Johnny posts another update in the forum.
If you are into improving eyesight, this is definitely a must-read (there are previous updates from Johnny, here, here, and here). All the challenges, hurdles, strategies, insights, absolutely things you want to be aware of.
Here’s the latest update:
Hi guys update time
I last posted in July where I was at about -1.75 / 1.5 ish. My vision was pretty good with these but I did have double vision. Now if you have experienced double vision or read my previous posts you will know, or have an idea, that it is really really frustrating as it can take ages to clear up. Well once again this has been the case over the past 6 months. The double vision I had with the 1.5 lens was not as bad or tiring as when I prematurely removed all my astigmatism correction a year ago but it was persistent! I spent close to 4 months wearing the -1.5, religiously doing high contrast exercises every night at sunset, incessantly staring at things. Very very gradual improvements, frustratingly slow. I decided to go back to the -1.75 in October to see if this would help my brain clear the double vision – this had helped when I removed all my astigmatism correction at -2.5. Now here’s the interesting bit. While my vision was still not consistently 20/20 with the -1.75, I finally started seeing something approaching clarity in November. I remember there was a point when it just seemed better. At the same time however I was getting bloodshot right eye and a mad twitching eyelid. This has always been for me a pretty strong indicator of eye strain. This has been one of the factors pushing me to aggressively reduce. It is an uncomfortable feeling, sometimes associated with headaches etc so I have been motivated to reduce to the point where I don’t get these symptoms. Well this was very much the case with the 1.75 in November, however I forced myself to keep wearing it to get rid of the double vision. Eventually in December I thought its been long enough, time to try a weaker lens. I reduced to -1.5….still had eyelid twitching, bloodshot right eye and slightly doubled vision…..then I tried a -1.25….still some eyelid twitching but better, not as bad. I stuck with the -1.25 for 2 weeks, but still with the eyelid twitching and bloodshot eyes I tried a -1.00….wow. eyelid twitching gone, vision not as doubled. I needed to focus pull but this was a very nice feeling after presumably wearing lenses for months that were too strong. I’ve been wearing the -1.00 for 2 weeks now and I am getting very good vision, double vision nearly gone and close to 20/20 these past few days (and that’s with the usual xmas binge eating as well…). Wow – so amazed at this progress! It would seem that after 1 year and 10 months of vision improvement I can categorically say that my biology responds very quickly to stimulus….so quick in fact it takes my brain aaaaages to catch up, which is what I guess must have happened these past 6 months.
Anyway there you go. My eyesight is at -1.00. Really happy with the quality of my vision, there is not much double vision at all, and should be completely gone in the next few weeks. I also go some days with no correction when I don’t need to see precisely – my uncorrected vision is so so so much better. It’s kind of snuck up on me. It’s a bit hard to remember now how bad my vision used to be without lenses. Night vision is still poor however, but this isn’t my main concern right now – I will deal with this at a later stage.
From here I guess it is starting to get exciting. I have contacts in -0.75 strength, and I might try and get hold of some in -0.5 and -0.25 steps. No idea if these exist, or how useful they will be but it’s the only real strategy I’ve got, aside from going uncorrected. I feel that if I can get hold of -0.5 and -0.25 lenses it might make things a bit more gradual?? Will see how we go I guess.
Again for the record that’s -5.50 SPH with -1.0 CYL and a retinal tear to -1.00 in under 2 years. Beyond any of my wildest expectations.
Points to take away here:
1. Vision improvement is a highly individual experience.
The way it goes for you, is going to be unique to you. How you experience strain, clues your body gives you, are all going to be your own discoveries. The basic premises are the same for everyone, but you’ll have your own adventure with it.
I try to maintain an ongoing stash of stories for you to read, and I attempt to format them all as such. Stories. Not advice, not guides, but rather just someone’s personal experience. One person’s words may do nothing for you, whereas someone elses could be captivating, motivating, educational.
2. Keeping track of progress is really important.
The more data you have, the easier it is to correlate your experiences with milestones, troubleshoot challenges, and stay motivated. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll fail at improving your vision, if you keep track of progress.
You’re also paying it forward, by adding to the library of experiences in the forum (and by extension, on the blog and #endmyopia as a tool for others). The more experiences, individual voices, and perspectives there are for others to draw from, the more likely it is that something will resonate with them, and help them overcome their own challenges in improving their vision.
3. Listen to your body.
Johnny’s experience is quite different from my own, for example. For me it’s dry eyes, the predominant indicator of eye strain. If I stare at the screen too long, too close, my blink rate goes down to zombie levels, and my eyes will be dry for days. Dry eyes also tends to negatively affect your distance vision. Johnny, and you, and I all follow the same principles, but the way our bodies tell us where we’re off course, are quite different. Learn the theory, follow best practices, but then make the process your own by paying attention to your body.
There it is.
-5 diopters to -1 diopter. Amazing stuff, right? Free your eyes (and your wallet) from artificial focal planes! ;-)
Cheers,
-Jake
