Give prisms, vision therapy a shot

[Janevece]

I have been working with Dr. Padula since the Omaha conference last year with very good results. My energy level is very good. My ability to do things in standing is definitely improved. The combination of the lenses in my glasses and vision therapy have dramatically improved my quality of life.
It is time for someone else to give Dr Padula a try. We will never know if his approach is going to work for others unless
someone gives him a shot. He is very interested in OT.
I will monitor this page in case anyone has questions.
Thanks
Jane Vece

[brittasmom]

Hi Jane. Glad to hear that you are doing well. I’m interested in the type of visual therapy that you do. I tried one that I found online but didn’t know whether to do it with my prisms on or without. So I wore my prism glasses, but then gave up and quit.

Linda and I met for the first time over lunch a few months ago. We had so much to talk about our experience with prism glasses and the change it made in our daily activities. Dr. Skelsey is also interested in OT and helping others in the Kansas City area.

It’s been a year now that I’ve been wearing prisms. I was able to do some gardening today that I absolutely could not have done before. My leg tremors are minimum. Of course they increase as I get tired, but I know my limits.

Hoping also others will give Dr. Padula a try.

Nancy

[Catherine]

How lucky you all are to be living in USA when it comes to solutions like this. Even though I would not live anywhere else but Ireland it is such a small country when it comes to these sort of problems I would say that the "specialists" in this area would be to put it mildly rare if not non existent - and if there are they have all gone to work in the US!

[lla]

Hi Jane and Nancy,

I am so glad to hear how good both of you are doing. My results are just like yours. Stress and fatigue are still a factor, but so much less than they were. I am doing things I haven't done for years and going places by myself without the fear I had for so long. Some days I even forget about the tremors.

Like Nancy, I am interested in the visual therapy. How much do you feel it has helped you? More than just the glasses or do you think it's the combination of the two? I have so much improvement with the glasses, but I would really like to try the therapy. Is Dr. Padula interested in working with someone who already has the prism glasses?

I would like to have any information about the vision therapy you can give me.

Linda

[adrianoconnor]

Hi Linda. Hope you are well. I am very pleased for you and your success. I am in the process getting prisms sorted. I went to my optometrist and got prisms, but did not know at the time, they should be equal strengths in each eye. I have since gone back and am awaiting for my equal strength prisms. I was wondering what strength you were prescribed, just for reference. My problem is that the only information I have is that which people have kindly put on the forum. You can imagine how difficult it is to tell your optometrist what you are trying to achieve. I know they normally prescribe prisms to balance the eyes. Not in our case, sending a message to the brain.It would be great if one of the professional out there producesed a paper on the subject.
Thank you for posting and sharing you info.
Hope you have continued success.

Best wishes Adrian O'Connor,Ireland

[Janevece]

My eye exercises are unique and hard to describe. They consist of saccadic eye movements in various postures, focusing on different points in the room. I have exercises to correct my posture while looking at and manipulating a "Padula Transformation Cube". Posture, balance and eye movements seem to be closely related. At times I can feel the right side of my body relax and the tremor simply stop. It is a great feeling. A good posture is key, although only a piece of the puzzle.
Jane

[lla]

Hi Jane and Adrian,

Thank you, Jane, for the information. I can understand your comment about posture, balance, and eye movements. Also, how each of us have a different diagnosis so our vision therapy would be different. I would like to try vision therapy but that is a long way to come and not sure how long I would need to stay. It does sound like Dr. Padula is covering all areas.

Adrian,
My prism is 5. (2.5 in each eye). Wishing you the best of luck.

Linda

[adrianoconnor]

Hi Linda. Thanks for the information. My optometrist is trying 3 in each eye. So we will see (excuse the pun) what happens. Regards Adrian

[Foster]

Hi Jane & Everyone, I took your advice & have been in contact with Dr. Padula via email for the past several weeks, he has been very responsive & helpful with my situation & I will see him in the fall when we are at our US home in Palm Springs. Just a brief history of eye disorders I seem to have & notice from reading posts on this site others seem to have similar issues. I just use glasses for reading & driving presently, however I am a carrier of a gene called congenital nestagmus, my younger brother & both our sons were born with it (eyes move back & forth all the time, no cure, glasses just correct to maybe 60/70% of the normal) no one else in the family has it,interestingly our oldest son has a twin sister, her eyes are fine. Also I have the watery eyes Gloria speaks of & blurry vision where I have to shake my head to focus. Another interesting disorder I have is visual hallucinations (seeing things that are not there while driving at night, our daughter that is a twin has the same thing) it is even happening during the day in bad weather conditions. Dr. Padula feels the hallucinations & OT are related & can be corrected with prisms. I am 69 yrs. & have had OT for 20 yrs. just getting much worse in the past few yrs. I also have a cousin who is 87 yrs. & has had OT for as long as myself.
So I look forward to seeing Dr. Padula & any information anyone has would be great to know about
Shirley

[golfnut]

Dear OT friends,
I've now read through all the Eye prism threads and have had a small Eureka-moment. It's rather funny how long it takes for the ball to drop (hope that's the right expression..)

I am very nearsighted (-9.5 and -8.5) and as you see there is a whole diopthry difference. On top of this some astigmatism.
Now - my eureca moment is that perhaps a eye disorder causing OT doesn't have to be "movement related in the eye" - perhaps the difference in nearsightedness can also be a cause?!

Luckily I am meeting an eye-specialist tomorrow, a family friend. I'll ask her opinion and see if I can get a referral to the prism-specialists here in Stockholm, Sweden. I will keep you posted of course.

Warm regards
the nut

[Lake of the Woods]

Hello everyone,
I am reporting on my experience with prism glasses and I will give you my suggestion on what we should do next. I am also giving you some brief info on the 3 OT people who have had very good luck using prism glasses to help their OT as this will make you more informed and may be useful.

I worked with my optometrist on getting prism glasses – if I was closer to Dr. Skelsey or Dr. Padula I would have not hesitated to see them. I have not had any luck using the prisms but am definitely not giving up. Before I go further with this, I would like to get more feedback from others who have tried prisms. What I would really like to see is – some OT people go to Dr. Skelsey and Dr. Padula to see if these doctors can help them using prisms.

My optometrist phoned Dr. Skelsey and Dr. Skelsey said he felt like it was “luck” helping Nancy and Linda but I feel he is being modest. Maybe it was luck with Nancy as she was the first one, but he did know that using prisms may help her balance problem initially. Also, by the time Linda went to him he already has some knowledge on what to look for in the exam.

Dr. Padula is quite specialized in this area and has written a book on his specialty. In it he talks about how prisms have helped people with neurological balance problems.

We definitely need to pursue this further and hopefully we will get some people willing to go and see either of these doctors and report back to the OT community.

Peggy
Eye problem – I worked with my Optomotrist and he only found a slight problem with one eye when he was doing a test – Horizontal Phoria – my recovery to base was abnormal.

Prisms – We decided that I would try a 2.5 prism – Base Out – I noticed no difference in my tremors after wearing them for 3 weeks but plan to return and try again.

Nancy
Eye problem – Esophoria (one eye turns in) – she has a 5 prism in each eye with Base Out. Note that Nancy has said that she went to Dr. Skelsey for 10 yrs before he noticed she had this problem and it wasn’t until she mentioned to him that she also had a balance problem (OT) he decided to try her with prisms and she had success. She feels it was obviously not that easy to detect. Nancy initially used a 10 prism in each eye and her tremors ceased completely but she could not function with this high a prism. During the trial testing, the technicians tried a stronger strength prism in her eye that has Esophoria and a weaker in the other eye. That did not help her tremors. When she went back to equal strength of prism in each eye the tremors stopped.
Note that a specialist needs to first detect a problem with the eye movement (that’s what Dr. Skelsey told Nancy). That will determine the Base position of the prism. This has to be quite precise to work according to each individual’s condition.

Linda
Eye problem – Exophoria (one eye turns out) – she has a prism of 2.5 Base In – in both lens – “change has been wonderful she says”. Note that Linda had come to Omaha and heard Jane and Nancy tell about their success

My name is Jane Vece
I went to see Dr William Padula in September of 2013. He is a neurooptometrist, clinician and researcher. He is head of the Padula Institute of Vision Rehabilitation in Guilford Ct.

He prescribed a new set of glasses for me, not knowing I had OT. (I did not tell him. I saw no need) I had been wearing prisms in my glasses for many years.
He prescribes lenses not only to correct vision, but to correct gait, posture and balance. (Vision, posture, gait and balance are closely related.) These lenses were different than any I had ever had.
When I put the glasses on the tremor was gone.
I remained COMPLETELY tremor free for about 2 months. The tremor gradually returned, not as intense, but still there.
Dr Padula had suggested in the beginning that I would need vision rehab. I am now receiving that therapy with very good and interesting results.
The tremor is not completely gone, but I am able to do so much more than before.
I cannot say enough about the positive experience I have had at his office. The staff is wonderful. Dr Padula is kind, compassionate and ready to help anyone with OT.


Dr. Skelsey is an ophthalmologist and partners with Silverstein Eye Centers, Independence, Missouri.
Contact information:
Kevin Skelsey, MD, FACS
1741 Ne Douglas St
Suite 100
Lees Summit, MO 64086
Phone: (816) 246-2111
Fax: (816) 246-2181
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Dr William Padula
203-453- 2222.
Padula Institute of Vision Rehabilitation
Guilford, Ct
203-453-2222

Please report back if you plan to follow up with this.

Peggy

[Lake of the Woods]

Hello everyone,
This is a follow-up to my previous email. There were a couple of important things I neglected to think of when sending it.

One was that some of you never got to hear the prism presentation. The second was that I was trying to keep the email short and to the point by telling you the outcome of their visit to either Dr. Pascal or Dr. Skelsey. I thought it would be helpful for you to know the diagnosis and prism info he came up with.

I forgot to impress upon you this important fact – Nancy and Linda had NO KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR EYE PROBLEMS UNTIL THEY VISITED DR. SKELSEY. Jane is different as she had eye issues since birth but since seeing Dr. Pascal – he also found he could help her tremors using prisms.

I asked Nancy and Linda to pls put in words – How they went to see Dr. Skelsey without knowledge of eye problems and what he did – this should help you realize how important it is – in my opinion – FOR ALL OT people to be looking into this.

I went to an Optomotrist who would not have this knowledge but I thought it was a start. Once I get some more feedback from others after they go to Dr. Skelsey, I try one more time with my Optomotrist and if no luck, I will probably go to see Dr. Skelsey (unless I can find a “Dr. Skelsey” in Canada)

NANCY’s STORY
I have had an eye exam annually by Dr. Skelsey, an ophthalmologist, for the last 10 years. He keeps a check on my high eye pressure caused from Glaucoma. Each exam includes a cover test with the spoon to check for any irregularities in the eye movement. I did not know that I had Esophoria (eye turns in) until I gave Dr. Skelsey the information of “What is OT” and Jane’s information of Dr. Padula helping her OT with prism glasses. After I explained OT and he read Jane’s information, he once again did the spoon test and detected my Esophoria. So it must not have been very pronounced, that he wasn’t able to find it in the past 10 years, until he knew what he was specifically looking for.
Therefore, others with OT may have this hidden eye movement defect without knowing it. I never could feel my eye moving towards the center. But now when I take my prism glasses off, I can feel my eye draw towards my nose. I did have a problem with fine focus while reading and doing close up work, even with my trifocals on. Prism lens have corrected this along with a great relief of leg tremors.
LINDA’s STORY
When I went to Dr. Skelsey, I really had no idea what was being done with prisms that would give me the results that Nancy and Jane had experienced. I knew nothing about their specific conditions or what the doctor would look for. I just knew I wanted to get as much relief from OT as I could.

I have worn trifocals for quite a few years and never realized anything else was wrong. The tech that examined me first could find nothing wrong with my eyes, but said the doctor might be able to find something, when he examined me.

Next was the exam with Dr. Skelsey. He spent, what seemed like a long time to me, examining my eyes. That is when he found the exophoria (my eye turning out) in my right eye. He said he just barely caught it. I was then fitted with a device that measured how much prism I could tolerate. When he was satisfied with the prism strength, I was allowed to walk in the building and even walked around outside. What a wonderful experience! Immediate relief!

As I have said before, I still have times when I have tremor, but nothing like before. It seems to be when I get stressed or tired. At other times, I forget all about having OT. I go and do things that I haven't been able to do for years.

When I started this process, I didn't know of any problem I had with my eyes; but I am so glad that I took the chance and went for my prism glasses.

.........................................................
Please keep myself and others on the forum informed about anything you discover in regards to this.

Peggy

[larcon4243]

Hi, My name is Larry Shafer. I attended the Omaha OT conference in 2014. I decided to investigate prism glasses after attending the session concerning them. I had an appointment for my yearly checkup, last week, with my regular optometrist in Lafayette, Indiana. Armed with a copy of the description of OT and copies of the testimonials from the ladies who have tried prisms I felt prepared to discuss my disability with him. Of course, my wife was either dragging or pushing me all the way!!! She even had to go into the examination room with me to make sure I left out nothing!! She knows me too well. He did several tests that are not a part of his normal exam. As a result I am going to try a 1.5 prism -base out. The glasses will be in the first of next week. I notice some of you are wearing 2.5 and 5.0, so I don't know if a 1.5 will help me but I felt it was a place to start. If I don't have any success with these, then I will decide whether to go to Dr. Skelsey or Dr. Padula. I will let you know how things turn out.

[Nin]

I too am going to try it out. I have an appointment with Dr. Padula for later in July. I have no idea if it will help, but I know if I don't try it, I'll always wonder if it would have helped. I'll let you all know how it goes. At the least it will be an interesting trip to Connecticut!

[Lake of the Woods]

Very glad to hear people are checking this out - it really is important!

Because I am such a distance from either doctors, I am waiting to get more feedback and then will probably go to see one of them - will decide once I get this feedback.

Peggy