Worn out Tired feeling from New Glasses - for how long?

[neo von retorch]

My glasses are now approaching 5 years old (May 2019).

I went back to the same place in October 2022, had a bunch of bad experiences, and ultimately ended up with $400 drawer dust collectors. I tried this past Jan / Feb 2023 to wear those, but after 6-8 weeks, I still felt like they just wore me out.

So last month after moving, I went to a new eye doctor and got new glasses. I'm about 8-10 days into wearing these, and they leave me feeling like a zombie. So tired. It's noon here, and I'm already ready for bed.

Are all glasses terrible these days? My 5 year old glasses aren't perfect. The coatings wear off, they are scratched, dirty - always dirty, no matter how much I clean them, because of the scratches in coatings, they get dirty again. But I can just wear them and not feel like a zombie. But now I've got 2 pairs of glasses from 2 different places, and I just can't seem to shake the zombie feeling.

[Kathryn K.]

What do you have for a prescription/what are your vision issues? Are these glasses something more complex like bifocals or trifocals?

[neo von retorch]

What do you have for a prescription/what are your vision issues? Are these glasses something more complex like bifocals or trifocals?

Not sure what exact glasses are. Near-sighted and astigmatism. Do not yet have bifocals. Here are my trial contacts prescription.

[Sibley]

That isn't normal. Talk to the eye doctor and describe what's happening.

Edit: That feeling is ok for a week or so while you adjust, but after that it's a sign that its the wrong prescription. You're 8/10 days in, I'd give it a full 2 weeks then get back in to the dr.

[uniwelder]

When I've gone to the optometrist, they've done two completely different exams for the contact prescription vs eyeglass prescription.  When did you get contact lenses?  Are they what you wear normally?  Are the glasses just a backup for the contacts?

[neo von retorch]

When I've gone to the optometrist, they've done two completely different exams for the contact prescription vs eyeglass prescription.  When did you get contact lenses?  Are they what you wear normally?  Are the glasses just a backup for the contacts?

yes - had two different exams. Well no, one exam, then a second appointment where I got trial pairs and tried two of them on.

I have worn nothing but glasses for the past 7 or 8 years, but hope to wear contacts outside of work/computer use time.

[GuitarStv]

I have high prescription glasses for near sightedness and astigmatism.  It usually takes me 2-3 days to fully adjust to a new pair.  If the frames are a significantly different shape than my previous ones, this will take longer (something about distortions in the glass that are in different areas according to my optometrist).  I've twice had problems adjusting to new glasses that lasted more than a week, and both times there was a problem with the prescription.  Once the pupil distance was incorrectly ground into the glasses, and once the prescription itself was off in a lens.

[Cranky]

I just got new glasses - progressives at that. They were immediately better than the old ones, but it took maybe a day for me not to notice them.

I got them at Costco and they warned m that I might not like the way they did a strong prescription like mine, so I also ordered prescription readers which are just wonderful, plus the progressives don’t seem qualitatively different than my last pair.

Anyway, I agree that your experience is unusual and worth talking to the doctor about.

[neo von retorch]

I have high prescription glasses for near sightedness and astigmatism.  It usually takes me 2-3 days to fully adjust to a new pair.  If the frames are a significantly different shape than my previous ones, this will take longer (something about distortions in the glass that are in different areas according to my optometrist).  I've twice had problems adjusting to new glasses that lasted more than a week, and both times there was a problem with the prescription.  Once the pupil distance was incorrectly ground into the glasses, and once the prescription itself was off in a lens.

Sounds more like my experience. 2-3 days was how long it took to adjust to the new prescription. At first it seemed like everything was wavy and when I walked it was like my head was just floating along. But then I was used to it.

The optical center was wrong on this pair, but they redid the lenses so in theory that shouldn't be the problem now.

Both optical techs have experimented with the curvature of the frame / how the two lens curve off my nose. I think maybe they overdid that though. (I was back this afternoon at lunch time for an adjustment.)

Prescription itself mostly seems good, i.e. easy to see things clearly, read text. Though on a 2 x 27" monitor set up for work, as I move my head, the text will "move" based on the curvature of the lenses at any on angle --- and critically I'm not convinced that "perfectly clear text" is at the same angle for both eyes at the same time. So there's probably always one working hard to focus even if the other happens to get a clear shot.

[GuitarStv]

An unfortunate reality for those of us with poor near sightedness and astigmatism is that you will never see perfectly through your whole range of vision with glasses.  Aim for maybe 5-10 degrees of perfect eyesight somewhere near the middle of where you would look forward - that's about the best you can get.

[Dicey]

An unfortunate reality for those of us with poor near sightedness and astigmatism is that you will never see perfectly through your whole range of vision with glasses.  Aim for maybe 5-10 degrees of perfect eyesight somewhere near the middle of where you would look forward - that's about the best you can get.

I'm nearsighted, farsighted, astigmatic and I have glaucoma. I've only had one pair of high-index bifocal lenses that bugged the crap out of me. I went back and they remade them for me. They still weren't perfect, but they were much improved. When they were lost/stolen, I didn't cry, even though they were Kate Spade.

I agree that two weeks is a plenty long adjustment period. If they don't click in another day or three, go back.

[Bee21]

Not normal. It happened to me twice- they gave me the wrong prescription and i wasn't functioning past midday.  Headaches, fatigue  etc.

Go back and ask them to reassess and replace them.

[Blackeagle]

Definitely not normal.

Like others who've posted here, I've had glasses with the wrong prescription.  In my case, they got the axis on my astigmatism correction wrong.  It was bad enough that I barely made it home wearing the new glasses.

[neo von retorch]

Overall it's gotten better since adjusting the nose/bridge curve. Still need to go back for more fit/comfort adjustments, and see if it clears up any more.

[neo von retorch]

After going without wearing the glasses for another week or so, I went back once more. Can't remember if I mentioned it - we did recheck my prescription. They are almost identical to my 5 year old pair except the right eye is one single unit higher prescription which improves my far-sightedness overall.

But anyway this time the tech took the glasses back and had the lenses re-done again this time adjusting the "base curve." Don't know how all that works but I picked them up on Friday. My first impression was very good. They felt comfortable right away, and no weird floating head / fish bowl feeling. Over the past week there have been some real instances of brain fog / fatigue, but I think it's been lessening each day. I think I'm getting used to the new lenses, and I'm optimistic this time they'll stick.

On current vision insurance, next year I can get new lenses and a new frame, so I may try to do that. The optical technician said it will be important to take note of the base curve, and be sure to incorporate that into future lenses since my brain is sensitive to it. (People say "eyes" but I'm telling you, post-concussion these things give me brain fog, and I have learned the difference between brain fatigue and eye strain!)

Also wore my final trial pair of contact lenses and that was mostly good but still felt less than 100%, and by the end of the night, my eyes do feel strain probably from drying out. But they are definitely overall good contact lenses and I'm happy to have them. About to put a pair in for a social night with friends.

[Sibley]

Glad its getting better. Also, the more you figure out what works/doesn't work, the easier it'll be in future.

[GreenSheep]

Related to this... the guy who runs endmyopia.org is like the Mr. Money Mustache of eyes. Sounds like a crazy scam, but the information is all free (unless you want to buy his hand-holding program that will walk you through everything), so you can educate yourself and decide for yourself. I've improved my vision over the past year and a half, halving the strength of my prescription. While you're stepping down from one strength to the next, you can get glasses on Amazon for $17. In another two years, if things continue to go as they have been, I should be free of glasses/contacts forever, and apparently I'm far from alone. He has a lot of success stories.