Hi folks!

I would like to share my story, and hopefully, I might get valuable advice that will help alleviate my problem. Before we start, I apologize in advance for the possible grammar mistakes. English isn't my first language.

First of all, I would like to share some information about myself. I'm 25 years old male, without bad habits (no alcohol, no smoking) who works as a software engineer. Also, historically, I have had bad vision throughout my entire life. For example, when I was just 7 years old, I could barely see what was on a board in a classroom. That said, I was able to correct my vision pretty well by using glasses and contact lenses, so that bad vision had little to no effect on the quality of my life. Currently, I have the following condition.

Diagnosis: Myopia and moderate astihmatism.

  • Right eye sphere - 4.25;
  • Left eye sphere - 4.75;

Before we go to the stage when my eyes get screwed up, I would like to note that I had been wearing contacts for about 10 years with no issues. I would always put them on early in the morning and put them off only when I went to bed. Also, I could easily spent days sitting near my computer and working with code or other texts, and during this 10 years timeframe I have never had major issues with my eyes.

At the beginning of the last year, I decided to take the IELTS exam (a test to assess my knowledge of English). I planned to study for several months and get 8 band. This is a very high score, and I had to hit the books really hard to achieve a set goal, so did I. I studied almost every day for 2-4 hours, which would include reading materials on different education websites, having lessons with a teacher, writing essays, and learning words using a mobile application. On top of that, I had my normal working day (5-6 hours of coding and related SWE work). Needless to say that it put severe stress not only on my eyes but on my whole body. I often studied late at night, and the overall conditions were far away from perfect:

  1. I didn't have a monitor and a comfortable workplace. At least I used a MacBook that has a decent screen quality.
  2. At that time, my country had a lockdown so this was impossible to visit a gym, and I didn't have regular walks.
  3. My job had always been adding fuel to the fire, which elevated the level of stress even more.

Then, my body couldn't take more at the beginning of April, and it "exploded." To be more specific, I got quite many different symptoms that I had never had before. I will list them:

  1. Constant headache \ Migraine. It was a huge issue. It could come out of nowhere and strike me to the point that I couldn't do anything but lay on the bed.
  2. Elevated blood pressure. It was something like 135-140/70, and I could definitely feel this. You feel kinda drunk zombie.
  3. Increased heart rate. Again, my heart could go crazy and start beating pretty fast out of nowhere. Also, it didn't let me fall asleep quite often.
  4. And the most interesting! I couldn't read the text and focus on code. Yeah, at first, I didn't understand that. I thought it was some sort of vertigo. I will elaborate on this in a moment.

Luckily, I took a break and visited several doctors. They prescribed me some pills that improved blood circulation in the brain, which basically fixed all the issues except for the one with eyes.

So what's wrong with my eyes? What exactly do I experience? Well, it's reasonably hard to describe this condition, but I will give it a shot.

Essentially, it's very hard for me to concentrate on the text. When I try to read words, my eyes sort of refuse to perceive the information, and then, in a moment, the letters I was reading get blurred. I can unblur the text if I strain my eyes, but I can't keep this too long (usually a few seconds, lol), then I have to blink several times and try again. Needless to say, that this leads to quite a noticeable eye fatigue pretty fast. Also, from time to time, when my eyes are strained and I try to read something, I experience sleepiness.

There are several interesting facts:

  1. My symptoms are way milder when I use glasses. I think this is because I got advanced glasses with super clear Japanese lenses and UV protection. Basically, that was a life-saver for me. I had had tough times in April - August 2020, but then I started to use glasses, and thank Lord I was able to work more-less fine. That said, I can barely sit behind the computer in contacts. My eyes get strained crazy fast.
  2. Even though that the issue isn't that bad when I wear glasses, it's still there. I experience exactly the same condition. It's just easier to strain my eyes and focus on the text. They don't get fatigued too fast.
  3. I have this problem when I use any device. A computer with a monitor, a laptop, a phone, or a tablet. It's always the same.
  4. I can't tell whether I have this problem when I don't wear glasses or contacts. I'm literally blind when my vision isn't corrected.
  5. Super interesting fact. Usually, this issue gets better at night time. For instance, it's 23 PM for me now, and it's much easier to read and write the text (even in contacts) than when I just got up. In the morning, it's pure hell. If I try to write some code in the morning \ daytime, usually, my eyes become fatigued super fast. I have to switch to glasses, and then, at some point during the day try switching back to lenses (Sometimes this works).
  6. My eyes don't look normal, tbh. The cornea is pretty often red. Eyelids are reddish and swelled, especially after awakening.
  7. Also, I started seeing weird small black dotes. They're especially obvious when I look at something white. For instance, the background of this forum clearly shows them. Luckily, they don't bug me too much.

Well, this basically it. Thank you so much if you have read it till this point. Unfortunately, I haven't found a way to fix my problem. I really want to be able to wear lenses as I could in the past. For me, they're just a much better and comfortable option. Plus, my vision is noticeably better when I'm in lenses. I've been considering laser correction, but what if it makes things even worse?

The question. Has anyone experienced a similar condition? Have you been able to get over this problem? If so, please, share your story.

    a year later
    21 days later

    TK-95 Try to visit an optometrist to take a vision test again. Sometimes eyes conditions change and maybe you need a new prescription (aybe you developed Hyperopia or Dry eyes or some tension in eyes ). Check Retina also. There can be many causes for your symptoms. As we getting older, it can be also your eye muscles which now are focusing more for processing the image ( to brain ).

    Try check first your eyes/health condition (Ophtalmologist, Optometrist, Neurologist, etc.. ) and if you're 100% sure you're OK , then try to search the cause in your build ( type of screen, what GPU and OS you're using , temporal dithering , etc… )

      4 days later

      i'm 22F and i'm experiencing the exact same symptoms, literally everything you mentioned about yourself, eyes don't look normal have become more veiny and red ever since I strained my eyes and migraine that never goes away, reading text is hard and always made me sleepy and now I can't read it at all without experiencing irritated eyes..I was diagnosed with astigmatism a few months ago after I started experiencing dry eyes/chronic eye strain from laptop/phone screens, my heart rate also increases at times like as if I'm having a panic attack, at night my symptoms are better…My new glasses are now giving me a headache so I'm not wearing them when I'm looking at the screen, I experienced that I'm better when I'm not using my glasses,

      But it only ends up giving me a headache/migraine..apparently my new has prescription has failed me and My old glasses have started giving me severe dry eyes/eyestrain. (old prescription probably gave me eyestrain and slightly change my astigmatism after I strained them hard?)

      My eyesight started going when I was 17 or something and I'm near sighted, I experienced ledstrain a few years back but it went away with breaks and a migraine medication (which is no longer available sadly) also a point to note is that I only experienced this when I tried looking at the same screen I had overused, my phone was giving me zero symptoms back then and now it came back strong, now I'm experiencing severe ledstrain, dry eyes etc after binging on my laptop and it hasn't went away for months..it has only gotten better but I still can't look at many screens or even focus on certain activities without feeling dizzy. such as a book reading/drawing or craftwork…

        ZenXLaika Yes, text size is what I refer to. I'm older than you so my eyes don't have focusing flexibility anymore. So what I have observed is that the size of the text is also dependent on distance. If I am holding the device close (which is the case without glasses) I cannot anymore easily focus on text that is larger. However if the text is smaller, it appears subjectively as if I am holding it further away, so it is easier to focus on, and somewhat less tiring.

        Larger text only works for me if I am holding it further away.

            Sunspark Ty for the advice…also I'm wondering if I should consider getting a UV protection filter on my glasses and reading glasses..

                ZenXLaika They probably already have one. If you have a purplish or greenish cast on light reflections when tilting the lenses, the lenses have a coating. You could try using orange or yellow lenses over them, some people here have done that. How is your neck when you're sitting? I think I am able to trigger migraines if my head is pushed forward and looking up a bit. So I try to not do that.

                    Sunspark my new ones don't have a filter..…might have to consider getting a filter..also my neck is slightly bent when I'm using my phone.. didn't know a migraine could be linked to neck posture, Im only using my phone since it is giving me less symptoms, I am fairly light sensitive after using it though.. while other screens have suddenly become more irritating to look at..the only thing that makes my eyes rested is a good night's sleep..

                        dev