Anyone had trouble with associated focus spasm in eyes?

[ohheyfreakingout]

My optician told me my accommodation focus is all over the place, resulting in slightly blurred vision.

got a referral but wondered if anyone else had had this and whether it could be easily rectified? I can still read but get a little fuzzy both near and far (can still read but not as clear).

wondered if there were any exercises I could do to help as optician wasn’t overly informative.

I'm an Optometrist and my son also has the same problem (accommodative spasm). His prescription varies from around +0.50 to -1.00.
The following things help:
1.Making sure you're not spending too long at one time on a task at a particular distance with a decent break. For example if you're on the pc make sure every 30 minutes you get up and move around, look at the window. Don't sit at your desk at lunchtime, go outside and have a proper break.

1. You can have some drops put into your eyes to determine your actual prescription when you're not over focussing. if there is a big disparity between the eyes, having this corrected with glasses can help. If there is no prescription a low plus can help ( a weak pair of reading glasses).

1. If his eyes are particularly bad - they often are around exam time. We have an enforced time away from screens and books for at least half a day, a yoga session, massage and an early night can get the eyes to relax.

That’s really interesting thank you. mine has been like it pretty consistently for the last couple of weeks but they think stress has brought it on. I didn’t know much about it so have been quite worried which probably isn’t helping

Did your sons come and go or does he have phases of it? She basically said it was constantly contracting and trying to focus. I spend a LOT of time on screens for work so I doubt that’s helped

@underneaththeash in your experience is it something that can wear off on its own if you relax a bit?
Mine seems to be constantly contracting (she worried me by saying it was unusual) but I have been very anxious - I was just a bit worried by the referral.

Yes, DS' comes and goes. He had a particularly bad episode early December and last exam time, but I'm constantly on at him to have breaks and he's been fine for almost 2 months now.

Hopefully, you're not at work this weekend. Have a complete screen break and do as much as you can to relax, gym, cinema, go outside as much as possible, go visit people.
Then start afresh on Monday at work with lots and lots of screen breaks.

@underneaththeash thanks for this.
I’ve been having screen breaks but have still been using the phone so maybe I do need a complete break.

I just wondered why I would be referred to a specialist from my optician for this - perhaps because it’s constant and been going on for a few weeks so potentially could be something else (although she did say the accommodation focus was constantly trying to focus and sometimes the muscle can spasm).
I’ve got health anxiety so I tend to really worry about these things (been convinced it’s a brain tumour or something!) so I don’t suppose that’s helping either.

any other eye relaxation advice you could give me would be gratefully appreciated! I can’t seem to get mine to go back to normal but I am quite fixated on it. It does tend to get slightly better if I’m distracted but still stays a little fuzzy.

Also sorry for the essay - is tv screen and cinema okay to do when your eyes are like that? The tv screen can sometimes be a little fuzzy (it seems to be both near and far, usually one slightly better than the other) so I didn’t know whether i should be avoiding that too. Thank you.

Oops sorry tagged your name wrong @underneaththeash

@underneaththeash sorry to tag you again but just wanted to thank you for your advice.
I still have the same problem but I think relaxing has helped a little.
I also found out my referral was routine, so I'm presuming that the optician didn't see anything sinister looking even though she said it was 'unusual' (which is what really worried me) or I would have been fast tracked through.
Some days it seems a little better, and other days worse again, so I'm hoping it is a stress related spasm rather than anything causing a problem with the muscle/nerves.
Hope your son is ok.

good I'm glad its a little better. anything you can do to relax you will help.

Thank you :)
I think the fact I was panicked that it was a serious neurological problem (I have health anxiety and have been obsessing it’s a brain tumour or something equally horrible) wasn’t helping at all.
Now I have my referral appointment and know it’s been put through as routine I’m more hopeful it won’t be a serious issue.

@underneaththeash can I ask a quick question?
I was just looking at a polka dot tray a white spots on a red background and it seemed to make my vision do s weird thing
When I looked it’s like I could see darker shadows of the white spots that aren’t actually there. Is that related to the fact my eyes are having a hard time focusing and the busy pattern made it worse? Or is that something I need to flag up as something more alarming?
It wasn’t black spots I was seeing it was like a shadow of the existing dots very slightly in the gaps in the pattern
I’ve not had anything else similar I don’t think

Ignore me! DH got the same effect apparently it’s a weird optical illusion 🙈

I was just about to post that it isn't something to worry about!

@underneaththeash just wanted to say thanks for your help
I had my referral appointment today and although I didn’t have any pictures of my eyes taken, he did a thorough examination and got me to read, looked into my eyes and round the back etc, dilated them with drops and did another look and did the test where you follow the finger and the light pen and said my eyes look fine.
He said he can’t see anything wrong with them and thinks it’s anxiety/stress related as it seemed to get a little better last week when I was calmer and then came back
So thanks for your help I am feeling more reassured, and hopefully now I will relax and it will improve

Fantastic news