Yes, chemo causes double vision

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AnotherSurvivor
AnotherSurvivor Member Posts: 383 Member
in Head and Neck Cancer #1

I write this as a six month post H&N patient, for posterity.  As I have gotten healthier I have gotten more active outside.  Doing that I thought I was experiencing odd things going on with my vision, but it wasn't consistent, and if I looked at things close by, everything appeared normally.  Yesterday, I sat down with a pair of binoculars and did some experimentation.  I discovered that at distance I experienced double vision.  I believe what may be happening is my right eye no longer tracks the way it used too, but only on things at a distance.  Locally, everything seems normal, probably because the realignment is tiny.  

I went to the web, and lo the first site that comes up is csn.cancer.org.  Problem is, while there is a question as to whether anyone has experienced this, there is no particular answer.  Thus this post:  Yes, I am experiencing double vision after chemo.  Unfortunately, I have no other answers than other web sites say chemo sometimes causes this.  Whether it fixes itself in time, I cannot say, but it is mid-June and my last chemo was late December.  It does distract you from thinking about drymouth.

I'm not sure, optically, what they can do about this.  Local vision this does not happen, so any adjustment to my glasses is not going to be thru magnification change.  

Comments

  • Chicklette
    Chicklette Member Posts: 225
    #2
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    Maybe crystals will help?

    I don't  mean voodoo or anythin, but when I was a kid, I had problems with my eyes and I was given glasses with crystals in them and they corrected the problem...

  • corleone
    corleone Member Posts: 312 Member
    #3
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    If you had Taxol...

    check this:

    http://www.ehealthme.com/ds/paclitaxel/diplopia/

    or this:

    http://factmed.com/study-TAXOL-causing-DIPLOPIA.php

    I didn't have Taxol, so I can't comment from personal experience.

  • AnotherSurvivor
    AnotherSurvivor Member Posts: 383 Member
    #4
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    I had taxol, thanks for the

    I had taxol, thanks for the links.  This thing comes and goes.  This afternoon, no problem at all.  Tonight, the neigbor's house has two very similar front doors.  My kid the EM doc says probably not neurological damage, and should be correctable, see an ophthalmologist.  The problem is going to be which condition to work with. 

  • AnotherSurvivor
    AnotherSurvivor Member Posts: 383 Member
    #5
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    Status update, normal vision

    Status update, normal vision has returned (for now).   During my worst episode I had just returned from 4 days of field work in a dry, dusty, very sunny environment.  My take now is I will become fanatical about doing all the sun exposure tips that opticians recommend for your eyes when you are in dry, dusty, very sunny environments.  Science marches on, and Costco had a $30 coupon for prescription sunglasses.

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,722 Member
    #6
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    twice the information

    AS,

    I did not have platinum based chemo, but ever since my first year post, text seems to run together when I am reading or when I am doing written work.  I have to blink my eyes and force a regen to get back to whatever text or math text or numbers I am working on.

    I also have ringing in the ears and numbness in some fingers and toes and my blood work and doctor appointments are good.  Maybe, it is just age related for me.

    Matt

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