I kept a detailed journal for the first 2.5 years of my vision journey, just check the VT Appointments page, but nobody ever read them and it felt like a waste of time.
But then I went back and read them and realized that I was able to learn SO much from tracking my progress. I was able to see patterns of success and failure in my therapy and it has helped me to refocus on the things that brought success!
So even if nobody ever reads this, I will have it for my own history and maybe one day I’ll write a really exciting book about the highs and lows of vision therapy.
Successes That I Experienced in February
This month has been pretty average, maybe slightly below average. I haven’t had any earth shattering moments of 3D, but I have been doing consistently well with exercises.
I’ve also had SO much fun doing consults with some of my readers. I love getting to know and help these people find solutions, it is something I am passionate about!
On VR with Optics Trainer, I’ve been scoring in the 10-12 range on Tappy Birds, even with Dr. Dan adjusting the prism from +3 to -1 to make it more difficult.
I realized that I can’t visualize very well and discovered 8D music which is SO cool! You listen to special music with over-the-ear headphones and the music appears to be coming from different parts of the room at different times. I made it into an exercise where I close my eyes and picture some object (usually a white star) moving around the room wherever the music is. I try to picture the room and picture the star in the room. It has been very helpful and I can feel my visualization improving!
I finished reading Dr. Bates book, “The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses” (free PDF available here). While the book was difficult to understand because it is older, it was very informative and I learned so much about my own vision. I am incorporating a few favorite concepts into my vision therapy and it seems to be making a difference.
Favorite Concepts From Dr. Bates
Swinging/Shifting
While moving eyes from one object to another, or while swaying, notice the world and objects moving in relation to you. This has to do with motion parallax and helps with peripheral.
Visualization
I already touched on this, but being able to visualize and see anything, extremely clearly, with eyes closed. Visualizing myself in 3D environments is helping it become more real when my eyes are open.
Relaxation
Perfect vision can only happen from a state of complete relaxation, it cannot be forced. The eyes, face, body, and mind must all be in a relaxed state to truly learn to see!
Struggles I Experienced in February
I have had quite a few days with distance double vision and my right eye wants to go up more. It seems to be linked to my diet, sleep and stress, all of which I’m trying to regulate, until then I try to just be curious about the struggles and not judge myself for not being perfect.
I also experienced more side effects from therapy like nausea and dizziness, these bouts were directly linked to eating unhealthy. Why does food make such a difference?!?!?!? I made this beautiful PDF free guide to help others know how to eat for improved vision, but I seem to need it more than everyone else.
February Appointments
For progress pictures going forward I am going to do one of me focusing on the camera, one of me trying to cross my eyes, and one of me trying to look in the distance and relax my eyes. They look mostly straight to the naked eye, but as you can see, the coordination is not there quite yet. maybe eventually.
February 2
We started out with the yoked prism. I walked back and forth across the room, working to open my peripheral, see the space behind me and find balance while Dr. Dan tossed bean bags to me. It is very easy when I am concentrating and not chatting, but as soon as I start to talk it becomes more difficult and I loose my balance. We are working on it becoming automatic instead of something I have to force. We have been spending a lot of time on this at each appointment and I feel like it makes a big difference.
We also spent quite a bit of time working on the overhead quoit vectograph. It is one of my favorite activities in the office because I am starting to get really good depth. I can see the ring in space and am getting better at reaching out and “touching” it without loosing the depth. Usually when I reach out and touch an illusion, it disappears.
That evening I was extremely sick and nauseous from therapy, which probably had to do with the huge bowl of ice cream I’d had the night before. I ended up curled up in my bed around 7:30 pm, promising myself to never eat sugar again.
February 9
Today I had sick kids and had to cancel, unfortunately. better luck next week.
February 16
Today we started with the yoked prisms, like usual. Then Dr. Dan handed me a stick, a dangerous idea, and had me tap the Marsden Ball, while jumping on a mini trampoline. For some reason, this engaged my peripheral and I was getting a wonderful sense of space.
We also did some work with the overhead. I realized that my depth when standing to the left was much better than the depth standing to the right. I am now supposed to be working from both sides as well as in front of targets to help even this out.
Last, for the first time in months, we went to VTS4. I was a little rusty, but was able to get some pretty good depth without seeing double.
February 23
Today we worked on the Gem and overhead quoit and mixed in sound again. This concept is still so difficult for me. Combining auditory and visual is tricky, but sometimes I feel like it is coming along. After my eyes are able to warm up, the depth improves and becomes more real. Dr. Dan has me close my eyes, open them and still have the same degree of depth. It is not automatic, but it is something I’m working on at home.
Dr. Dan had me work on VTS4 with the plain stereopsis ring and the ring with the dog. I was able to easily tell if it was in front or behind and got quite a bit of good depth. The depth feels more real when the ring is coming towards me though. When he had me try multiple choice vergence, I failed quite epically. I haven’t attempted in probably 3-4 months and my numbers were dismal. I think I got to 4 BI, but it ended up at like 12 BO (-12BI) because I just kept getting them wrong.