fluorescent light sensitivity

[otmom]

Hi Everyone,
I have been experiencing sensitivity to florescent lights ever since my bout with optic neuritis. It effects me in the gym, grocery stores, malls, offices, etc. I found a great solution that worked for me and would like to share it with you all who have the same problem... I ordered brown 10% tint lenses in a lightweight frame so I can exercise with them and they are fabulous! Mine are plano lenses but they can be prescription as well. They are not dark enough to impair vision for reading as well. It may not work for everyone but I hope it helps some.

Lights are my poison

Somewhere on here previously I mentioned that the first symptoms I had as a child was flourescent light sensitivity. And of course after my big ON attack of 2001: any kind of light just about killed me. I lived in vampire land. (dark)....yes and all kinds of clever sunglasses work for the pain of light and irritation of light. However, in my case they did not make the blindness go away in the massive area of my left eye. This is a concept that may be hard to understand: why do the sunglasses "work" but why do they not stop the blindness. ....not even the thick black kind that I wore at first. At first any light of all even as small as a match was like being stabbed. Nobody takes the time to really explain all of this to you when this happens. A lot of it you discover by yourself so thank you for mentioning this for all the others. Now after 9 years of healing my vision block caused by light is almost totally better except in brightest light. Yet still lights bother me.

[Redwings]

Hi otmom:
Thanks for sharing your experience. You're quite right that tints/filters don't work for everyone, but in the cases where they do work they can make a big difference in someone's quality of life.

Just to give you an example, my background is in vision rehabilitation. So the first thing I tried after a nasty case of ON really debilitated one eye was a series of tints/filters that are known to help a lot of people with the glare and "uncoordination" of neurological damage. In a great stroke of irony, the tints didn't work for me. They instead filtered out the wavelengths of light that were working and the useful vision I did have. But I did find that polarized -- instead of just tinted -- sunglasses worked well for me outdoors.

Ophthalmologists seem to forget about physiological optics as soon as they leave residency, so most of them aren't up on the effects of tints and filters, particularly those that help with neurological vision problems. But for optometrists, optics are like bread and butter. Not every optometrist has the kind of patient base that allows them to stay on top of tints and filters, but most of them should be able to help with selecting a tint/filter for someone with sensitivity to fluorescent lighting. It could be worth looking into.

[bigfoot14]

Otmom

The reason the brown tint works for you is that brown is one of the best colors for blocking UV rays....this is the reason most beer comes in brown bottles
UV rays interact with the hops and skunk the beer...which is why I never use clear or green bottles when I bottle a new batch of beer (yes I brew my own)

[fishead]

Anyone with light sensitivity who DOESNT have ON?

For the last 3-4 yrs, I have had HARSH light sensitivity in right eye (and not so harsh sensit. in left). After many visits to 3 diff optho's, it was "concluded" I do not have O.N.

BUT the "light sensitivity" remains, so I am curious if anyone else has been assured they do NOT have O.N., but still have the pain in eye(s) with bright lights?

[poorsprout]

This post just floors me!! It's one of those Ah Ha moments! For years, I had so much trouble with florescent lights and it seemed that no one else really "got it" so I never really thought much about it. I would try to grocery shop and if the store had florescent lights, I became virtually blind.

I was not diagnosed with MS until my late 40's but maybe this was an early symptom???

I have been told that I had ON at one time but really don't remember any symptoms.

Sorry that I am not adding much to the post but this is the first time that I have seen this symptom acknowledged. Really makes me wonder how long I have been experiencing symptoms but never really knew what was happening!

Ah Ha!!

[cosake]

This is an AHA for me too !

I have always had light sensitivity - I don't like it completely dark, but I don't like it super-bright.

I had ON for the first time (that I know of) in Jan-2010.

Just last week at my son's school, we were in a classroom with the fluorescent lights on a low ceiling. I just about put my sunglasses on. Now that I think about it, I am squinting in other places -- like the grocery store -- but it didn't really hit me until now that I do that.

I wear my sunglasses on cloudy, snowy, rainy days, until it gets dark. I've sometimes worn them inside stores and not realized I hadn't taken them off.

Thanks !

[charliesmom]

thank you

thank you guys so much for making me not feel like a freak!! I keep trying to explain to my husband why I have a hard time in big stores and I didn't even why. If I am in a store for more than 20 minutes or so it seems like I can no longer see movement correctly out of my left eye. That can be dangerous while trying to navigate a grocery cart around a corner in a busy store!! Any longer than 20 or 30 minutes and I begin to get very anxious. Next month when I go for an eye exam I will definitely ask about tints and filters that might help.

C's

[newidme]

I GOT A GRAY TINT IN MY GLASSES AND LOVE IT - - I HATE THE SUN - NO SUN 4 ME, PLEAS - - OR FLO LGHTS! TY OT

Me again

About tinted glasses: I have a collection of almost 300 pairs of tinted glasses of every possible type. Problem is I also have "eyeglass psychosis". And that has got to be a new one!!! I can never find my eyeglasses..and I break all of them. When I was really sick for years after big ON attack of 2001, I was an absolute eyeglass nut. I had hundreds of pairs but every minute of the day I could not find them. It still happens on a smaller scale. and yes, you are right some kinds of sunglasses work better than others. Problem is in my case that for every type of light (in fog, smog, rain, bright, partial, etc) I need a different kind of sunglasses. my last eye doctor after he did the tests and read my file reports from the big ophthalneurolgist (another thing I can never get these words right)....he said "well if I had known you really have ON I could have ordered you sunglasses".... Oh thanks for believing me only after the tests........otherwise I am supposed to be lying about my vision problem.

[Kimkat99]

Ah ha here too!!! I am glad I am not alone. I have had MS for 30+ years and I have not been on here in eons. I went to the mall with a friend yesterday, and realized why I had stopped going. Also stores that have reflective mirrors in fixtures. I have always gotten dizzy and dusoriented. My walking got worse. Next time I get glasses, I will try tints!
thank you!
Kim