A key phrase one of the interviewees states is 'critical mass', this means that if enough people ask to be referred with BI's then they will have to tackle the problem.
If you are not in the Leeds area you can still ask your GP to refer you because Leeds is the only health service as far as I know providing this type of testing and treatment.
Go for it; create the critical mass.
I feel excited because my first 2 posts on this site six years ago were about the amazing difference optometry made after my BI. Life changing indeed and it kick started my recovery journey. without that I'd still be a dribbling, non verbal, jibbering idiot.
Complete coincidence that I knew about it at all - I don't live anywhere near Leeds - but my own optometrist was from there, I think. She was outstanding, and got me to see a neuro-opthalmologist because she could see something (which either was there, or wasn't) in the scan she did, before annd after my injury.
Sadly, she's now left the practice near where I live, and moved to a bigger city, closer to her home - she wants to start a family !😀
NHS - my GP was impressed by the specific nature of what my optometrist had noticed - and she had particular places where she thought I should be sent. So she was happy to send me to Oxford. Its a bit of a drive away, but hey, it's getting looked at.....
No, my optometrist was working for my local Specsavers - and my GP did not send me there. That's partly why she was so impressed by the quality of the work, I suspect, and the specific nature of her conclusions.
My optometrist had married and moved to this area, and the job at Specsavers was a bit of a hiatus, I gather. I think her interest was in research, but that was somewhat superceded by the desire to have a family. She'll go back to research and said that she wanted to know something about complications after brain injuries - but first, the body clock . . .
Ah I see, your optometrist did not work for the NHS. I've been referred back to my GP twice from Specsavers after their standard tests. Both times they said the tests revealed a visual processing issue and that I should be referred to an ophthalmologist.
This is the standard procedure.
I ended up going to a private behavioral optometrist because the ophthalmologists had no idea and diagnosed the issue as a psychological problem.
The optometrist did totally different test and identified multiple visual processing issues and even knew what parts of the brain were damaged then corrected them with different lenses over three years.
The skills my optometrist has are not provided by the NHS.
My optometrist has now retired but she said these were the best people in the UK for optometry/ vestibular testing and treatment. Just in case you still have issues after your vision treatment.
Thank you. That's useful to know.. but my problem was to do with my eyes. So opthalmology was the right place for me.However my vision has steadied off and visual acuity improved. So far from unhappy with Oxford..
Hi, pinkvision. I have a severe visual processing impairment but not an physical sight impairment per se, ie a need for glasses. Are you aware of anything that can be done for this.
It will be hit and miss depending on what the issue is.
I've been down this road, visual processing was the biggest effect after my BI, my eyes were fine. The person I saw is now retired but she highly recommended the people in the above link.
I had multiple visual processing issues many were solved but I still have some and I have adapted my life to live with them.
The only way to find out is to go and see what happens. It' costs money but money is worthless compared to vision.
Dizziness when around lots of visual stimulus like in a car or supermarket. It feels like I'm on a rollercoaster. Difficulties reading and remembering what I read.
Ah right ok, sounds like visual sensory overload, go get a colorimetry test to see if tinted lenses will help, also get some reactor light glasses but make sure they are neutral grey not just any old reactors. An optometrist will be able to test and recommend the best options. You may have to have different types over a period of time.
Different types of light can have different effects on you, bright sunlight is constant and may have one effect so the reactors can help reduce the amount of light getting in. The other one is LED (all modern indoor lights) and screen lighting (computer/ phone screens are lit by LED), it's very different from sunlight because it flickers 50 or 60 times a second (it's known as PAL and NTSC lighting en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL). Basically your brain is struggling to process either the amount of light, type of light, color waves within the light or the flicker. It could be one of these some of these or all of these. A colorimetry test will assess if you have a problem with the color, and the reactors will counter the amount of light. However reactors don't work in LED lighting, reactors require UV to trigger them and LED does not have UV.
The only thing you can do at the moment to counter LED is to stop going into these environments or reduce the time spent in them. Basically stop or reduce watching telly, computer screens/ phone, going into buildings with LED (which is all of them nowadays) and change your lighting in the house to low light incandescent.
The reading issue! is it because the letters and words are breaking up and moving about or is it because you lose the words in your head, can't retain them or remember the meaning.
If it's the former the colorimetry can help some people, it's similar to a dyslexia effect but it's called pattern glare. If it's the second, can't retain or remember the words, then it's not a visual problem. I had this too and it was found to be aphasia. Do you also struggle to retain and remember the words and meaning of words people say to you verbally?
Best thing for this is to get a neuropsychology assessment, a real assessment not just an opinion. Ask your GP to refer you, if they won't do the test, it takes about 3 hours, pay for one. At least then you will know for sure.
Hope all this helps. I've had very similar conditions to you among loads of others and these were the easiest to fix.
Oh before I forget, ask the neuropsychologist to test your attention and concentration. My issue with words, written and spoken was a combination of aphasia and the ability to pay attention and concentrate.
I have had three separate batteries of cognitive testing with the neuro psychologist under the NHS. it's remembering and the speed I process the information. Auditory information retaining is better. I had a large frontal lobe brain tumour resection (crainiotomy) in February 2022. My eyesight is fine and actually better than when the tumour was pressing on my optical nerves.
I know two people who had tumors removed from the same area. Both had attention, concentration and memory issues. Only one of them had visual issues and she went for an Irlens syndrome assessment, it's the same as colorimetry and was prescribed green lenses that help her amazingly well.
She coupled wearing the lenses with doing attention and concentration exercises on visual things.
I did exactly the same and regained my attention and concentration within the frontal to occipital network.
My neural issues were in the back of the brain, the occipital lobe, where vision is processed before it can be linked up to the frontal lobes.
It seems it may be worth having a colorimetry test just to see if there is a visual processing issue. But because yours concerns the frontal lobe it may be an idea to learn to practice paying attention and concentrating on visual things. The frontal and occipital lobes have to connect and the issue may be this connection.
Repetitively practicing to pay attention and concentrate with in the visual network will create new synaptic connections to create a renewed network.
I practiced looking at objects, like a meditation and scheduled reading everyday. It took 3 years and now I can concentrate on visual objects, read words and remember them and the context I am reading in.
The other two did similar, all independently, none of us knew each other when we were doing our retraining. Adam went to private rehab, Nicola did it as part of a master's research course in uni and I did mine after watching YouTube videos about neuroplasticity and trying it out. Our methods were pretty much the same but using different techniques and everyone of us improved over the same amount of time. Actually Nicola took 5 years, probably because she did not wear her glasses (and got drunk every few months). She's good now
I'm not sure if if this would apply to me because when you say damage its a bit vague and xan include all sorts of TBI and ABI in lots of areas. I not only had the brain tumour removed but my surgery included removal of bits of brain surrounding it (to prevent cancerous cells remaining) and bits of dead brain nearby. My brain has rewired itself to cope better in some aspects to compensate for the visual processing impairments and I have had a massive amount of rehabilitation training from and with the neuro psychologist but there has been no mention so far about glasses/lens etc but that maybe because as you said some things are only available privately. In my next appointment at the neuro hospital i will be discussing about ways of coping with these impairments and I will mention your suggestions to get their opinion on them and progress others have made with this type of impairment to see their thoughts and experiences because I don't want to pay out for a private appointment only to be told nothing will help with this type of ABI. Thanks again for all your help this afternoon 😊
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Free gym on Merseyside for people with brain injuries.
