Glasses only work for 5 min

oh happened to see your comment and a friend of my adult child I met a few years ago kept moving his eyeglasses and sort of squinting etc. and I remember him saying he has to keep adjusting his glassses because of such and. such problem - not sure would help your Grampa but will ask him about it if I can on facebook as he is still far away friend of family.... does seem odd that his (your Grampa) can see ok for short time - I wonder why too! Best of luck on here...

..oh haven't heard back from friend about his problem.... just wondering, sorry I cannot help, just some ideas as I have narrow angle glaucoma, dry eyes, and laser years ago re vitreous; have had on and off double vision etc: even sometimes wake up and lit alarm clock, phone, ipad just a blur, then gets better ... have dry eyes: hope you get some comments from readers on here who might have suggestions, but it is odd he can see ok for five minutes before problems... wouldn't co-incide with his taking some medication before starting to read? or eye drops? or the light he is reading by? etc. Having to change his prescription mid-way ... surely the optician has some idea what it could be? I feel for your relative as so stressful having eye issues.

Gee, thanks! Yeah, I'd never heard of anything like this before and wonder if there's a chance of extending out those 5 minutes! He doesn't take eye drops; I don't know if there are other meds that he routinely takes right before reading.

@geekygirl9 I think everyone has a dominant eye. Do you think that could be it, and that adjusting the prescription may be causing the other eye to switch and become dominant? With macular degeneration too, there could be a switch to a dominant eye if one part of the retina in one eye isn't functioning well and the brain knows to make the adjustment and switch dominance. I don't have macular degeneration. At one time when I had contacts, one was set for distance vision and the other set for near vision and I just got used to that. With reading, the eyes also have to be able to converge for closer vision, and if they don't do that well, it can cause double vision. My eyes don't converge perfectly, and I know when I have had eye tests for this, I sometimes see something changing position or changing sides when the doctor is asking what side of line are you seeing their light that they keep moving.

Hi "Geeky Girl" !

I have a few ideas:

1. Over the counter, moisturizing eye drops. I use Systane brand now, after trying a few different brands. They are kind of expensive, so check to see if your grandpa's health insurance covers them.
He should use them a lot, but try them before he tries to read.
Warm compresses can also help, if the problem is dry eyes, which can be caused or aggravated by a lot of different medicines.

2. New glasses that are made by a good optometrist. I got my first pair of progressive lenses at one of the big chains, and they were awful. A good optometrist in my neighborhood made me a pair that did work. He showed me how the big chain lenses weren't placed properly in the frames so my eyes were unable to coordinate.

3. A pair of glasses just for reading, not a progressive lens. You may be able to get an inexpensive pair at the drugstore, depending on his prescription. If he has astigmatism, then drug store glasses may not work. Again, check his insurance. You can take grandpa to the store to try different ones on, or buy a few different ones with different magnifications, and then take back to the store the ones that don't work.

I don't know if any of these ideas will work, but they are relatively inexpensive and relatively easy since they don't require a doctor's appointment.

I think it is wonderful that you are trying to help your grandpa this way! Macular degeneration is a hard burden to carry... Bless you! And good luck to both you and grandpa!

Haha- You tell grandpa that he needs to add you to his "things to be grateful for" list.

Hi again, sorry did not hear back from that person i recall having eye issues, but now recall he was sort of pushing his finger to outside of eye at different times and different places around either eye and he explained that what he had he would need many different lenses to see properly but instead moved his eye - this was years ago - and I think I recall this correctly I will still try and reach him although may not be same problem he is younger, but never know might give a clue; in the meantime I sure hope your Grampa gets some help - i have eye issues and a problem at the moment but not as bad so can sympathize with you trying to help him... sorry could not be of more help. J

Hi, Valerie, thanks anyway; I appreciate your trying to help out like this! Good luck managing your eye issues. I can relate a little bit to the dry eye and double vision, although mine's improving as my lenses move lower in my eyes.

Have you tried the Magnifying glasses advertised on TV. I purchased a pair and they are great. They have a light you can use while reading, and it makes such a difference, and the magnification makes reading very simple. Cost is great, I think it was $29.00.
Gina5009

hi gina5009 ... just read your note and such a good idea about magnifying glass that lights up, i always forget to mention things like that.. keep one on beside table as spend quite a bit of time "on" bed (not in it) doing paperwork etc. and so handy and you are so right about the light , mine has tiny lights around edge forget where I got it, maybe a gift to me as I probably would look for one in the dollar store! lol makes a great gift! I also sometimes use it as a flashlight to go downstairs during night to warm up heating pad and dont want to put light on and wake spouse!