Vision Changes

[Ruffner]

My husband has MSA-P and one of his biggest complaints is vision (out of focus, double). He has a very mild correction and has worn glasses for decades with very little change over the years. I don't see much discussion about how others are dealing with vision changes and wonder how common it is. If it is due to MSA, is there anything that can be done? Thank you.

[Yanno]

Hello, my wife had issues with vision out of focus and double vision. Prism glasses helped a little with the double vision however the focus issue did tend to vary from day to day. There's a factsheet on the MSA Trust website that can be found here:- msatrust.org.uk/wp-content/...

I hope this help 's, Take care, Ian

[Gill-C]

I’m following this thread with interest as I have problems with tracking (up and down and sideways). Also double vision. I find it really inhibits typing (which is essential as I can’t write much any more. )

It’s v debilitating and has a negative impact on my balance, especially when I turn my head to cross the road while walking and my eyes have fb

L

[Gill-C in reply to Gill-C]

Sorry … posted by pressing wrong button before complete! To go on … crossing roads when my eyes haven’t caught up with my turned head is unpleasant and puts me off balance. I also have the dry eyes mentioned on the MSA Trust fact sheet (thanks Ian I didn’t know about that).

I have asked at the National and it’s definitely another lovely symptom of MSA with few solutions.

I’m so glad you have raised it. I agree with your husband. If you have this symptom it can feel really disorienting, debilitating and depressing.

Hearing from others is so helpful. Thanks for raising it

[Monkeyfeet1]

I find prisms help to some extent. My GPreferred me to the hospital and they have been great!

[Ruffner]

It does seem that this is another MSA system failure. I will ask about prism glasses. This may be a stupid question but can you replace your regular glasses with prism or are the prism glasses only useful for certain tasks?

[BlueCockerel in reply to Ruffner]

We got a referral to our local hospital and they were able to establish the degree of double vision an stick a prism to the inside of my husbands existing specs. Pester the doctor for a referral, it took me ages to get him referred and they fixed it in about half an hour! The prism can be incorporated into the lens if the prism required doesn't alter which, I understand, is better than having the stick on prism.

[Photo1250]

Adrienne also has vision problems (blurred/double vision). Our optician saw her and said the only thing he could do for her was to fit prism lenses in her readers and allay the double vision. She could, at least, watch tv/read via a tablet on her lap. It works. At least she hasn't complained - and watches tv on a laptop! She uses the tablet I bought her for audio books!

She also has MSA-P

[Ruffner]

Thank you! We'll give it a try.

[Gill-C]

just to add that I went to the Optician this week and apparently excessive dryness at the eyes can also cause a double vision effect,

[Ruffner in reply to Gill-C]

We have tried to use eye wetting drops and I think they do help a little. Remembering to use them is a problem. I need to have a chart of everything that needs attention on a daily basis. My husband can't put the drops in by himself. Thanks for the reminder.

[Morganthreewheeler]

Hello and sorry to hear about your wife’s issues with her sight. My wife’s vision problems came when she went outside the house and her iris’s failed to react to the increased light causing her to find everything out of focus

She also tried new glasses but these did not work, sunglasses helped a little but it’s one of the effects of MSA that the message does not get through from the brain to the eyes to make the iris smaller when light increases

[Ruffner]

That explains why my husband will sometimes wear sunglasses in the house. Is there any system that escapes destruction with this disease?

[CanAmK]

My husband had MSA-C but in hindsight visual issues not acuity was one of the first impactful symptoms for him. All we could do was try and use large print with high contrast between print and background. We also tried to keep the environment highly lit. This seemed to help the most. Not a dark restaurant for example trying to read a menu. We also used eye drops to keep the eye moist and not dry and scratchy. We used Systane for the eye drops (OTC). I just learned to set the environment up the same all the time: eyeglasses same, drink same, clicker same, you get what I mean so he could anticipate where everything was. Best of luck,

Krista

[chester2107]

hi my dad had double vision in one of his eyes , he got some glasses to correct it , they didn’t work that well though , he was about 81 though , so could be just age , but more than likely MSA i would have thought