stress
other than “try to stress less,” which is one of the most stressful things for an already stressed out person with stress-induced deficits to hear, the only other suggestion my neuro-ophthalmologist offered me was vision therapy.
vision therapy is like physical therapy but with the goal of correcting vision issues instead of physical issues. it’s a common form of treatment for children with strabismus or esotropia, for example, or as we colloquially refer to as “cross-eyed.”
unfortunately vision therapy is not a guaranteed cure for double vision, and it is also typically not covered by insurance (including mine). each session can cost around $150-200, and patients typically need a minimum of 12-16 sessions and up to multiple years of weekly treatments to see results.
all of this to say: while vision therapy can work, it costs at least a few grand and up to $10k+ for results, and you won’t know if your money will even get you results until after it’s all gone.
ok, moving on to reddit.
there are a surprising number of subreddits related to double vision: /diplopia, /strabismus, and /binocularvision, to name a few.
however, few accounts on those subreddits resonated with me and what i was experiencing, and when i shared my experiences of my constantly fluctuating diplopia (double vision), inability to get a prism prescription (the only immediate fix for people suffering from diplopia), and rapid deterioration of my vision, it seemed few could relate.
while any amount of double vision is annoying and undesirable, it seemed that most people's experience of diplopia seemed to at least be stable and less intense than what i was experiencing. the only way i could see was to patch or close one eye, but my optometrists warned against doing this too frequently as constantly blocking off sight from one eye can cause your brain to forget how to use that eye (scary).
what i did have in common with many other sufferers of diplopia was the inability to find a permanent solution. prism glasses worked temporarily for most people, but it's a bandaid solution. in fact, overuse of prisms can train your eyes to rely too much on them, which is actually the opposite of what you want to achieve long term.
after weeks of taking time off from work and trying not to be stressed, i was only growing more anxious and stressed about my lack of improvement and inability to find a solution. i became desperate and finally caved and decided to pursue vision therapy. i also tried acupuncture for the first time and started taking magnesium supplements (all recommendations from fellow sufferers of diplopia on reddit).
in the meantime, i reached back out to my neuro-ophthalmologist and asked to see her ahead of our prearranged follow up visit because i felt that not only were my symptoms not improving, but they were actually getting worse. she agreed, and i went back in for a follow up appointment on june 26, 2025.
little did i know i was days away from finally getting some answers to what had been causing my double vision.
next: diagnosis