Little bit of this, little bit of that.

[rose_cat]

I got my new glasses on Friday. I was going to type up a post that evening along the lines of "&*$$#%## PROGRESSIVES," but I was too damn tired. Just as well, as I'm more coherent and feeling better.

I went to a different optical place this time -- I like my optometrist, but their selection of frames that are both decent-looking and affordable has gotten smaller over the years -- and, for the first time in years, found frames that I really like. So I'm happy with them. And a new prescription, after four years (!) of procrastination, is a good thing.

BUT. This year, I’ve had to face the inescapable truth: it's time for the dreaded progressives. (Dum da DUM DUM.) They are, at least, less annoying than the old bifocals with a line in the middle, but I still have to get used to moving my head a lot more, and putting it in some new positions, in order to focus at the distance required. My neck hurts, and I feel like an owl. It doesn't help that I've had some trouble focusing for the last few days due to a combination of eyestrain (yes, too much computer) and lack of sleep, which is making it harder to adjust at the moment, but that's my own damn fault.

Oh, and there's the matter of rethinking posture. No more slumping back on the couch to watch TV, on account of the bottoms of the lenses now being designed for close-up vision. . So I need to come up with a pillow arrangement (Missy’s going to love that) or a new couch (which, come to think of it, would be lovely).

And no more laying my head back comfortably on the headrest while driving. I was experimenting with the proper head position while driving home on the freeway and -- I was very tired -- got distracted. It was rush hour, and I was slow to react to a sudden stop in traffic, so had to slam on the brakes so hard the car actually fish-tailed a little. The brakes are in excellent shape -- SCREEEEEECH! -- but I was pretty shaken. (Not to mention embarrassed, knowing that a lot of people were looking and thinking That Idiot Can't Bloody Drive and Thank God It Wasn't Me.)

In hindsight, driving home wearing the new glasses might not have been the best idea.

B is sympathetic to all my whining and grousing, even though he’s had progressives for several years now. “There, there, honey. You’ll get used to them.” He didn’t like being unable to slump in front of the TV, either. But the thing he found most annoying? No longer being able to work at the computer tipped back in the chair, with his feet up on the desk and the keyboard in his lap. I don’t recall him ever doing that at home. If he had, I would most certainly have gotten a picture of it.

Comments

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

Are we talking about varifocals here? At the moment I have two pairs of glasses of different strengths but have been warned that I shall have varifocals sooner rather than later. When another friend of mine got hers she described it as "like looking out from a goldfish bowl" so I'm really not looking forward to it. Stupid long-sightedness and lenticular astigmatism... *grumble*

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner; your reply was exactly what I needed at the time.

Yes, varifocals = multifocals = progressives. (But not bifocals.)

And I want to thank you for responding when you did and for asking that question. Not that you did those specifically to help, but I was frustrated and upset to tears by then. (The fact that it was 3 AM here and I couldn't sleep wasn't helping.) After posting, I'd taken off the glasses to try to adjust the earpieces -- they're much too tight and that in itself was giving me a headache -- and, when I put the old glasses back on, had a weird dual sensation of "shit, old prescription" and "hey, I can see again!" Which told me that something really was wrong with the glasses, which sent my exhausted brain into a tailspin of catastrophizing. (And I couldn't reshape the stupid earpieces either.)

When I got your comment, though, I googled to check on "varifocals," a term I hadn't heard before, I landed on a site with more information than I'd had about progressives (and hadn't known I needed), and learned that there are most likely problems with the fit of the frames (positioning of progressive lenses needs to be more precise) or how the lenses are set in the frames. Maybe even with how the lenses are made in the first place.

That's actually a relief; maybe I will be able to adapt to progressives once I've got something reasonable to work with.

So, I've got a plan: call my optometrist and have him check out the glasses, the frames, my eyes if he thinks it's necessary. If I actually have to have anything remade, I'll have to go back to the place that sold me the frames and made the glasses (somebody I haven't used before, which is another story), but right now I want to go to somebody I absolutely trust to know what they're doing and not blow me off. (Which I suspect the technician at the Other Place may have done a bit of.) If my optometrist finds some things that the Other Place needs to correct, I'll have him write everything down and take it back to them.

Some people just can't adjust to progressives. But I'll burn that bridge when I come to it ;) I do wish I'd gone with just the regular prescription for the sunglasses, though. I like to slump my head back when I'm driving, dammit!

So, do you actually need to have varifocals if you already use two pairs of glasses? Or do you need something more intermediate than what they can give you? (I'd thought the two pairs was an option to vari/bi/whatever.)

I have the loathed astigmatism as well, but I'm nearsighted.

This isn't the site I initially saw, but it's got the information I found useful, plus more good stuff, including advice on how to adjust to varifocals when they're new to you.

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

My eyesight has changed significantly and to the point where using two different prescriptions in two seperate frames and having to swap glasses ever ten-thirty minutes is plain ridiculous. So yes, varifocals it is, which I am collecting next week. In the meantime my distance lenses are stopping the worst of the eye strain, while the frames on my close-work lenses are kaput.

I noticed that the measuring of everything had to be very precise too, and further adjustment will be needed when I collect my glasses. They're only doing the one set of frames for now and giving me a 30 day trial, in case I come back and ask to have two seperate prescription frames again. If I get on with them, however, I'll be having the second pair done so that I can accessorise my outfits (I like to be colour-coordinated lol) or just have a spare to keep in the car in case I leave a pair at home by mistake.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a good point about switching back-and-forth. I'd rather not have to do that if I can make this work.

I've been advised to have two pairs of glasses made so as to have a spare. I'd love to have the money (I'd love to have it for lots of things!), but my sunglasses will just have to be the spares. (Which I've done before.)

I hope it all works out with your glasses :)

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

I've been using Specsavers since I was a teenager, and they've always had a 2-4-1 offer and so I've always had two sets of frames.

Because I'm unable to work I get a voucher for money off eyecare. I don't pay for my test, only one set of frames costs me money because of the existing offer and so I get both frames for £10 (instead of £69) and so I was (just about!) able to afford the £73 lenses (again, they only charged me for the one set). Really it's money I don't have at the moment, but I think that protecting my sight so that I can continue to sew, pickle things, cook, blog, enjoy the garden and watch my son grow up is absolutely priceless.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

...they've always had a 2-4-1 offer...

That sounds wonderful. Maybe I should look around and see if I can find something like that. Although I'd want to research a bit to see that they are doing a good job. (If I recall correctly, Vision Service Plan -- which we had when B was working for a big company -- had something like that, although they only covered new glasses every two years, and I usually need a new prescription annually.

My two pairs of glasses cost about $830, which -- according to the online translator that I just used -- is about 535 pounds. And that was with a get-two-pairs and get one for 20% off, one for 50% off.

Of course I did get add-ons like scratch-resistant and anti-reflective coatings, and polarization for the sunglasses. I'm active enough that I find it's worth it. I'm probably pickier about the frames, though -- narrow ones are in style right now here, so the larger ones with more coverage that I prefer are harder to find. (I avoid designer ones as much as possible to keep the cost down.)

The tech at my optometrist's place spent over an hour helping me to compare their costs with the Other Place's, and -- despite offering me as much of a discount as they could -- they couldn't quite outdo the Other Place's, which also provided higher quality coatings and such as a matter of course. So I went with that. But now I'm wondering if it was worth it.

I agree that good sight really is priceless for your quality of life, especially as you get older and start to lose other senses and abilities. (My mom, who's in her early nineties now, has lost a lot of her mobility and now is losing her sight. I feel so bad for her.)

[grail76.livejournal.com]

I have a single vision distance set I use to drive and a bifocal set I use at the office, etc. Didn't like having to tilt my head to see what I wanted in focus.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll like it either. But I'll have a better chance to find out, once I've solved the other problems (see my answer to mrs tribble above).

I am wondering how sorry I'll be that I got progressives in the sunglasses, since those are what I almost always drive with. Well, I can always do something different next time.

(By the way, hi :D Here via randompix?)

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Aaaand I see you friended me (I didn't get the email notification. Damn LJ.) Thank you, and PM incoming!

[grail76.livejournal.com]

Yes, via Randompix :)

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Welcome! I'm finally (almost two years after some nasty online shit) starting to post some of my personal stuff unlocked again, and it's nice to be able to make personal connections with people again.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I have mutlifocals and don't find them hard to use. Then again, I don't drive very often so I''m pretty much mid and close distance oriented.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Well, it helps when you're used to them. (Which I might manage to be when other things are fixed -- see my reply to mrs tribble above.)

I'm still not sure how it'll affect my driving. B manages OK, though.