Vision Question
 

For those who have gone to vision therapy, can you elaborate on your experience. I recently went to an OD who told me that vision therapy was best for people who have double vision or trouble focusing on letters and the like. My problems are more along the lines of headaches, sick feeling, light sensitivity, all of which worsen with exposure to focusing on text, images, lights, TV, etc.

Thanks!

I did not perceive that I had double vision, but the VEE testing revealed that my brain (and eyes) were having to work excessively hard to hold the two images from my eyes together. This was causing headaches and excessive fatigue.

It was very very easy for the optometrist to break my single image into a double image, and very difficult for me to reassemble it once he did.

I also had difficulty switching between near and far. I could do it, but the effort it required of my brain and eyes again was causing headaches and fatigue. It could also cause nausea, I think.

It is definitely worth having the VEE in my opinion.

You can read more about the vision difficulties experienced after brain injury at http://www.braininjuries.org

Sorry, what is a VEE test? I had a full eye workup and the doc prescribed glasses for reading and the comp because my eyes were straining a bit. Would I have had VEE testing? I am interested in any kind of treatment available, but I'm unsure whether vision therapy will have any effect.

VEE testing is a Vision Efficiency Evaluation. It takes about an hour. The doctor should have you work with combining two images into one, seeing images in 3D, switch between seeing things near and far, test depth perception, track moving objects without moving your head, etc.

Does that sound like the testing you had?

You can find doctors who do this at http://www.braininjuries.org or http://www.nora.cc

It sounds like I had some of that. I had a standard eye exam that tested vision and lasted 1.5 hours. I don't recall 3D testing. I'm wondering if I should try vision therapy anyways?

I'd check with your doctor about exactly what kind of testing you had, but from my un-expert opinion, it sounds like you might benefit from vision therapy.

I'm one week into vision therapy for a vision convergence insufficiency. Basically my eyes don't work together properly at a close range, about arms length. This explains why I get my worst headaches while on the computer or reading. It's more about using my eyes when reading and using applications than viewing because I can watch a movie on my PC or watch TV with no issues. The strain on the eyes while concentrating(eyeball convergence) causes bad headaches if I don't take frequent breaks and limit computer or reading time. I even use f.lux, Workrave, and dim the hell out my monitor and still am plagued.

I don't see improvement just yet with the therapy as I'm only a week into it but I'm hopeful. I'm supposed to do it for three months. The exercises I do consist of converging my eyes to make two transparent cards with circles in the middle appear as three. Then, moving them about, tromboning them, and shifting my focus from the cards to other objects in the room and then back to them. Next, I do brock string exercises. Basically, three beads each at a different position on a ten foot rope. At eye level, you look down the rope and attempt to split the rope into two views creating a "V" shape intersecting at each of the beads. The closer the beads, the harder it is for me to do this. Also you shift your focus from objects in the room back to the beads etc. Youtube has some brock string instructional videos if your interested. I also have some software with some eye training games but I'm not supposed to start using it until week three.

Definitely try to go with a vision therapist from Eowyn's link. I went to a vision therapist that I Googled last November and he just stuck me with some expensive +.75 reading glasses and clueless advice.

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10 months PCS from mTBI. Chronic daily headaches. Frontal and occipital.

Thanks, Drifting. My first OD also suggested the occipital nerve could be (pinched and) causing some problems. Have you had such a diagnosis?

No, nothing that high up. My head MRI shows no damage. Neck x-ray shows nothing serious. I may have a possible problem with the C6 obstructing a nerve due to some occasional tingling in my left arm but that's just more icing on my PCS cake.

I had an occipital nerve block(one without steroids) done a few weeks ago. It took away my stabbing back of the head headaches for about a week and then they returned. The nerve block did nothing for my frontal headaches so my best guess is my eyes are causing these headaches. The frontal headaches are much worse than the occipital ones. They have lasted days on occasion and can be quite debilitating. The occipital headaches only last a few seconds and are more annoying than anything.