Re: I HATE GETTING OLD!

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:43:46 -0400, erimess wrote:

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:14:32 GMT, Optician Dragon
<dragonlensman1@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


My reading has always been worse since getting contacts. Me and my
oldest brother are the ones having the most reading problems (starting
at around the same age), and the middle brother who does not wear
contacts is still able to read many things and he's older than me.
And it's getting to the point that I do any near work better with
reading glasses, even washing the dishes and such.

It's called presbyopia. Your crystalline lens inside your eye is
getting stiff and the eye's sphincter muscles cannot fatten it up
enough for near focus. Usually happens around age 40 +/- 5years, later
for moderate myopes.

I *still* think exercise should help. Works for other muscles.

Don't worry, Pibbur is the only other person on the planet with it.
:-)

Oh yes, right.

Just as a side note - the drugstore readers can actually worsen your
eyes.

Now, everything I've read has said otherwise. I thought perhaps
forcing myself to read without the reading glasses would be better, as
in getting my eyes "exercise" and also not letting them get lazy by
using reading glasses. But I kept reading that it wouldn't make any
difference. (And no, it wasn't places trying to sell them. I've
heard that from eye doctors.)

Caveat: with contacts, they can be less problematic, since hopefully
your contacts at least equalize both your eyes. Most people of course
do not have identical eyes, so what sense does it make to wear
identically lensed readers? Also most people do not have the same PD
(pupillary distance = distance between eyes) as everyone else,so what
sense does it make to wear readers with a generic PD, unless you
happen to have the same one (+/- 2 mm)?Most people also have
astigmatism, and no readers correct for that. A study was done
recently where people were examined by doctors to determine what power
they actually needed, then were given access to a display of readers
and told to pick which ones felt right for them. Almost 80% picked
ones that were too strong (the PD problem becomes worse at higher
powers) for what they really needed. Then some of them were wearing
them for tasks that did notr require their use. After the study, those
who wore them more than they should have actually developed hyperopia,
or at least stronger hyperopia than they already had. This is the
firat study in this field and there are others in progress to
determine if the results are repeatable. If so, addictive hyperopia
might become more commonplace.

But if I want to see anything I don't have much choice. Except for
going back to glasses permanently and I refuse to give up my contacts
if I don't have to. For one thing, they've never ever, ever been able
to get a prescription right for me for glasses. And the "bifocal"
contacts they make now don't really work right and don't fit my eyes
right. I also don't see how that can work on a computer when I'm not
looking down. Not to mention that I haven't figured out how that's
gonna work right if you look down at like the floor that is further
away. It also concerns me that I'd have to get something strong
enough for the smaller print, which is way too much for bigger print,
and too strong for the monitor.


That's a common question and complaint. People stand in front of you,
raise their chin way up and look way down and complain "The floor is
blurry! Boo hoo! I can't SEE the floor like this!" I ask them if that
is the way they normally walk. No that's not the case in any
situation. Usually when people walk, they're looking across the room
or street, up at the sky, off to the left or right, NOT right at their
toes. Since therre is a blur there because it's for closer focus some
people's eyes are attracted to it when they should not be using that
portion. So, ignore it when you're not using it.
I realize at least a few dozen people wear bifocals :-), but still,
none of it makes sense to me.

We've decided to try backing off a half diopeter (sp?) to see what
happens with the computer, because I only need very weak reading
glasses for that. I was given a throw-away trial pair to see what I
think. Well, there's an improvement on the monitor but not enough.
Although it has improved reading certain things if they're a bit
bigger. It does not affect distances enough to notice, but it does
affect the mid-range, like looking across a room.

The *best* way for me to read is with no correction at all. I can
read the tiniest of prints. But I have to put it pretty close. But
it's clear as day. But of course, I can't just go taking my contacts
out every time I have to read something.

Some day when I have to give up contacts, I'm gonna have about five
different pairs of glasses to cover everything. And then I'm *really*
gonna feel old. Of course, I first have to find an eye doctor who's
willing to accept the fact that what their little machine says my
glasses are supposed to be doesn't really work, before I can actually
drive a lethal weapon on a highway.

You know, you really did get me off on the wrong subject. :-) And
being cursed with extreme near-sitedness is not really helping. Runs
in both sides of the family. My mother was "legally blind" in her
left eye (as in, just terrible vision), and if I sort of re-focused my
eye for a second, I could actually see out of her left lens. It just
kind of made my eyes tear up. :-)



But, I'm also tired of the bad knees and the bad back and the fact
that I can't eat a bag of fritoes anymore. Although admittedly, some
of that is just damage. I watch 65 year old men go up and down stairs
more easily than I do, but it's also getting worse with age.

Bad knees - not so much yet. Bad back- 6 dislocated vertebrae and
early third stage arthritis, I'm there.

Eek! At least the chiropractor can relatively fix my back. There's
one thing he can't quite accomplish related to my right shoulder
blade. (A problem I couldn't isolate til the rest was solved.) But I
do whack it out and have to go back, and recently I did something bad
to my back, and am now going through this thing where I get sudden
sharp pains and the only solution is getting on a heating pad and just
staying there. I think I messed it up with the lawnmover I had to
borrow from someone when mine was busted -- too heavy for me. Which
reminds me that I forgot to call the chiropractor today.

And I can eat a whole bag of
fritoes.

Well, I *can* eat them. In fact, I'm really quite good at it.

Problem is,six ounces of fritoes turns into one pound o' lard
on me,Conservation of mass, my ass!

One lousy bag isn't gonna do that to me (not by itself, anyway), but
it will churn my stomach up something horrid.

And I miss the Frito Bandito!

I forgot about the Frito Bandito! Maybe he just got thrown in prison
and is waiting for his parole.

--
-=UDIC=-
Optician Dragon
But the good in me don't wanna believe
that the evil in me is so.
And a voice somewhere says "Do as you please" but the
Upper Me says "No no no no no no!"
.

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