Prisms, Hillary Clinton and Me
 

When I saw Hillary Clinton in the news yesterday, she looked like me....and I turned to my spouse and declared she had visual problems with her concussion. And now I just have read this online article...http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1247375
(don't know if links show up here). Apparently she has those stick on prisms. Poor her.

And from an optometrists chat blog: ( this is a quote)
In the comments

DRSLOTNICK

"Ms. Clinton is wearing a Fresnel Prism on her left lens. She is probably suffering from visual issues. I would estimate by the displaced image of her eye that she is wearing base out prism, and that she is having a decompensation of an underlying tendency for her eyes to cross. There is a great likelihood for such consequences after suffering an acquired brain injury, as may happen after a fall. She is probably grappling with double vision and doing everything she can to alleviate the symptom and keep her mind available for the discussion.

When a person is trying to process cognitive information at a high level, they leave little energy over for underlying problems. It is a matter of distributing the resources available. If vision is her weak link, then it gets deprived the extra energy. I would estimate that she is experiencing a significant amount of strain, pulling, and intermittent double vision. This would interfere with her ability to keep her attention on the conversation at hand.

-One Optometrist's opinion..."




An example of how this horrible injury does not play favourites.


My prisms (prescribed year post injury) have made a HUGE difference.

Hillary's outburst of anger during her testimony is also indicative of her injury. Any Secretary of State should never have an episode of anger like she had. Glad she is being replaced.

Hi Mark,

I think it is important to have compassion for each and every person that has such a terrible injury, and to depolicitize their experience as a human being who is suffering. I am not US American and am not embroiled in US politics, so have no vested interest in saying this. Outsiders do observe that the bipartisan structure is highly vitriolic at times.

I don't like most of the NHL hockey players, but feel enormous empathy for them when they get a brain injury. We share this little horrible part of the human experience.

Meeting an airline attendant last month who overheard me talking and who then said she had just returned to work after 15 months of brain injury rehab warmed my heart and brought tears to my eyes. She understood.

I think that empathy and solidarity is what makes this forum so useful to so many people.

Best wishes!

I agree, and to the extent public figures with TBI/PCS generate awareness, this helps us all.

I was in the hospital two years ago recovering from my TBI when Representative Gabby Giffords was shot in the head. In fact, watching the news reports of that shooting is one of the first distinct memories I have after about five weeks of post traumatic amnesia. Her struggles and rehabilitation progress have been well publicized, which has brought increased awareness of severe TBI. Perhaps Ms. Clinton’s struggles can do the same with mTBI/PCS. I’m not of her party and I’ve never been a fan but I wish her well in her recovery.

Tough first memory for you, Lightrail! Your recovery seems amazing and inspiring.

i still have double vision mainly in my left eye from my concussion almost a year ago. i only notice it when i look at lit up objects or try read white lettering on black backrounds

ive been to two optometrist and a nuero ophthalmologist who insist my eyes and eyesight is perfect and they have no idea why im getting double vision.


im tempted to try find prism glasses and try them myself to see if there is a difference is it worth it to try find some online?

im hoping this double vision goes away but it seems it may be permanent and i really will have a hard time accepting that fate

I think you need to find a neuro opth or behavioral optometrist who understands visionand brain trauma. I have a great one in Minneapolis. I am sure there are others who could recommend where you are. I was told my lack of eye teaming horizontally can be much improved by prisms and vision therapy (maybe get rid of that prism!) but that my vertical lack of teaming (working together) could be permanent. I have a both an up and down and a side to side prism.
It is really hard work to keep the eyes working together, even though you may not perceive it. It takes cognitive space away from other activities.
I hope you can get the good help you need!!!!
I think I would avoid on line prisms unless they were prescribed. You don't want to make things worse.
Take care.

I agree that public figures experiencing TBI really helps to bring some exposure to the struggle we all go through. Not that I would wish this on anyone, but it does help increase awareness to the general public.

I know for me, my accident happened while Sidney Crosby was trying to rehab from his concussion struggles. I live in Pittsburgh, and this was the only thing that gave me hope, was that when other people would not understand what I was going through or why I couldn't just suck it up, I could refer them to the struggle Sidney Crosby was going through.

As for Hillary, I give her major kudos for attempting to move forward despite what she is going through. Clearly she'll need lots of cognitive rest and that is not possible in her current position. However, I'm still of the belief that no matter how bad our struggle effects us, we should dream to one day reach whatever goal we have, be it a job or whatever.

Saying she should no longer be in her position because she experienced an angry outburt, that all of us have experienced, is like saying that none of us are worthy of working because we also have the potential for these outburts as well. Although our struggles could sometimes be a challenge to any position, I believe we are still capable of being useful, productive members of society. And public figures exposing their limitations from concussion, is the only way that we will be able to get the rest of the world to see that we too can be productive members of society, despite our symptoms and struggles in whatever manner we are able too.

Again I give her credit and hope that when she is finished with her position she will continue to share her struggle down the road of rehab.

Well said, SmilinEyesMs305.

I agree completely with your point that we all have the right to work, even with our deficits (emotional lability for some, for example).

Re: Sidney Crosby....I agree with his importance in terms of helping people get it. A lot of my doctors mentioned him to me to explain to me how long term these things can be.


I can't watch hockey on TV, but I did tune into the first few minutes of his game last night against the Winnipeg Jets (my team!), and he was amazing! Scored two goals, super, unique skating style, and a good reminder that we can come back from bad injuries. I think he must still suffer in private, but his performance is inspiring. And I am not even that big of a hockey fan!