Hello!

It's my first post here despite visiting earlier in my over three year long recovery with pcs. At this point in my recovery, basically the only continuing symptom I experience is visual over-stimulation/confusion.

So, I wanted to share with those who experience this symptom a remedy that has pretty much helped me return to my normal self: Prescription glasses with + that of your normal prescription or weak readers if you normally don't need glasses. I think +.50 should do it but it probably depends on your eyes.

I only experience visual over-stimulation when outside (I think it's triggered by differences in depth of my surroundings) but I've found wearing 'too strong' glasses to almost totally eliminate this symptom. Yes, the world becomes blurry and it's weird to get used to at first but you get used to it. The only annoying thing I find is sometimes I don't recognize people I know on the street (lol).

I'm not sure if this idea has been shared before and I'm not sure how much this is helping in the long run but I can certainly say I owe a lot to this method so I thought I'd share it here.

Hang in there my friends
-J

Hi t0g3TH2r,

Welcome!

I think you're suggesting that people with certain visual overstimulation problems will benefit by increasing their usual glasses rx by +.50?

Would any optometrist agree to do that?

I don't have post-concussion syndrome but do have MS, and not recognizing people on the street is just the way I've been for years. It would be nice to see better but in recent years my best corrected vision has been in the 20/40 to 20/60 range.

I would really hesitate to ask for a change in the eye doctor's rx. Maybe you asked the ophthalmologist or the optometrist about this first?

I'm glad if you've had good results with this. It's probably not doing any harm. I'm just saying it's not something I'd want to try.

Not seeing right can lead to falls and can be very dangerous but if you're getting relief from a troublesome symptom by increasing the power of your glasses, that's probably all to the good.

TOGETHER,

You must not have much visual over-stimulation if you can use such a coded Screen Name.

Here is visual over-stimulation for you. Your screen name has so much stimulation that I cannot copy it to a Reply Post. I tried a couple times but my brain just crashes. Finally, I decoded it. Before that, my brain read it as just a jumble of characters. No two characters belong with the previous or following character so my brain overloads.

Many with PCS visual problems need a full Behavioral Optometrist assessment.
Home | Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association has a referral system.

Your trick is basically doing what your brain is not doing well. You make distant objects out of focus so you brain does not try to process them. That has limited application. It is unsafe when driving or moving about. It closes down your visual world.

I changed my visual environment. The walls are plain. I wear a hat outside. If I need to listen. I often close my eyes or look down(If I can safely)

BUT, Every brain injury is different so we all have to find what works for us.