Sorry to post again about the same thing but i’ve worked something out! You helped me before on the same subject when i posted about seeing the tops of letters again above words.
Well… I just went onto paypal (not that that’s important) but i went to type my password in!
When typing it in, i could see the tops of the black dots repeated again above the password!
I shut one eye and it was still them same then i shut the other and it was still the same!
I remember you saying it means or doesn’t mean something when this happens!
You could work out what was muscles or ms stuff etc or because of astigmatisim.
I found out in September i have astigmatism in both eyes, but one is worse than the other and need glasses for one eye with distance.
Diagnosed with Transverse Myelitus 17 months ago, didn’t pass veps at the time but didn’t have vision issues that i was aware of.
If the dots are still doubled when you look with one eye only and then the other eye only then that implies something more the do with the back of the eye or your glasses prescription rather than double vision due to a problem with how your eyes move.
MS can cause problems with how the eyes move (as MS can affect the nerves which tell the eye muscles what to do) but it can also affect the back of the eye as the big nerve (optic nerve) that passes information from the eye to the brain and back can also be affected by MS. Of course there are many non-MS related things that could also be causing your symptoms.
I think either way a trip to the opticians is probably a good starting place if you’re still getting these symptoms. It maybe something completely simple and fixable with your glasses but if not then at least you can get referred to an ophthalmologist.
Hi Teresa,
First thing to do is to establish if the “double” effect is close up AND at distance.
Square road signs are great for this, because you can concentrate on one edge at a time and see where the second image appears. You need to be just about at the distance where you can just read the sign.
If you get a second image at distance, then just like Reemz has said, get in to your optician for a test. (Hint: the test is free if you or any member of your family - parents or siblings - has glaucoma).
Closing an eye is not the best test, becausethe act of closing means that the muscles are working differently from one eye to the other. The best trick is something like a baseball cap, with a strip of bubble-wrap hanging down in front of one eye. This make a lot of the eye muscles relax, because the same amount of light is going into each eye - but only one eye at a time can focus.
You need to do each eye for several minutes at a time to get a true picture.
If you are still getting double vision (a second image) with each eye on its own, then you need to see an opthalmologist. Fast.
Your optician (an optometrist) will write to your doctor (often giving you the letter to take - this can speed things up) for a referral to an opthalmologist. It can speed things up even more if you can go privately (cost about £150-200) when you will get a really thorough eye examination.
Do the quick tests, see what you do actually see, and if you want more, just PM me.
Sorry Teresa to highjack your post - I just want to avoid you being confused between mine and Geoff’s post.
The act of closing one eye is to differentiate if it’s a binocular problem (i.e problem with both eyes open but disappears when looking with looking with eye either by itself) which would suggest something to do with the eye position either because of a nerve or muscle not functioning correctly or sometimes can just even be age related. If the double is still there when looking monocularly (one eye at a time) then this suggests it’s something other than the eye movement muscles/nerves.
It’s a simple tests used by many ophthalmologists when they question patients to help differentiate between monocular (one eye) or bincoular double vision (both eyes).
Wearing a cap with a strip of bubblewrap will simplely dissociate the eyes (stop them working as a pair because you have something in the middle - the bubblewrap - making it harder for your eyes to keep the image single). Unfortunately if I did this same experiment on myself I would give myself double vision (and i don’t have a neuro eye problem only myopia). It won’t help the optometrist decide whether the problems due to your eye movements or the back of the eye/ glasses.
Overall just from you said it sounded like the doubling was still there looking one eye at a time - so my advice would be see and optom soon (i.,e today/tomorrow). If you can’t get seen and don’t have finanaces for a private ophthalmology review try eye casualty - you may have a wait but at least you will have peice of mind.
Hope that clears up anything you weren’t sure about.
Thank you so much for your help & information. I want to try & hold out until I’ve been on holiday in 4 weeks time. I will go but I want to try & wait until I’m back, I don’t want things starting up beforehand. Does any of what I’ve said make any difference that it only seems to happen when I’m looking at things I’m reading that are in dark print against a White surface. Eg black ink on White paper or black against a bright pc screen?
It seems like you are able to ignore it when you have a busy background but when you have contrast as you say you notice the issue.
Unfortunately burying your head in the sand won’t make it better or go away. Personally, sight is important so I would go and see someone even if its just the optician. The last thing you want to do is delay four weeks and find actually things have got worse. Even if it’s just an opticians visit which is quiet basic - from there the optician can help you decide if it’s something urgent and you should go and see an opthalmologist asap, or whether waiting 4 weeks is fine. You will be in a better position at least to make that decision. If you need to be referred to someone and it’s non-urgent it might take a bit of time anyhow.
Whatever advice we give, it is just from the small amount of knowledge we have (can’t speak for Dr Geoff) but I’m not an ophthalmologist/ optician so (though i do work for the NHS) we can’t diagnose or be sure. The best way of finding out what this definitely is, is to see someone.
Reemz and I might disagree a bit on some of the detail, but the basic advice is the same - get into an optometrist (High Street Optician to you) and at least get your eyes examined.
There are a couple of things that could cause you to have double vision with either eye - and they are things that need an expert to look at.
The way the eye is organised, the “feature detectors” in the retina work better when there is lots of contrast (and a busy background will not help with contrast).
Please do not wait for weeks at least start by getting your eyes seen to now.