Read only if you have vision problems

Symptoms Physical
#1

I have something called Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (aka Irlen’s Syndrome). For any of you who are experiencing the same symptoms I have (ie difficulty with stark contrasts such as reading dark letters on white paper, nighttime vision, lights looking smeared, but perfect 20/20 vision), you probably have this, too. It’s commonly found in autistic kids and is a form of dyslexia. You can read about it at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotopic_s … y_syndrome. These are the very symptoms I have.

There is a treatment to help us read. There is a test called a colorimeter, and we find out what color would be best to put in our glasses to reduce the havoc that the sharp contrasting colors make in our reading and everyday life. Not every optician has the test, and it can be quite expensive, but the results are supposed to be amazing. I’m getting the test done next week and will hopefully get back to med school in the fall.

#2

Thanks for posting that. I’m going to get to an opthamologist soon. I think I’ve noticed what might be a problem I’m having with reading. As the spots/floaters get worse over time, they’re simply interrupting my field of vision. I’ve noticed that the center of my vision is clear but JUST to the right is obscured, so I need to move my eyes and read one word at a time, I can’t take in the next word as I’m reading, there’s no flow. I can tell it’s a problem because when I compare the word to the left to the word to the right of my focal point, the left one is much clearer and legible.

There’s also the vibration with high contrast. I’m curious to try a colorimeter.

#3

Brainfogged. How are your eyes now?

I took the drug for a month and am experiencing vision problems similar to you i think but to a lesser degree. Are you better now?

The article in wiki said that Irlen’s Syndrome is more likely to be a term given to an unknown underlying problem which more importantly a problem that can be fixed.

Some days my vision is worse than others and the focusing is fine after a while but light messes it up. One thing i’ve noticed is the colour in one eye is slightly darker than the other.

Did you try Xanax?

I think it can be cured but its a switch in the brain that needs to be found.

#4

I’m back in medical school, but my eyes still give me fits. I use a colored overlay when I read which helps a lot. I tried lorazepam (an anti-anxiety with the same mechanism as xanax), and it decreases my anxiety, but is no help to my vision.

My problem is that I started noticing the visual abnormalities after I was on propecia for about six months. My eye doctors kept telling me that my vision was great and that it was just hard to get the right prescription to fix my hyperopia. Therefore, my vision has gotten worse for three and a half years without me knowing propecia was my problem… until I saw plenty of others with the same problem at askapatient.com.

Anyway, you should do the obvious:

  1. Stop the medication.
  2. Send Merck a short letter explaining your visual abnormalities. I did the same, and they sent me a reply stating that they’re investigating the matter. It sounds like they’ve received this letter before. I also sent them all my medical charts from the one million ophthalmologists I’ve seen as well as my neurologists who diagnosed me with pseudotumor cerebri from the spinal tap results.

I would gladly trade this problem for impotence if anyone is interested in bartering.

1 Like
#5

Brainfogged, did you see this study? Maybe consider passing that to Merck in your dealings with them as well.

propeciahelp.com/forum/viewt … 39fe90daaf

#6

I think my eye problem is getting worse. I have noticed i am getting lots of floaters in both eyes. A couple of days ago these weren’t so apparent. What should i do? I saw an opthamologist who said my eyes were ok and that floaters were normal in some short sighted people. However, it seems to be getting worse. What should i do? Is the problem in the eye or further upstream?

#7

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#8

Okay still eye issues.

Found this site:
med.nyu.edu/research/witkop01.html

[b]Our overall conclusion is that dopamine is a chemical messenger for light adaptation and it acts through multiple cellular mechanisms.

[/b]
Maybe dopamine is relevant to my case as it explains the lack of pleasure etc… But then shouldn’t xyrem help with that.