TheraSpecs

Ddegen · Oct 30, 2015

I am thinking of picking up an HP 8530w I see on eBay. I only need it for reading.

I have a pair of FL-41 tinted (this tint was specifically created to help migraine sufferers in fluorescent lights) sunglasses from Axon Optics. They work VERY well if I am in a mall or warehouse with harsh lighting but they don't seem to prevent headaches when looking at a screen.

My headache type is a bilateral cervical headache which shoots from the back of my neck to behind my eyes and is accompanied by motion sickness and some odd epileptic overlap with changes in time perception and sometimes deja vu and jamais vu as well as sensory changes.

JJTL · Oct 31, 2015

degen My father has the exact laptop he used from June 2009-May 2011. Still has it and it works great. Iis faster than most cheap Intel Atom/AMD E series APU laptops.

Is CCFL based I'm 95% certain.

Ddegen · Oct 31, 2015

JTL You wouldn't happen to know what model your father used do you? Thanks for your post and good to that old laptops are still up to the task.

JJTL · Oct 31, 2015

degen I'll confirm the model soon. Has a broken hinge though (which can be replaced for $10) and I think he only had 2GB of RAM in his.

JJTL · Oct 31, 2015

JTL It is an 8530W

Ddegen · Oct 31, 2015

Thank you so much for checking!

JJTL · Oct 31, 2015

degen No problem.

http://i.imgur.com/DhKz9Qy.jpg

Ddegen · Oct 31, 2015

I'm talking to a guy on eBay and we are trying to determine if the screen assemblies he has are the old CCFL backlit style. (He doesn't know, and I was worried that some refurbs would swap for a new panel)

JJTL · Oct 31, 2015

degen Excellent idea.

How is that BenQ monitor working for you?

JJTL · Nov 30, 2015

degen Confirmed. The EliteBook can be LED type, my fathers 8530W is LED type with awful PWM (I just really never noticed as I rarely used it) CCFL panels do exist for it.

AAGI · Apr 9, 2019

JTL Oh. Forgot to mention my mother bought me the TheraSpecs indoor+outdoor bundle ($300) Due to being sick and all that I really haven't had a chance to test them.

Today I decided to go into town to where my father works (which has ok but not the best fluorescent lighting, office building constructed circa 2000-2005) The good news is that I got no headaches whatsoever - which is big news for me.

This is an old post. I would like to know what is your current opinion about Theraspecs glasses. Do they really help out with regard to fluorescent lighting? Right now I am quite okay as to computers, I seem to be able to use pretty much anything, but fluorescent lamps in the office are killing me. I have some cheap blue light-blocking UVEX glasses and wonder what the Theraspecs differ by. Do they contain more than one filter or just a longpass one? Has anyone tried to look at what light they actually let pass, using a spectrometer? Thanks.

GGurm · Apr 9, 2019

I found Theraspecs helped with lights, but not with displays. Since I have other mechanisms for dealing with lights, I returned them (they were pretty pricey).

JJTL · Apr 9, 2019

AGI That was a long time ago. I now have less problems from fluorescent lights with the special medicine I mentioned.

I still have them but I suspect I scratched the darker glasses by accident

AGI I have some cheap blue light-blocking UVEX glasses and wonder what the Theraspecs differ by. Do they contain more than one filter or just a longpass one? Has anyone tried to look at what light they actually let pass, using a spectrometer? Thanks.

Something to try at some point. Unfortunately I don't have a spectrometer.

AAGI · Apr 10, 2019

Gurm I have other mechanisms for dealing with lights

Which other mechanisms? Simply avoiding using "bad" lamps? Thanks.

@Gurm @JTL How about reading on paper wearing the Theraspecs? Is it pleasant? It certainly depends also on the brightness in the room, but I wonder how much light is blocked by the filter (multiple filters?)?

GGurm · Apr 10, 2019

AGI My "other mechanisms" involve a wonderful green leafy canopy above my head, courtesy of IKEA, and a stupid-looking visor on my head courtesy of Microsoft.

AAGI · Apr 11, 2019

Gurm Wow, then if you add a fake palm tree, you will feel like on a tropical beach, have you tried? :-)
Jokes apart, on top of those tricks do you wear Theraspecs glasses? I did not try with a wide-brim hat, but what I noticed, and my spectrometer confirmed, is that even if I turn the closest ceiling lamp off I still get harmful light from the other lamps a couple of meters away. Even if I have a a window wall on one side which is closer to my desk than the other lamps, the brightest features the spectrometer shows are from the fluorescent tubes :-(

Wrightpt1 · Apr 11, 2019

Wrap7c uses the Ventus frame by 7Eye. Tint is nothing special from my understanding. Has the number 47 in it I think. it's pinkish again I think. Search Google for florescent lights and migraines. It should show up.

AAGI · Apr 11, 2019

Wrightpt1 Thanks. $189 for the indoor glasses and $339 for the indoor&outdoor. That sounds expensive if it is just a filter. I will dig into it and see if I can get something similar by an optician where I live.
Just one further question. What do you mean with "47"?

GGurm · Apr 11, 2019

AGI It's the tint. Theraspecs are nothing special, they're just high-quality tinted glasses. 47 is the color number - there are lots of others. There are green ones for people who work with LED grow lights all day, and red ones for people who work with medical lasers. They all have tint numbers.

AAGI · Apr 19, 2019

Gurm It's the tint. Theraspecs are nothing special, they're just high-quality tinted glasses. 47 is the color number - there are lots of others. There are green ones for people who work with LED grow lights all day, and red ones for people who work with medical lasers.

Do you know what the tint is supposed to do? An optometrist proposed me a solution which costs ~ $ 400 with a basic frame: Nikon lenses cutting blue light with the possibility of adding a tint and maybe a transition to sunglasses. The lenses look completely different from the crappy orange googles I had purchased for 10 bucks on Amazon. They appear very clear, so I guess the mechanism by which they filter the blue is different (probably some anti-reflective coating). The guy recommended a pink tint, however, he was unable to provide a plausible scientific/technical reason for the choice. I thanked and said I will think about it.
I then read the article posted by @tfouto

tfouto Anyone tried those glasses? They are pink tint.

I am curious about them.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2701948/

I really do not get from the shown transmission curves of the pinky and gray lenses why one or the other would work better against fluorescent light. They do not seem to target any specific wavelength. Does anyone know?
Do they just help photophobic patients, who benefit from reduced light intensity being still able to read clearly, or patients with...what was it called, Irlen syndrome?
I will visit an eye doctor, possibly tomorrow, to get her/his opinion too, but any thought/insight is appreciated. Given how vulnerable to fluorescent light my eyes have become, I am tempted to purchase but I would not want to spend half a grand on something useless. Thanks!