Does anybody get this with their astigmatism?

[RaverNeko]

It seems like my health anxiety likes to fluctuate on random parts of my body. One day I freak out about a mole, another about my head, and now about my eyes. I was diagnosed with astigmatism a LONG time ago and have had it pretty much all the time growing up. I wear glasses to correct it and it seems to help quite a bit.

Lately I've been noticing a "double vision" effect in my left eye. It's only in my left eye though, which according to Dr. Google is actually because of the astigmatism and is called "Monocular Diplopia", but it doesn't stop my mind in thinking that something else is horribly wrong. It kinda looks like this but not as extreme (http://www.eyehealthcare.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/double-vision-in-one-eye.jpg) except it only happens at night and it's only noticeable on computer screens and TVs from a distance. Getting closer to the screens makes it go away. Glasses don't help with this.

I also notice a... "smudging" of lights at nighttime. It's very difficult to explain, it looks like this (http://www.cxlusa.com/images/astig-2.jpg) in a way, except the lights seem to have... Like, streaks coming out of them. It's almost like there's a translucent "flower pedal" around some parts of the light. I mentioned this to someone today, and they said they get the same thing with their astigmatism but it's not that bad for them. Glasses doesn't do anything for this either.

I made an appointment with the eye doctor, but it's in two weeks and I'm so nervous. Can anybody out there please help calm my thoughts?

[Biscuitmuncher]

Hi

Are you taking any medication? I have a lot of eye symptoms that sound exactly like yours, I have fibromyalgia and am on Gabapentin and Mirtazapine and find the eye symptoms are worse sometimes at night since I have been on these drugs. I have had my eyes checked countless times and all is normal, I think the problem is my brain not my eyes :)

Hope your test goes ok

[70sgirl]

I've got astigmatism in both eyes and they are always more blurry or slightly double visioned by the evening - don't worry!

[MrAndy]

I've got astigmatism in both eyes and they are always more blurry or slightly double visioned by the evening - don't worry!

same here had it all my life and never bothered me,stopping googling and scaring yourself !

[Serenity1990]

I've been there with this one.

Double vision can be a very worrying thing to google, as it'll throw up all sorts of neurological issues. However when it's monocular you can breathe a sigh of relief as this can't be caused by anything to do with the brain or nerves. So we're 100% definitely talking about an eye issue. The most common causes are astigmatism (which you know you have) and dry eye (which is a common anxiety symptom).

The following was written by a lecturer in ophthalmology:


A common complaint you’re going to be faced with is “double vision.” Patients frequently complain of doubling — and sometimes they actually mean it! Often, however, they just mean that their vision looks blurry. Technically, the phrase diplopia describes the symptom of seeing two different images of the same object, and that’s what we are going to discuss!

When faced with a diplopic patient, there is an important question you must immediately answer: before breaking out your arsenel of neuroophthalmic flags, prisms, and muscle lights, you must distinguish whether the diplopia is monocular or binocular. If the double-vision remains when you cover an eye then you have a monocular diplopia. You should breath a sigh of relief at this point – because monocular double vision isn’t a neurologic problem at all and your exam just got easier!

Monocular doubling is often caused by a refractive problem in the front part of the eye. There aren’t any mechanisms of monocular doubling that occur at the retina or further back in the neuro pathway. The most common cause of monocular diplopia is astigmatism, an abnormal curvature of the corneal surface. New onset astigmatism could occur from corneal deformation from an overlying lid lesion or after surgery with tight corneal stitches through the cornea. Other causes of monocular diplopia include cataract irregularities, lens displacement, or primary problems with corneal curvature such as keratoconus.

[RaverNeko]

I'm so glad I'm not alone with these whole visual disturbances. I really appreciate the kind words that you guys posted in this thread. I'm feeling a little bit better about the astigmatism and the visual problems that are associated with it. Hopefully the optometrist will be able to change my prescription to help with these sort of things!