could you please list the vrts that you did? especially the visual ones !

i just tried the one where you stand like your on a tightrope and holy cow that was tough

could you please list the vrts that you did? especially the visual ones !

i just tried the one where you stand like your on a tightrope and holy cow that was tough

1)Gaze stabilization: keeping a letter in focus and turning head side to side 1 min, then repeated up and down for 1 min 2)Same as #1, but turned the card to the right when my head went left and the other way around 3) when these got easier I did the first one with a busy pattern behind it 4)standing on on foot eyes closed, standing one foot in front of the other heel to toe eyes open or closed, standing feet together eyes closed, standing on a sofa cushion eyes open or closed 5) i also often combined a balance exercise with #3 6)when i walked the dog i would do a lot of head turning and focussing on things each time i turned my head

The vision therapy exercises I did are very specific and require the equipment the optometrist gave me. One was with lenses that you have to relax and then focus your eyes, other wore to get both eyes to work together because i was suppressing my left eye.

Hey Joni

I am confused on this. is this the same as a business card and you focus on one letter or should I make just one letter on an index card? Also the busy background. I don't get that. Please explain. Sorry Thanks

and one last question. Did you have vision problems before this? or did they come with it. My ENT told me not to go to the eye doctor until 6 months into it because she felt it would completely resolve by then (???) grrr Anyway just wondering because my eyes are definately affected and sometimes when I am doing the vrts I can tell I am not doing them right because I can't get my eyes to do what they are suppose to do!

Hey Joni

I am confused on this. is this the same as a business card and you focus on one letter or should I make just one letter on an index card? Also the busy background. I don't get that. Please explain. Sorry Thanks

This is the same as the business card, but if all those words are too much, its better to start with one letter on a blank (no lines) index card. I also had to play with the size of the letter, I needed a pretty big letter to start with, and the distance. I had to start standing about 6' away and taped the letter on the wall.

The busy background, like a checkboard or a colorful and busy painting, you would put behind the letter. I taped a couple different ones on my wall and have also used my husband's abstract paintings. This is a good one to desensitize when you look at patterns and further tests the eyes to stay focussed. Add it only when the plain one gets easy.

and one last question. Did you have vision problems before this? or did they come with it. My ENT told me not to go to the eye doctor until 6 months into it because she felt it would completely resolve by then (???) grrr Anyway just wondering because my eyes are definately affected and sometimes when I am doing the vrts I can tell I am not doing them right because I can't get my eyes to do what they are suppose to do!

I had problems with my vision (not eyesight) when I was little. I was crosseyed, had surgery to correct it, and then in 2nd grade went for vision therapy for seeing double and some other funky eye things. I knew that I never developed depth perception (not a great parallel parker!), but otherwise it didn't affect me after elementary school. When I got hit with the dizziness I had a lot of problems with "eye switching". You know how one eye is typically dominant? Well mine would just switch, right eye, left eye, and on and on, constantly. I also couldnt' look at something for more than a second at a time. After being sick for 15 months I still could only focus for about 3 seconds at a time. It was riduculous. Some of this I think was that my vision wasn't strong to begin with, my eyes had never worked together well and no way could they successfully compensate or retrain the vestibular system. Another part of it was purely from the VN I think.

The biggest thing with the business card exercises is doing it properly. I didn't do it right, because I wasn't able to, for 2 bouts, before my last bout of it, and it was a waste of time and so frustrating. A PT who used to post on here gave me advice about putting the letter across the room and progressing from there. I also figured out what my eyes were supposed to do, and tried to help it along. So when I turned my head to the left I would try to help my eyes go to the right, etc.

Another PT who specializes in this stuff who I corresponded with via email only told me she has referred out often for vision therapy. And then people come back for vestib rehab when their eyes are better prepared. This helped confirm my gut that this is what I needed, although I did combine the two.

Sorry this was so longwinded but I hope it answers your questions!
Joni

No that was awesome!!! Thanks. I think I am going to make an eye appointment because after being 20/20 my whole like I know that my eyes are not doing what they are suppose to do and that they are not up to par. It I even try to move my eyes from side to side it is painful and I am the same way I often have to just shut my eyes throughout the day to give them a rest focusing on things is very difficult. It can't hurt. Thanks again!

You may want to see an optometrist that does vision therapy or is called a behavioral or developmental optometrist. They look much more at eye function compared to other optometrists that look more at eyesight. Good luck!