Living With Double Vision

Hi everyone. Part of the reason I have not posted in a few days is the fact I’ve been involved in scheduling an eye surgery. Of course this involves eye appointments. Holy Mackerel. As grateful as I am for everything, by the time the eye exam is done…I just want to sleep.

A couple of weeks ago I finally received a diagnosis I could understand. See…34 years ago I was in a car accident in which I experienced numerous injuries. One was a closed head injury that was a result of my head hitting the dashboard and going through the windshield. This head trauma caused a weak muscle and damaged nerve in my left eye. I was told them that I would have diplopia (double vision) for the rest of my life. This diplopia originally started on my right lateral.

For years I needed to be super careful about what I ate and drank. I wore regular eyeglasses. I noticed that if I consumed caffeine or too much salt, my diplopia worsened. It also worsened when I’d eat anything with MSG (monosodium glutamate) in it. (Remember, this is before MSG was the health concern that it is today. In fact, it was sold in the spice section of grocery stores. I loved the stuff and was disheartened when I realized I could not eat it. ) I noticed that when my hormones were unbalanced, so was my diplopia. As time as progressed, I find it very interesting that whenever I have told an eye professional like a M.D. or D.O. (or whatever the initials for an optometrist are) about the effects of foods and/or hormones on my diplopia (and there have been many times)….they find it entertaining and treat it lightly. They cannot believe anything like that effects my condition. Hmm…I wonder if a naturopath or acupuncturist would. ?? Just curious.

I didn’t know about eye glass prisms until 8 years ago. I don’t know if prisms existed back in the late 1970’s. I wasn’t made aware of them if they were. They’re great. I can see straight. That is until about six months ago. My diplopia has affected all of my visual fields. Now…I see double even while wearing my glasses. And, my prism cannot get much stronger.

The diagnosis…after the completion of my eye exam, my ophthalmologist told me I have a nerve palsy of the nerve surrounding my cerebellum.. As she described the nerve, it was perfectly aligned with where my head injury occurred. I was impressed. Impressed, yet scared. Suddenly I have a palsy. Isn’t it funny how you can live with a condition for so long and just learn to deal with it and suddenly when it’s given a name ….it’s viewed differently? I find that interesting, anyways.

So..instead of wearing glasses that will look abnormal and accentuate my vision defect, I am going to have the surgery. I thought I wasn’t vain, but I don’t want to wear glasses with tape and stripes across the entire lens. My diplopia has reached the point where I want it fixed. I just want to see straight (or as straight as possible) when I open my eyes in the morning. Plus, I want the headaches and overall tiredness to stop. Eye problems are a physiological strain upon the body.
So…that’s the scoop. Thanks for reading.

Hope this helps anyone else going through the same thing.

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