Diplopia

I’ve mentioned double vision (diplopia) a couple of times in my blogs, but I’ve never really discussed its intricacies. I thought we’d spend a little time on double vision today.

Diplopia, or double vision, is a common symptom of Myasthenia Gravis. In facts, it’s frequently one of the first symptoms experienced. MG can cause weakness of the eye muscles, leading to misalignment and the perception of two images instead of one.

In my case, I notice it most while reading. Letters written on a page, on a sign, or on tv, appear to have a twin, directly below the actual letter and slightly lighter in color. It kind of looks like a shadow of the original letter. Blinking my eyes doesn’t relieve it or make it disappear, but I notice it gets worse when my eyes get tired.

I’ve learned to live with it, and it doesn’t bother me so much anymore. It makes reading small print difficult, but as long as the print is large enough, I don’t usually have a lot of problems. My eyes seem to get tired quickly while reading now, more so than they used to. I’m not sure if that’s due to the double vision or something else. I just know several chapters in a row can be difficult.

I’ve heard there is a surgery that can be performed to correct this, but that doesn’t sound attractive to me. For now, diplopia is just a nuisance and something I’d rather live with than go under the knife (or laser).

I’m told there are some things you can try if you’re bothered with diplopia which include:

• Wearing an eyepatch so your eyes don’t fight each other with misalignment
• Putting a piece of masking tape on one lens of your glasses or sunglasses so only one eye is doing the work
• Prescription glasses with a prism embedded that corrects the image misalignment between your eyes

For me, I’ve just learned to take a break when my eyes become tired, especially when reading. Another option is to listen to audiobooks or podcasts.

I recently heard one piece of advice that I thought was quite profound. It isn’t just focused on the eyes, but everything involving MG. Tom (last name unknown), another MG patient said, ” Try to talk to yourself like you would a friend. Often, we’re the most critical about ourselves.”

That’s so true. We beat ourselves up over things we’re unable to do and most of the time, they’re things that are insignificant and really don’t matter. If you’re having trouble with your eyes, don’t get frustrated. Just find something else to do temporarily to give your eyes some rest.