Thanks for posting this, Jan. It's interesting for me, as, even at the ripe old age of 60, and having learned that so many things I had experienced in my life are actually related to my MC, I still learn more all the time.

My eyes, which have fairly complex issues anyway, have been seeming less controlled, more blurred - but in a different way than the 51 or 52 years that I've worn glasses, and also in a different way than since my myopia transformed into presbyopia. I've had near and far-sightedness for years, as well as astigmatisms, and a quirky little thing called essential iris atrophy. I have very light-sensistive eyes, early stage cataracts, a detached vitreous in one eye, and significantly dry eyes. But in the last year or so, even with new glasses, I constantly feel as if my eyes won't focus, and everything is smudgy. The eye doctor thinks (of course) that I am just being picky, whiny or unrealistic, but after 53 years of dealing with my eye problems, I think I know better. So I wonder if the other things going on with me, like FM, might just be weakening me overall, and my eyes aren't able to compensate for the MC now?

What do you think?

Type of Myotonia: MC- Becker's type

Country: USA

I think most people our age, unfortunately, start having chronic eye problems. However I have never been able to wear glasses...my vision seems to constantly change, probably because of the MC, so a prescription might be fine one day and awful the next!

Sometimes the progressive/graduated lenses can cause problems and people just can't adjust. They drove my husband nuts and he found out it's not that uncommon (he has astigmatism).

A shift in things like calcium/phosphorus metabolism can cause focusing issues. This can be related to new medications, especially if they cause other symptoms like dry mouth.

Brad Wakeman sent me some additional information as we were corresponding. Maybe you can find a neuro-opthamologist to help sort it out:

UNFORTUNATELY, MANY OPTOMETRISTS AND A LOT OF GENERAL OPHTHALMOLOGISTS GLOSS OVER EYE MOVEMENT TESTING AND ALIGNMENT TESTING. THEY ARE GREAT AT DOING INTERNAL EYE EXAMS AND PICKING OUT THE 'CHRISTMAS TREE' CATARACTS IN MD AS YOU MENTIONED, BUT PAINFULLY FEW WILL DO A DETAILED OCULAR MOTILITY EXAM AS PART OF A ROUTINE EYE EXAM. YOU MUST TELL THEM THAT YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH YOUR EYE MOVEMENTS OR DOUBLE VISION. BE SURE TO TELL THEM THAT YOU HAVE MC AND WHAT IT IS, THAT IT MAY BE AFFECTING YOUR EYE MOVEMENTS AND EYELIDS, AND THAT YOU WANT A DETAILED BASELINE OCULAR MOTILITY EXAM OR TO BE REFERRED TO SOMEONE WHO CAN IF POSSIBLE.

YOUR BEST BET IS A PEDIATRIC OR A NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGIST- THEY ARE THE EXPERTS IN THIS FIELD. UNFORTUNATELY, MC AND NDM'S ARE SO RARE, I CAN ALMOST GUARANTEE YOU THEY WON'T BE FAMILIAR AT ALL WITH THESE DISORDERS. I WORK WITH 2 OCULAR GENETICISTS AND AN AMAZING NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGIST WHO ALL KNOW THE MOST OBSCURE GENETIC EYE DISORDERS, BUT NONE OF THEM HAD A CLUE ABOUT THOMSEN'S MYOTONIA... OUR REPORTS ARE EASILY FOUND ON PUBMED NOW, SO HOPEFULLY PRACTITIONERS WILL BE ABLE TO COME UP TO SPEED QUICKLY.

Type of Myotonia: Thomsen's

Country: US