Use It Or Lose It

 I'm sure you have all heard the old adage "use it or lose it" but maybe you didn't realize that it pertains to a lot more things than just muscles. 

I have told people who say they are having trouble doing something that used to be easy that they need to practice it more.  I started that when I saw an elderly relative who had always been spry and active struggle to get up off the couch. Apparently, she had been sitting too much that winter, and then she thought she was just slowing down because she was getting older. In reality, it was because she had not been using those muscles as much in the past few months and needed to retrain them.  We can strengthen our muscles at any age, no matter how old we get, but if we don’t use them they get weak.

I have glasses for reading. They are prescription glasses with a prism in them, not drugstore reading glasses. I don't always use them. I'm typing on my tablet at the moment and my glasses are not even in the room with me. My hubby cannot read anything without his, and they are not as strong as mine. He has progressive glasses so he wears his all the time. His eyes, or his brain, have gotten used to having assistance.  My eyes just see what they see and my brain must fill in the rest.

Just recently I got new hearing aids. I have worn one for close to twenty years but it was once again time to get a new one. I was losing my word  recognition so I needed to upgrade to a stronger model and I finally accepted the fact that maybe I needed two. It did not take a week for my ears and brain to adjust to all this help and suddenly I could no longer  hear without the aides in place. I am hearing much better now, while wearing my new hearing aids but without them I am suddenly a lot deafer than I have ever been. Just more proof that if you don’t use it, you lose it.  As it was, I wasn't using the part of my brain that could recognize words and I think that's worse. I'm better off needing help to hear properly than I would be if I could not understand what was being said. Even so, I have now turned the volume down three clicks and can still hear just fine with the aids. Maybe that will help me be less deaf without them. One can only hope.....

Visual Frustration

I told you about my trip to the eye doctor last year and how frustrating I found that to be. Well, I eventually picked out a pair of frames and got myself some prescription reading glasses.  I wish I could say that was the end of my frustration.

When I picked them up, I mentioned that they didn't seem to make me see as clearly as I was expecting. I was told to give them some time and, if I was still unsatisfied, I had a 3 month guarantee period in which to bring them back. 

I gave them time. At first I compared the results to that of the drug store glasses, and decided they did improve things a bit better after all. But that effect wore off within a couple of weeks and I found I was once again closing that left eye while reading. 

I started doing experiments. Cover one eye and read, uncover it and read. Do the same thing with and without the glasses. The glasses definitely improved the right eye.  But with the right one covered, the left eye was seeing letters that were blurry and appeared to be double.  That effect was even worse WITH the glasses!  I've created a little visual so you can see the way my left eye sees now. Imagine trying to read a full page, or an entire book like that.  Frustrating, isn't it.  No wonder my body automatically forces me to close that eye when reading.

I figured, what I said in the previous blog post was definitely in effect. Guessing what I was seeing during an eye exam got the prescription wrong. But first I decided I had to go back to where I had the glasses made, and have them check to make sure the lenses matched the prescription.  They did.

So next I had to make an appointment with the eye doctor and explain that I was having problems with the left lens, and perhaps something had changed.  Something had changed alright. The cataract in that eye has progressed somewhat since my last exam. Between that and the astigmatism, I'm apparently not expected to be able to see as well as I'd like. I still could not get the Doctor to understand that I can actually see better without  that particular lens. She insists that the numbers are correct.  If the numbers are correct, then why does that lens make things worse instead of better?  I'm very frustrated now. I'm tempted to have the left lense replaced with just clear glass.

This is the second time I have attempted to improve my vision with prescription lenses. Years ago I tried bifocals. They distorted my world so badly that I declared that if I had always seen like that, I would have been in looking for glasses years sooner, just to correct that distortion.  It was awful and I never got used to it, and finally gave up.  I don't need to see things at a distance, since I don't drive. I can identify people on the far side of the street by what they wear and how they move. I know yellow things in the grass are dandelions. But I cannot get through the day without being able to read. It's probably what I do most.  That's why I decided just to go for reading glasses this time.

I can tell you one thing though. I have no faith in the corrective lens process.  When it comes time to get my cataracts done, there will be no prescription lens embedded in my eyes.  If I get frustrated with lenses in a frame, I can take them off.  So, they can just replace my natural cloudy lenses with non prescription clear ones. If I feel the need for corrective lenses, I'll wear glasses that I can remove when the frustration gets to me. 

Seeing The Way Clear

Most people hate going to the dentist. I, personally, would much rather do that than go for my annual eye exam.  I had to do that this week, and it seems I see better than I did last year...... or perhaps I made better guesses. 

I don't think I have a lot of confidence in this procedure to determine how good or bad my eyesight is. After all, it's all based on what I say.  I find I'm often having to guess at what I'm seeing, so the results are based on not how well I see, but how good I'm guessing.  If I am guessing wrongly, then the results may be accurate, as the doctor would then know I cannot see as well as I should be able to.  But if I'm making a lot of accurate guesses, then I'm sure that can screw up the final results of the test. The doctor will, of course then think I can see better than I can.  No matter what I do, I always feel like I came out of there a failure.

I have cataracts and I like to read.  I can read this screen without glasses, but if I'm reading a book, I tend to wear drugstore glasses....magnifiers the optometrist calls them.  I had thought of getting prescription glasses several years ago, but when I first found out I had cataracts I decided to wait until they were taken care of first.  That, apparently can take a long time since not all caracts grow quickly.  Then, last year, I found I was suddenly closing one eye to read.  Not on purpose mind you, but apparently my brain is trying to make things easier for me now and magnifiers just aren't helping anymore.

I went into my eye exam last year, all prepared to come out with a legitimate prescription for reading glasses.  The optometrist informed me that she could  no longer bring me back to 20/20 and that we would deal with the cataracts first. I was told I could no longer see well enough to drive, and she was sending me off to see the surgeon.  I don't drive anyway, but it's a good thing as the surgeon decided the cataracts were not bad enough to deal with at that time.  I would have gone this entire year without being able to drive.  Mind you, I have an astigmatism and would need distance glasses to drive anyway, so perhaps that's what she meant.

When I went for my eye exam this year, I was told that I could have come back in for the prescription for the glasses anytime.  Huh?  It seems I misunderstood something here, and actually could have had the glasses last year after all.  Maybe I should worry that I'm losing something other than my eyesight.

Now, when faced with a wall of frames, I get very frustrated. There are far too many choices and I have no idea how to pick out something that will be both functional and becoming.  Any advise would be greatly appreciated.