Vision Changes and Vision Therapy

We have all heard it ......"the eyes are the windows to the soul".  They are also the windows to the brain that are often overlooked in common medical assessments.

You would not believe how many doctors and specialists I have seen who looked at my eyes with a little pen light and said "yep, they look fine".  I knew they weren't fine though.  Well, at least I knew they weren't working like they used to.  I also did not associate my vision changes with my Traumatic Brain Injury - yet that is exactly what was causing a series of problems - the relay between my eyes and my brain.

I would have headaches so bad I couldn't get out of bed.  My room (whatever room I was in at the time) would start to slant down on one side by the end of the day and I learned that the layered vision I had (almost like a shadow behind the solid original image is actually called "double vision".  I thought double vision had to be side by side and didn't know how to describe the "stacked" views I had.  I could no longer read a whole book.  I didn't understand why and noone could explain it.  My handwriting changed and there were so many other bodily changes I couldn't keep up with them all.

Every once in a while I will just randomly vomit. It happens a lot less than it used to.  It def happened a lot more right after the wreck than it does now.  I would bump into walls, casings, corners.  It was awful.  I felt like I was walking "drunk" sometimes and I hadn't had any alcohol whatsoever.  This went on for 2.5 years until I met my Behavioral Optometrist. 

She examined my eyes, did some testing, and prescibed me Prism glasses.  Immediately I noticed a clarity and sharpness of my environment.  My headaches started to decrease, the slanted room has for the most part gone completely away.  I still am not able to get through a whole book, however I can read more than I did for longer durations than a few minutes.  I am very grateful for this knowledge and I truly believe that a Behavioral Optometrist should be an automatic referral for anyone suspected of Traumatic Brain Injury.  

I as diagnosed with Post Traumatic Vision Syndrome and Midline shift Syndrome.  Not even my regular eye doctor had the training to catch this stuff.  At least now I have answers.  I have more information about these conditions for you to read here: https://hopetbi.com/neuroscience-and-polytrauma/vision-therapy/

Thank you to all of you who follow my medical story and have been a continued support.  Please keep sharing these posts and thank you for not giving up on me.