Long distance vision
 

In the beginning, the eye would be like a camera lens having problems to adjust the picture sharpness of an image quickly - so it was in and out of focus every few seconds.

Then summer came and the horizon stayed really blurred for most of it. But on taking Mestinon the image would be sharp with each trial dose. I changed reading glasses as well and much to the surprise of the optician needed yet a new pair after only 2 months. With Mestinon I could actually go back to the 2 year old glasses again.

Now since about a month I´m checking and re-checking many times outside my house but the horizon is extremely clear all the time - I can see for miles again like I always used to, and also without the Mestinon.

Do you have long or short fluctuations with your type of vision problem or is the problem quite stable?

Mine has always fluctuated all the time. That's pretty normal with MG.

My vision changes ALL the time -- even from morning to night. I've had pretty bad double vision since last fall. This summer, my vision would sometimes be "single" (normal) early in the day.

I think the first sign of double vision is often BLURRY vision. Also, you sometimes get double vision in only ONE direction. For instance, for a couple of years I had double vision ONLY when looking UPWARDS. Like if I was looking in the mirror and doing something to the top of my hair, I would see two images. The rest of my vision was mostly normal until last year.

Now that I wear the stick-on prisms, I seldom think about it. I do see TWO images at night (looking at the alarm clock), after taking off my glasses. I just roll over, close my eyes, and go back to sleep. :D

Double Vision was all I had for the first 7 to 8 months oh and droopy eye lids but I didn't know that at the time never had any blurry vision but were talking MG so I'm sure you can mine varries from mild to severe and I only do my reading in the morning as I know I will be better sometimes when out its like I only see in snap shots it's never that stable or constant
Alan:)

What you are describing sounds more like problems in accommodation and not double vision.

This is a less common ocular manifestation of MG, but has been described.

I am glad that this seems to have resolved together with other MG symptoms and hope it stays that way.

Alice :)

I´ve had the double vision where the kids I teach all had 4 eyes! –
Odd because you think they can all tell you are seeing double and of course they can´t!
But the blurriness did happen way more often and for longer periods.
It sounds like Jana would settle for gallstones and I would be quite happy to settle for accommodation!!!!
BTW: I´m still baffled at the continual improvements especially as just a few weeks ago I was sure it was all about to all go downhill.

Thank you for those good wishes.

Alan :)

Are you taking medication? Do you notice that helps?
Seeing in´snap shots´is an interesting way to describe your vision.

Jana :)

So another question......Does your eye sight ever fluctuate back to a minimal amount of visual problems?
I mean do you have periods of some days where you don´t actually need to wear the prism glasses?

Thanks,


Anacrusis :)

I have double vision in both eyes that comes and goes. If I read longer than ten minutes the words start blurring and I can see double words faintly below the real words. I notice my double vision the most when I look at the moon. I will see another moon offset below the real moon. One time my vision was so bad that my daughter appeared to have two noses. I was sober, really... I was. I only recently started Mestinon, and so far, I don't see any vision changes, but colors seem to be much brighter, but that could be because I'm feeling better and everything looks better when I feel better.

HAHAHAHAHA!! I "hear" ya!

I have a card I carry in my billfold AND in my car that says:

I am NOT intoxicated. I have a condition called Myasthenia Gravis. Symptoms can occur separately or in any combination. They include, but are not limited to:

• Double or blurred vision
• Droopy eyelid(s)
• Slurred speech
• Weakness of arms and/or legs
• Affected balance (dizziness)
• Difficulty in swallowing
• Difficulty in breathing

Please call my physician or hospital right away. (See back of this card.)

So far, my double vision hasn't gone away -- but, I am still hopeful. I've been in a couple of exacerbations since the DV started -- and I HOPE that once I get OUT of this cycle of exacerbations, my vision will return to "normal". :)

SOMETIMES when I get up in the morning, I don't have DV as I walk to the bathroom (where I leave my prisms at night). It usually returns during or shortly after my morning rituals......maybe 10-15 minutes???

I've been doing an experiment -- I don't want to mislead or misinform anyone. I currently do NOT have double vision when looking to the left (head remains still, eyes move), although DV remains in all other directions. So, while sitting in my computer swivel chair WITH my glasses OFF, I look at an object about 15 feet away. While I am looking leftward, my vision is clear. As I swivel back to the right (eyes moving, head staying still), the object blurs (goes out of focus) for a brief time -- THEN I see two distinct objects. I repeated this experiment several times...........the same thing happened over and over.

Actually, this was kinda FUN! I have my own personal kaleidoscope!! :D

I went to have my eyes refracted recently and was told that my eyes were worse.

When I took the prescription in to an optician, I got weaker glasses than my previous most recent ones (I actually had to get one eye changed to the old prescription).

I didn't know whether to post this in this thread or the one about cognitive dysfunction and I didn't know whether I should have posted about myself or the doctor ;) but I'll let you guys think about it ...

I have both near and far distance problems that vary depending on the time of day and also from day to day. Mestinon does not help very much with my vision problems. I can see fairly well in the morning and my vision gets more double throughout the day. I wear a prism on my Right eye glass lens that is quite helpful.

Anacrusis
I was on steroids for the first year which did improve my vision I no longer drive as I now have a fear of being in a car even a bus due to always seeing things come at me which even thou I know isn't real
I'm not on any medication mestinon never really helped me
It's only in the right eye
Alan:)

Thanks Quandry, Jana, Heat Intolerant, Jeatak and Alan :):):):):)

These are exactly the nuances of fluctuations and fine details I was interested in......

Nice experiment Jana! - I can just picture you swiveling around and around until you get the answers you are looking for!!!!

Heat Intolerant - I hope you don´t mind but I smiled a LOT when I read yours!

YEP!! You reminded me...............before I got prisms I was riding in the front seat one day, my sister was driving (she is an AWESOME driver). I was SOOOO nervous.......I kept on thinking cars/trucks were about to HIT us -- especially on the 4 lane when someone would pass us then return to our lane. I actually SCREAMED a couple of times! After that, I sat IN the back seat til I got prisms.

Yeah, from what I've read, Mestinon usually doesn't do much for eyes. :(

That´s what I´ve read and heard mostly as well.
Jana, I wanted to share my experiment with you as well...
For me, Mestinon would get rid of 4 eyes, sharpen the horizon AND improved my short distance focus in the following way....

For example:

Time after tablet (max ever - 30 mg) and distance of book from old pair glasses:
20 min 32cm
30 min 35 cm
60 min 37 cm
90 min 49 cm
110 min 56 cm (glasses are now useless and it has now become impossible to have the book 32 cm away from the eye)

Letters on page also had´ghosts´behind them which disappeared after Mestinon.
Horizon became sharp and boats on the ocean would appear as single objects after just 20 minutes.
Positive results on every trial dose.

But what I do wonder is if its just a case of Mestinon working with vision issues in only milder cases or maybe of course it was not MG....:)


Anacrusis

By the way I did also have the sharper vision to the sides but spent most of my time measuring forward vision.

Hey, we are turning into REAL scientists, right??? :D GREAT experiment!

I think the literature says that Mestinon doesn't "usually" help DV......not that it "never" helps. For all I know, Mestinon COULD have been keeping me from having severe DV until this past Fall. (I was diagnosed in 2005.)

I feel pretty confident that you DO have MG.

I found this article (a good read from the neuro-opthalmologist's point of view):

http://www.aao.org/publications/eyenet/200607/neuro.cfm

“With Mestinon, you may be able to improve diplopia by 50 percent, but the patient will still have diplopia.”

However, these drugs (pyridostigmine and neostigmine) may be more effective in treating ptosis than diplopia.

Anacrusis
I do not understand how their could be any doubt about your Myasthenia how on earth haven't you been diagnosed
I'm also seronegative also for the musk antibodies and failed some other
Test I'm also a odd case but was diagnosed
Just think Jana is right and it can be fun at times in seeing things differently
What helps me is a eye mask that is a gel and I use that sometimes which I keep in the freezer
Alan:)

Thanks for your opinions Jana & Alan they really mean a lot to me :)


Alan you reminded me of the cold - thanks! I am so good at forgetting things when symptoms start clearing up.

The oddest thing about cooling for me is that it has the most predictable effect! :rain:

It is much more predictable than heat exacerbation :icon_redface:

Cooling worked every time to improve eye issues.

We are having sub zero temperatures at the moment and surprisingly both my symptoms and my son´s symptoms stopped at the same time.


But what I still don´t get is that when the weather gets colder we will sit inside our houses where it´s also good and warm :Doh:
But yet do not get those same overbearing summer symptoms :Hum:

(see my picture - it might get only 10-15 degrees warmer than that in the summertime where I live :))


Enjoy your winter season... :catalan2:


Anacrusis

I recently learned that it is not just that heat makes things worse for us but that nerve/muscle communication is better in cold temperatures overall