# A matter of vision, eyes changing daily?



## JonSidneyB (May 5, 2006)

I know there are a couple of eye doctors on CPF so I thought I would post a question here.

I have had something odd with my eyes at least since the 80s.

My vision seems to change frequently.

I had an eye exam and the next thing you know I had a pair of glasses. Well I found that I didn't see any better on average with the new glasses and I quit wearing them. A about a year later I went and got an exam again, when I left with the new glasses they made me walk funny. The distance the ground had changed it seemed to me and I was stomping my feet and I had a hard time not doing it so I stopped wearing my glasses and my vision again did not seem any better. 

A couple of years passed and I went to the eye doctor again, I had told him I had gotten glasses before but they didn't seem correct each time. He decided that I should get another exam later and he told me that indeed my eyes had changed and sent me to get some blood drawn and get tested. Well the clinic that drew the blood did not find what the eye doctor expected.

My vision varies a bit from time to time, some days I can see fairly clearly, other days I struggle at reading a bit. Most of the time it does not affect my daily activity that much and I found I can shoot well even when my vision is not at its best. 

Again some years passed and I went to get my eyes examined and told the doctor that my eyes are not consistent in how the function and he thought the problem was again blood sugar related and I got tested again and again I was told no blood sugar problem was occuring. Just before I found CPF I tried again and the same thing happened and no blood sugar problem. It seems that the doctors that I have mentioned this to are not sure what is going on.

Why I bring this up now is a few days ago I had to ask Denise to read a battery label for me and she commented that I was blind. I was able to see better for awhile but today, I am having a tiny bit of trouble making out some letters and I get tired if a read for a little while.

Any ideas as the what is going on???


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## Sigman (May 5, 2006)

Curious...any diabetes or high blood pressure in your family?


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## JohnK (May 5, 2006)

Jon, PM sent.


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## diggdug13 (May 5, 2006)

I'm not an eye doctor but my eyes have a condition where the focusing musles "lock" or paralyis at different focal lengths at various times. so my vision is constantly changing (it sucks) I have to wear verilux progressisve lenses as a perscription so I can compensate the vision with the multiple lenses in the glasses. I have to replace my glasses atleast once a year due to perscription changes. 

from what my doctor said years ago it's a fairly rare condition but is sounds similar to what you are discribing. I can not remember the medical name for the condition sorry.

Doug


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## Dawg (May 5, 2006)

Rheumatoid Arthritis can be the culprit in visual disturbances as well. The symptoms you describe could be an early indicator of many things. Are you on the computer a lot? You would be surprised how many of us are damaging our eyes every day by sitting in front of these things for long hours.

Next time you experience problems, go lie down and put an ice pack or cold pack on your eyes for 10 minutes or so and see if you get any immediate improvement.


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## greenLED (May 5, 2006)

I was going to guess diabetes and/or high blood pressure. Could it be an inflamed optical nerve?

I love guessing at illnesses.  It's Chagas disease, Jon!


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## Kiessling (May 5, 2006)

Just to be sure ... have a VEP (visual evoked potential exam) done. Won't hurt, won't damage anything, is cheap and fast.
Not an ophtalmologist either, though.
bernie


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## PhotonBoy (May 5, 2006)

Have your doctor do a test for glaucoma. It doesn't take long and it doesn't hurt either. YMMV. Also, I'm not a doctor.


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## sunspot (May 5, 2006)

Dang Bernie. Never heard of it and did a google.

Visual evoked potential (VEP) systems are integral to the Neurophysiology lab. VEPs are used for neurological assessment of the visual system by generating sudden changes in viewed patterns. These diagnostic instruments are used to evaluate optic neuritis, optic tumors, retinal disorders and demyelineating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Resulting responses correlate closely with features of normal vision such as visual acuity and are consistently reproduceable.


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## Kiessling (May 5, 2006)

Yepp. Biggest use of the VEP is to check for the integrity of the Optical Nerve (N. II). If you wanna check areas further down the optical neuro-pathway it gets a bit more complicated and less reliable and valid.
This is a very nice method to check the functionality of N.II in a non-invasive, cheap and reliable manner. So I'd say doing can't hurt.
bernie

P.S.: an interesting thing is that the stimulation isn't done by changing the brightness of the viewed target area, but the pattern (usually a checkboard pattern). This is the case because the human eye and more so the visual cortex is optimized to recognize patterns over intensity which explains the incredible resolution we get from our eyes and the alo incredible dynamic range (compare them to your camera and laugh at your technical marvel, your eye is way better still). The optical pathways act not only as a contrast enhancing system but also as a compressor to be able to see well on low and high light conditions.
Interesting when talking about our hobby ... AND ... when talking about beamshots. But this is another topic ...


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## greenLED (May 5, 2006)

I told you guys it was related to the optical nerve.


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## PhotonWrangler (May 5, 2006)

Dawg said:


> Are you on the computer a lot? You would be surprised how many of us are damaging our eyes every day by sitting in front of these things for long hours.


 
What is the mechanism that's causing the alleged damage?


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## cobb (May 6, 2006)

Yeah, changes in blood sugar can causes like a fog of white or darkness. I deal with that when its not in check. I take a beta bocker, so I dont always know when its low. 

Its my xperience that I need to make two trips to get my glasses right as the lenses distorte and they need to reexamine me and do a refraction while wearing the glasses to get them 100% right. My past pair had a 2% change they would nail it on the first try. 

Also, you need to wear them safely for a few days to get use to them. Sure things move dfferently, but you arent use to them. I tried my old glasses the other day and couldnt imagine I put up with that. Ive done that with all my old pairs and to just think I was going to cntinue wearing the old ones when I got the new ones for a few minutes. 

Maybe your eye ball changes shape on a regular bases? Mines have a bit. Then you got the ability fo focus that changes and needing glasses to compensate for it.


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## NewBie (May 6, 2006)

For some people, stress and the amount of quality sleep time have a big effect on their vision.


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