Well, it's finally happened. I need glasses.
Hey guys, welcome back to the Dr. Cliff AuD VLOG.
This is VLOG number 149 and today I wanna talk to you, not about hearing aids,
I wanna talk to you about glasses, but before I do,
if you could do me a huge favor, click that like button.
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And if you have not yet subscribed to this channel with notifications turned on,
go ahead and do that as well. I really appreciate it. So let's, um,
let's rewind a little bit here I am finally at the point now where I believe
that I need glasses to treat my vision. And if we rewind about,
whew, six or seven years, I went through, boy,
what year is it? Uh, 10 years. If we rewind 10 years at this point,
I was in my first year of grad school and for whatever reason,
I don't know what the reason was,
I ended up getting a bunch of migraines within a few weeks of each other.
Um, I think I got five in two weeks and it was miserable.
And I was thinking at the time that it could have been something related to my
vision. Uh, I didn't notice any vision difficulties,
but I've heard that some people, if you have, you know,
some uncorrected vision loss, that you could end up getting migraines from it.
So I went into an optometrist 10 years ago, got tested and they said,
you don't have any vision loss. Your vision is fine.
I don't remember exactly what my, it is 2020 or whatever,
but they said it was fine at that time. So I'm like, okay,
so that is not the cause of the migraines. Fast forward, I graduated,
I started my clinic in the first year of starting applied Hearing Solutions.
I got another like three migraines in a one week time period. And I'm like,
what the heck is going on here? And at that point I did notice that my left
eye wasn't functioning as well as my right eye.
Now if you know anything about me, you know that I was a scout sniper.
Vision is huge. , you need to be able to see to shoot. And I had really,
really good vision in both of my eyes at that point in time. Um,
but I've noticed that my left eye has been lagging behind.
So I mentioned this to my, my primary care doctor and they had me do the,
you know, read the letters on the wall and they're like,
your vision's fine with your left eye and your right eye. And I'm like, okay.
So I just let it go again. And here, this last week,
I ended up getting two migraines. In fact, if I rewind maybe like two months,
two months ago I got a migraine. And then I got another migraine a week ago.
And then I got another migraine like two days ago. And so I'm like, man,
what the heck is going on?
And I don't know if it's due to my vision or if it's due to neck strain or
stress or whatever the case may be. I don't feel stressed out, but um,
I just need to get to the bottom of whatever is causing these migraines.
And so when I texted my wife Ashley, like, Hey, I'm getting another migraine.
Cause I usually get blind spots in my eyes before the migraine hits. Um,
she ended up scheduling an appointment with an optometrist.
And so the writing is on the wall. And it's not that I've been avoiding it,
it's just that I haven't noticed any difficulty from a vision perspective.
But in the past couple of weeks, I've, I've really noticed like, man, what is,
what is going on? Um,
if I kind of look off to the left side and my nose blocks the,
some of the vision from my right eye,
things are not as clear when it's just my left eye. And,
and I'll be like driving and I'll be at a stoplight and I'll close one eye
versus the other and just kind of look at signage off the, uh, of the way. And,
um, my left eye, it's really blurry and my right eye eye can see it fine.
And then when I open up both eyes, it looks crystal clear.
But I still think that that mismatch of my vision and it not being as good in my
left eye, I think that's contributing potentially some to my migraines now.
Um, I had Kelsey, my exter inside the clinic, she wears glasses and she's like,
Hey,
try my glasses on and see if it helps. Now she I think has like astigmatism.
I don't really even know what that means.
I have to do a lot more research on vision loss. Uh, I know a lot about hearing,
I know very little about vision. Um,
but I put on her glasses and all of a sudden I'm like, oh my gosh. Like,
it's not perfect, but I can see a lot clearer with her glasses on.
With my left eye, of course my right eye, it made it horrible. But, um,
I was able to see much better with my left eye using her glasses. So I'm like,
yeah, I'm getting glasses. And to be honest with you,
I am super stoked to get glasses. Um, you know, and,
and I don't know, you know,
everybody goes through hearing loss in a different way,
like emotionally differently. Um,
I think that we go a lot of our lives. I think vision loss and hearing loss have
a lot of similarities, right? You, you know,
if you've had good vision your entire life. I'm, I'm 40 right now.
I've had really good vision for a quite some time and it's become
like this thing of like,
I just believe that I have good vision until something like hits you in the face
and is like, no, you don't.
You don't have good vision and you need to do something about it. And I've,
I've attempted to go in and get tested cuz I had concerns over it before and
every single time I went in they said, it's not bad enough.
Or you don't have vision loss or whatever to do anything about it at this point.
And so I'm now at the point where I can do something about it and I kind of feel
empowered by that. And I know it sounds strange, but I'm sure that,
and I work with a lot of people with hearing loss and there are some people who,
who come in and they're just like jazzed to get their hearing loss treated.
They're like, this is great. Like I've, I've noticed some difficulties,
but now I'm like,
I've realized that it's at the point where I cannot function like I normally did
because of my hearing loss.
And they're super excited to get hearing treatment and I'm super excited to help
them hear the best that they can possibly hear. And uh,
and then there's some people who are like really reluctant to like,
I've heard really well my entire life and I feel like my identity to some
degree. Not that it's wrapped up in your ability to hear,
but that your identity to some degree is you identify as someone who has always
had good hearing. And now there's this kind of like,
this admission of my hearing is not perfect or for me now that my vision
is not perfect and to kind of come to grasp, uh, uh,
with or to come to, um,
realization I guess that I'm gonna need glasses is,
is it could be taken either way.
It could be taken as a negative or it could be taken as a positive.
And I am definitely taking it as a positive.
And I think I'm taking it that way because of the perspective that I've gained
over the course of the last 10 years of working in a profession where one of
your sensory organs is not functioning the way that it used to,
but there are ways to treat it and correct it. Um,
glasses I presume is gonna be one of those options. Um,
contacts potentially is one of those options. Uh,
LASIK eye surgery is potentially one of those options. And to be honest,
I'm open to any one of them.
The thing that's gonna be most important to me is going to
a optometrist that is really good,
meaning that they also follow best practices for vision care,
for diagnosis and treatment of vision loss. And I don't,
I haven't spent enough time researching it yet,
but I am going to figure out what the clinical best practice guidelines are for
optometry and then I am going to make sure that I go into an optometrist that
follows best practices because I know that this right here is just
plastic and glass, I presume, uh, maybe all plastic. I don't know, honestly,
I've gotta do my research,
but I know that they're not gonna be able to make a pair of glasses
work correctly for me unless they follow the best practice protocols for
making the glasses. You know,
just like you can't just go pick up any old hearing aid in optimally treat your
hearing loss.
You have to have the right hearing aid and you have to have it set up,
have it set up the right way. And that's what I'm gonna be looking for.
And you know, I have insurance, I have decent insurance,
I think through Blue Cross Blue Shield. Um, but if, if,
if it means that I have to forego my insurance,
I'm fortunate enough to be in the position where if I had to pay out of pocket,
I could afford to pay out of pocket.
And my vision is important enough to me to where I'm willing to pay out of
pocket to go to an optometrist that I think is doing things the right way
versus an optometrist or a,
a clinic that is just interested in selling me a bunch of glasses and,
and if I have to forego my insurance and pay 100% out of
pocket even though I have a decent benefit through Blue Cross Blue Shield, um,
honestly,
I'm willing to do that. And it's kind of like the same thing that I preach when
it comes to hearing loss is that if you have terrific insurance for hearing
aids, but you have to go to a place that doesn't follow best practices,
I mean, yeah, you're gonna save money cuz you're using your insurance,
but you're not actually gonna be getting the full benefit.
So that's kind of what's going on with me.
I'm actually really looking forward to it.
I have to do some more research on who to go to, but I'm,
I'm really interested to see what my level of vision, vision loss is.
I am super excited to be able to get a pair of glasses, contacts, uh,
get surgery for my left eye and maybe my right eye. I don't know,
maybe my right eye is not perfect either.
I guess that's the reason why you go to a professional so they can help you
identify these things and to make sure that you get the proper prescription and
the proper eyeglasses, uh, that fit your face. Right? Cause I don't know,
I mean, what do you, oh boy, I almost hit my eye, my other eye out .
Okay. I don't know if I'm gonna edit that out.
I think I'm just gonna leave that in. Yeah, I'm gonna leave that in .
Gosh. Um, anyway, how do these look on me?
I think that they're a little on the big side. I think they sit a little low.
I'd like them to be a little bit higher. I don't know,
I'm probably gonna get a couple of different frames for different situations,
but, um, I don't know. Why don't you guys like,
share with me what frames you think would look good on me and then, um,
maybe I'll try to, when I'm doing, uh,
trying on different frames at the optometry office, um, then I'll,
I'll kind of share that on social media and you guys can pick which frames you
think or at least vote on which frames you think look the best. I know my buddy
Scott Frank, uh, audiologist up in, uh, up in, uh, Salem, Oregon,
um, he thinks that I need to be getting some glasses like Elton John wears. Um,
I don't know if I'm gonna be, is it Elton John? Yeah, I think it's Elton John.
I don't think I'm gonna be getting glasses like Elton John.
I think that's a little too much for me. I know I'm the, I'm an eye, I'm like a,
you know, that kind of person who, who likes to be, um,
who I guess likes attention to some degree,
but I don't know if I like attention that much. But, uh, nonetheless, I,
I don't think that this log, well, maybe it was,
I don't know if this was useful at all. I mean,
I think it's interesting now that I'm thinking about it,
the similarities between optometry and audiology and how similar
of a profession they are when it comes to that. There's a product involved
with either one of them or with both of them. Um,
but it really comes down to the same thing like this right here.
Doesn't matter if they're not set up the right way,
just like hearing aids don't matter if they're not set up the right way. So, um,
share with me your thoughts. Um, I did not get to q and a. I,
I do wanna start turning this log into a q and a log.
So if you guys do have questions for me regarding glasses or hearing aids
or anything hearing related,
make sure that you leave those down in the comment section cuz I will review
those on a weekly basis to gather my questions that I will answer in the next
week's log. But that is pretty much it for this week guys.
I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, make sure you hit that like button.
And as always, I'll see you next week.