Dry eyes and double/triple vision

[Trixiekat]

Hello, I am new here. I have not been diagnosed with EDS but think that I do have the Hybermobile kind. Too many dots are connecting. Anyway my question is: I have been having very blurred vision that seems to come and go, along with,what started out as double vision – is now triple vision. I notice it the most while driving and looking at the traffic lights. The closer I get to the traffic light the multiple vision gets better in that I don’t see 2 or 3 lights stacked on top of each other but one with a “shadow” hanging underneath it. I went and got my eyes checked and mentioned this to my eye doc and he said that it is dry eyes. He told me to get some artificial tears. Well I’ve been using the artificial tears for several weeks now and they don’t seem to help. I’ve been nearsighted since I was about 9 or 10 years old, I wear bi-focals and I am on the computer a lot at work and home. He did say that I have the beginnings of a cataract in my left eye.Sometimes the blurry vision is so bad that I can’t read normal sized print at all.This started about 6-7 months ago. I’m wondering if I need to go to another doc or if this is just because of dry eyes? Thanks!

[Barbara]

Yes, funny that, that’s what my eye consultant said years ago, when I was having all kinds of weird and wonderful things happening to my eye’s. I took it, that his diagnosis of ‘dry eye’ meant (sorry I’m guessing by the size of your file you’re a nut job, I can’t be bothered looking into what’s wrong with you, take these drops!). I think they hope you’ll just go away and not come back. Luckily my more recent Neuro-Opthalmologist wasn’t as flippant.

I would suggest you take the drops and if things don’t improve (which I’m guessing they haven’t), the next time it happens, consider these things:
If safe, shut one eye, do you still have double/triple vision ?
Now shut the other eye, does it affect 1 eye or both eye’s ?
Are they both affected at the same time, to the same degree ?
Is the extra image above or alongside the original ?
Are you hungry, or have you just eaten ?
Could you be dehydrated ?
Have you noticed any possible trigger ?

All this information is relevant and you need to be armed with as much of it as possible when you go again. If you are still getting double vision with one eye shut (as I do), then it could indicate it’s your brain and not your eye, (I’m no specialist mind, I just have an interest, as I also get double vision, not triple vision).
Regards
Barbara
(UK)
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Head & Neck Injury (June 2002); Mild Concussion; Post Concussion Syndrome; Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS); Peripheral Vestibular Dysfunction; Mild Radiculopathy & Small Fibre Neuropathy (right leg & foot resp.); Partially Empty Sella Oct 2002 (worse by Oct 2004); Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD); 3mm Cerebellar Ectopia (Chiari 0); Cranio-cervical Instability (CCI) with Posterior Gliding (PG) & Cranial Settling (CS); Brain Compression; Retroflexed Odontoid; Stretched/Elongated Brainstem; Ehlers Danlos (EDS) type 111; Osteoarthritis; Arrhythmias (Bigeminy and Trigeminy). . . and now Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Mineral (Mg,Mn,Cu,Zn,Selenium), CoEnzymeQ10 & Vitamin (C,D,B3,B12) Deficiencies!

[Trixiekat]

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. The multiple vision is in both eyes and I really only notice it while driving and I’m approaching a traffic light. Instead of one light I will see two and now three lights stacked on top of each other.I did look at a poster that I have up in my office today and the letters were doubled the “double” was like a shadow underneath the real letter.The blurriness has gotten to the point where it really is starting to scare me when I drive -especially in traffic. These symptoms do seem to come and go though thank goodness.I’ve wondered if reading and typing on the computer for most of the day at work is what is causing this – I’m going to have to pay more attention. I have also been to a neurologist recently for numbness and tingling in my right hand and arm and burning in my thighs – I mentioned my blurry vision and the double vision – he never did address those symptoms – really never addressed the symptoms in my arm/hand either! He zeroed in on my balance- I didn’t even know I had a problem with balance!!! You know if you’ve always been a certain way you just assume that’s how you’re supposed to be. That’s what I thought about all of the “tricks” I used to do with my body. anyway I guess this should go on another thread of the forum. I do appreciate you responding to my post and I am going to try to start paying more attention to my symptoms. right now my vision is fairly blurry- can’t read newsprint very easily. Thanks so much! It’s good to get some kind of validation.

[Dr. Diana]

Hi Trixiecat,
Great questions, Barb! Trixie, I’m still not sure if you are seeing the double image when you have only one eye open? If so, does it happen with either eye, or just one? Yes, you probably need a “second opinion”. *eyeroll* Did the doctor do a dry-eye workup? When you use the artificial tears, does the image go away? That could be dryness, or an irregular cornea which can happen for a gazillion reasons. Did the doc rule out keratoconus? Perform an topographical image of your corneas? It sounds like it may have been an “examination — mini”, but I’m just guessing… Yikes… 🙂 Diana

[Dr. Diana]

LOVE THE PRESENTATION!!! First gut feeling — lateral rectus palsy. You’d really need to be seen to discern why, though. Have you tried Diamox, BTW? 🙂

[Dr. Diana]

Doctor won’t let me have it. After I finally get my disability approved I’m going to change doctors. Those pictures were taken during a bad episode. As I had mentioned before pressure applied close to jugular/vagus nerve will fix until pressure is released. New development has been my hearing. I have a ringing sound which has been with me off and on and some hearing loss of and on but I lost the ability to hear anything on my right side for several hours after waken up. It did slowly come back. Ever heard of this with anyone?

Love the fact you are a “patient on leave, educating your doctors”. ha. Dare I say it? I had the hearing AND tinnitus issue on and off. Diamox certainly helped. Many of us go on to “Meniere’s Disease” (like my sister). She lost most of her hearing in one ear. This is a complete guess (since I’ve never seen you, your MRI’s, etc.), but if you are like many of us, I wonder if you have external communicating hydrocephalus pushing your brain DOWN onto some of your cranial nerves below. Hmmmm…. It kind of sounds like it. Because the pressure, and hence the symptoms vary with the pressure (and your position, etc), this discombobulates the docs. I showed my neurologist a chart of all 12 cranial nerves, and how all but the olfactory nerve was affected in me. BUT NOT ALL OF THE TIME. That’s a new one for most neuro’s. They don’t think of nerves being affected “off and on”. We either HAVE IT OR WE DON’T. But I’ve found that is not exactly true… BTW, Robert, trying to educate some doctors who are not in the research field can be an act of torture for you. BEEN THERE. They have about 8 minutes per patient to figure us out and get us out of their offices. That’s TOUGH, when we are bringing them new ideas to consider. I hear about the reversal of Diplopia ALL OF THE TIME with the use of Diamox in our population — there are numerous signs and symptoms we can look for. I would NOT recommend an LP because many of us heal poorly, and those puncture wounds can open up even years later… Hang in, my friend… 🙂

[Barbara]

Doctor won’t let me have it. After I finally get my disability approved I’m going to change doctors. Those pictures were taken during a bad episode. As I had mentioned before pressure applied close to jugular/vagus nerve will fix until pressure is released. New development has been my hearing. I have a ringing sound which has been with me off and on and some hearing loss of and on but I lost the ability to hear anything on my right side for several hours after waken up. It did slowly come back. Ever heard of this with anyone?

I have ringing in my ears all of the time, this has been going on for some years now. It started off with intermittent bouts of it, in the first place but now it’s constant. Diamox does reduce it but does not clear it.

Also, years ago, I had a sensation of ‘water in my ear’, which rendered me deaf for quite a few hours, even though I didn’t have water in my ear, so what that was about I don’t know. Has anybody else had this ?
Regards
Barbara
(UK)

[Dr. Diana]

I wish doctors would have to recertify every so often to stay up to date and I feel like ripping my hair out if I have to explain to another nurse what dysautonomia is or to listen to another doctor explain how some of the medicine I am on can cause my symptoms even after being told the medicine was started after the symptoms began and has helped some. Sorry so long just needed to vent some frustrations.

I understand, Robert, believe me!! Remember, most of this is brand new science, and although doctors take CME every year, it is SO HARD to keep up with everything. The best doctors we have researching this condition are usually personally affected. It sucks, I know, but the reality is that they must be PAID, the Universities need to justify the costs, and honestly, we are EXPENSIVE to figure out!! There are soooo many layers to our onions, if you will. That is one reason I just released information as I figured it out. We’ll be paying for our own clinical trials, Heaven help us. 😉 We’ll get this, OK? Big hug….

[capri]

Hello, I’ve had some vision disturbances, eye pain, double vision, and such over the yrs of dealing with my illnesses, (fm, cfids, ibs, endometriosis, adrenal fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, etc…) but it has started to come on and off more often. Last week. I woke up with blurred vision. I showered, rubbed, blinked, used eye drops and did every thing I could think of to get rid of the blurryness.. It seemed like I was looking though glass with vaseline on it. I had an appointment already scheduled with my Sports Medicine/Chiropractor for that afternoon, due to a bout of torn cartilage in my rib area that he and I had been working on trying to stabilize. I wanted to be able to drive to his office safely. By the time I needed to leave, I realized that not only was my vision still blurry, there was a lot of double vision going on too. It was a clear day outside, so I decided to go forward with the appointment. Reading the traffic lights and signs was very disturbing.. Luckily, he wasn’t too far from my home. He asked for an update since my last visit, I told him the rib cartilage is stabilizing, BUT, today, my vision is very much out of whack. More-so that the normal on and off double vision issues, now I’m very blurry. (I felt like crying.. because this seemed like a new depreciation of my abilities and was very scary to me.) Well, my D.C./Sports med doc adjusted me for my rib situation, and when he got ready to adjust my neck, he said, “Hopefully, this is where I can help you with the vision problem.” I thought to myself “sure” *Not very optimistic in the moment,* where-as I am typically very optimistic when someone is trying to offer assurance of any kind re: relief of one of my medical issue… I guess I just had “the blues” really bad over my new eye presentation. Sure enough.. he found the exact spot that needed to be decompressed.. and within’ an hour of leaving his office my vision problem had cleared up. I was amazed. That was several days ago, and my vision is still not fantastic, but the new, blurry symptom had been resolved by his expertise. I think a nerve was pinched, or fluids were not flowing freely, w.e., and he was able to correct it easily enough because, since I was going to see him anyway that day, the problem didn’t have a lot of time to exacerbate. I’m not saying it won’t return, just that a neck adjustment helped me in this particular occurance, and I was very grateful.

I am severely hyper mobile (9/9 Bieghton), and very “loosey-goosey” as Dr. Dianna says, so from what little bit I’ve read, Chiropractic care can be a “grey area” (in a probable but not dxed EDS patient,) while it gives symptomatic relieve and better circulation in the moment, over the long term, the jury is probably still out on whether it does more harm than good, and in regards to what parts are more or less vulnerable. It would be nice if DR. DIANNA, or anyone else knowledgeable, could weigh in on this for us. (<< PAGING DR. DIANA, PAGING DR. DIANA.) I just wanted to share my recent experience with you in case iT can be helpful in some way. Regards, Kim. P.S. My D.C./Sports med doc is in Bedford, TX if anyone needs to see him. He is wonderful. I've seen chiropractors on and off for much of my life,(since a car wreck at age 15,) and he is by far at the top of the heap. He has a "first do no harm mentality" but is not afraid to think outside the box to help the indiviualized patient. His name is Dr. Richard Chatfield,D.C., Bedford TX.

[Dr. Diana]

HI Capri, You’re right. This is a “grey area”, to say the least. Of course, not having ever seen you, I have almost no idea of what is going on… If your chiropractor could FEEL something in your neck, it does sound like a disc may have been out of place, but that is pure conjecture. This is one of those things that “you just have to be there” to know! 😉 We have to be careful with our necks because of the potential for Chiari, especially with external communicating hydrocephalus, because of the risk of thrombosis (many of us have “thick blood”), so yes, we need to be very careful. I still wear a soft cervical collar at night time. Maybe I don’t need it any more, but it was so helpful before I started Diamox, that I continue to wear it to help keep everything lined up while I sleep. I even get nervous putting my head back to have my hair washed for a hair cut!! (Have you heard of ‘hair dressers stroke’ before?). I’m the last one to throw out an entire profession, though. Caution is the name of the game (and gosh, did you have your eyes examined?). When you go for your eye exam, a CAREFUL fundus exam, OCT, and even a VEP may be in order. Those can be very telling… Let us know? 🙂 Diana

[sarahdionna]

Dr. Diana, I am so glad that you posted about getting your hair washed at the hairdressers. I cannot lay my head back to have my hair washed. My hair dresser also has POTS and hypermobility (when she first started fainting and such, I told her that she might have what I have and she brought it up to her doctors and was diagnosed very quickly). She can’t have her hair washed like that any more either. We both end up really sick and it hurts our necks really bad. We lean our heads over the other way with our knees in the chair instead of our rear ends. It is really nice having someone else around that can understand what it is like. I even grew up with this girl. I hate that she also has it. I don’t know how on earth she continues to work and being upright all day long. I can’t do that.

For all the other posters who talked about the double vision and blurry vision, I also get that. It comes and goes throughout the day, but it is mostly when I am fatigued from over doing it or when I first wake up. I also see a lot of spots like white sparkly glitter or gnats or a big dark spot in my peripheral vision, strobe lights in the dark, and I lose my color vision/go completely blind for short periods of time. I sit when I go completely blind, because I assume that it is a precursor symptoms to a fainting spell. I actually really enjoy how neat the loss of color vision is. It usually happens after coming inside from being in the bright sun. I don’t know if that is normal or not. I have not had my eyes checked, but it is on my “to do list” if I can get my PCP to refer me (insurance needs a referral to pay for it).

I had an MRI today, since I have trigeminal neuralgia and glossopharyngeal neuralgia. The results will be back in two days, but I won’t know the results until January 7th, unless there is an emergency result in the MRI. I doubt that to be the case.

Most of my symptoms for the unusual stuff are on my right side. I have never closed one eye and then the next to see if my strange stuff is just in one eye or not. I will do that in the future. Thanks for that advice, guys.

I also have the ringing in my ears and hearing loss which I haven’t been tested for, though I keep bringing it up with the doctors. I guess they are just prioritizing my symptoms. Hearing loss isn’t as big of a deal as some of my other symptoms, like the excruciating pain in my face and neck. I don’t even bother to put headphones in my right ear any more because I can’t hear very well with it anyway. If I put the headphones in my right ear only, I need the volume to be all the way up. If I put the headphones in my left ear only, the volume can be medium level and I hear it just fine.

I have tried to be put on Diamox, but my PCP can’t prescribe it, because it would be used off label. She is actually a physician’s assistant so she can’t prescribe off label, but I really enjoy being seen by her. She believes my symptoms are real and spends a great deal of time with me during visits, so I am going to continue going to her. I need to find a doctor who can prescribe it though. I don’t really know how to bring getting prescribed Diamox to another doctor. I don’t even know which field of doctor I should ask. I might put my husband up to that task. 🙂

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