Session 40

We practiced doing some exercises we've done before already, trying to take it further. Since my flatfusing abilities are quite good, we are trying to get fusion going with two slightly different images to finally end up in the 3D spectrum. No big 3D epiphanies yet.

Further we talked about passed progress and where progress is heading and in which time frame. For people with constant double vision (as opposed to suppressors) it takes longer to achieve a cure because they are already seeing the two images but in an unhealthy, disturbing way. Based on the few double vision stories I have it takes between 2 and 3 years and a lot of perseverence. Looking at the past and the possible future we are going to hit that time frame and I should put my mind on spring next year more or less. We were also baring in mind the period I fell back a bit due to 'emotional problems' caused by incomprehensive family members and what not. So realistically speaking the final verdict is spring next year if people allow me to live in a drama free environment. So let's go :)

PS: Normally I should reach a comfortable zero degree angle next thursday during my check up appointment, hopefully I'll be well rested!

The Fun Theory: free anti-suppression solitaire

Most cross-eyed people suppress the image of their inferior eye or alternate between eyes. The trick is to learn how to use them both at the same time in a correct way without suppressing either one or the other. One of the ways to do this is with a the red green 3D glasses and red green computer images so you have to use both eyes at the same time to see everything displayed on the screen. Most exercises like this are rather boring, you train the ability but it's not much fun. Another blog I found proposes a red green card game making it rather fun to practice using both eyes together.

http://squintyjosh.blogspot.com/2011/01/free-anti-suppression-solitaire.html

With the 3D glasses you will need both eyes, otherwise you are not seeing half of your game haha. I like this kind of creative and fun solutions to promote behavioral changes. It reminds me of the VW fun theory :)

It also coincided with a TED Talk I saw on using games to recover from brain injury.

Petition: Recognize Optometry in Belgium

I set this up a whole while back but afterwards didn't see much use in dispensing it. Appartently some people have been signing it anyways :D So here you go! Sign the petition if you want! :)

http://www.change.org/petitions/recognize-optometry-in-belgium

Critical link between Vision and Learning - HealthWise

Watch HW1428 on PBS. See more from WTVI.

Very interesting and profound video on the issue at hand.

Session 39

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I noticed some nice differences during the summer holidays. Especially between my last session and the one yesterday. So because of this I was optimistic about the future and my progress was seen in some exercises. The one I did first and when I was still fresh is the one I photoshoped in attachment. The idea is to present each eye with one of the squares shown on the left. If you fuse it right, which I never did completely right before, you will see the thing I've drawn on the right of the image. Since I have double vision I normally saw everything jumbled up, but not this time. Then I got two sticks to point at a number, say 1, but even though you see the two sticks and they seem to be touching each other they actually aren't because you are pointing at two different images (see pic). When we used to do this before I used to point correctly on one of them but be way off on the other. So that was pretty exciting to be sure I'm doing it right. Thank you very much 1 year and 8 months visual training hahah. So definitely improvement and beginning of single vision. Now it comes down to keeping a restfull, patient attitude and increasing general flexibility so I can switch between far and close in a jiffy. It's not over quite yet but maybe the end is in sight in half a year if I keep it up. I can do it with a little help :)

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast

If you have to take million steps over a large period of time to reach a goal it is important to reiterate the vision constantly in order not to be discouraged and to remind yourself it can be achieved and it is worth achieving. I do that a lot.

The Doctors - Double Vision and Strabismus

The intro is totally American, but what follows makes total sense... It's surprising how in Belgium this is not even common knowledge for doctors, and in America it's prime time television. What's even more surprising is that youtube suggested this video to me. Google knows it all!

Lately when I take a walk...

Lately when I take walks, relax and pay special attention to what I am seeing I realise I'm not seeing double much of the time, say maybe even up to 70% of the time. Some angles are still hard to take on for my eyes but hey, I'm coming from far. The sinus stuff is getting better with my spray thingy, allergy meds and 3 liters of water a day. This seeing a single image situation is very vulnerable and is susceptible to tiredness, stress or simply being careless with my eyes BUT it's very good :) I try to keep it going without forcing it. Now I need more flexibility switching between far and close, reflex wise. The further I stretch this the closer I am to stereo vision. My goal was to comfortably achieve zero discrepancy most of the time by september. Seems like that's gonna work out :)

Session 38

I'm still quite bummed out because of that f***ing infection... That place where the tooth was is still hurting. I'm taking the allergy medication and it's keeping my airways open. I guess the healing doesn't happen overnight... Had a CT scan, it's clean they tell me so I must be getting better soon. The bad breath still comes and goes so it's not completely over I guess...

I know it's a bit off topic but it's relevant. This extra complication is keeping back progress once more... But at least I'm not falling backwards as I was during november 2011- february 2012, when some people found it necessary to vent their frustrations by giving me a hard time. That might have set me back at least a few months if not more... Now I'm stationary and try to do my exercises without forcing it but it's hard because I'm hurting and exhausted. I did everything I could doctorwise, so it should play itself out now. I'm quite annoyed that stuff like this is keeping me from working on the real problem, especially now that every one is finally on the same page and leaves me alone to do this rehabilitation. I keep thinking that it's impossible that someone who ran 15km in an hour without any training is beat down so badly at age 22 it will never get better. That's impossible