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Vision story - Printable Version
Eyesight Improvement Forum
Vision story - Printable Version

+- Eyesight Improvement Forum (https://www.iblindness.org/forum)
+-- Forum: General Discussion (https://www.iblindness.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Success Stories (https://www.iblindness.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+--- Thread: Vision story (/showthread.php?tid=2307)

Pages: 1 2 3


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-18-2013

Hi Nancy, you are actually someone I was interested in talking to on this. Very impressed with your achievement. Also interested in how you managed to legally go without glasses for driving in the day. I assume your licence was originally on condition of driving with vision correction.

I completely understand about the airport travel. If anything will might make a myopic nervous affecting the sight that could one of them. I travel to airport twice a year and like to compare my progress from previous visits plus practice with their notice boards, signs each time. Asking help was essential if in a hurry or at least it has relaxed me somewhat knowing I can ask for directions, info if needed and often that is quicker anyway. I actually think it is good your friend won't be there this time because it will give you a chance to build up confidence and experience of managing in your own at the airport. In that situation I find it helpful to focus on being relaxed and patient with looking at things. I know that panic really disturbs my vision.

Yes, people don't want to give up the perfect clarity of fully corrected vision. I agree that the blur clears up if patient. In my mind vision without glasses is superior because we have truth in colour, depth perception and scope for clear flashes and further improvement in vision clarity. What have they got? Clear details on miserable plane of glass and putting themselves continuously under strain. I saw a teacher the other day with strong glasses on and she looked extremely tense; shoulders up, rigid posture; she is forced to be like that all the time to see through those glasses. It's quite sad really. I challenge people to observe the relaxation/posture of people wearing glasses, particularly strong ones.

My sister has bad eyesight but doesn't want to give up her 'perfect' vision in contacts/glasses despite the fact she admits those contact lenses are hurting her eyes.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-18-2013

Hi Nancy, you are actually someone I was interested in talking to on this. Very impressed with your achievement. Also interested in how you managed to legally go without glasses for driving in the day. I assume your licence was originally on condition of driving with vision correction.

I completely understand about the airport travel. If anything will might make a myopic nervous affecting the sight that could one of them. I travel to airport twice a year and like to compare my progress from previous visits plus practice with their notice boards, signs each time. Asking help was essential if in a hurry or at least it has relaxed me somewhat knowing I can ask for directions, info if needed and often that is quicker anyway. I actually think it is good your friend won't be there this time because it will give you a chance to build up confidence and experience of managing in your own at the airport. In that situation I find it helpful to focus on being relaxed and patient with looking at things. I know that panic really disturbs my vision.

Yes, people don't want to give up the perfect clarity of fully corrected vision. I agree that the blur clears up if patient. In my mind vision without glasses is superior because we have truth in colour, depth perception and scope for clear flashes and further improvement in vision clarity. What have they got? Clear details on miserable plane of glass and putting themselves continuously under strain. I saw a teacher the other day with strong glasses on and she looked extremely tense; shoulders up, rigid posture; she is forced to be like that all the time to see through those glasses. It's quite sad really. I challenge people to observe the relaxation/posture of people wearing glasses, particularly strong ones.

My sister has bad eyesight but doesn't want to give up her 'perfect' vision in contacts/glasses despite the fact she admits those contact lenses are hurting her eyes.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-18-2013

Just lost my message so starting this again.

Anyway, Firelord I was replying to you. Firstly I am very impressed with your achievement and determination especially since you are still at school and under the care of your parents. I don't know how you managed to work this out at school yourself especially with opposition and also the pressures of having to see the board. Your improvement at opticians may seem small but I think amazing. Well done! A small difference at the opticians is a huge amount in natural vision improvement. I believe the last thing in our cure will be the diopter change at the opticians. I starting to work out why this is so.

Firstly we have trained our brains that to see well or successfully we must focus onto a lens very close to us to be able to see. If this has been going on for years surely its our default method of vision. Is this going to disappear easily? I think not! Especially in times of desperate vision need. So we have two methods of seeing going on in our brains; focusing on a plane of glass to see or actually looking at the items themselves to see. When in that opticians and that familiar glass comes, we're probably going to be able to see through it as if on autopilot.

However I do believe there is hope! We need to aim for 20/20 and eventually 20/10 but what I believe is important too is how clear are those letters? How black are they? If we stand at 2 feet is the whole chart crystal clear? What about 5 feet? Then 10 feet? Then 20 feet. We need to increase the distance before we start to blur! Extend the distance. But this can only be done gradually. We will relax our vision at each distance when reaching each goal. Practice on items that distance out and about to make the improvement permanent.

Yes we all know relaxation is key. Bates said nothing else matters. I think we need to relax what we can. We might not be able to relax our eyes but we can loosen the tense hold on face, hands, shoulders etc. We can sit or stand relaxed; pull our shoulders down. I do realise this means we can't poke our head very close to peer at things. Lol. There are ways around this. Hold book closer if necessary, make print on comp bigger. Do what you can. Rest eyes if necessary. On same note increasing the distance was essential in my case. Get confidence in a distance and then go a step further! Make it permanent by insisting on the new target. It has to be within grasps though; within easy clear flash.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-18-2013

I have a tip for looking I got from eyesight magazines. When struggling with lower letters shift back up briefly to big c to get confidence and relaxation again then look back. I find when I get the big c all black and distinct by shifting within the letter, the other letters just pop out fine. You can shift up and down the chart to avoid losing the letters.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-18-2013

'Umm, look here you evil dumbo, how do you think I got to -4 D in the first place?'

Fire lord, that made me laugh do much!


Re: Vision story - Nancy - 02-18-2013

Has anyone else noticed that everyone who tells us to wear our glasses all the time seems to wear glasses themselves? So maybe they don't know any other possibility, or the real way to see, poor souls. I just don't like them forcing their limited mindset on other people. Education is the cure for this, spreading the correct information so widely it can't be ignored. This forum and everyone who contributes are great examples of this.


Re: Vision story - Firelord777 - 02-18-2013

Yeah, that's so true about the people with glasses.

I think part of it is because they just blindly follow the textbook. Whatever they teach in "eye doctor school" rarely gets students to question the material taught.

If the big book with ink in it said its so, then it's so. Seriously? Even if you just question a few of the things you'll find various discrepancies!

They sure like to use "he or she said this about the new eyeglasses that give your eyes magical super powers" as testimonials for their products, but whenever we use even a story where someone reduced their prescription, oh, NOW it's "not credible" or whatever legal crap they start spewing out.

Hopefully thanks to you though, I'll smash through my plateauSmile

I wrote a story that pretty much explains everything. I'll repost it in a bitSmile

Cheers


Re: Vision story - Firelord777 - 02-18-2013

Here is my short story:


I am in the same situation as you my friend,

As of now, I really don't know my exact prescription, but my -2.00 glasses (not even glasses anymore, both sticks are broken, I have to now hold it by hand) are too strong for me.

Yet, these past few days, I have had an unusual number of situations where I needed good eyesight.

First though, a bit of history:

2 years back, I had contacts just like you, and coincidentially nearly the same prescription, -3.50 in both eyes. I had an eye infection one day that persisted for weeks eventually, and had to go to glasses. Even though I wore glasses ever since I was like 10 years old, I was just a freshman in high school.

Note: I only have myopia, no astigmatism or anything else

Being a stubborn man, I told myself that I've had enough of this dependancy on optical devices to see.

So I researched the possibility of natural eyesight improvement and sure enough, I found some info on the subject. I recalled that I should minimize time with glasses, because then the eyes would finally get back to work how they should.

My progress during the first few weeks was astounding, though, I have to admit, it was disheartening to realize I couldn't see the board at the front of the class, the closest seat to the board, yet, others ALL the way in the back could effortlessly see the darn letters!

I just lost a lot of what I wrote, wow, this sucks, but here is my rewrite of what I did not saveSad

So, basically, I got around by using hard blinks. I noticed in class that whenever I would blink hard, the text would somewhat clear up.

Now, I know this all sound choppy, but I can't help it, I'm still furious about losing 2 hours worth of writing.

I have 4 pairs of glasses. My lowest one is -1.25 and
my highest is -3.75, much like the OP's prescription.

Now a junior in high school, as a freshman, I had contacts, -3.50.

One day, I had an eye infection that lasted for 2 weeks, and eventually, I was forced to use my -3.75 pair. Apparently, I needed a higher prescription than contacts because of the distance between the lens and my eye. Now that sounds like a load of BS.

Regardless, I progressively got better and better and soon enough, I reached my -1.25 pair. Unfortunately, I reached a plateau that I have yet to this day to push through. In fact, I think I am actually a bit worse than back then. I only get at best 20/70 vision.

So there we were, in math class. We have a PERT test coming up next week and my principal decided to send my teacher an email with a practice PERT exam.

Now, I am a good student, have many friends being a kind and humble person, and am quite advanced. PERT is a walk in the park for me.

Ironically though, what was to happen wasn't.

There I was, sitting in the second row of the classroom. We have something called a smart board, which is actually just a projector. He projected the practice test on the board.

The font and size of the content was very small. When I took a quick glance to it, I literally said "oh...sh*t..."

I couldn't see a thing, only small thin lines of black fuzziness on the board.

I knew even my hard blink trick wouldn't work, because the room was darkened and it only works in sunlight or bright light.

Faced with no other choice, I told the teacher that I couldn't see.

Now, it may have been slightly embarrassing, but my peers all know me and everyone likes me. No, the real blow was the one I gave myself. I haven't uttered that phrase of "I can't see" in two years. Frequently aspiring to be a Navy Seal, I felt like I just DORed (fancy word for quit).

Being a very observant person, I knew my teacher was far sighted. He simply asked me if I needed to move to the back or to the front. I moved to the front.

But it was a futile and mediocre 2 feet of distance. I was already at the front of the classroom, and the board maintained a solid 2-3 meters from me. I knew this was it.

I still couldn't see a darn thing. All you see is just blurry and fuzzy blobs splattered on the screen. How can others possibly see what lurks in them?

I had some friends WAY back in the classroom that could see the board like a piece of cake. Yet, here I was, with all other acceptable alternatives exhausted.

You know, it is one thing to conceptualize a feeling, and a completely different other to actually experience it.

If you mix helplessness, hopelessness, despair, isolation and a sharp drop in your self esteem, you sort of get a rough idea of what it felt like.

Worse yet, he merrily said "oh, and it is for a TEST GRADE."

In my school, tests are worth 70% of your overall GPA. So even if you turn in all the homework and class work (a mere 10%), and fail a test, you can forget about passing the class.

So, yeah, for those that have 20/20, let me tell you guys, you are the luckiest bastards on earth, but I am determined to join your ranks soon.

I would give almost anything just to have even 20/40. My parents offered me LASIK or something, but stubbornly, I outright refused, without hesitation. NEVER!, I nearly screamed at them.

Anyways, I had all but one option. Fortunately, I still had my -2.00 hand held pair in my backpack. Reluctantly, I used them for a few seconds to jot down the questions. I did the questions, but not at the pace of my classmates.

They were clumsy to focus and stabilize (try moving your glasses up and down to get an idea) and stressed my eyes out a lot.

Despite this, I only managed to get half of the test of 80 questions done, and guessed on the other half.

I'll admit it, even though I am a man, these types of things can really put your anti-crying systems to the test LOL!

By some miracle though, some of my classmates complained that the test was too easy. It should be known that one of my "dark virtues" is manipulating people. I use a subtle form of manipulation mostly.

Long story short, I carefully crafted psychologically ideals in my classmates and teacher, saying the right words with a delicate word choice and again, by some miracle my teacher decided not to grade the "test".

But it still made me sad, as this happened today. I realize what if he graded it and I failed a test meant to allow a 5th grader a shot a passing?

I'm just in a really poopy mood, yet, I know I should still appreciate my own vision, because there are others that are truely blind, unable to see a ray of light.

I also realized how much people with normal sight take their vision for granted.

I have an eye exam very soon, and I am trying to do everything I can to get back on track and break through my plateau.

I am afraid the OP will just have to have a pair of glasses on hand and only use them when necessary, such as copying notes or watching TV.

Come on man, if I can do it, so will you.

Cheers,


Re: Vision story - David - 02-18-2013

Firelord777 Wrote:Yeah, that's so true about the people with glasses.

I think part of it is because they just blindly follow the textbook. Whatever they teach in "eye doctor school" rarely gets students to question the material taught.

If the big book with ink in it said its so, then it's so. Seriously? Even if you just question a few of the things you'll find various discrepancies!

They sure like to use "he or she said this about the new eyeglasses that give your eyes magical super powers" as testimonials for their products, but whenever we use even a story where someone reduced their prescription, oh, NOW it's "not credible" or whatever legal crap they start spewing out.

Yep, Nancy's right about that. People who don't wear glasses tend to not give a rat's ass if you want to go without glasses and see what you can do.

The reverence for authority is representative of a deeper problem in society. People are constantly exposed to distorted information and outright lies from the system, not even just in eye care or medical care. And people eat it up, because the TV told them, or everyone thinks so, or it was in a textbook. Only when people stop eating it up will things change. Optometry has some impressive technical knowledge, but eye doctors generally aren't relevant when it comes to the practical truth in a day to day sense. If they appear to have any authority, it's because you've given it to them.


Re: Vision story - lou_deg - 02-19-2013

Imagineblack Wrote:Activities I believe caused the original strain was staring into space and also pretending I was a cat with cat staring eyes. I also read an extreme amount, sometimes by the street light outside my bedroom when I was meant to be sleeping.
This is funny. We have three cats in our house and they all have good vision (they could spot birds, squirrels, cats outside before I do).

I don't understand what this original strain is that is due to staring into space. Are you straining your eyes to find something in space?

It was pointed out to me by Nini that Bates wrote that reading under low lighting condition and while lying down is actually beneficial to vision. I tried this last night and woke up on the sofa at 5am.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-19-2013

Staring into space by deliberately zoning out from the environment around me so it becomes a comforting blur bubble whilst mind wanders on my own thoughts. Kind of like day dreaming I suppose. I used to really enjoy it as some sort of escapism. People used to ask why I was staring into space but all I knew was that i was in my own world thinking which didn't include the world I saw. I say thinking but actually when I come to think of it my brain was pretty switched off too. Maybe my whole being was just zoning out.

I don't know if anyone remembers thundercats the cartoon but there were cat type people and their eyes would light up with special seeing powers. I tried to do it too. I knew it was wrong and was hurting my eyes but i still did it. A couple of days later I noticed I couldn't see as well as before. I think I actually stared at things enjoying making double vision too.

With regard to reading in poor light, I am aware of Bates recommending the practice in order to improve eye sight in favourable conditions. However I was definitely straining my eyes doing this. I remember them hurting badly and still forcing them to read on. Also my room was black dark and the light only from an outside street light. I could barely read my book. I suspect he meant dim light not a blackened room.

Another point is that I reduced my focal point to very much the end of my nose because I was an obsessive book worm and at one point stopped playing outdoors in the light and only did school work and reading. I stopped paying an interest in anything further than my book. This means I was never looking into the distance. I also sat very close to the tv. In all purposes I was living a myopic lifestyle.


Re: Vision story - lou_deg - 02-19-2013

Imagineblack Wrote:I was an obsessive book worm and at one point stopped playing outdoors in the light and only did school work and reading.
I tend to spend a lot of time reading also. Do you still read much or did you lessen the amount of time spent on reading while doing Bates method? From your experience, do you think it is possible to regain good vision while staying a bookworm?

You have not mentioned if you had astigmatism. Did/do you? And did it cause you to have double vision when looking in the distance? How did you get rid of it? -thanks, Lou


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-19-2013

I personally don't see reading as a problem at all. In fact I read pretty much most of the day. It can used to your advantage. For example reading on the computer could be used to practice the Bates method by adjusting the print until normal vision is secured sitting comfortably. Reading books could be used to practice using a bad eye for example or of course just simply reading for pleasure. Of course if we have books in diamond print that would be all the better but there's not many of them I don't think.

I am reading for short periods at the moment for my weaker eye by patching up the good one. I think there is no problem with close work at all. The problem I believe is not spending time looking outside a window into the distance for example; perhaps looking at a tree outside and the buildings against the sky line. It definitely helps in my experience to enjoy looking out the window at what you see. Especially if there is light in the sky. This is very relaxing on my eyes. I believer the problem is not practicing at longer distances. Nothing wrong with a lot of close up work.

Yes I do have astigmatism in my right eye. That is my bad eye. No idea if it is still there. I have had a problem with double vision though. I still do at times. It is something I'm working on at the moment . I believe my progress is being hindered by the problem of my weaker eye. When I saw the vision teacher 2 weeks ago she said that my right eye was actually my true dominant eye despite it not seeing as well as my left eye. I am having to deliberately at times make my right eye look at things which seems to help with the double vision. I think the muscles are weak on that eye too. Also another thing that happens is that my right eye turns out sometimes when I look at things close up. I have seen this a few times when looking at my mobile because I caught my reflection. It's kind of weird but something I feel I must address in some way to progress in my vision.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-19-2013

This is the third time I've written this. It keeps getting lost.

Firelord777,

Your story touched me a lot and that is why I couldn't reply last night. It really warmed me to you. All I could think of was to pray that God would bless you and heal your eyes and give you your 20/20 vision. You are so courageous.

I too had problems with my eyes leading me to natural vision improvement. I had blood vessels growing on my eyes and was told I couldn't wear my contact lenses any more. I had over worn the contact lenses over the years. I was devastated because now I would have to wear my glasses all the time bar 4 hours a week of the luxury of contact lens wear. I hated wearing glasses because I didn't like the way I looked in them. That sounds really vain but it is true. They made my eyes look smaller and distorted my face on one side due to the extra strong lens for the right eye. This was with the "thinned" lenses too. I didn't like that I couldn't see out at the sides of my glasses either. It felt like such a handicap. The true facts of how bad my sight had got were hidden by wearing contact lenses. With the glasses it was hideously obvious. I used to pretend with contact lenses my vision was normal and perfect. How wrong and deluded I was.

Laser surgery wasn't an option either due to the dangerous blood vessels and my high myopia. I wore the glasses for a year after which I was desperate for another option. I kept thinking there must be a way to cure eyesight naturally. I looked on the internet and found David's site. I downloaded Bates 1920's book and never looked back. I knew that was the truth. It never did make sense to me in the past about how the eye worked in biology. The depressing news laid out by the medical profession for myopia seemed just so wrong.

You're lucky you have all those pairs of glasses to play with. My mother threw my weaker pairs out as each stronger one arrived. I don't suppose that optician of yours would be happy to prescribe you with weaker correction if you needed just something to get you by at school. You did well to fight for the reduction you did get in your current glasses.

Wow that story about the board. I have had my own heart rending moments like that in this vision journey. Your description says it all.

"If you mix helplessness, hopelessness, despair, isolation and a sharp drop in your self esteem, you sort of get a rough idea of what it felt like. "

I have felt those same feelings in similar situations. It's amazing how we adjust our capabilities to compensate for our visual deficiency; cover up for it as it were. All in the quest of simply normal vision. Vision as you say people take for granted. Against all the odds, opposition, embarrassment, failure, criticism we still keep going. I do believe at the end of all this we will have gained something amazing alongside the beauty of our perfect sight gleaming like gold in a river.

I believe you will get over your plateau; you will be able to see 20/20! Have you got an eye chart? If not, I really think you should get one. Practice every day. Your distance vision will improve and you can practice likely distances that you will need for school.


Re: Vision story - Imagineblack - 02-19-2013

By the way I would never get laser surgery either. Not even if it was free and I was allowed to. I feel sad for those who get it and lock their eyes into a permanent state of strain and refraction error forever. They pay for the privilege too.

One day Bates will get the recognition he deserves and natural vision improvement centres will be the first choice rather than opticians and there will be eye charts in the schools. What a happy day that will be!