Headaches and eye problems: possible Eye Fatigue.

Dear Ask The Doctor: I have an undiagnosed problem with my eyes relating to a head injury I sustained a number of years ago. I experience headaches mild to severe,fatigue and eye strain especially when I: Am exposed to halogen or fluorescent light (incandescent is okay) Perform eye-hand activities such as playing piano, knitting etc. reading and writing I have done a lot of research with little luck. I am hoping to gain some insight on what is happening and how it might be treated. S.S.

Dear Susan:

It is not likely that the symptoms that you are experiencing now has to do with the head injury, most likely it seems that this eye fatigue issue has to do with excess of activities and the type of light used. The symptoms of eye fatigue are easy to spot but widely ignored as warning signs which may lead to glaucoma or vision loss. The most common symptoms are headaches, irritated, dry or red eyes, temporary blurred vision, slow refocusing abilities, occasional to often doubling of vision, changes in color perception and difficulty seeing at a distance after prolonged computer usage. When feeling tired is caused by eye fatigue, the first thing to do is reduce the amount of strain you are placing on your eye by reducing or changing the amount of near-vision usage of your eyes. Obviously limiting the amount of time you use handhelds, computers and watch TV is the best and first step. Often eye fatigue can be helped with relaxing eye exercises or by resting your eyes for twenty minutes after work. Relaxing your eyes by sitting in the dark with them closed or by cupping your hands gently over your eyes to create darkness is a sure way to reduce your eye tiredness. Other exercises such as forcing your eye to look at far away objects instead of near ones can help too. Even exercises of the neck and shoulders can help relax your eye muscles and reduce strain throughout the day. A number of things could be causing your tiredness besides eye strain, including anxiety, stress, poor diet, lack of physical activity, medical and emotional issues, make sure that that you address them all.