martin Did it worked better with only one eye at the time?

Was it worse with your lazy eye?

    tfouto Not sure, it seemed the same. But the training and the whole issue is indeed made more difficult by the fact that I have shortsightedness only on one eye, therefore extra effort required for both eyes to cooperate properly (its easier for the brain to prefer the sharper one).

    Came from the doctor. My sight is perfect. Except for the small insuficient convergence. He told me that there was nothing i could do. I asked him if there were eye convergence therapy i could do, he said that it would do anything. But i said i'd like to try, and he gave me a contact. So maybe i would try.

    I think there is something about convergence. There's just to many people here who have convergence issues. That seems to much to be just a concidence. He's there anyone here who knows from eye exams, that dont have any convergence isuficienct?

    I think everyone has SOME degree of convergence issues...the eyes are rarely 100% perfect in all ways and the brain does most of the visual work. But lets say its just us....I have heard no plausible theory as to why that would mean only CERTAIN display types etc are bad for us. Maybe something like dithering and its constant movement challenges the eye muscles too much and since ours are already struggling it's painful? But that's nothing more than a reaching guess and no doctor has been able to answer it for me.

    Also every doctor I have talked to about this has said its dangerous to DIY therapy as you can end up making the problem worse and causing double vision etc. You can of course be given home exercises, but just doing the ones someone else told you about online seems foolish since not everyone's insufficiencies are the same.

      hpst by your theory since nobody has a plausible theory and nobody knows, it doesn't exist.

      DIY is dangerous, but not with a therapeut.

      • hpst replied to this.

        tfouto I don't know why you think I said/meant either of those things. I didn't say something doesn't exist because there is no plausible theory...I simply said I have heard no plausible theory. As to your second point I said exactly that...home exercises guided by a doctor are one thing.

          hpst We are in the dark, what seems plausible means 0. That what it is.

          The inner workings of the eye and brain are too complex for us to say what is plausible, what is logic. That's nothing.

          We have to try experiment, and hopefully stumble in something.

            tfouto I did the exercises wrong in the beginning for about two months and yes, it got even worse. You absolutely have to do the specific ones that balance out yout deviation, otherwise nothing will happen or in worst case youll strenghten it even.

            It has to be led and adjusted by a specialist with checkups. Finding one seems most difficult to most. Even among optometrists many dont believe in heterophoria and only want to get involved when it develops into visible strabismus or diplopia.
            If your doctors examination doesnt last longer than one hour, its probably bad and you should go elsewhere. Mine took 2.

            https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterophoria

            Id like to share all the exercises I did so far and also some Im about to do, to show you how complex such issues can be and that pencil pushups you found on the internet probably wont really do it justice:

            -tranaglyphs with 3d (red, green) glasses - images that go futher and further apart (red and green image respectively) and I am trying to keep them fused, see peripheral points and checking for depth perception on each step, my vision being separated by the colored glasses. That is done by small steps timed by a metronome to keep a steady tempo and increasing difficulty. This trains endurance.

            -tranaglyhps like in the previous description, but now only two steps a lot further apart, you jump back and forth. These train explosive power in the eye muscles and usually lead to better results in the endurance exercise before

            -brock string (now completed), following a string from near to far point, keeping fusion, checking if I have input in both eyes, trying to fuse the point where the string crosses with the point where I accomodate

            -accomodation on each eye separately, with the other one covered - switching two lenses in front of one eye for a minute at a time, refocusing through the lens on a text of specific size and specific distance. Future exercise is to do this binocularly, so to use both eyes at the same time.

            -transparent card - the most recent and most fun, as it doesnt require any computer and makes me realize what Im trying to achieve. Card with images progressively further apart that you try to connect with depth perception first by converging your eyes in front of the card, and then behind (that for me is the problem, not enough divergence power and convergence overpowered). Then when the images fuse, you should also see them sharp (accomodate binocularly) and with depth perception (keeping proper eye vergence).

            There is more exercises to come and Im about halfway done at best. As you can see, its a lot more complex than anything youll find on youtube or on the net, unfortunately. This is very neglected field but work is being done on it being more available.

            Ive been using my new iphone 7 without glasses all day yesterday, got a bit of tension in the evening which went away quite quickly once I laid it down. I dont wanna get ahead of myself, but it seems to be improving day by day. Previously this would result in a migraine that I would still have while writing this.
            I recommend you ask your specialist if they even know about these exercises, and if they dont, move on to someone else.

              martin Thats good news. How long can you look at iPhone7 for a period of time without feeling symptoms?

                martin Do you find that doing these exercises can sometimes bring on the very symptoms you are trying to relieve?

                  tfouto It improves every day now and depends on the activity - pictures and videos least difficult, reading most difficult. Now today it was 2-3 hours in total and I feel no symptoms, or just slight tension. Its also a bit taxing and tiring as it requires effort still. Im not there yet completely, the idea is to not feel any problems at all with a larger display (computer).

                  ryans not yet but we might get to it, he mentioned using some tech possibly down the way.

                  MagnuM yes but thats the point. In the exercises I know whats causing the issue and I can train it, then if it overlaps with what the tech is causing, I can compensate for it. The idea is basically to find the pain and train in that area. It was previously impossible with the tech, because it was too much at once, an overload. I believe people who gotten used to it but had same symptoms as us had similar deviancy with they eyes, just less severe and the tech served as a training in itself, so they managed to adjust in couple weeks.

                  hpst This is just plain wrong. Not everybody has some degree of convergence issues.

                  5 days later

                  Update in case anyone cares, my insurance will cover a portion of vision therapy, so I will be starting once the new year rolls in. I am not going to get my hopes up that it will cure everything (e.g. muscle twitch from smartphone), but I am hoping it will at least help.

                    JTL Thanks, will do!

                    martin Definitely! Do you have weekly sessions with daily homework exercises?

                    After "graduating" from vision therapy 5 years ago, and doing maintenance exercises at home ever since, I'm starting to think I might have to book another binocular vision session and see if I've regressed again. I've had a strain in my right eye since December 11th that has unfortunately put a damper on my holidays so far (I took this week off). It's strained, blurry, and my vision is often "jumpy", which is a symptom of suppression. What that means is that my brain is actually cancelling out the vision from one eye for a split-second before it pops back every so often. I might have to buy myself a Brock string and try those exercises again.

                    Another thing I never understood much is that my right eye will strain really bad within the 30 - 90 seconds it takes for me to get wicked behind-the-eye pain and sharp headaches whenever looking at LED backlit monitors. This might just be because my right eye is often more strained than my left eye because it's my dominant eye and I do a lot of reading.

                    Just curious, the people here that complain about eye strain, is the strain equal in both eyes, or worse in one eye?

                      MagnuM is the strain equal in both eyes, or worse in one eye?

                      Usually I got strain in both eyes, but on certain days I felt that one eye was strained to much bigger extent. It may be related to -0.5 difference between my eyes which occasionally gets bigger or lower as I get tired.

                      dev