Glasses

Hi

I’ve read in the latest newsletter by Migraine Action about glasses people wear to reduce the effects of flickering and fluorescent lights and to help prevent the lights from triggering migraines. (eg migralens)

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I wanted to see if anyone with MAV has ever tried them and whether it has helped them with either reducing the effects of flickering/fluorescent light or with sensitivity to light. I’ve seen people wearing them before so I was just curious to see if anyone has found them to help.

Thanks
Jennifer

I’ve not tried them, but it sounds like a brilliant idea!

Not wanting to put vanity before feeling well or anything but… Kermit springs to mind :lol:

Christine

— Begin quote from “cmoc”

Not wanting to put vanity before feeling well or anything but… Kermit springs to mind :lol:

Christine

— End quote

I know what you mean - Kermit Green is definitely not my colour! :smiley: Maybe if the frames were more fashionable and I heard from people here that they worked then I would give them a try.

I use a anti glare screen at work so that at least helps with using the computer screen.

Jeni

— Begin quote from “cmoc”

Not wanting to put vanity before feeling well or anything but… Kermit springs to mind :lol:

Christine

— End quote

LOL. I was thinking the same thing. They look a little bit like someone from the 1980s trying to look ‘futuristic’.

I have ordered some similar glasses from a U.S. supplier Axon Optics . I’ll let you know how it works for me.

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Axon Optics Migraine Glasses (US only)
More relevant eyewear here

I wear a pair of regular sunglasses. The darkest biggest pair I could find : )
I occasionally wear them indoors when I’m stuck in a room with bad lighting for a longer period of time. These aren’t special glasses, but they do seem to help.
Sarah

If it helped my symptoms I would paint my face green! I hope I see a few answers where these actually work…I’ll just have to look like Bano at work. Ha

Hi All,

I got a pair of glasses coated with a special tint at the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah in SLC, Utah. I live nearby, so it was a 2 hour process for me, but many people send in their own glasses to get coated with the tint. The tint is rose colored, and somehow blocks the flicker and spectrum of blue wavelength light. [Uuhcs.utah.edu/MoranEyeCenter/patientcare/FL-41] there are links to the research concerning the tint and info on how to the tint on your own glasses. To be honest, I still have eye motion disequilibrium. The glasses have allowed me to return to grocery stores, Costco, and other places where the intense lighting used to trigger extreme disequilibrium, rocking, and, at bad times, panic.
While the glasses didn’t get rid of all of my symptoms, they have allowed me to return to some of my regular routines, which is HUGE! Like jaybird said, I would paint my face green to relieve symptoms, but am glad my doctor recommended the glasses instead. maybe I will paint my face green and wear the glasses…

Peace,
Jen

— Begin quote from “sasad”

I wear a pair of regular sunglasses. The darkest biggest pair I could find : ) I occasionally wear them indoors when I’m stuck in a room with bad lighting for a longer period of time. These aren’t special glasses, but they do seem to help. Sarah

— End quote

I do the same as you. My sunglasses have a brown tint. (I believe the FL-41 tint is pink.)

The glasses I have ordered from Axon Optics use the same FL-41 technology, and I believe that they may be manufactured at the same laboratory in Utah.

Hi all,

The lenses in the Axon glasses are the same as the ones I got here in Utah. They are a light pink tint. For what it’s worth, I think the tint has helped me somewhat, especially in stores with bright fluorescent lights. If you have photo sensitivity, it might be worth the investment. Good luck!

Peace,

Jen

Ah I posted the same topic/link the other day! I have ordered a pair and waiting for them to be sent to NZ. Once I’ve had a good trial of them I’ll let you know how they go 8)

— Begin quote from “Jenjakeusa”

Hi All,

I got a pair of glasses coated with a special tint at the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah in SLC, Utah. I live nearby, so it was a 2 hour process for me, but many people send in their own glasses to get coated with the tint. The tint is rose colored, and somehow blocks the flicker and spectrum of blue wavelength light. [Uuhcs.utah.edu/MoranEyeCenter/patientcare/FL-41] there are links to the research concerning the tint and info on how to the tint on your own glasses. To be honest, I still have eye motion disequilibrium. The glasses have allowed me to return to grocery stores, Costco, and other places where the intense lighting used to trigger extreme disequilibrium, rocking, and, at bad times, panic.
While the glasses didn’t get rid of all of my symptoms, they have allowed me to return to some of my regular routines, which is HUGE! Like jaybird said, I would paint my face green to relieve symptoms, but am glad my doctor recommended the glasses instead. maybe I will paint my face green and wear the glasses…

Peace,
Jen

— End quote

I too ordered a couple of pairs of glasses rom the University of Utah. I live in Chicago so I sent them the untreated glasses plus forty bucks and they sent me the final glasses with tint. This was before I went on anti-depressants (Celexa).

The glasses made a huge difference and allowed me to function at work under bright lights. I basically wore them from the minute I got up to the minute I went to sleep, except sometimes at night in the dark I would wear my regular glasses. Everyone at work accused me of trying to look like Bono (LOL)

However, once I went on the Celexa and my balance started to really improve, I stopped wearing the glasses, and I only use them now as sunglasses.

So if someone is in the early stages of finding simple little things that can make life better if you have MAV, then it is worth a try.

These sound great! (Very tempted to look into getting some for myself…) Passing along a related personal experience as a word of warning… Our computer guy at work suggested trying “Blublockers” since he’d heard they’re good for helping migraineurs with light sensitivity issues. Well, I’m not sure where he heard that, but $25 later, ugh. Definitely a waste of money. They’re very yellow. And when you’re wearing them in bright lights everything looks yellow, until you blink. Then you see pink. At least I did. Totally messed with my head! Not a good purchase. I think I’d much rather go with what you all are describing!

Do you see green all the time with these glasses?

Greg

— Begin quote from “erika”

Our computer guy at work suggested trying “Blublockers” since he’d heard they’re good for helping migraineurs with light sensitivity issues. Well, I’m not sure where he heard that, but $25 later, ugh. Definitely a waste of money. They’re very yellow.

— End quote

The yellow glasses sound like they’re for night time driving although I have read that some people disagree about their usefulness for that purpose.

I believe the pink FL-41 tint mentioned in this thread was originally created for filtering out fluorescent light for people who are troubled by it. As FL-41 was developed over 20 years ago then it might not take into account the different light spectrum some more modern fluorescent tubes give out.

I think it all depends on your own particular sensitivity because this article describes a patient who found a purpleish tint was best. Visual Vertigo Syndrome (Journal Article Review) | The VisionHelp Blog

-Wexan

I’m going to get pink tinted glasses for myself now!

I came off a weekend with a bad “coathanger” migraine (barometer was changing, got pain all across my shoulders and in my neck), so that was bad enough. But then I took a 3 day seminar, and each of the first two days I got a headache by late morning that got worse as the day wore on. I don’t usually get debilitating headaches, so I can function. But on the 1-10 pain scale, I ended the first two days at a 4, which is about as bad as my headaches get. I figured out that it must be the fluorescent lights in the meeting room - not all fluorescent lights seem to get to me, but these apparently did.

So I did an experiment. I was the last person to leave the room for lunch break on day 3. I took something for my headache, and as I left the room, I switched off the lights. It was a bright sunny day, and the room had lots of big windows, and when people returned from lunch, nobody bothered to turn on the d**n lights, which was great! Because my headache, now treated with meds and starting to go away, did NOT get up to a pain level of 4 by the end of the day!! In fact, it was almost gone.

So I’m going to get me a new pair of glasses just so I can send them to Utah and get them tinted. Topamax takes care of my dizziness, but not my headaches. I’ve been wanting a newer pair anyway, so now is the time to get me some rose colored ones!

:smiley:

Maryalice,
I hope you get some relief from the light sensitivity with the glasses! My pair has helped me tremendously. Good luck!

Peace,
Jen

Jen - So glad yours are working so well for you!

I wrote to the folks in Utah because I had questions about the type of lens I should order for my unusual prescription; they were very helpful, giving me some information about my particular situation as well as additional info about FL-41. So now I can go shopping for glasses locally, which I will then send to them for tinting.

I learned something else that I wasn’t expecting from that seminar with the horrible lighting - not only did the fluorescent lights trigger headache, but my periodic limb movements in sleep problem became much worse every night after I’d been in those rooms! Dr. Silver’s paper on non-headache manifestions of migraine mentioned periodic limb movements in sleep, and that was the first time I’d heard of a migraine connection with my “kicking in my sleep” problem.

I was both exhausted (even though I slept those nights, I didn’t feel rested - the quality of my sleep isn’t good when my feet and legs are moving during of the night) and headachey during those seminar days.

One evening, when I was really wiped, I felt mildly wobbly, and I don’t know if it was some of my old migraine wobbliness breaking through or just exhaustion. I’m so glad the seminar is over, but I will never know when I’ll be in rooms with lights like that, so I want to be prepared - and I’m wondering if I might benefit from the glasses in other light situations where my reaction isn’t quite as dramatic. Maybe it’s more of a trigger than I even realized?? Since my brother has blepharospasm, which is the other condition that FL-41 tint can help, I’m thinking there’s something genetic here.