martin

martin I noticed when I got the headaches before, I had tinnitus the next morning

Speaking of which I've had strange ear/sinus problems for four years (since October 2014). It often feels like I'm "breathing" mucus and my right nose is often infected. I have a referral soon to a supposedly competent ENT and might have an MRI scan done.

I asked my eye doctor about convergence insufficiency, and she says it's common but she doesn't think it's related to my issues.

My visions improved since last December. Not as drastic as the difference in my vision from December 2015 to December 2017 but it's measurable. I have new glasses coming in very soon.

I notice with the weed, it helps my eyes focus properly and much faster then from around a year ago. Just thought it's worth mentioning.

        JTL Thats good to hear that it has improved. And is the doctor an ophtalmologist, or an optometrist? My ophtalmologist said that it cannot be connected too, while my optometrist found a very big convergence excess and eventually new articles about this.... so just saying🙂

        • JTL replied to this.

            martin is the doctor an ophtalmologist, or an optometrist

            A bit of both. Truthfully I want a second opinion as I've only had 2 eye doctors my whole life.

            new articles about this

            As in new research?

              martin I checked the neurolens site and there is a doctor in northern Washington, US listed.

              Maybe I'll try and find his email and write to him about some of my medical history.

                That NeuroLenses goggles seem to be designed to compensate for imbalances between the eyes. If that were the case, using an eye-patch should be more than enough to avoid having migraines (at least when sitting at home).

                I had already thought about this in the past, but I don't think it would improve in any way my particular situation (I'm just light sensitive in general..).

                Hey,

                everyone noticed the new post in my intel thread?

                "
                Hello,
                I wanted to share my findings so far. I have made some progress, but it is far from done yet. After going to many doctors, neurologists, MRI checking for brain tumors etc., I have found an optometrist, which in its proper form is a discipline that also

                checks how your eyes cooperate, how fast you can accomodate (focus) etc. No ophtalmologist will probably do these tests, nor do they often even know that optometry as a discipline exists. I have been found to have a hidden esophoria and resulting accomodation insufficiency of both eyes. I have been given a short term solution of glasses that work in similar way as an orthesis would work for your arm or leg, and I will undergo a lengthy (6 months) visual therapy to retrain muscles that control my eye movement.

                The glasses fix about 1/3 of an issue and are really more of a "cane for my eyes" than a solution. You cannot run with a cane, but you can walk. And as the metaphor goes, it decreased my symptoms from very bad migraines from these new displays (that were triggered sometimes only by 15 minutes of exposure) to a milder headache and discomfort that builds up over longer period of time. When the visual therapy is finished, the problem might be solved completely as well.

                I am working with a researcher in this field and this is all a very new theme and topic, however it seems that some specific way new displays, drivers, OS, backlighting or all together create the image, it triggers hidden eye issues that before were no problem

                for most. Studies are being made and some people are taking interest in this (VR being a whole another issue thats gonna trigger other problems as well), but its a slow process, as many either end up with a psychosomatic diagnosis (labeled as mentally ill) and give up trying to solve this, or they have different and individual issues (vertigo instead of migraine for example).

                I recommed you try to find a good optometrist and get your ability to properly use binocular vision checked. One person already mentioned they had convergence issues and therapy solved it, for me it seems to be the way to go too so far, so it might be a first step to take and either move on or discard this possibility for yourself. In my country there are only about 2 people who can measure this properly, so dont get discouraged if you cannot find someone fast.

                Hopefully this will get more attention in the coming time and all of us wont lose our computer-dependent jobs.

                EDIT: I live in Europe, but if you are from USA you might find this useful - Vertigo/Dizziness Testing Neurolenses – Optometrist, Eye Doctor in San Antonio, TX | Vision Source Olmos Park
                "

                • JTL replied to this.

                  Harrison US is a big place.

                  I'm looking for a similar optometrist who actively shares our field of interest in Western Canada or Northwestern USA.

                  I've found a few in the US that are just a few hours from me but finding a Canadian doctor would be nice because then it partially qualifies for insurance and such.

                      JTL

                      Hey,
                      I'm starting also to search one here in mid europe. Remember that post copied above from the intel thread isn't from me.
                      Some days ago my cmd specialist meant that I should also start with eye excercies in addition to her cmd therapy and gave me the name of one optometrist she knows.

                          Harrison yes that post was from me. There is def a connection. I dont have migraines with the glasses, just headaches and it takes longer for them to come up. Why that is, no idea so far.

                              martin

                              Hey, cool. sorry that I haven't read your posts in the treatment thread. I'll catch up soon.

                              However your treatment makes absolutely sense and is very consistent with my theory here.

                              My cmd specialist meant that after my jaw is in the right position I have to learn how to focus my eyes again in order get full binocular vision. It also makes sense that you get a tinntius too. LCD strains your eyes and therefore muscles behind the eyes, which furthermore perform pressure on the ears.

                              So I'll try an optometrist soon.

                                13 days later

                                martin The tool you posted is nice, but does not seem to show all that much.

                                I thought the same for a while but it seems it has an oscilloscope out so you could connect it via the BNC cable they offer separately to an oscilloscope to see the waveform. After I realized how hard it is to build a good photodiode circuit that actually picks up high frequencies I think the LiFli device might have been underrated. It all depends on how useful the oscilloscope out really is.

                                  13 days later

                                  Hey, yesterday I had an appointment at one of the best sports optometrist/optician in my homeland in Vienna.

                                  This guy works together with many sportsmen from different national teams especially the golfers.

                                  He said that everything is perfektly ok with my eyes except an distinct convergence weakness. Due to problems with the cervical spline it is possible that the divergence muscles are to strainend so that the convergence muscles are not able to do their job properly. -> Which brings me back to my bruxismn.

                                  With some tests he showed me that maybe I loose my 3d Vision at narrow distances and therefore the brain has to upscale and to do a lot of work. So my convergence muscles who are responsible for narrow distances are to weak compared to the divergence muscles to focus nearrow objects or sometimes are also overstraining so that the focus is also at the wrong place.

                                  As a result I'm starting with conergence training, which I hope so brings me to a solution.

                                    Harrison Im happy to hear more people having these finds. Let us know how it goes. I live in Prague, if you are ever close, Vienna is not too far🙂

                                        This isn't going to be the magic bullet but I'm willing to bet that some of us with no PWM sensitivity who have eliminated blue light as a source of pain... are going to find convergence is the answer. I am still waiting for my appointment but it's coming.

                                          martin

                                          Hey, indeed I thought about you living not too far away from Vienna. However in person I do not live in Vienna, but in the south of Austria.

                                          Moreover we were also discussing if the convergence problem also leads to a flickering sensitivity (pwm, dithering,...), cause of the system is so overstrainend and that maybe the flickering sensitivity will also go away if the convergence is fine.

                                              Harrison Yes, or not. A lot of theories I have to test in the following months. But I believe I might be heading the right direction. Yes south of austria is futher away. Anyway I sometimes visit Vienna too🙂

                                                11 days later

                                                Gurm I'm willing to bet that some of us with no PWM sensitivity who have eliminated blue light as a source of pain... are going to find convergence is the answer.

                                                Hi, I've not followed your thread too closely here, but what are your thoughts about this regarding people (such as me) being impacted by some screens and video cards and not others? Or would you place me in the PWM sensitive, blue light, FRC group?

                                                  21 days later

                                                  martin

                                                  Sorry this is a bit late, but I just came across this forum. Seeing that a few posts touched on brain trauma, I thought I'd share my own experience with concussions and screen sensitivity in case it's helpful to anyone putting the pieces together.

                                                  I had a series of small concussions in 2014, triggered (I believe) by a more severe brain trauma from 2009 involving hitting my head with a large iron pipe (long story 🙂. After the 2014 incidents, I began noticing severe sensitivity to my Mac screens, and have had near-daily migraines for the past 4 years. (Unlike a lot of you, I'm not a programmer, but I am a translator and editor, so working with text on computers is an unavoidable part of my daily life.)

                                                  Since I never considered that screens or screen-flicker was the primary culprit for my migraines, I spent a lot of time trying various concussion treatments. The ones that have been the most helpful have been:
                                                  (1) dietary changes (cutting "inflammatory" food like dairy & gluten, cutting back to 1 coffee a day).
                                                  (2) Applying ice at the onset of a migraine (this took me 3 years to figure out and was an enormously helpful change, far better than any pharmaceutical. The "Headache Hat" is a really wonderful product for applying ice. I own 3 of them.)
                                                  (3) Breathing exercises (using an app called Kardia that you can set to regulate your breathing to have longer breaths outward. Really recommend this).
                                                  (4) Craniosacral massage. (This one is really weird and scientifically dubious, and I remain skeptical of it, but countless concussion patients swear by it, and I have to admit that I feel a noticeable improvement in my migraine frequency for the first 2 weeks after a session).
                                                  (5) I did Brock string exercises for about 6 months, but I couldn't gauge whether they were helping or hurting . . . half the time, it seemed like they triggered my eyestrain rather than strengthening my eyes

                                                  All of this progress, however, can be quickly obliterated by a long bout of working in front of a computer screen——which is why I'm really glad I stumbled across this forum. Sometimes I even wonder if my migraines are entirely unrelated to the brain trauma, and are exclusively a product of screen sensitivity. Nevertheless, I think some of these treatments from the concussion field could help alleviate migraine symptoms more generally and are worth investigating.

                                                  I have a lot of personal observations that dovetail with things you all have pointed out. For example, I always thought my symptoms worsened after getting new glasses that have anti-glare coating. I certainly never had any screen sensitivity prior to 2014 (when I first bought a computer with the much-maligned Intel drivers). Happy to keep sharing if anyone finds this info helpful!

                                                      bertso720 Thank you for the list, Ill keep it in case my therapy doesnt work completely. Did you do brock string with professional guidance? If not its no use. If it triggers the pain, it points to a connection (the displays could do the same to your eyes, dont you think?).

                                                          martin

                                                          Hi Martin! You make a great point.

                                                          I did have professional guidance on it, but the clinic I visited was in another city, so I could only manage to have 2 in-person sessions. In addition to the Brock strings, I was given a series of balance exercises, vestibular exercises (tracking a letter from left to right in my peripheral vision in timed intervals), and saccades exercises (involving wearing green-and-red 3d glasses and looking at a letter chart).

                                                          This took nearly 30 minutes daily, and I found it very hard to do it on a persistent basis. I felt very dizzy and disoriented afterward, and despite the clinician's assurances, this didn't go away after a few weeks. It certainly did seem to point to the notion that the exercises were triggering my symptoms in the same way the screen does, but I never felt convinced that they were actually ameliorating anything.

                                                          My current theory is that possibly these exercises were tailored for post-concussive patients, whereas what I needed was more in line with the convergence therapy that has been detailed on this list. That is, eye treatment was the right direction, but I wasn't getting the right eye treatment. I am fortunate to live close to one of the Neurolenses doctors that have been mentioned on this list, and I have made an appointment for a few weeks from now, so I am curious to see what happens.

                                                            dev