Anyone Ever Use Prism Glasses?

Hi all!

I have suffered from dizziness since 2006 and it’s become horribly severe so thought I’d see if any of yall happen to have advice.

I am currently seeing the Binocular Vision Lab for visual therapy that they think may help my dizziness but not
cure it though it’s quite costly/time-consuming. This is because
they’re treating my dizziness symptoms from 2013-on (which somewhat
worsened after a concussion/head trauma in 2013) and that they don’t
think visual therapy will stop the dizziness as I’ve been dizzy since
2006. Neurologists and ENT’s and other doctors say that my condition
is just migraines and I’ve tried 50 medicines and nothing worked so unsure I should try that approach again (I guess I didn’t see any holisitic neurologists but I feel like I’ve tried that route enough). I
also limit stress and exercise and eat a diet without gluten, cheese,
processed foods or or nightshade foods (I cheat a little sometimes but
try not to) and also mostly avoid sugar. None of these have helped
though I know high stress makes it worse. I’ve also tried tai chi and
meditation (can try them more and am considering the meditation plan
in the book full-life catastrophie) and atlas, other chiropractic,
acupuncture, reiki, many herbs/vitamins, etc. I also have constant
back/neck pain from scheuermann’s disease that I’m able to mostly
ignore and ptsd from an assault and depression and anxiety that come
up once and a while but I mostly am fine with those. I also have
treated IBS and untreated sinusitis.

I tried the “migraine diet” back in 2013 and it didn’t help but I
think I only did it for 6 weeks and the diet recommends 2 months so I
was thinking of trying it again soon (just bought a bunch of yogurt
which it says to not take although a Cal migraine diet says 4oz of
yogurt a day is fine). I was going to start glutamine (as an herbalist
said that may help with dizziness) but it seems glutamic
acid/glutamate are on the migraines triggers list so unsure and It
also recommends avoiding fermented sauerkraut which I take and celery
and onions which my organic no salt added bone broth has in it as
homemade broth is either time-consuming or pricey but I was going to cut the broth to be safe. I think the diet also recommends regularly
timed meals which I eat my meals at different times of the day given I
eat when I’m about to feel hungry but I can try to set reminders and
hope they’re not too annoying.

I also plan to keep a diary although it’s hard since I get little
migraines many times a day so I’ll just have to print out a bunch of
copies of this or make a survey to do on my phone or laptop if I’m
away from a paper copy (ironic as phones/laptops worsen migraines).

May try yoked prism glasses as part of visual therapy so I’ll see how that goes! A big problem for me is also dizziness whenever I look at my phone or ipad so unsure how to deal with that (same with my laptop).

Curious if you’ve seen a case like mine or have any advice!

@helpbayareadizziness I noticed you’re on the forum again. Did you end up trying the Prism glasses? Did they help?

Yes they helped some so I wear them all the time but the dizziness is still debilitating. I tried different tints for them too and the brown and blue (a little more so) tints helped a little further but I think they made me more nauseous so I think my optometrist may try tints again in three months. I just have normal prisms with anti glare (also have anti glare on my laptop/phones but I’m still dizzier when I use phones/laptops).

This is an old thread but didn’t want to create a new one. I have a slight misalignment in my eyes and my eye doc is finding it necessary to trial me for prism lenses to correct some of the distorted vision I sometimes get.

Day 1 is today for a two-week trial and it’s already making me crazy. Don’t think I can drive with these on, they reflect and refract light so terribly I can feel my one eye taking over the other. Yikes.

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I’ve worn prisms for more than 30 years. They do obviously direct light very directly. There’s a lot you need to know about them which no doubt you’ve not been told. As you are a MAVer with a sensitive brain you do need them to have special tints in the lens possibly on both sides even. You should also ensure you always wear dark glasses in bright sunlight because the prisms will direct maximum light straight into your eyes with a ‘come thither’ accuracy. On the bright side (no pun intended) once your eyes adapt they might help your condition. PM me if you want to talk prisms.

You could also check out a thread called ‘ongoing issues by a newbie’ where newbie Chris and I had long discussions on management of prisms and you could also search ‘Vertical Heterophoria’. Of course your misalignment may be horizontal (I think that’s more common) but much of the information applies to both. Helen

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Thank you. I’m not so sure these are for me quite yet but it is afterall only day one. We shall see.

They are working and correcting the misalignment. You really need to wear them all day everyday until your brain gets used to them. Don’t swap between prism and non prism. If you only wear glasses for driving say you do need to give them 20 minutes on before wearing them each time.

Are prism glasses for when your eyes are not evenly balanced? One sits higher than the other or is tilted to one side a little? I’m trying to trace the beginning of my MAV and wonder about the eye surgery I had before all my troubles began. I was living in kenya and the doctor put WAY too many shots of anaesthetic into my eye causing the muscles to be a little slack. Now one side of vision is higher than the other and I have never been able to see perfectly after that.

I’m no doctor but I’d suspect the slack muscles caused by that anaesthesic would quite quickly have worn off. Maybe misalignment ‘just happens’ in some people as they get a bit older. Maybe surgery can cause . I think I’ve heard that with sinus surgery procedures. Btw that type of misalignment is referred as ‘Vertical Heterophoria’ and it’s certainly a firm favourite for treatment by opticians with prisms in some countries. I understand from conversations with my ‘tame’ optician VH is the rarest type of misalignment but of course that doesn’t mean it never occurs.

Most misalignments are congenital so the brain adapts to them and most people never experience further problems of any kind balance or otherwise providing the person had some 3D vision early on, or so I was assured by one top eye specialist I saw. Knowing what we all know of VM and just using common sense it’s therefore logical to assume any misalignment that occurs suddenly, caused ‘by accident’ say, could possibly cause problems. Though with all that we now known about neuroplasticity one could assume, as the new state would be a permanent and therefore stable one, the brain would most probably soon recalibrate unless of course something unstable, like VM, was present to interfere with the process.

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Makes sense. Plus I was good on meds for so long I’m sure I’ll get back there. But I’m deteriorating rapidly :frowning: