Vision Issues After Brain Injury

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Please remember, we are not able to give medical or legal advice. If you have medical concerns, please consult your doctor. All posted comments are the views and opinions of the poster only.

Thank you so much Dr. Goodrich, I have been partially blind for 6 years, I had a brain injury 6 years ago and it paralysed my on my right side. I have been lucky enough to get back to using my right side and no longer need a wheelchair but my eyesight and hearing has stayed as bad as it was before. It's great to read information about the injury and makes me realise that I'm not alone...there are so many others who are going through the same thing...People like yourself are such a help
Thank you to Dr. Goodrich for addressing these issues. We also find that many people who have suffered mild to moderate brain injury also have what is commonly known as the 'supermarket syndome'. They cannot tolerate crowds, find that pushing a grocery cart up and down crowded store aisles unbearable, cannot have their children's friends playing busy and loud games at home. have light sensitivity, and many other problems with function that make life difficult and result in family issues, arguments, etc. Because there are often no scars or broken bones - these individuals look perfectly normal, yet cannot function in their environments and families as they did before the TBI. Ocular motor and accommodative work is helpful but has to be taken very slowly, should be done in sitting in an arm chair for protection from dizziness to begin, AND remember to always have a watepaper basket at hand for nausea and perhaps vomiting. It is slow progress but well worth the effort on the part of the Optometrist and Vision therapist and the patient.
Dr. Goodrich, when i read all the articales ABOUT TBI it refer directly to me. I was injured in an jeep accident in the USArmy in September 1959. i was unconstius when found and rushed to rhe nearest hospital. the next day I started losing my vision and having terrible headaches. I was rushed to Landsthul Hospital Germany. i stayed there for the next 113 days, where i suffered from several periods of blindness, double vision, changing vision and gait problems. None of these symptoms ever went away, there was only periods of less severed. all the Army doctors said that i should be back to normal soon, the brain will heal itself. well my brain never heald itself. Whenever my symptoms was really bad i seeked help and none of the Ophthalmologist knew what to do for me, they finally said go back to the VA hospital.i really didn't want to go back to the VA; because in 1962 the VA hospital only wanted me to be seen by a psychiratist, i told them i was not crazy my problems are real. these last few yeare i seen many well known Neuro-ophthlamologist and neurologist. they have all said that my conditions, symptoms are very real and very rare; however they are secondary to my brain injury. They said i need to be treated that first. I was told to go to an Brain Concussion specialist group.ARE THEY RIGHT? HOW DO I GO ABOUT MAKING ARRANGEMENTS TO THESE SPECIAL GROUP? SOMETIMES MY CONDITION IS ALMOST AS BAD WHEN I FIRST HAD MY ACCIDENT. I NEED HELP WOULD YOU RECOMEND ANY SPECIAL GRoup or any solution to solve my problem. respectfully CHARLES
I didn't read this word by word as reading on the computer is hard for me. But I did not pick up on a mention of midline shift. I have multiple visual affects from my brain injury, field loss, double vision and midline shife the predominant ones. Many, many, many survivors of brain injury have some degree of midline shift and that creates many of the problems that uninformed practitioners apply to vestibular problems even if there is little to no dizziness. If you walk a crooked line, always heading to one side or the other without realizing it, get checked for midline shift. Behavioral optometrists are trained in this. The doctors at Mass. Eye and Ear did not find it; my optometrist did.
Is there a reason monocular diplopia is not mentioned anywhere (double vision in a single eye--irrespective of binocular focus or visual neglect issues)? That is my problem since TBI, as well as issues (perhaps related) with high contrast "vibration" especially with type (black on white page) or stripes.
It should be noted that in many TBI patients with symptomatic epilepsy, the treatment is anterior temporal lobectomy. As the optic nerve travels through the temporal lobe (Myer's loop) it is often damaged by the surgery, resulting in permanent quadrantopsia.
Thank you for highlighting this issue. Thanks to hearing an expert in the field at a Brain Injury Assoc. caregivers conference, I was able to obtain vision therapy from a qualified optometrist for my husband who has global eschemia from hypoxia. The results so far are subtle but encouraging.
Thank you for sharing this article. I was wondering why there was not more discussion on the cognitive/perceptual deficits that are related to TBI?
Bravo for this article on vision issues after TBI. I have struggled with this since sustaining mTBI in 1994 (and 1998). But I have found that my best compensatory strategy has been my sense that part of the difficulty I encounter in the community is TBI related and the other part is the lack of knowledge on the part of the general public of the role played by environmental issues. I thought I could no longer read, until I learned that I could read pages that were "ragged right" (not fully justified). I advocated with BI organizations to make their print material more TBI-friendly. And I ask the state office of legislative services to print proposed legislation for me in a ragged right fashion. Although I can find science on what TBI does to vision, and what vision impairments contribute to reading difficulties, I cannot find the authoritative statement that puts them together (if I could, I could effect more change). Accommodating print colors, styles, line widths (and other practices of good design for print material) goes a long way to reduce the "I can'ts" that come with vision problems (aagh - filling out forms). Please do not ignore advocacy and civil rights issues when it comes to helping people learn to accommodate the impairments that come with vision disturbances following TBI! I wish that some group would come up with guidelines for print (and web) material to make the most readable materials for people with TBI vision impairments (and just for folks who are plain getting older). The CDC has been the BEST in this area; but unfortunately some organizations serving TBI populations need to develop awareness and make changes! I am glad vision issues have been brought out of the darkness. In vision, as well as other TBI-affected impairments to resuming life as best we can, self-advocacy and a good healthy sense of the American with Disabilities Act goes a VERY LONG WAY. And for those folks who participate in surveys about disabilities: speak up when a survey asks about vision impairments that are solely eye-ball related. Explain vision issues you experience so that future survey questions can be broadened (Surveys usually imply problems are with dimness; my problem is with glare!) Education and advocacy may not provide a "cure," but getting accommodations sure goes a long way in helping us see the light!

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