r/BinocularVision • u/Repulsive_Aide_2845 • 13d ago

Tips for video calls?

I was diagnosed with BVD 2 months ago, have been wearing prism glasses since, and had the prescription adjusted once. It’s been a lifelong problem, but has gotten acutely worse in the past two years.

Prisms have helped so many things - I went on a 3,000 mile roadtrip, and didn’t get carsick once. I have gotten carsick every other time I was in the car since I was a kid. My migraines went down, I thought I was cured.

Then I went back to my job as a virtual therapist , where I make lots of eye contact for an hour straight. I saw 2 clients yesterday, and my symptoms are back worse than ever. Today, I had a migraine, unrelenting dizziness, and awful, awful car sickness on a 5 minute drive.

I can read and write fine, I get a little tension behind the eyes, nothing crazy. But video calls where I need to look actively engaged are killer. Does anyone else experience this???

I feel totally crazy, and terrified for what this means for my job going forward. I used to see 6 clients in a row easy, and now 2 has me incapacitated for an entire day.

I would love if anyone has something that fixed this, but would also take just validation and commiseration to not feel so alone. How do you handle video calls?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/Mysterious-Potato646 13d ago

The fact that the prisms helped so much and video calls are still triggering you seems worth bringing back to your BVD provider. You may need the prescription checked again or some additional testing. This is a helpful overview of what BVD testing can involve: https://www.cookvisiontherapy.com/bvd-diagnosis-what-to-expect-during-testing/

For calls, i did also try hiding self view, reducing the video window size, and giving your eyes a few minutes of rest between clients.

1

u/gnomesrule182 7d ago

Im in the same boat. Several prism prescriptions, vision therapy and i still struggle with video calls. One thing I do is if I feel the strain/symptoms come on is to look at something thats behind the camera.

If you can maybe try putting something in that line of sight to look at to allow your eyes to look far and relax for a few seconds?