Astigmatism: The Struggle Is Real

When I was in high school, I have my classmates who were wearing eyeglasses and I thought it was so cool to wear them because you'll look like a geek or genius.

There was a time in fourth-year high school where we wear eyeglasses but the catch is, we take off our lenses so technically what we wear is only the frame. Such a jeje decision. We thought we were so cool back then but when I think of it today, it was totally disgusting.

Upon entering college, I was torn between choosing Nursing and IT. I was supposed to choose Nursing as my course because I like medical stuff and I.T. After all, that course was so in demand at that time. So I end up choosing I.T because the tuition fee for Nursing is too expensive.

We stare at our laptops for almost 24 hours every day. From 1st year to 3rd year, my eyes were still doing fine. Although there were times when I get eye strains but subsides after I sleep overnight.

In my 4th year in college, I remember that was on December 22 or 23. I was staring at the computer desktop of my cousin because I was doing my research for a certain subject when I suddenly felt like I'm about to fall on the ground. Like literally losing balance. Honestly, I have been feeling discomfort for quite a while at that time but it was the least of my concerns since there are requirements to comply for the finals.

I have been feeling nauseous and I felt like I'm always floating. I have been ignoring it for hours but I knew that it's getting serious. I knew that I was about to throw up so I hurriedly went to the comfort room, almost losing my balance. My direction was going sideways and the gravity was just focused on the other side. I felt like it was dragging me to the ground but I managed to reach the comfort room and let it all out. I was so shocked because I vomited and my nose was bleeding at the same time.

I had myself get checked on that night and the diagnosis was vertigo. The doctor gave me prescriptions and took them for a week. But I know something doesn't still feel right so I went to the optometrist and had my eyes get checked. She asked me about the symptoms I felt and I told her that I have constant headaches particularly above the eyebrows, my eyes are always tired and when I face the computer I always feel like vomiting.

So there, she checked my eyes and I got my correctional eyeglasses. She told me there's still a chance to recover from it but slim. The reason why I got astigmatism is because of too much exposure from radiation, eye strain, and lack of vitamins. From then on, I always have my eyeglasses with me. It's my eyes.

I thought wearing eyeglasses was cool but it's not. At first, my eyes were still adjusting but eventually, I got used to it.

Struggles of having Astigmatism

1. You're partially blind.

Good thing there wasn't a time it happened to me when I'm out for an errand and I forgot to wear my eyeglasses. I couldn't imagine if that happens, it will be the worst.

I have friends who also have astigmatism and it happened to them that they forgot to wear their eyeglasses. Some people would call them snub because they don't recognize them while their friends are saying hi to them. Our apologies for the friends we can't recognize from afar because of this condition. Haha

2.You can't go sideways (when wearing eyeglasses) while in bed

This has always been a struggle. Before I sleep, I always see to it that I have enough time to the online world. 8 pm onwards is intended for screen time and 10:30 should be the time to sleep. So when I lie in bed, it's natural to switch positions from time to time but going sideways will always be an issue because it will look like this.

3.Foggy eyeglasses

Since the pandemic started, people wearing eyeglasses were greatly affected by the protocol. Since everyone is required to wear a mask, someone who wears eyeglasses like me finds it hard to fit the mask to our faces so we can avoid foggy eyeglasses. This is such a hassle. As for me, I need to tie the ends of the face mask so it will fit perfectly on my face so that no air could up to my eyes resulting in foggy eyeglasses.

I hope someone will invent something like this. 😆

Anyway, I was inspired to write this because I need my eyes to get checked and have my glasses replaced again because it has been 2 years since I had my last checkup and I'm pretty sure that my eye grade increased.

Thanks for reading!

Keep safe everyone. ❤