Photophobia

[Guest guest]

The last flare up hit my vision really hard. I've had chronic

diplopia from a flare few years back…now my vision is blurry & I find

myself to be very sensitive to light. I deal with the double vision

by patching one eye when I read. The blurry vision makes this a

little tougher but I limit myself to small chunks of time…the new eye

glass Rx, complete with prisms for the diplopia should help

considerably.

The photophobia, on the other hand, is a challenge in itself as

simply saying that the resulting headaches are intense is a gross

understatement. The 9-10 hour barrage of overabundant, flickering,

fluorescent lights at the office takes its' toll. By the time I

arrive home, I'm feeling like Curly after an all day session of eye

pokes from Moe…my eyes ache and my head is pounding. I've taken to

wearing sunglasses whenever possible, drawing the blinds, and leaving

the lights off in the house unless absolutely necessary. If I need

light, I'll use an adjustable lamp to minimize the glare.

One lesson I've learned along the way is wearing sunglasses inside

the house is not one of the brighter things I've done in my

life...that says a lot as the list is fairly long. Aside from

placing one at risk for ridicule from the fashion police, attempting

to transverse a steep, already dimly light, basement staircase with

blurry vision & sunglasses should require the partaker to be a

permanently identified with the letter `L " tattooed on their

forehead. I learned this lesson firsthand after I missed the last

step on the staircase yesterday. Fortunately, I limped away

reasonably unscathed except for a small bruise on my ego.

Fortunately, even that was minimal as the cat was the only witness.

Well, at least the changes in my health have provided new

opportunities for me to amuse myself. While being able to laugh at

myself is a good thing, not to mention entertaining for the cat, I

would appreciate any suggestions, work arounds, or other words of

wisdom for dealing with the photophobia. Thanks in advance…Tony