Found this site some month ago and finally managed to finish the bates book some days ago. These days reading is a unpleasant chore. My story has some similarities with the "Relief after 25 years"-man in the bates book. I had my breakdown, I live in a constant brainfog these days also trying to deal with increasing posterior vitreous detachment in my dominant and most errornous eye. Although I havent gotten as far either in age nor in degeneration and certainly not in recovery, yet.
I've been trying to establish how bad my sight is but I'm not sure I do things right. My prescription is something like -4.25 and -2.75. I did the test at IVAC to the best of my knowledge and got about 20/400 and 20/200. I need to have things about 8" for sharp countours on my right eye and about 1 foot for my left. Although my left is never that sharp, I should think because of the astigmatism
Now I need a gameplan to get out of my vision-misery.
At the very least I need to get rid of my current glasses. They have been tormenting me for about 10 years. When I first got them I rememberd I had huge problems adjusting, I went back and they said they were fine and I just needed to adjust. In the light of my newfound knowledge I know what this 'adjustment' meant.
I suppose I need alot 'weaker' glasses. Possibly without correction for astigmatism. Suggestions would be appreciated. If I could benefit from going for contacts (cheaper to switch prescription) or several different glasses, etc.
Next step would be to get rid of glasses altogether if possible. My miserable unemployed life has one advantage. I have the possibility to do it however difficult it might be. Although I still need good tips on how to make it easier. For instance I will buy a new computer set and I am thinking of what type of monitor would be easier to make correspondence possible. Big? Small? High res, low res? Should I read alot of text even if it will be very close range? TV, movies, most sports are out of the question until theres some progress I think.
Urban Wrote:I would recommend a LCD screen. I hear that CRT screens are harder on your vision.
That being said, if you want to maximize your progress, you'll probably want to keep your use of tv/computer screens at its absolute minimum.
Sounds fair.
Gotten a bit closer in my research now. Almost ready to launch into some kind of program. Although I have some questions still:
* Does high index lenses affect strain in any way? I suppose if they are thinner they would be lighter and less cumbersome.
* I also wonder if you know some good resource where I can learn and understand the mathematics behind the prescriptions. Especially the relations between astigmatism and myopia. I think it could be useful to determine which type of lenses that would lessen my strain.
* Also how to deal with the fact that one eye is much worse than the other? Does that change the way you approach things? Maybe that is covered in McCracken book? I havent had time to get into that one yet.
Urban Wrote:I would recommend a LCD screen. I hear that CRT screens are harder on your vision.
That being said, if you want to maximize your progress, you'll probably want to keep your use of tv/computer screens at its absolute minimum.
Sounds fair.
Gotten a bit closer in my research now. Almost ready to launch into some kind of program. Although I have some questions still:
* Does high index lenses affect strain in any way? I suppose if they are thinner they would be lighter and less cumbersome.
* I also wonder if you know some good resource where I can learn and understand the mathematics behind the prescriptions. Especially the relations between astigmatism and myopia. I think it could be useful to determine which type of lenses that would lessen my strain.
* Also how to deal with the fact that one eye is much worse than the other? Does that change the way you approach things? Maybe that is covered in McCracken book? I havent had time to get into that one yet.
Although there is no research or proof or even anecdotal evidence either way, I can't see any difference (to your eyes) between using high or low index lenses. I suppose if your old glasses were exceptionally thick and heavy a lighter pair may have some limited benefit, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
As for the mathematics behind a prescription, as far as I know there isn't much to learn. The diopter correction the lens needs is the distance that can be viewed with perfect clarity (in centimeters) divided by 100. I don't believe that there is any connection between myopia and astigmatism (although a greater number of myopes do seem to have astigmatism than non myopes, but there are many possible reasons for that). These conditions can manifest together, separately, and in any combination of diopters. If you want to get a (very rough and undoubtedly wrong) estimate as to what your astigmatism is you'll need to go to an optometrist.
If one eye is significantly worse than the other, I wouldn't concern yourself with it unless the off eye was starting to be tuned out by the brain. If this is happening, I've heard of people practicing Bates sometimes with one eye covered, but as far as I can remember that was not part of Bates' original teachings and you should attempt to use both eyes together.
Urban Wrote:If you want to get a (very rough and undoubtedly wrong) estimate as to what your astigmatism is you'll need to go to an optometrist.
You read my thoughts. That is why I want to try to understand the problem better and if myopia and astigmatism corelate. You answered my question if it corelates strain-wise but how is it with lens corelation? For instance, what is more likely: If I ask the opto-person for a reduced prescription with reduced spherical for reading will he/she change the cylindrical astigmatic correction or keep it the same?
Well, from my experiences, if you have both astigmatism and myopia, the optometrist will usually under prescribe one correction and leave the other correction alone. They should never increase one correction as they decrease the other.
What I've also found is that there is a tendency to reduce the prescription of astigmatism first, so you'll want to ask for the spherical reduction if that's what you want.
That is why I want to try to understand the problem better and if myopia and astigmatism corelate. You answered my question if it corelates strain-wise but how is it with lens corelation? For instance, what is more likely: If I ask the opto-person for a reduced prescription with reduced spherical for reading will he/she change the cylindrical astigmatic correction or keep it the same?
