Hi all,
I posted recently about making a full recovery so I am really frustrated to be writing this post but I wanted to share both to get other people’s input and also to highlight a potential trigger to others (I hadn’t even thought new glasses could be a problem, what an idiot!).
So having been absolutely brilliant for many months and back to living a full life I decided to get my glasses prescription updated because I was squinting to read stuff on the TV. My old glasses had a reading boost in the bottom of the lens that helped with close up stuff but my new optician said I didn’t need this as my prescription is for distance and I could see close up fine without glasses.
It took me almost four weeks to notice that I wasn’t feeling quite as consistently good - I started feeling tired and headachy. I had felt that my eyes were working harder particularly when reading but I thought it was just them getting used to the change. Then two weeks ago I noticed that the old feeling I used to get in my head was back and that my eyes were really sore. I went straight back to the opticians who identified that the removal of the reading boost was likely causing me an issue. They have adjusted my glasses and I have been wearing them for the last week. I know they are now the right prescription and I can feel that my eyes aren’t working as hard as they were.
So now I am feeling tired, headachy on and off and my balance occasionally feels very slightly off. I get a weird feeling in my forehead that I have only ever had with this condition. My symptoms are very mild in comparison to what I had before but I am now super-anxious that I am on a slippery slope to a full relapse. I am certainly making myself feel worse by being so anxious but I’m finding it hard to control. Like many of you I am sure, I am deeply scarred by the effect that this illness has had on my life and I am so scared of going back to where I was.
So my plan is to sit tight and wait for my stupid brain get used to my new glasses and then for things to settle - I suspect it will take a while as it took a few weeks to build. I think that’s what a doctor would tell me to do. I might try and speak to my GP and/or my vestibular audiologist to see what they think. That might help my anxiety levels. I have always got better after a setback but this is the first one after a really sustained period of feeling well so I’ve forgotten all my coping mechanisms!
On the upside I know now I need to be really careful when getting glasses! It seems that my eyes are my kryptonite - my initial problem developed after Vestibular Neuritis made me Visually Dependent.
Any relevant advice/thoughts/experiences/encouraging words would be deeply appreciated right now.
Sending you all the very best.
Lindsay