes and move them in specific directions where the stiffness was. This would feel good, just like stretching your arm when it feels sore due to a workout a couple days before (1)
- After my horizontal prism prescription, I felt like I was almost done with my problems. At that time, eye strain would only build during the day, but I felt it getting less when I closed my eyes for a bit. Mostly at night it felt like I had given them a good workout during the day. They would burn, just like when e.g. you have gone on a walk and had a quick pace. Also I would sometimes feel my hard beating in my eyes (2)
- Before all the prism glasses, the eye strain felt very stubborn. I would wake up with it. Closing my eyes would not offer relief. Moving my eyes it felt like I couldn't move them as much. They felt really cramped (3)
The three things above might seem pretty much the same. But to me they felt very distinct. When I read or hear about eye misalignment problems, the eye strain that is described to me seems to be (2). (1) seems to be normal when getting used to new prisms. I have never read about (3), and no one has been able to explain me what it originates from. I would be so happy to hear from anyone who has had the same feeling.
I am getting a fixation disparity test soon. Having read about it, I think it is what I have. But then again, it doesn't describe (3). I am very afraid that even when that gets diagnosed, they will tell me to get my horizontal prisms out. But I am so scared to do this. I know there must be people out there that have had the same problems as me. I would be so happy to get chatting with them.
I think these medical forums want to avoid people giving medical advice to others. In that regard, I will not take anything as such. If you could just share with me your experiences, I hope to get a broader view on my problems, and maybe you can point me in the right direction as to what tests I should take etc.
Kind regards and thanks in advance,
Mark
So from your posting you have several problems: 1. a refractive error 2. convergence insufficiency 3. a strabismus or eye muscle problem. You are getting multiple consultations and being pulled in different directions without a "captain of the ship"
1. At your age your glasses testing needs to be done after your eye is dilated to avoid making your glasses too strong. 2. I don't know what you have read about horizontal prisms but I think its wrong. Horizontal eye muscles problems are often treated with horizontal prisms and convergence insufficiency is routinely treated with base in prism. 3. Once you get prism in your glasses it's hard to get along without them 3. I would avoid the homeopath like the plague and stick to seeing ophthalmologists (MD) or optometrist (OD) or an orthoptist working under the direction of an eye MD or OD.
3. If you want to move on to additional expertise I would suggest seeing an eye MD ophthalmologist that specializes in strabismus (eye muscle problems) they are sometimes called pediatric ophthalmologists since eye muscle problems occur more commonly in children.
JCH MD
1. At your age your glasses testing needs to be done after your eye is dilated to avoid making your glasses too strong. 2. I don't know what you have read about horizontal prisms but I think its wrong. Horizontal eye muscles problems are often treated with horizontal prisms and convergence insufficiency is routinely treated with base in prism. 3. Once you get prism in your glasses it's hard to get along without them 3. I would avoid the homeopath like the plague and stick to seeing ophthalmologists (MD) or optometrist (OD) or an orthoptist working under the direction of an eye MD or OD.
3. If you want to move on to additional expertise I would suggest seeing an eye MD ophthalmologist that specializes in strabismus (eye muscle problems) they are sometimes called pediatric ophthalmologists since eye muscle problems occur more commonly in children.
JCH MD
2 Comments
Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it.
As to 1. Looking back they did also dilate my eye, so my refractive error should be corrected for appropriately now. Also during later appointments they checked my eye sight was good.
As to 2. By horizontal prisms I meant base in prisms. Apologies for the confusion.
So my orthoptists don't want to prescribe base-in prisms, whereas in the US and the UK this seems to be quite common.
As to 3. That is great advice. Thank you.
As to 1. Looking back they did also dilate my eye, so my refractive error should be corrected for appropriately now. Also during later appointments they checked my eye sight was good.
As to 2. By horizontal prisms I meant base in prisms. Apologies for the confusion.
So my orthoptists don't want to prescribe base-in prisms, whereas in the US and the UK this seems to be quite common.
As to 3. That is great advice. Thank you.
In the US and UK we have less problem with convergence insufficiency. Most places in the world orthoptists are used infrequently. you can't blame the orthoptist by creating work to keep her/his schedule filled.
By the way I just finished editing a book "The Science of Near Death Experiences" (Missouri University Press February 2017 available on amazon.com) One of the chapters is by noted Dutch cardiologists Pim van Lommel MD he has done some of the world's best studies on NDEs. Have you heard of him or familiar with his work?
By the way I just finished editing a book "The Science of Near Death Experiences" (Missouri University Press February 2017 available on amazon.com) One of the chapters is by noted Dutch cardiologists Pim van Lommel MD he has done some of the world's best studies on NDEs. Have you heard of him or familiar with his work?
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