Optic Neuropathy Reflection

Many diverse emotions and physical feelings were involved during my contrived experience. Before simulating monocular vision due to Arteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy (NAAION), I did not anticipate the increased level of difficulty that certain normal activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) would have on my day. My experience consisted of an eye-patch covering up my left eye for 12 hours. Some of the activities I found to be the more difficult were: putting on make-up, tying my left shoe, focusing on the television, walking downstairs, focusing on a PowerPoint in class, and riding in a car. Riding in a car was the most difficult. Before the experiment I have been prone to motion sickness. After wearing the eye patch for just three hours, my equilibrium and sensory nerves had started to change, thus making my experience riding in a car unpleasant and nauseating, …show more content…
I thought it would go away after my right eye adjusted to the vision loss of the left eye, but it continued and worsened over the course of the day. At the tenth hour of wearing the eyepatch, I decided to take a nap and take medication to try to ease my throbbing head. The nap and medication did not help and the headache sustained until about three hours after I took the eye patch off. During the day, it was pointed out to me by a fellow classmate that I seemed to squint my uncovered eye when I was trying to focus on the board or read something. I think this is because my right eye was trying to compensate for my left eye when focusing on an object. Also, when someone spoke to me on my left side, I noted it was hard to comprehend and engage in conversation unless I turned my head completely around to face them. During my last hour of wearing the eye patch, my right eye started to feel tired and heavy. I assumed my eye was tired from being strained all