You Are Not My Opthamologist
November 9, 2008 4:44 PM   Subscribe

What is wrong with my eyes? Several times a day I find it very hard to focus my eyes. My vision lapses out of focus and it's as though my eyes are momentarily paralyzed.

This has been going on since I was a child. I'll be sitting there and suddenly my eyes lose focus and I stare off at some vague point in the distance. It takes all my willpower to force my eyes to actually look at something. It usually lasts ten or so seconds, during which I can blink & otherwise function normally while depending on blurry peripheral vision. Mostly, it's annoying and I get kind of embarrassed when this happens in the middle of a conversation. But occasionally it can be pretty dangerous, like when driving.

I'm a 22-yr-old healthy female. I have been seeing good eye doctors since I was a baby, since my sister had retinoblastoma as a baby (but they never found anything wrong with me). However, in more recent years I've been going to a cheap optometrist just to get prescriptions for contacts. I've needed contacts to correct nearsightedness and astigmatism since the age of 12, but like I said earlier, I remember experiencing this as a young child.

My question is, does anyone else have this problem? Is it something I should be worried about enough to see a doctor? I'm mostly curious to see if this is at all common; googling for "vision" and "focus" gets me nowhere.
posted by jschu to Health & Fitness (26 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Something similar happens to me, and I've always just chalked it up to being my astigmatism (since it only happens in that particular eye).
posted by sunshinesky at 4:54 PM on November 9, 2008


This happens to me as well, though I've never found it dangerous, just annoying. It happens more when I'm sleepy. I also have astigmatism.
posted by infinityjinx at 5:10 PM on November 9, 2008


Thirding the "it happens to me and I have astigmatism." Interested in how this thread turns out, hopefully someone will have a more informative answer than I do.
posted by Space Kitty at 5:11 PM on November 9, 2008


I clicked on this question because I have been noticing an odd blurriness in my right eye lately.... it just refuses to focus. I thought my contacts were the problem, but I doubt it... my new lenses don't seem to help, and it also happens with my glasses. It's only peripherally (pardon the pun) related to the question at hand, but now I need to check to see if I have astigmatism.
posted by newfers at 5:13 PM on November 9, 2008


Ditto, including the astigmatism.
posted by batmonkey at 5:16 PM on November 9, 2008


Response by poster: I'm so relieved I'm not alone...

However, my astigmatism only got bad enough to need special contacts in the past 2 or so years, whereas the blurriness thing has been around a lot longer.
posted by jschu at 5:23 PM on November 9, 2008


This happens to me a lot while driving, but I always chalked it up to road hypnotism. I never thought it had a physical cause, just that I was zoning out.
posted by Addlepated at 5:30 PM on November 9, 2008


I get like that when my blood sugar is especially low and I'm already sleepy.
posted by trinity8-director at 5:42 PM on November 9, 2008


Another for the astigmatism camp. I've always called this "the staries."
posted by thebrokedown at 6:00 PM on November 9, 2008


If you do decide to go see someone about it, I'd suggest going to see a neuroophthalmologist.
posted by phunniemee at 6:09 PM on November 9, 2008


If I read when I first wake in the morning, I find it difficult to focus my eyes all day. I have no known vision disorders beyond a physical eye problem I've mentioned previously. I find it important to alternate viewing distances periodically: once an hour or so I will walk outside and focus on the hills in the distance. If this isn't an option, just looking out your window should work.
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:15 PM on November 9, 2008


Please get an eye exam soon. This could be a sign of something that requires treatment. I didn't even notice symptoms but was recently diagnosed with a corneal disease at an early stage. Early stage is good! Find a good eye doctor and go.
posted by sevenstars at 6:38 PM on November 9, 2008


Wow, yet another for the astigmatism here! And we call it "the staries" in my family too (either that, or "going boggly"). FTR my astigmatism wasn't bad enough to need correction for a very long time, and I had this anyway.
posted by biscotti at 7:05 PM on November 9, 2008


I have astigmatism, and experience something that might be this - for anyone else who's commented: is it like your one eye is taking over the other? (That might also be my lazy eye flaring up a bit ...)
posted by spaceman_spiff at 7:22 PM on November 9, 2008


N'thing the astigmatism, though get your eyes checked. I think there may be one type of cataract that behaves this way early on.
posted by dws at 7:57 PM on November 9, 2008


Huh - I have astigmatisms in both eyes - and this has always been a problem for me. I think it's a eye fatigue issue - it only happens when I'm tired.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 8:18 PM on November 9, 2008


...an eye fatigue issue...
posted by The Light Fantastic at 8:18 PM on November 9, 2008


Same here, astigmatisms in both eyes and it happens most when I'm tired. (But still not too often.)
posted by Brian Puccio at 8:32 PM on November 9, 2008


I just asked an ophthalmologist about this for myself, actually. My eye exam revealed no problems whatsoever, leaving eye fatigue as the last remaining culprit.

This kind of involuntary de-focusing happens most often to me during work days, when I'm staring at screens for 10 or so hours a day, and getting little sleep on top of that.

Make an effort to take a break if this happens at work. (And try and get more sleep, but that's much easier said than done.)
posted by greenland at 9:08 PM on November 9, 2008


Sorry to ruin the trend, but this happens to me (mostly when tired, like in class - I can't focus on the page to take notes) and I don't have astigmatism. I am terribly short-sighted though.
posted by jacalata at 10:25 PM on November 9, 2008


I get this when my blood sugar crashes, and I don't know what astigmatism is.
posted by granted at 1:49 AM on November 10, 2008


granted, I hope you've been checked out for diabetes.
posted by hobbes at 2:47 AM on November 10, 2008


I've had this ever since I can remember. It's almost like a hypnotic trance, but you're completely aware of your surroundings. It has nothing to do with mental or physical fatigue, eye strain, or anything else. It's as if your eyes are intent on focusing on some invisible point in the air and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. You just have to wait 10 seconds or so for your eyes to finish what they're doing and start following the orders your brain is sending again.

As a child I had perfect vision and had this problem. In my twenties, I developed nearsightedness and an astigmatism and still had it. Three years ago I had laser surgery and now I have better than perfect vision and I still have this problem.

Go figure.
posted by ValkoSipuliSuola at 3:38 AM on November 10, 2008


I'm also very astigmatic and this happens to me too - either first thing in the morning or when I'm tired. My eye doctor said it's normal and gets worse as one gets older (I'm 47 and it'd definitely worse than it was a few years ago). I think if it's a change one should get checked out but if it's been your norm all along it may just be the way you're wired.
posted by leslies at 4:46 AM on November 10, 2008


A few hours looking at a screen or a book or a movie screen and my eyes start going wacko, I don't know why nor care, it's a good sign for me to get up, get out of bed, drag a comb across my head....

I've got a buddy who's an optometrist, he gaped into my eyes, saw whatever it is that those folks see when they're gazing into the depths, asked me "Can you still focus at least some of the time? Yeah, I know it gets wacky but can you still focus some of the time?" and I can, and he told me to hold off, get by using reading glasses as long as I can, because once he slaps a pair of glasses onto me they are never coming off -- seems that our eyes lose the ability to focus if they don't need to. Or so he told me.

I'm sortof hoping to hold off until the laser eye surgery gets good enough to correct my vision both near and far, reading and driving -- we'll see if I make it or not...
posted by dancestoblue at 7:30 AM on November 10, 2008


I'd go to a good ophthalmologist. But I'd bet it's fatigue as well. There was a period where I'd felt like I was going down an elevator shaft for a second or two. Went to a number of specialists for a full workup and after all was well it was felt that my eye muscles were relaxing when that happened. Not that that's what's happening to you. Just good to check it out with a good doc.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 8:36 AM on November 10, 2008


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