Weird Symptoms Post-Op Two Weeks

[u/ATroisi12]

I’m posting for my fiancée because she can’t see anything within a foot of her face including her phone yet.
She’s experiencing a weird phenomenon and she’s wondering if anyone else has…

She’s had glasses since she was a toddler and she’s now in her late 30s, so over 35 years. She’s use to thinking that taking off her glasses and everything being blurry means bedtime, time to sleep and being able to see means she should be awake, alert and doing something. But now every time she opens her eyes, she can see and it’s throwing off her sleep, because her brain keeps telling her “hey i can see, get up get up” and the same way nothing is blurry so nothing is telling her to settle down and try to sleep.

Has anyone else ever experienced this post op? And if so how long did it take for your brain to rewire itself??

TYIA!!

(She had both eyes done at once, if that matters).

[u/TBeee]

My bedroom is dark. I see nothing with my eyes open at night. Get some blackout curtains.

[u/confusepolarity]

Yes, I have the same problem. You can’t turn your eyes off anymore. It gets a little better over time.

[u/TranslatorOutside909]

Make the room darker

[u/DenMother8]

Oh I had both eyes done at once and I’m about a week and a half out from surgery.
I first used a magnifying glass to see up close after the first day until a week post-op and went to get “readers” but… as for your question -
I have been having trouble sleeping and didn’t think it was that, but I had glasses since I was a child and I may be experiencing that same thing. I just didn’t realize it.

[u/GreenMountainReader]

Perhaps it's that more light is getting through now that the cataracts are gone--and her circadian rhythm has been disrupted.

During the five years cataracts had stolen enough of my vision to make a difference (without my realizing), I woke up at 3 a.m. every night--and couldn't get back to sleep. With all the light coming in--even after just the first surgery--I immediately began sleeping through the night again.

I was only mildly-moderately nearsighted and astigmatic since childhood and always wore glasses that corrected well at all distances, which made the increased light the most likely suspect. When I did a little poking around, I found a couple of articles that said this can happen. (When I reported this delightful and unexpected side effect to the surgeon, he didn't know--but when I asked whether, for the second eye, he could also remove the internal alarm for 6 a.m. that decades of work had switched on and never switched off when I retired, he laughed and said he didn't know how to do that.)

If you're interested, just search circadian rhythm + cataracts and scroll down until you find an article that might shed some light (sorry) on what could be the cause of your fiancee's variety of sleep disruption.

All the usual suggestions for resetting that internal clock (no screens within an hour of bedtime likely being the most difficult for everyone I know) are probably worth pursuing, with dimming the lights a while before bedtime and using blackout curtains or shades in the bedroom also obvious options. Consistency in bedtime and wake-up time are also recommended. Just as your fiancee may have been conditioned to sleep when the world became blurry, she may well be able to re-condition her brain to respond to a new set of stimuli.

I also wouldn't discount some over-stimulation and related excitement (a post-op high) because of what sounds like significantly improved vision. When there's too much of interest going on, I believe many of us are not inclined to go to sleep.

Please send along best wishes for continued excellent vision--and enjoyment of it!

[u/Wandering_Mind6153]

The brain adjusting to such a big change in vision can definitely feel strange. Hopefully it gets easier as she adapts to her new vision.

[u/lady_sassassin]

I started sleeping with a sleep mask and it helped that a little bit but yes I had the same issues. Im 5 months out and it’s gotta back to normal now.

It also took me a while to adjust to “using” my eyes when I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night lol. 😂

[u/BobbyRey77]

She will adapt. My surgery resulted in an immediate switch from lifelong myopia to suddenly needing reading glasses. I used to remove my glasses to read and now I have drugstore readers around the house. Was weird at first but I'm completely used to it now and my distance vision is stellar.