Vision Problems & Eye Pain
 

Hi

I have been following the thread for the past few weeks but this is my first time posting. First off, thanks for all of the info you all post, it has been extremely helpful and comforting! Just a little background information, In November 2013, I was hit by a car as a pedestrian crossing the street. I hit the back of my head on the windshield and then again on the pavement after I flipped over the car. Ive been off work ever since with concussion and whiplash . Very similar symptoms to a lot of you. In the beginning very dizzy nauseous. Extreme headaches. shooting pains. Now light/sound sensitivity, headaches all the time, neck pain, short term memory problems, cognitive issues.

My question has to do with vision.

Ive been noticing vision problems the past few weeks. I already wear glasses but I've been noticing vision problems even while wearing them lately. Im also still having a lot of trouble with reading, even in small doses. I have really bad headaches behind my eyes. Eye strain most of the day. I see black dots sometimes. And sometimes see double, mostly door frames or fences, things that have lines.

I told my doctor and he suggested i see my eye doctor because maybe ny prescription has changed. But I looked in the chapter about vision in Brainlashed and she suggested a behavioural optometrist. She said our prescription can change multiple times during recovery.

I dont want to change my prescription and then have to do it all over again

Sorry for the novel, Im just wondering what kind of doctors you have all seen for vision problems. Thanks!!

Kris

Hi Kris,

Don't worry about posting "a novel" we all do it, or at least most of us do, and this stuff can be quite complex. This is not the average forum with persnickity people on it - we all care quite a bit about each other and newbies too.

Anywho, I had pain behind my eye and it lead to me being diagnosed with an increase of intracranial pressure that had to be relieved with a spinal tap.

An optometrist can help to diagnose this and often can see you before an ophthalmologist has an opening available.

If you can, why don't you see an optometrist and then see an ophthalmologist?

If you do have an increase of intracranial pressure, then you may need to be seen right away ... I don't want to alarm you ... but the way it works is that it's a cyclical process and the pressure *could* just continue to increase and cause lots of problems without relief...

Do you have a neurologist? Have you mentioned the pain behind the eye to your neurologist? I recommend that you do that ASAP too.

http://www.ihrfoundation.org/intracr...nsion/info/C18

http://www.ihrfoundation.org/intracr...nsion/info/C17

I'm sure you went to the hospital after the accident and they determined you didn't have an increase of intracranial pressure that was an emergency situation - but sometimes it takes a while to increase to the point that it can cause symptoms or be seen with medical devices...

Kris
To partially answer your question, to my knowledge there are only three optometrists in Ontario that practice behavioral optometry. The closest is in Belleville: dr. J. Wareham. My regular optometrist tells me that Dr. Wareham now sees patients a few days a week in Ottawa.

I've not been treated by him, rather I went to London. I would recommend seeing a behavioral optometrist, as they understand post-trauma vision syndrome and vestibular ocular therapies.

There is also the Eye Institute at the Ottawa Hospital. I've not had any luck with seeing anyone there with a specialty in neuro-ophthalmology.

Best of luck
GG

Yes, I just recently found out that Dr. Wareham comes to Ottawa to see patients regularly and I plan to try to get an appointment but haven't yet made the call.

http://www.drwareham.com/

Starr

Thank you for your replies! I don't have a neurologist, Ive been referred to do neuropsychological testing but I am waiting for my appointments at the end of August. The doctor that is following me is a Sports Injury Doctor.

So sorry to hear about your accident. You must be suffering.

I had very similar symptoms. I was also treated by sports doctor for the first three or four months and it was a waste of time. Sports doctors hope you have the type of concussion That can clear up in a week. I'm sure there are some good sports doctors out there, but the ones I saw were very limited in their understanding of brain injury.

If you have visual problems, which most people who have your type of accident have, you need to see a neuro-ophthalmologist or behavioral optometrist as soon as possible. For six months after my accident I kept telling the sports doctor that my vision seemed weird and dysfunctional. I spent most of my time with my eyes closed even when I was talking to people.

I finally went to my own optometrist who tested each eye separately and pronounce that I had 2020 vision. I bought a pair of $750, progressive lenses, and still felt horrible

Finally when I went to brain trauma center in Minneapolis, they immediately asked me if I had been assessed by a neuro-ophthalmologist. She assessed me and was able to determine that I had significant problems in visual processing and converging and accommodating etc. etc.

I have been doing vision therapy and wearing prisms and have seen improvement. I could not read for the first year. I still get significant eyestrain and pain and my time reading and on the computer is limited, but there is progress.

Vision takes up a significant amount of brainpower. If your vision is off due to your injury by even a millimeter, you will probably experience a lot of difficulty and even vestibular problems.


I had a two-year wait in my province to see a neuro-ophthalmologist. The best thing I did for my healing in the past two and half years was to drive six hours and pay a small fee to have an assessment out of country.

I hope this is useful. Take care. It does get better. For some people it is very slow but one never knows who will be fast and it will be slow!

The neuro optometrist (Dr. Wareham) that visits Ottawa, you should be able to just phone up and make an appointment to see. No idea on the cost or anything, but probably worth the phone call.

From experience (my injury was almost 2.5 years ago and I'm only going to see a neurologist for the first time tomorrow!) don't bother with a regular optometrist. I've spent so much money on glasses and lenses that I can't wear and don't help.

And if you can get a referral to a physiatrist (rehab medicine specialist) you might have better luck than a sports injury doctor. Dr. Shawn Marshall is one of Ottawa's leading docs on TBI, but is also difficult to get into see.

I would also avoid a company that has recently started up in the area and has been marketing to TBI patients called Opticalm. I had some interactions with them and was not impressed. I'm happy to discuss more via pm, if anyone is considering going that route.

Sorry to hear about the accident you were in and the injuries you sustained.

Good luck to you!
Starr

Thank you all so much! your posts have been really helpful! Its so nice to have some guidance. Big hugs to all of you

OMG! I am appalled it's taking you guys so long to see a specialist! That's ridiculous! I had no idea!! I'm so sorry!!

EsthersDoll,
My 2.5 years to see a neurologist is slightly misleading. I started seeing a physiatrist about 6 months after my injury (it was a 4 month wait to see him) and he's been managing my rehab about every 8 weeks.

He didn't refer me to the neurologist until about 9 months ago... so I've been waiting about 9 months to see the neurologist and that's pretty quick because I got bumped up the list because it was a referral from a specialist, not just a GP and I also managed to snag a cancellation. Its not unusual to wait closer to 12 months, depending on the city and the neurologist.

I also didn't have an MRI until 2 years after my injury... but that was because he didn't order it for quite some time... once ordered, I only waited about 4 months... most people wait longer, but again, I snagged a cancellation, at 3:30am in the middle of February when it was -35 C outside! :D I think someone else decided it was just too cold to go out. ;)

The only thing that would have changed because of my MRI results, is that my rehab doc would've made the referral to the neurologist sooner if he'd known the results of my MRI (since the MRI actually shows damage) sooner, so the whole process would've sped up a bit.

Anyhow... I'm kinda nervous about seeing the neurologist today... I've heard mixed opinions about him, so I'm not holding much hope that he can help me with this head pain that I've had since Feb 2012 that has never gone away and has only gotten worse over time. We've tried so many drugs and treatments and none seem to do anything against it... I just fear I'm going to be stuck with it forever now.

Starr

That's still a long time to wait. But thank you for explaining more of the details.

Good luck today!