after 1 1/2 years of screwed up eyesight including intermittent double vision I saw a consultant who suspects a decompensated heterophoria ie a latent squint not being held in check by my fusional reserves . apparently many people have a latent squint but are asymptomatic as the brain compensates for binocular misalignment by using fusion .In my case it is suspected one of two medications I was given ( venlafaxine or pregabalin ) has brought this condition out of the closet and despite discontinuing them over a year ago it doesn’t want to go back in so as to speak. Ironically it seems the drugs I was given for depression and anxiety have worsened the condition for which they were prescribed by screwing up my vision .
After researching around the net I found certain drugs are well known for causing this and numerous other problems ..sometimes irreversible and permanent despite discontinuation . Drug companies deny this as to be expected but it is well documented despite being relatively uncommon.
I am now awaiting an orthoptic assessment but wondered if others had experienced this condition as an adult and how they were treated? cheers Bill

Latent squints manifesting themselves is fairly common. It can be for a number of reasons depending on how well your fusional reserves are holding your binocular vision single. Your horizontal reserves are much greater than vertical, depending on what kind of double vision you’re getting depends on which muscles are not doing their job holding things single.

You’ll need an up to date eye test, sometimes wrong/weak/strong spex may be the problem, a correct refraction is vital before an orthoptic assessment which should then find the cause of the double vision.

You may need eye exercises to improve your binocular control, things like tracking an object to Train your convergence and/or divergence. You may be given prisms in your spex to realign the light with your eyes to make it easier to fuse the images from both eyes. These can either be temporary stick on Fresnel prisms or permanent worked onto the lens of it needs to be more permeant.

You may need a combination of both exercises and prisms, may vary through the year depending on stress levels, tiredness, illness, alcohol consumption, medicationna etc, all may reduce your capacity to maintain the squint as latent.

Hope that helps

Thanks very much ..appreciate the input . It’s really been getting me down and has affected my mental health for a year and a half which has never been great anyhow. I have very poor stress tolerance, sleep terribly and take medication for anxiety/depression so guess am a likely candidate for trouble. Fingers crossed there will be exercises to improve but it’s so up and down I don’t know how a correction using glasses could be ascertained. will report back .
best wishes
Bill