Blurred vision in the morning

[spottywelly]

Lately I’ve been noticing that my vision is blurred when I wake up. At first it was just 5-10 minutes, which didn’t strike me as out of the ordinary, but now it can last up to an hour, and it’s sometimes blurred for periods throughout the day.

I’ve booked in for an eye test as I’m only a few months off needing one anyway, but is this something that I need to see my GP about, or is the optician the best first port of call? Anyone had experience with this?

TIA

optician or both. When is your eye test? Blurred vision like this is one of the things that might qualify you for a same day eye test if you phone up and ask. Most trusts have the NHS scheme where opthalmology will see you same day instead of the GP. Opticians can look at your eye better than a GP and they can refer into hospital ophthalmology as an urgent bases who can then do things like eye and head scans.

My test is on Monday morning. I’m away until Sunday so it was the first test I could book. I booked it as I imagined the first thing the GP would ask was if I’d had an eye test recently.

I think it’s sensible to see your optician first. Make sure you explain your symptoms and make sure they check the appearance of the back of your eye, check your eye pressure etc. (I’m sure they will). See what they say and take it from there.

Have you had a blood pressure check recently?

Last time I had my blood pressure done it was a little high (143/91) but when I then checked it over a week at home it averaged out as normal so they weren’t worried.

Changes in blood glucose can affect vision. It would be a good idea to get it checked at the GP.

Thank you, I’ll look into that if the optician doesn’t find anything.

I just want to say you will inevitably be thinking all of the more serious reasons, but I had this recently, and it turned out I just had v dry eyes and needed some intense overnight eye drops.

Seriously, don’t mess with vision. Call your optician and explain and ask if you can be seen sooner

I’m out of the country for the next few days, have booked the first appointment I’m able to get to.

And I’m hoping it is just something simple. I had a brain MRI a few months ago for unrelated symptoms and that was clear so that’s reassuring me a little.

ETA: meant to quote @Wedontopenyet

I was going to suggest this. So many people have dry eyes without knowing- sometimes the symptoms can be watery eye, or even just intermittent blurring.

You've not mentioned your age, but if you could be peri-menopausal or menopausal, that is unfortunately another indicator.

Try an eye ointment before bed, and lubricant eye drops throughout the day (incl. first thing in the morning and approx 10mins before doing VDU work).
I read an article recently that quoted a stidy saying 86% of dry eye disease is caused by meibomian gland dysfunction- in which case a warm compress (eye mask, not a flannel- studies show they don't retain heat for long enough to be effective), followed by lid massage.

And of course, an eye test- but you're on that already ☺️

I had something similar and turned out to be dry eyes! I was panicking but was so easily resolved with drops. Mine was all post-Covid weirdly and totally resolved a few years later.

Monday is fine for the symptoms you're describing. It's most likely dryness although there are a couple of other things which need to be ruled out. But they can all wait til Monday.

Thank you everyone for your help. Hopefully it is just dryness causing trouble. I’m generally a dry kind of person so it wouldn’t surprise me.

Been to the optician this morning and I am none the wiser. He said my eyes look perfectly healthy and my prescription has actually improved since last time, with the exception of near vision which is typical at my age, and is still not that bad.

Not what I was expecting as I can usually see the second from bottom line on the chart quite clearly and this time I was struggling to see even the third. He said my eyes don’t seem to be dry but it wouldn’t hurt to try eye drops.

Not really sure where to go from here. Obviously it’s good news that my eyes are healthy but I still can’t see properly. My vision was blurred for over an hour this morning. It’s blurry with and without my glasses on so don’t think it’s that my glasses are overcorrecting as the optician suggested - then surely it would be blurry all of the time?

Did you have the extra scan to look at the back of the eye? I would make an appointment with your GP. If you don’t have one, get a BP cuff and take measurements in the morning 3x and evening 3x when sitting and calm to take that info to your GP as well when you go. Saves being asked to do it and go back again

Either see your GP now and ask for dry eye drops and overnight ointment as a start
Or buy something from pharmacy

If after 3-4 days, there's no improvement, flag up at doctors

Blurry vision is mostly dry eyes but could be a warning sign

Also check house / bedroom for scented diffusers etc which could be drying / irritating your eyes at night

This was the first symptom of Graves Disease for me - a treatable thyroid condition - and I'd wake in the night and see my alarm clock in double vision. But it came with puffy eyes, anxiety, tremor, high heart rate and other things that you'd notice. If you're seeing the GP for a blood test anyway, might be worth mentioning.

I had blurry vision/strained eyes lately. Optician said everything fine, turned it was...would you believe- EAR WAX.

The ear wax was throwing off my balance which was then throwing off my vision!! I also had nausea, all for bloody ear wax!

Got ear syringed, all fixed.

See your GP, as it could be something quite random causing it!

I did have the extra scan - the optician said it all looked good. They did a few extra tests too which he said were fine.

I do have a BP machine as we have a history of high BP in the family. It’s 128/78 this evening which isn’t awful, I don’t think? It’s always higher when I have it done by a doctor or nurse, but I think that’s pretty common.

I have tried the eye drops today and so far they’ve just made my eyes more blurry!

I’ve had my thyroid checked a couple of months ago as part of a general check up and my TSH was comfortably in the normal range so hopefully one I can rule out, unless it’s something which could come on quickly?

I had the same thing and went for an eye test on Friday past, paid for the extra scan to be sure and they found nothing out of the ordinary. Optician said it was most likely dry eyes and suggested eye drops, problem with that is they give me extremely sore headaches so it’s blurry vision for me and more breaks away from the pc during the day.

If you can't you drops, have you tried eye mask?

www.boots.com/optase-moist-heat-mask-10226772

Like this, tho there are lots

Could you contact the optician and check they looked at the corneal endothelium. There is a condition called Fuch's endothelial dystrophy, which causes blurred vision on awakening.

The other thing that it could be is that you're sleeping with your eyes slightly open, that would cause mild corneal damage which would potentially rectify y the time you had your eye exam. If you have a bed fellow, you could ask them to check you as you're sleeping.

I wouldn't worry, it was just a long shot, and I think you'd know, you'd feel considerably different. 🙂

I would second @Tilllly 's suggestion to try the eye mask, that can really help if it's dry eyes.