Words overlapping and double vision

[HastingsLikeTheBattle]

DD (11) has had an emergency appointment with her optician today (she already goes each 6 month as she is very short sighted and getting worse). She was complaining that when she tries to read, the words overlap each other and she has a lot of double vision.

The optician has examined her and said that her prescription hasn’t changed since her last scheduled appointment (3 month ago) but that he can see muscle weakness which would explain the symptoms. We have eye exercises to do, and have to go back next week to see if she will need corrective prism glasses.

I have 2 thoughts/questions. 1 - does anyone have any experience of this please, and 2 - a very brief google brought up thyroid disease as a potential link, I was diagnosed as hypothyroid at the exact age DD is now but can’t remember my symptoms to check if they correspond, and there’s no one to ask. Does anyone know if there is an actual link please?

It's an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism ) that can cause eye symptoms known as Grave's Disease. Hypo and hyperthyroidism can run in families so I would definitely mention the next time you see the optician and ask if you should see GP.

Good luck- hope it all improves.

I think you should see the gp as well as the optician. I have every respect for them in spotting some serious eye conditions but they are not medical professionals.

Thanks both. AF I'll try and get an appointment with GP but that's easier said than done My mind is racing as it was only three years back we had to have a series of brain MRIs for DD1 which obviously was a very stressful time. I know this is different but it's still worrying.

helpmum despite having hypothyroidism for over 30 years, I know shockingly very little about it. Are hypo and hyper related - so if thyroid disease is genetic, will a hypo mum end up with hypo kid if kid has thyroid disease? I know not all parents pass it on though.

This is unfortunately why taking advice from people on the internet is a bit idea. Thyroid eye disease has many other symptoms rather than just diplopia at near and if she did have infiltration of the ocular muscles it is very unlikely to be symetrical in all positions of gaze. So an eye muscle problem resulting from thyroid eye disease presents completely differently than a normal muscle imbalance.

It's significantly more likely that she just has simple convergence insufficiency than anything more serious. It's treated with exercises initially, or a prism if needed. It may just have occurred if your daughter is tired, stressed or has been ill.

Even with thyroid eye disease, it's significantly less common in under active thyriods compared to over active.

It is most likely your daughter has convergence insufficiency which responds well to exercises. The exercises will often be uncomfortable but encourage her to persevere with them. Thyroid eye disease is an autoimmune disease that is very uncommon in primary hypothyroidism and the age of onset is often middle age in my whole career I have only seen 2 teenagers with this and both were severely thyrotoxic. There are lots of different reasons for double vision but in a young person with double vision for reading convergence insufficiency is the most likely culprit. The exercises are very effective if done daily but people can often be reluctant to do them as they are uncomfortable. Try to avoid prisms too soon as it is better to improve the convergence with exercises .

Thanks Rodders* we’ve been doing the exercises three times a day as requested, and are back at the opticians on Tuesday. Her eye doesn’t seem to be improving, but at least she can read ok now that she holds the book as far away from her as possible.

I thought thyroid issues would be a long shot, but I’m glad I posted to get the reassurance . I think I’ll still mention it on Tuesday though.

It might be worth ruling out something simple like scotopic sensitivity syndrome. If problems are happening with reading- e.g. moving/ overlapping words, it might be an issue with reading black on white writing. Not all opticians test for it- and it is such a simple thing to solve- coloured overlays or glasses?