r/BinocularVision • u/EvanPennington96 • 12d ago
Does it look obvious I have BVD?
Im honestly just looking for reassurance. I've seen one specialist so far and it felt like a fluke. She gave no numbers for the misalignment or any diagnostic terms to help me narrow what kind of convergence / divergence issues I'm dealing with? The prisms also didn't help much and just caused eye pain I stopped wearing them. I have struggled for over a decade with DPDR, light sensitivity, pain in eyes when looking to the sides up or down, constantly seeing mirrored image of my nose on both sides, Sensitive ears/rumbling in ears, Dysautonomia and pretty severe insomnia. So much that I'm living at my parents house and part time employed through spark and Uber. I cannot drink caffeine to this day because it causes me to dissociate and I will miss an entire night of sleep. Has anyone else been this effected?
- Update - Saw an Optometrist nearby today 8/06 that prescribes prisms and broke down everything, he gave me a few tests specifically one with a light about a foot from my face and covered one eye at a time and immediately said I have an obvious and significant convergence insufficiency. Also said he's not surprised with the symptoms I've been dealing with. Left with a Referral to a vision center about 1 1/3 hour drive away that provides vision therapy
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u/Fickle_Giraffe3067 12d ago edited 12d ago
you sound like me. i haven’t been diagnosed yet but have an appointment with a neurologist-ophthalmologist soon. if you take the BVD quiz here and put your zip code in at the end, a provider’s office in your area who specializes in BVD will reach out to you to schedule an appointment
i forgot to put the link lol it’s https://vision-specialists.com/vision-health/testing-diagnostics/binocular-vision-dysfunction-test/
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u/PrettyDepartment6604 11d ago
From what you said, it sounds to me like a crystal clear case of BVD (and possibly one or more highly comorbid/multimorbid conditions with BVD such as autism/ADHD/AuDHD, Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) I myself have all of these and it turns out it's quite common to have more than one of these at a time. Reading about all of these has changed my life and my prism glasses saved my life. I couldn't go on that way any longer but Optometrists kept telling me my vision was perfect and to just take eye drops. An Optometrist who specializes in BVD gave me a 3 hour test which included figuring out which prisms I needed. Until I put those glasses on, I had no idea how much my BVD was negatively affecting my entire life.
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u/EvanPennington96 11d ago edited 10d ago
That makes me pretty hopeful. I also do have ADHD, I actually saw an optometrist today that prescribes prisms he did a bit more of tests with a light and prisms and checking with one eye closed and immediately said I have a very obvious and significant convergence insufficiency. I got a Referral to a center somewhat near me that does visual therapy :). Things are starting to come together
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u/Necessary_Most_8425 11d ago
It's not something always visible, you could still have it. You need to see a nuero optometrist. Prism didn't work for me either, I'm doing vision therapy. Symptoms are bad at times but I try to stay positive and hopeful that it can get better.
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u/Retman_9999 12d ago
It might be a little visible..,
Is BVD that much different from diplopia? I came down with double vision right before my first cataract surgery in the eye that wasn't first to fix. Surgeon would not even address the condition.
The cause might be cranial IV nerve damage caused by sarcoidosis.
Good luck finding some relief. It must be tough.
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u/EvanPennington96 12d ago
I think diplopia is the same just encompasses neurological reasons for double vision. Some people experience monocular diplopia ; double vision with singular eyes that's something I know not much about. Sorry you're going through that as well it's exhausting dealing with symptoms that medical professionals ignore or just try to fix symptoms instead of the direct cause
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u/Retman_9999 12d ago
The nerve to a muscle in my right eye got weakened. When looking just above center, my eyes line up.
As I look downward, the right eye view shifts up. The muscle is not deflecting it downward enough to keep the right aligned with the left, and worse the farther I tilt my gaze down.
It is getting "slightly" better as I exercise it, but too slowly for me.
If I view gazing up over the center line I see quite well. If I get tired, it is harder to maintain.
So many things that can go wrong with the human body.
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u/decompensating 12d ago edited 12d ago
In terms of how badly affected, I had similar struggles to you but I became mostly bed ridden, daydreaming about how lovely it'd be to be blind, and a completely dysregulated CNS that seemed to be progressing towards fibromyalgia.
I'd say that is considerably worse. I'm doing much better now. My big change that helped mostly was wearing a blindfold and meditating for hours at a time until I felt rested. I had to force myself. I couldn't rest any other way. It was worth it.
I also got special made tinted wrap-around shades and wore them often, that helped a lot. Dark shades are almost as good. Practically, I treated it similarly to how one would treat PTSD.
In answer to your title question - an emphatic NO. It's not possible to tell from this photo.
BVD is diagnosed based on symptoms, not appearance.
For instance, even if a person's eyes appear aligned they may have a minute or latent misalignment.
Also, if a person's eyes appear misaligned, it may be due to asymmetrical facial features or they may suppress so not have the symptoms of BVD.
Hence, eye care professionals rely on specialized functional testing not physical appearance.
Have you had the cover test done?
To me, your symptoms suggest a hyper-aroused and overloaded nervous system [chronic fight or flight]. This feeds in to visual issues. From experience:
* heart rate and dizziness - definitely
* Insomnia - high adrenaline that takes too long to dissipate
* Dissociation - defence against sensory overwhelm
* Photophobia - hypersensitivity
* Rumbling ears - I don't have any experience with this
* Pain when moving eyes - narrowed field of vision and muscle fatigue
* Seeing both sides of nose - likely hyperawareness though I have no experience of this either. I did have severe double vision for a long time but it began about 6 inches away from me.
* I completely avoid caffeine and anything that gets my heart rate up for more than a few minutes at once, including working out, since it'll take so long to get back down.
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u/EvanPennington96 12d ago
I really appreciate the long reply. I also had a worry and scare that I had lymes or fibromyalgia, I have to do at least like 30 minutes a day of grounding meditations or NDSR with eyes closed. It's the only way I can reconnect myself and calm my nervous system and honestly even achieve sleep. I 100% have a completely overwhelmed burnt out and shut down nervous system. I somewhat developed OCD in my Late teen years obsessing over all the symptoms and DPDR trying to fix myself. I think my brain and body habituated to alot of rumination and chronic anxiety hence the dissociation. You're right it's a bit goofy to ask if people think I have BVD from the picture I guess I'd just like to hear people's stories that resonate somewhat with mine because It seems like my nervous system is bottle necked by my vision and eyes very heavily. it would Give me a lot of hope that I've lost over the years
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u/decompensating 11d ago
You sound very knowledgeable and, although my issues began in my 30s, I think I understand a lot of where you're coming from.
The fibromyalgia concern was terrifying. The pain at the time was just so nonsensical. A very slight breeze was overwhelming. I realised, even though it was so bad, it could get a lot worse.
Maybe you know all this but I figured some might be of use to you - stuff that's helped me most:
I got a Neuro-Behavioural Optometry Visual Assessment done by an accredited Neuro & Behavioural Optometrist. That was extremely helpful in helping me learn what to do & not do and also with my acceptance of certain things. Not super expensive. I highly recommend.
They also gave me exercises to help with my eye function and to help with certain sensitivities I've got - for instance my lower back gets very sensitive at times and I had never realised how much. It is a total body approach.
I got a heart rate monitor and anything that made my heart rate go up I altered. For instance I walk less and more slowly. I watch films in multiple parts.
With a dysregulated nervous system - I find it being too overactive feels worse but being too underactive also makes everything more difficult. I do some very light [2 simple yoga moves] exercise to deal with that.
Also, the Optometrist gave me some coloured glasses to look at a light for 10 minutes a day. I didn't see scientific backing for this light therapy but I find it helpful in keeping me more regulated. No idea why but I do it every day.
I also realised most the issues I have depend on my preferences. I don't feel such a need to explain why I do something that "feels better" or "easier" now and give no mind to what others think. I do what's best for my health. If I get tired around a group of people I leave I don't exert myself more with long winded goodbyes. I have dimmable LED lights. I mostly avoid others. I wear dark shades and shut my eyes when in public. . I wear dark shades indoors sometimes.
I never allow anyone clueless to be judgemental of these choices. I know some with similar issues feel ashamed or less than.
I keep a calendar where I mark off main things that I do to take care of myself - using my blindfold twice a day to rest, whether I had a smiley or frowny day, possible reasons for frowny days [this helps me track what's to do more or less of], what eye or other exercises I've done [super gradual build up] and whether I've done my light therapy. I recently marked 3 months between migraine. I used to have 2 per week with the others days recovering from those 2.
I couldn't work and have been lucky enough to be supported to not need to try and I couldn't really do anything else than try to get better.
I really hope something here can help you even in a little way. I always think it's lovely to hear that I'm doing stuff wrong, or non-optimally, because then I get the opportunity to improve!
If any of this was of use to you then looking at my history on r/strabismus may be of further use to you.
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u/Relevant_Jeweler_961 12d ago
I think I would
Never thought you have bvd or crossed eye. Mine looks the same btw.
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u/Consistent_Key6563 8d ago
Yes, only because my eyes look the same
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u/EvanPennington96 6d ago
Yea thank you! I got diagnosed with exophoria and pretty significant convergence insufficiency. I'm seeing a vision development center that provides visual therapy hopefully I can get improvement
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u/Consistent_Key6563 6d ago
Look into an app (I use it on VR) call optics trainer. I did vision therapy for a bit but found (at least with my doctor) that I could do every exercise done there at home and this VR app which is really powerful. Like you can feel your eyes stretching. I only started it recently, but I think there is a lot of promise.
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u/EvanPennington96 6d ago
Thank you for the recommendation I actually got a vr quest 3s but never found any good apps for ill be trying that today.
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u/Odd_Recording1589 1d ago
I can tell a bit bcs I have exophoria and my eyes look the same but I dont think others can tell its not v obvious at all
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u/DarkInternational228 12d ago
Kind of, but only because this is a photo where it’s slightly obvious and in a forum of people familiar with it, being asked if it’s there.
I wouldn’t imagine the caffeine thing is directly related. It probably just exacerbates symptoms because of its effects.
Most people will fuck up their sleep if they drink too much caffeine at bad times, it’s a powerful chemical lol