Blue light photophobia, eyestrain, muscle spasms, pain, twitching

Larkenn I use an all natural, alcohol free organic quinine tincture on an as-needed basis. It is the ONLY thing that alleviates the occasional twitching in my eyelid. I'm not sure the difference/what additives are used in pharmaceutical quinine. I would think if it was lethal, it wouldn't be available whether via prescription or herbal. The side effects you experienced sound horrible. I've had absolutely no issues with taking the quinine tincture, but this is valuable information for others nonetheless.

reaganry Thankfully, I never took the two together. I only take quinine when I'm having the twitching, which is an occasional issue and wasn't happening while I was in the hospital. I stopped the antibiotics after two days of IV and one pill the first morning I was home. I will never take Levaquin again and hopefully never need antibiotics for anything again either. Good looking out though! Thank you

AGI Thank you!! I have an upcoming appointment with an ophthalmologist and I will ask them for these!

martin I had an appointment with a functional optometrist and had to cancel because of work. I'm done with my show so I'll be making an appointment soon. I'll definitely let you know what the results are. I also have some notes about the production monitors for you guys, which I'll be posting soon.

martin So I finally had my functional vision exam! She did find a couple issues- and although they are both mild, and not the culprit behind my light sensitivity, the right glasses may help reduce the strain I experience. I have a very slight astigmitism, mild binocular vision dysfuction, and mild poor eye teaming. So, I'm going to have my 20th pair of glasses made, which will contain the following: a very slight prescription, FL-41, blue blocking, anti-reflective and prism lenses. I've basically tried all the above in lenses with little result, with the exception of the prisms. They really seemed to help. I performed better on the testing with them on... my vision seemed calmer, more balanced/stable. So I'm hopeful the new glasses might finally be the pair that will make using my dimmed-down, flux & ditherig hacked, lighting gel taped over the screen, screen.... even easier to tolerate. Thank you again Martin for urging me to get these tests done.

She also had me try some different colored lenses on, none of which helped much (and I've already done the Irlen testing which proved useless), however one pair I really liked. It could just be that they happen to be my favorite color. They are a very vivid purple, and they are called syntonic goggles. As of now the company only makes them in a paper frame, so they look like the 3D glasses you'd wear at the movies. She wants me to wear them for 20 minutes per day while using my phone, it's a form of vision therapy. So we'll see if I notice any improvement from wearing them over time. Might be worth looking into for some of you. They were only $25.

Next, I have the information for you guys about the production monitors. So the ones they typically use at video village (where the director, DP etc sit and watch the scenes being shot) are Sony Trimaster EL. Model PVM A250 Professional Video Monitor. 100-240 V 50/60 hZ. I asked the video guy if these screens dither, and he said they do not. Apparently they are very expensive, about 2k, but I have looked a little and seen them online for cheaper, although I cannot attest to the quality of the cheaper ones. I'm wondering if my ability to tolerate those screens (I can typically watch them for several minutes at a time with no problem, as opposed to a regular tv, my threshold of tolerance is less than 10 seconds) has something to do with the fact that it's live as opposed to recorded. I may have touched upon this issue above, but I can't scroll through everything, I've been having twitching again lately and trying to type this quickly. I'm wondering if when the videos are edited, if something about the compression or something else is making it less bearable. Maybe because it's less natural? I'm definitely thinking of purchasing one of these monitors, just a less expensive one that I can return if it's unusable. If anyone decides to try one, please let me know the model and about your experience with it.

Lastly, I saw yet another ophthalmologist in search of these b12 drops. She'd never heard of them but I'm going to try and find those Bausch + Lomb drops mentioned above online. She seems to think my issues stem from dry eye, and wants to aggressively treat it with 2 weeks of steriod stops (FML) in conjunction with Restasis. I have mixed feelings about taking steroid drops and starting Restasis. When the light sensitivity issue started, I DID have very dry eyes, and the neuro optho I saw wrote my diagnosis as "photophobia, orbicularis spasm/pain & twitching secondary to dryness". The dryness has improved from needing Refresh preservative free drops every half hour to never needing them during the day. The only time I really notice extreme dryness is in the middle of the night when I get up to pee. So... I think it is possible that it's a contributing factor, however I still believe that something in my brain is the main issue. Has anyone taken FML for dry eyes? I'm hesitant to take them for a full two weeks, and she wants me to start the Restasis one week after I start the steroid, so there would be a week period that the drugs overlap. Seems like a lot. Also, I've read that you have to take Restasis forever. Luckily, my insurance covers it, but I may switch insurance soon, and also not sure I want to be dependent on an immunosuppresive drug for life. I brought this concern up to her, she said some patients take it for a while then find they don't need it. Any information/experience with this would be most helpful.