HELP ME I DONT KNOW WHATS WRONG

[KSTAMBA]

I have Diabetes.  My A1C count always comes out reading normal every 3 months, recently within the last month my vision has become unstable. My contacts have worked well for me, my prescription is fairly high, about -9,50 in both eyes wih astigmatism.  I went in to see my optometrist due to vision loss in things up close, reading the computer screen became very difficult, I experience a lot of double vision and haloing.  Strnge thing is after 6 months of wearing the contacts the vision changed my optometrist said the haloing was due to the torics having a line of vision and my eyes were seeing where the prescription stopped therefore i would need a contact that had a larger vision area.  This didnt help....I have been in his office over the last 4 weeks to no avail....I continue to see double without my contacts on and experience "shadowing" when reading the eye exam....I see two exact sets of letters on top or to the diagonal left of the letter.  I am not ure what is causing this there is no bleeding in the back of my eye, and I am not sure why all of a sudden it is so bad.  He gave me a higher prescription in both eyes at-10.00 within a week and a half I went back and he stated that my eyes were "overfocusing"? causing the double vision...I just had a dilation done that lasts 18-24 hours that doesnt allow me to focus...after eeing me with this he stated my prescription as jumped to -10.75 and that I may nolonger be able to wear contacts due to the power.  I am 28 years old, have been tested for glaucoma and at this point am so frustrated as noone has any answers for me....my work is being affected badly as I cannot read the computer screen clearly or anything in writing....does anyone have any advice or maybe have seen something similar?????  Somene please help, I just spent $400 in glasses and still struggle wth doube vision (words on top of workds almost like a mirror image) my doctor tld me to just use readingglasses over my glasses if it contineues....(i dont see how this is a good thing especially with what i just spent)....I find it tough that for the first time in my life, I cannot see clearly and the doctors are not able to help me....each visit becomes more and more daunting and discouraging.   I truly need someone to talk to me in regards to it.

[LoriG38]

You are not alone.  My prescription is about the same as yours and I have an astigmatism, too.  I was just at the opthamologist a few months ago and got new contacts and glasses.  Everything was fine for a couple of months, now I have to wear reading glasses.  I couldn't even read the aisle signs at WalMart to see where I was going.  And forget about reading labels...Plus I am having to get my daughter to read things for me, even though I have the reading glasses.  I wonder if my diabetes or blood pressure have anything to do with it...

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

You may need a 2 or 3  month rest from the contact lenses - before you can even get an accurate glasses prescription - so the glasses prescription you are wearing now may not be quite right.  I would make sure you see an ophthalmologist at least once to make  sure there is no abnormalities of the eye - especially the lens, retina, cornea that could account for the vison problems.  At some point you might even have to wear a contact lens and glasses prescription over that for best possible vision.  Honestly, your problems are not terribly unusual for someone with your numbers.

MJK MD