Dear Sara-
I am now 6 months after my accident (rear ended on the freeway in July 2012 with my son in the passenger seat). Initially, the PCS and PTSD diagnosis and the neurologist prescriptions (propanolol and trazodone) for the migraines and his reassurances that all will get better in time pacified me. But even if the "normal" timeframe is 6 months, it is a long time to be in pain.

I finally got tired of losing weight (some 40 pounds which is a silver lining I suppose) and not being able to read or watch movies (I am usually a college professor but am now on sick leave; I am hoping I can return!), that I went to get a neuropsychological exam that revealed some convergence insufficiencies. I went to the University of California binocular vision clinic, and they further diagnosed me with convergence insufficiency and esophoria.

Basically, the whiplash/concussion wiped out the muscle memory of my right eye working with my left eye. Because I've been seeing double, my brain suppressed/turned off the images from my right eye because it was too stressed to reconcile the double vision. This is why I always felt dizzy and nauseous and couldn't read or watch film. My brain couldn't process the double images. I still can only read in limited 30 minute chunks of time. I continue to lose weight but now the doctors are thinking it is cortisol overproduction from anxiety/ptsd. (Meditation!)

The prism glasses help and the vision therapy is rebuilding my eye coordination. But it is the most painful 4 minutes of my day (vision therapy). I would much rather run 5 miles-it's that painful.

So, please do get your vision checked out. The doctors at UC say that the eyes are part of the brain- and the lingering dizziness/nausea may be due to vision issues.

This forum has been so helpful. I've only been able to recently read and understand the wealth of information here. Thanks!