Shout out to Bud - vision therapy
 

Hi Bud

Am wondering what kind of vision therapy you are doing - is it with an optometrist? I am hoping to start it soon.

Is dizziness and balance one of your issues? If so, is the therapy helping with that?

Also, have you tried water skiing again yet? That and surfing are two of my favorite things to do in the world, so am thinking about trying it this summer but not sure.

Take care :)

I see a trained sports optometrist (who sees a lot of concussion patients). I'm sure they are very hard to find outside of major cities.


I previously saw a vestibular physio.

If you haven't already try wearing a good pair of sunglasses. Don't be afraid of spending $100+. Lenses matter. I find grey works best.

Also give f.lux, a windows app that changes your screen settings, a try.

Hi Riding,
I have had 38 weeks of vision therapy. It has helped with my convergence issues.

As for dizziness and balance not so much. I do not see double as often, not much blurry vision anymore.

The Doctor has just upped my prism prescription and changed the way the prism is facing in my glasses. So I have one prism facing inside and the other outside in the lenses. That has helped me feel more stable when walking. I think I walk straighter than I did.

Still have another ten weeks to go so hopefully there will be more improvement.

Wow that's a lot of weeks.

Do you mind telling me how much it costs?

I have been fortunate insurance covered it. I believe it is $1,700 for 10 weeks not including initial assessment. Re assessed every ten weeks.

RRC,

vision therapy has been a real Godsend for me.

I have been seeing an optomologist who has made head injuries a speciality. I can't say enough at how kind and understanding they have been during my first month or so when I had meltdowns in the office. Not yelling, just tears and frustration.

I am at 16 weeks and had to cease due to work...this time of year I go 7 days and dark to dark for a couple of months which is also my excuse for being slow to answer you!

I have done a great deal of different exercises...many involving only my eyes while others involve physical activity and speech while using eyes.

The results have been as follows:

1. More sure footed, walking on rocks and loose dirt or over curbs etc. no longer leave me uncertain.

2. Headaches have been greatly reduced...basically my head gets a tired or sore feeling now as opposed to a headache and the stabbing pains are few now.

3. My vision takes a lot more fatigue before bluriness occurs. I could not go without my prism glasses at all without headaches and anxiety returning until just recently. Now I can forget to wear them and am reminded with just mild symptoms after several hours.

4. I started snow skiing again this winter. I noticed towards the end of the season my ability to interpret the hill and respond to it had greatly increased and was approaching pre injury levels.

5. One thing that relally annoyed me was at times my ability to interpret where motion was coming from was impaired, now I am no longer uncertain of what is moving and what is still.

6. Driving is much better.

7. I did a couple of wakeboard rides last September and will ski this year and don't anticipate a problem. I could not tolerate the strain of a start on a ski last year but with my gym time this winter I will be in good shape for a start. I got a helmet for my birthday in April so I'm set!

What kept me going when I wasn't seeing fast improvement was my experience with physical exercise over the years...you don't turn into a star athlete over night and I tried to remind myself everything takes time so keep doing what I was assigned. As with the body the training began to pay dividends.

Best wishes to you!

Bud

I've noticed a lot of improvement with vision therapy.

The problem with me is that I regress if my symptoms flare up (sometimes weeks)