Welcome to the ongoing saga of my family and our attempts to eat right, exercise, lose weight and still enjoy life, while also managing the care and treatment of injuries, chronic conditions, and cancer follow-up. Convinced that a healthy lifestyle and reasonable fitness level is attainable by even the most committed of workaholics, couch potatoes, and those with health issues, join us as we explore food and wellness choices, try to put new habits in place, and hold each other accountable along the way. Healthy food can taste delicious and wellness practices need not be burdensome. At least, that is our hope, especially as we share resources with others who are working to be well.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Caution: Video Game Eyes

Yesterday morning when I awoke, after staying up until 2:30 AM writing an e-mail to a friend, I thought my Saturday activities would be consigned to such home bound chores as laundry, bleaching my dehumidifiers, and preparing my window air conditioner for winter storage.  Instead, I ended up taking my daughter to the eye doctor for an emergency check up.

Eye diagram showing ciliary muscles
On Friday evening, Katherine the Great informed me that she had been experiencing double vision and blurriness for almost a week.  "I thought it would clear up by itself," she said.  Well, it didn't, prompting the aforementioned visit.  After a very thorough examination, the diagnosis was a spasm of accommodation.  Her eye muscles essentially locked themselves into a nearsighted focus due to overuse.  She had been working on her computer, reading a lot for a literature class...and playing a video game on her iPhone a bit too much.  Prescription:  muscle relaxant eye drops (one dose only), rest, and dark glasses to protect her eyes while dilated (a side effect of the eye drops).  In addition, she needs to be much more judicious about taking short breaks when doing close work, like studying, writing on her laptop, or playing a video game (which she really doesn't do all that often, all current evidence to the contrary).

The culprit in this case was an old diversion called Shining Force (1992).  My daughter and her best friend discovered it when they were much younger and were playing it for nostalgia reasons.  Thankfully, his eyes are fine.  He feel terrible, though, that hers reacted badly to their little excursion down memory lane.  Fortunately, Katherine the Great and her vision will be fine.  She just needs to be a bit smarter about her technology use.

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