Yeah, I'm getting excited again. I was hoping November would be the month, but now that it's almost over, it seems unlikely. That said, I have made massive progress, and have seen massive improvement this month. I'm talking about both objective markers (double images coming together, looking at things), as well as subjective markers (perceived depth and bigness, as well as changes when I play games in VR. At the moment, I see no reason to make changes to my routine.
Keep going.
Damn. I haven't fused yet, but wow. I am making a lot of progress on the amblyopia. I was not expecting this, but it appears my reading speed has increased quite a lot. I guess it's because I'm now using both eyes when I read, and when I switch from one eye to another, there's a lot less switching. I am switching, but it's much more subtle. I don't know if it's doubled or tripled, but it's made my reading both much faster and more enjoyable. I know Susan Barry has mentioned that when she gained stereopsis there were other changes to her cognition--as though the inter-hemispherical communication improved, and her brain began working in a more integrated way than before. That may be part of what is going on for me as well.
It just sucks. It makes me wonder how many more books I would have read if I had binocular vision at an earlier age.
Binocular vision is a big deal.
And for reasons that aren't readily apparent. I was right to put so much energy and work into this. My instincts were correct all along.
I think this might be the month. This software is working super well. I had sooo much suppression and amblyopia, and my current regimen is cutting right through it. I have been having noticing how my vision has changed while going about my day doing normal things. Every so often, I'll see both images almost fused. It's very exciting. I'm getting the impression that stereo is indeed a very different way of seeing--and far superior. And the way it feels is amazing.
I do get the feeling I'm close. When playing Ice Breaker, for instance in MFBF mode, it's like.. I can see the improvement starkly. I don't think I have much more to go. November may be the month. Let's see.
Yeah... I wish I had been doing Optics Trainer way earlier. I am seeing real lasting change on a daily basis now. I've been doing Ice Breaker for 30 minutes every day, sometimes more. I noticed the way I'm playing the game has changed mode. I'm now more focused on looking at things correctly as a whole system than hitting the blocks--although I'm getting better at that because I do not look at the blocked I'm hitting when I hit them. I use my periphery. Works good. Change is occurring quickly.
I gotta say I'm excited. This stuff works well, and I'm noticing the effects when I go about my day. My regimen hasn't changed since the last entry. It's 30 minutes of Ice Pick in MFBF (monocular fixations in binocular fields) mode, a round of Bomb Boxing, and then the normal Daily Workout. Altogether it's about an hour per day. I've also taken out the of Brock String and have been doing a bit of that--not so much as a workout (I think Optics Trainer is way more effective than Brock String--at least for me), but as a way of gauging progress. I am basically getting the 'X' in Brock String, but I do notice the bead is bigger and stronger on the left side (strong eye). I think that's what's preventing fusion. It appears I still have a bit of amblyopia remaining. Fortunately Pick Axe game in MFBF mode is super effective for that. I am taking it one day at a time. But I think all my other problems are pretty much gone (mobility, for instance). We'll see where this takes me. Hopes are high.
I think this may be happening soon. I still have a lot that needs to be resolved, but this regimen (Ice Breaker game in MFBF (monocular fixations in binocular fields) mode for 30 minutes, a round of Bomb Boxing, and then Daily Workout is working extremely well, and way better than anything else I've come to. My vision is really changing in a noticeable way. Has a way greater positive impact on my amblyopia than anything I've done in the past.
Josh recently asked me how often I do this Ice Breaker game in MFBF mode, because apparently some of his associated doctors have clients who 'overuse' this MFBF mode at home and have developed 'permanent double vision'. I'm not really that worried about it. I only do 30 minutes, and I already have permanent double vision. All I need to do is continue to pound away, and get the right eye stronger and on par with the left eye. I do think it will result in fusion.
What's kind of bananas is that it seems to be working on the hyperopia on the right eye as well as the amblyopia. That's kind of surprising.
I do think it's kind of a result of combination of everything I've learned over the years, particularly the brain-pliability techniques.
Damn. Optics Trainer seems to work... like really well, especially for my amblyopia.
So yeah, I've been doing around 20 minutes of vision therapy per day, and sometimes a few times a day. I've been doing a few antisupression games like Bomb Boxing (in standing position punching bombs with different hands depending on their color (left for blue, red for right, and you avoid black bombs)), and this Ice Breaker game where you have a few pick-axes and you break green chunks of ice as they rise up in a vat of water. I play these games in MFBF mode (I forget what those letters stand for). But it's antisuppression mode, which means that some objects are visible only to one eye while other objects are visible to only the other eye. It forces the eyes to work as a system.
This particular setup seems to work ultra well, I suspect, because the objects are so close to you, and thus, the exercises have a large imprint on the retinas, and thus, it works on the periphery quite powerfully. I told this to Josh, and basically told him that this software is far more powerful than anything else I've done, or have tried.
As far as I know, Optics Trainer isn't implementing any new exotic vision therapy techniques. It's the same old stuff, just very well implemented. I've seen the power and potential of VR for vision training from the beginning. The platform just gives developers so much control over the way photons land on the retinas. Therein lies the power. I have done Vivid Vision over ten years ago after I learned about James's story (he fixed his own vision, and gained stereo function with a combination of the Oculus Rift DK1 (first developer kit) and software he developed for it. Amazing story. Amazing man, that James. As such, I got to know the guys a bit (we started chatting originally on Reddit), as well as some of the other guys on the team. I even funded their Kickstarter so I could gain early access to the software. And I did use it. I'm sure it's in the blog somewhere. This blog goes back a long ways.
However, it didn't fix my vision. I think I now understand why. There was stuff that I had to figure out about my brain, and I basically figured out non-VT techniques to put my brain in a more pliable state. I've outlined those things exhaustively in this blog, so I won't get into them now. But what I'm getting at here is that my brain is now ready, and Optics Trainer works like none other. Now, is it necessary for me to do all of those things now? I'm not sure. But I'm going to keep doing them. My amblyopia has gone way down since I've been using Optics Trainer for the past few weeks. I'm excited. It works. Let's see.
You know... I always have my eyes open to things that could potentially get me closer to my goals faster. As such, one day I did a search for 'VR vision therapy' and hit upon Optics Trainer. I emailed the contact, and got a prompt response from the owner (and only employee) Josh, asking him about product availability. It just struck me as obvious that VR has huge potential for vision training, and here I am with a fancy VR headset and no VR vision training software. Time to get some. I tried my hand at Vivid Vision (the pioneers of VR-based vision training), but that kind of fell through.
So, I got to talking with Josh (based in San Diego), and he struck me as a super-legit guy--with a background in gaming design, and a desire to help people. Turns out game design experience is a very valuable and applicable skillset.
Anyway, we got talking, and I dug where he was coming from, his obvious intelligence, and interest in having a positive impact on people's vision. I was really messaging him because I wanted access to his software--and was willing to pay a lot for it. There are a few versions. One is for doctors to use with their clients, and one is for the clients themselves to use with their own HMDs. The client version isn't yet publicly available, but he did tell me the price range he was planning for, and was shocked as its low price.
Regardless, he agreed to give me a free beta version (I don't mind being a guinea pig). I would benefit from the therapeutic uses of the software, and I would provide him with feedback. From what I've seen so far, the software is more sophisticated than any other vision training software I've seen. The games look better, they're more fun, and some of them are auto-adjusting, meaning they gauge your abilities dynamically and won't push you past your limits. And Josh has access to all the knobs. I asked him 'got any antisuppression games'? Then he was like... 'give me a sec.' Then BAM. Just like that, most of the games are now anti-suppression (Some elements of the game are accessible to one eye; others are accessible to the other eye--and it's randomized--a neat trick he programmed himself. Like I said, smart dude.).
Then the gears started turning. What would be real nice is a community centered around vision therapy--kind of like what I had around ten years ago on Facebook. So Josh quickly spun up a Discord server. We're the only guys in it now. If you're:
The new Columns technique I'm using (Chunking) seems to have made a big difference. In a small amount of time my peripheral vision improved and it feels like it's got me a lot closer to fusion. It appears developing strong peripheral vision is an important part of fusion and stereopsis. I may try and combine Chunking with Rolling next. I'm so close. Grr...
I think this new regimen might get me to the finish line. In this moment, I have renewed belief that I'm going to succeed. I was just playing Pavlov VR and was getting new moments of depth--noticing new vividness--noticing how much extra information was coming in. It's like it's enveloping me. Let's see what this is in two weeks. Keep going.
Might have figured out something valuable. It's a new way of doing Columns. Just did about 30 minutes. Instead of doing Rolling, which is something I've been doing lately, I've been doing 'Chunking'. So when I look at the columns when doing Columns (there are four columns of numbers and letters on each side--left and right) I will look at all of the columns once--kinda like diffused attention across all of them really exercising the periphery. Then I'd slide over to the other side and do the same with the other set of columns on the right side. Then, I'll zoom out and try to notice both chunks of columns (left and right) and try to read all the symbols as a sort of 'Super Chunk'--again, attention is diffused.
This is very difficult to do, kind of fun, and it seems to have made a huge difference.
Really, here's how I came across this technique. I was thinking backwards about what the sheet will look like when I'm finally done. What does it look like? Then imagined myself as there, and then imagined how do I get from where I was to this new place, and then work backwards. I've heard a lot of people talk about using this as a way to achieve goals as quickly and effectively as possible. It's interesting, I think I'm going to do more of this.
But yeah, I played Pavlov VR for a few hours last night. It was insane. I'm definitely in a new place. Keep going. I am making forward progress. Keep going.
I don't know what to say. I want this to be done. But man I noticed huge improvement yesterday as well as today. It's super annoying and irritating. Zeno's Paradox on steroids. I've said it before, but fuck Zeno. Well, actually I never said that until now, and I do not recant. It's the feeling. I can't describe it, but I suspect binocular vision feels great, and what I've had all my life sucks by comparison. Cause new feeling is great, and it's only getting bigger and greater.
It's the sliding. I'm sure it has to do with the way that I'm doing Columns. So I think I basically have the refraction and lenses necessary to eventually fuse. What I'm doing is not ideal (using cheap reading glass lenses I bought on Amazon), but I think it's sufficient, and I think I'm going to fuse. What would be ideal is if I had a competent vision doctor prescribe me with contact lenses to allow me to get refraction as equal across the eyes as possible. That is not the current situation I'm in. I think the refraction is sufficiently similar across the eyes in order for my current regimen to ultimately allow me to fuse and enjoy binocular vision. After all, my posture is overall quite good, these days I'd say. If I use good posture generally and pair that with high dose vision therapy combined with all the other stuff I do for neuroplasticity, I should cross the line not too long from now. I'm so goddamn close.
I think it's the sliding in combination with anti-suppression, in combination with the right lenses.
I'm getting antsy again--it's now July. I wanted to be done with this. But I am making progress.
The way I'm doing Columns now is that I slowly shift from one eye to another. There is always a moment of 'switching' from one eye to another, but it's becoming less and less. And I just pay closer and closer attention to the moment of 'switching' and hopefully squash it down so that there is no switching. Both channels are just on. And I'm also kind of focused on noticing the whole sheet across both eyes--you know, using them as a whole. I mean, yeah. That has to be the way forward. Keep going.
Oh yeah, Optics Trainer VR is delayed due to needing more time for testing with their clients. Well, it's cool to know that it's a legitimate business, and it seems likely that real engineering went into the product.
I'm so close I can taste it. But I still have at least a few more weeks to go.
Lately, I've changed the way I do Columns a bit. It's something I've done a lot in the past, but it seems more relevant to me now. It's what I call 'rolling', where I look at one symbol (it's either a number or letter) on the left eye, and I slowly roll over to the corresponding signal on the right side. I do it slowly, so that I can spread myself across the eyes. I've seen huge improvement in this domain, because I can now seamlessly switch between eyes, so I can sort of pseudocontrol both eyes simultaneously. This is, after all, what I'm going for. I think it may be bearing fruit. I just got done with today's session.
Also, I recently bought +.75 Diopter reading glasses and then popped out the left-side lens. So I've been using that instead of +1 Diopter, because I want the sides to be as even in size as possible.
Progress is simultaneously slow and fast. It definitely feels like I've got a lot of locked in gains over the weeks. Double vision is almost entirely gone, with the exception of a few key areas (like my feet). So I still have a bit more work to go, but the progress has been undeniable, especially when looking at my eyes in the mirror. They're almost straight. I'm so close. I think I just have to keep doing what I'm doing, keep the pedal on the metal, check in every few weeks.
Also, I put myself on an email list for Optics Trainer VR Home. I assume it's like Vivid Vision, but they say the software will be released this month. So I'm excited to try it out.
Quite a bit of progress over the previous week. It's hard to explain, but I feel like progress is very real now. Pedal to the metal.
I think what's doing most of the work is the anti-suppression exercises I'm doing. I've mentioned it in other entries, but briefly, it's Game-Blyopia, which uses red/green filter glasses. Under them, I have +1 diopter reading glasses with the lens popped out on the left side. For maybe 2-3 weeks I used +1.5, and I think that was a mistake. The difference in the size of the image on each side was too different. When I switched to +1.0, I noticed the difference.
And it is making a huge difference. It feels like it's all coming together. So, my theory is that I had very strong suppression, because for most of my life I never had double vision. My brain adapted exceedingly well to strabismus. That made life easier for then. But it also means that I have an especially large amount of work to do now. Fortunately, I think I have all the pieces in place, and I just have to keep my pedal on the metal and undo the suppression with my anti-suppression exercises.
I've been toying with the idea of doing more Brock String to work on mobility, but I kinda already do it by doing neighborhood walks and cruising around on my OneWheel. Can't hurt. I have the string already, may need to create another acrylic concentric ring-type deal.
It is a slow. But I'm making gradual progress. I don't think I have to make any changes to the regimen.
So I did make one change, which is when I do Game-Blyopia, I switched from 1.5 diopter glass to 1.0 diopter reading glass (I poked the lens out of the right eye). Change is indeed coming. I'm taking it one week at a time.
Everything else is pretty similar. I do notice the double images are coming together when I look at perspective lines (like tile grout and road markings). Objective markers are indeed coming together. It's retarded how long I've kept at this. At the moment, there's really nothing to do, but keep doing what I'm doing and keep making check-ins periodically.
I am dying here. When is this going to be over? I'm sooo close. I'm still making fast progress, but WHEN IS THIS GOING TO BE OVER? I'm so close I can taste it. It's killing me. It's like... how much more can I progress until I'm finally over? It's like... Zeno's Paradox from hell. Grrr...
I've made some recent adjustments to my routine. I am not prepared to talk publicly about everything I'm doing. But here are the other things I've been doing.
I'd been doing a lot of stuff with focusing on the brain, and strengthening the weak right eye. I made good progress for a long while, but then it kind of stalled. I realized then that I had to tend to the farsightedness on the right eye. I have a bunch of 1x magnification reading glasses. I popped the lens out of the left side, so the right eye would have bigger input for the Columns exercise. That made a big difference.
Then when I was done doing Columns, I would put on my red/green filter glasses and play 2048 and Snake games on Game-Blyopia. I noticed a big improvement on the results.
One thing that's really weird is that it feels like using the magnification on the right eye seems to have made the right eye stronger very quickly--like--its ability to focus on close-up objects.
However, now because of the +1 lens on the right eye, the size of close-up objects isn't quite the same, so I bought some +.5 reading glasses. Then I popped out the lens on the left side, and now the close-up objects are about the same size.
So... now I've been using this kit, and wow, I think the brain likes it. It feels like I'm damn close--like I may be days away from fusion. The question is this: do I use +.5 magnification or +1 magnification? I think +.5 may be the way to go, but the +1 may have increased the strength of the eye quicker because it resulted in a bigger impression on the retina. But I think equivalency between the size of the images is what the brain really wants to see, so I'm going to stick with that for a while.
I've been playing Snake a lot lately. The cyan/green food... I've been focusing on it, really softening the gaze. It feels like I'm on the right track. I'm pretty damn excited.
I'm excited. It does seem like I can kind of control both eyes now, and use them both at will simultaneously. This new ability seems to have happened at the same time that the weak eye was strengthened. It feels like now I'm in a self-reinforcing situation where progress is happening semi-automatically. It does feel good when I use the right eye. The channel is opening. Things are getting bigger and stronger with that eye. It feels like I don't have that much more time to go. I should maybe achieve my goals in a few months or less, going by objective markers. Just a few more weeks and check back.
I am sure that the cold plunges, red light therapy, clean diet, and nicotine are helping. Those things really are a killer combination, though you do have to be mindful of the stress that they put on the body.
Yeah, my vision saw a lot of improvement over the previous day. I'm about to do some VR to see how much it's changed. There are a few changes I've recently noticed. One is that it feels like I can control the right (weak) eye at the same time as the other. The other is when I look at the lines on the road when I'm driving. The double images are closer to one another. Reduced diplopia.
Progress is fast. I just underestimated how much work there is to do. As long as progress is fast (and it seems to be), I'm happy.
It does feel different, I should say. Like... that's one of the things I've noticed when doing all this crap. You work, work, work, and then you take a break and you take notice about how things have changed. You realize that you have a choice as to what to do and where you want to go. I think it's these moments, where you progress to a certain point, and then if you pay attention, you notice that you have a decision to make--you have to decide--those are the moments where it all happens. But you have to pay attention so you can realize that you are being offered a choice.
Yeah, this is taking some time still, but I do feel like progress is real (not imaginary) and rapid still.
One of the biggest things on my mind is the power of my right eye. There is less and less difference between the two sides (still a bit of a difference). It just tells me that I'm still doing the right stuff.
The difference is mostly noted when playing Pavlov VR. I don't have a whole view of the gun, but I am beginning to feel depth in a strange way. I can see the gun from both sides at the same time (one for each eye). Still, the right side is a bit weaker, and turned off. So it still has strengthening and work to go, but as it gets stronger, I suppose, both input channels will become fully 'on', and I'm predicting my vision will become super solid. I'm wondering if there's going to be a perceptual shift as I go from 2d to 3d, or if the switch will be smooth and unnoticeable.
One sort of unexpected thing is how much bigger my field of vision is now in Pavlov. Especially when I pop open a menu. It takes up my whole field of vision. How could strengthening my amblyopic eye have such a powerful perceived change in the whole of my vision? It is crazyyy... I'm beginning to get an idea of how different it is to have binocular vision vs monocular vision.
Keep going. Another two week. Check back.
My vision feels so good now. This is working. Very excited to think about where I will be in a few weeks.
This is definitely working. It's almost orgasmic. Can't wait to see what things look like in two weeks.
Keep going.
Just had a good session of Pavlov VR. It's looking bigger, especially when I pop open the gun menu. It's like I'm enveloped by the menu. Big changes are coming. Game-Blyopia is definitely working. I'm going to ride this wave. It's still challenging. I'm still doing keto and all the stuff I do. I've also been riding my bike around 20 miles, which takes around an hour (hardcore intense cardio), which should also help.
Also... text is getting bigger, and clearer with that eye. I am mindful to use that eye when I go about my normal daily activities. It's so stupid how much stuff I had to figure out on my own. Everything before this new regimen has been bullshit.
Vision therapy is 90% technique, 7% persistence, 3% hard work. C'est la vie.
Beginning to see more depth in Pavlov, especially with the LMG.
I was doing anti-suppression 2048 and thought to myself 'This is working. This is actually pretty hard work.'.
Man. What a lesson to learn. I've been thinking about what it takes to be successful in vision therapy as I approach the end. The more I think about it, success in vision therapy is 90% technique, 7% persistence, 3% hard work. It doesn't matter how hard you work. If you're doing the wrong things, you'll never succeed. That sounds, and indeed feels right (because it is). But that extends far beyond vision therapy. It's similar to the Abraham Lincoln quote:
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
--Abraham Lincoln
When you're doing the right things, results should come fast. Hard work is important, but overrated, in my estimation. By far the most important thing is doing the right things. Everything else is secondary. Persistence is second, because persistence is what allows you to eventually discover what works. The remaining is hard work, whatever the hell that even means.
“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
--Bill Gates
The tricky part is learning and discovering effective technique. You may not learn it from a vision therapist. You may have to figure it out on your own through experimentation and an ungodly amount of persistence.
My current regimen is definitely working. Double vision is going away. My weak eye is getting stronger.
Yeah, wow. Man. My vision looks better than ever especially today. I finished my cold exposure fast (I'm now doing cold exposure again). And yeah, it does seem that cold exposure has had a greater impact on my vision and vision training than any single thing. It's such valuable knowledge to have. It is an incredibly powerful technique, which I'm sure more and more people will discover over time. Its utility to learning new skills will be increasingly invalidated I feel.
I feel like I struck gold. In particular, I think there are synergistic effects of cold exposure and red light therapy. It's very powerful stuff. I'm still making tweaks. It does seem that a regular dose of three minutes of cold exposure at 33* F every day combined with red light therapy will interfere with sleep. If I take a few days off of cold exposure, I'll sleep fine again. So I'm tweaking the dials a bit so I can have it both ways: get the benefits of cold exposure while still being able to sleep normally.
Some of the dials I'm tweaking are
Yeah, I took a break from cold exposure for about three days. Here's the deal with cold exposure. This is just a hypothesis. This is what I think happened.
Cold exposure has extremely powerful ant-inflammatory effects. Through this mechanism, as well as through dopamine, it has a host of positive effects on the mind: boosted mood, greater resilience and endurance, better cognition. A huge part as well is that the effects of a night of lack of sleep are almost unnoticed. It's through this that it had a huge positive effect on my progress with vision therapy. It really knocked the cobwebs off my brain.
However, there are drawbacks. Your body needs inflammation for recovery. So my body was getting sore from daily workouts over time. But I think the reason my body was getting sore is that it wasn't recovering correctly due to lack of sleep. Andrew Huberman has said cold exposure (cold plunges) should be avoided when you're about to go to sleep. Fine. I always do plunges in the morning anyway. However, I think the reason the plunges interfered with sleep is through the anti-inflammatory mechanism. I think your brain perhaps uses inflammation as a signal to sleep. I noticed that when I took a three-day break from cold plunges that I had no trouble falling asleep. Then I did another plunge yesterday during the day, and that night I had trouble sleeping again.
Problem is that when doing cold plunges, you're less affected by lack of sleep, but the body does need to sleep in order to properly repair itself. I think that may be where the soreness came in, because the red light exposure really enabled me to work out much harder and beat up my muscles more. Then when I went to bed (read: not sleep), it wasn't fully repairing itself.
So this requires some tweaking. There are two things that come to mind. Man, it's weird how powerful cold exposure is. Even though I slept like shit, my mind seems to work really well at the moment, and I can type extremely fast. What I'm going to try first is alternating days with cold exposure. I'm going to take a break one day, and do cold exposure the next day in alteration. And when I do cold exposure I'm only going to do two minutes at a time (not 3-5 minutes, which I think may have been way overkill). I think maybe doing cold exposure every day every morning may have been overkill, and too much on the body.
The other thing I might try is doing cold exposure earlier in the morning (like 8am), and see if that allows me to sleep better.
My current regimen is definitely working. The changes I've been noticing were particularly pronounced yesterday with VR and driving around. More and more often I find myself noting to myself 'My double vision is nearly gone.'.
The things I'm doing with my body are definitely powerful. Particularly, the red light therapy. What an interesting thing that is. I did not expect the effects to be so pronounced and obvious. It really very quickly had a significant improvement on my body composition. Namely, I lost of a lot of fat, particularly around the abdomen, but around the body as well--noticing better pop with the veins in my arms--and I can feel the underlying muscles pushing against my skin. I can also see the difference in the mirror when I have my shirt off.
I think the red light therapy has a sort of steroid effect. If you don't know, the way steroids increase muscle mass is that they improve the body's ability to recover. So when you work out hard, the body recovers quickly, and effectively so that when it's time to work out again, the muscles are ready to rip. And then you can work out even harder, which then produces an even stronger signal for them to build back even stronger, and so on. If you do steroids and don't work out, you don't get any benefit.
Well I think red light therapy works in a similar way, but without having an impact on hormones. From what I've read, it doesn't increase testosterone or impact hormones in any appreciable way, which is somewhat surprising to me. What it does do, however, is that it appears to very substantively improve recovery and healing. One of the surprising things I noticed is that my workouts got much easier. I can do way more push-ups than normal. I don't normally count. I normally do push-ups to failure. I just noticed I have way more in me to do more when I'm at the point where I normally tap out. Same with pull-ups and deadlifts. So I'm able to do more, which then sends a stronger than normal stimulus to my body to build muscle in a way that's similar to steroids, but without messing with the endocrine system.
However, working out harder is also a bit harder on the body. I've begun to notice some soreness at the point where my latissimus dorsi meets the tendon. A buddy was telling me I should maybe consider taking a break from the cold plunge because it can interfere with recovery. Apparently, the anti-inflammatory effects of cold exposure are so powerful that they can interfere with recovery/healing, and inflammation is an important part of healing. So I'm kind of fasting on cold exposure and also taking a break from the workouts until the soreness goes away. Man. This is powerful stuff.
Aside from that, everything is looking good. I've made massive progress since I began doing Game-Blyopia. Taking this one day at a time. Excited to see how things are in a few weeks. Progress is still noticeable on a daily basis.
I've run into this many times. If your exercises are effective, you should notice changes in your vision on a nearly daily basis. If you don't, you need to change something in your routine.
Yeah, I kinda petered out a bit with the previous regimen of Columns. Then I added in Game-Blyopia, and holy crap that really sped things up again. I'm seeing massively improved objective as well as subjective markers of improvement.
As mentioned in previous entries, I think the special new way of doing Columns helped because it forced me to strengthen my weak eye. But then when I realized that's the way it worked, I researched some other ways of increasing the strength of the weak eye and found a very good and useful way of doing it which targets the mechanism of action more precisely and powerfully: Game-Blyopia--or anti-suppression exercises with red/green filter glasses. And then I hit the exercises really hard.
Game-Blyopia consists of many different games. I found one game that forces the use of both eyes very well. I can only play the game if both eyes are being used simultaneously. It is a bit challenging, but man does it work very well. Let's see how this goes.
Game-Blyopia seems to be working. God I'm such an idiot. I thought the difference in power of the images between the two eyes was a difference in refractive index--and indeed it might be part of the problem, but it's definitely the case that the right eye is weaker. So I'm now focused on building its strength. Really going through my day and trying to use that eye more than the left eye, hitting Columns for 30 minutes a day, and then hitting Game-Blyopia a lot. Been playing this 2048 game which is both fun and really forces you to use both eyes. I am hitting it hard while chewing my Nicotine gum. Let's see where this takes me.
Damn, I'm an idiot. I was reading some past entries and thinking about Heather and Robert and about standard vision therapy and began looking at the Bernell site and perhaps looking into adding some standard vision therapy to my regimen. This is embarrassing... but for a while I was thinking about how the right-side image during Columns is a bit weaker than the left-hand side. Then it struck me that it's the weak eye--the lazy eye. Then I thought about ways of increasing its strength.
I did some searching. One method is patching. Another is tranaglyphs.
I think Columns helps because it forces you to use both eyes. But what about exercises that are explicitly for getting both eyes working together. I went on the Apple Store on the iPad to find some anti-suppression exercises. I found a game called GamE-blyopia, and bought it. It uses some red/green filter glasses I bought the previous day. It's got a number of games. I just got done playing anti-suppression Snake for like an hour. I got super close to beating it.
I think moving forward, I'm going to do 30 minutes Columns, and 30 minutes GamE-blyopia.
I feel like even though I've only done a few sessions this way, I'm making very rapid progress. The idea with the game is that I can only see the snake with the lazy eye and only see the food the snake eats with the left eye. It feels weird and a bit uncomfortable, but I do feel like I'm making very rapid progress. I'm excited. I've played games like this in the past but I think now it's going to work, because of all of the new things I'm doing now to help the brain change, like the cold exposure, keto, Nicotine, and red light therapy.
Heh, it's all coming together. My brain... feels like it's on fire now. Been reading about the Russian revolution.
Oh yeah, and red light therapy. That shit works. I was a bit skeptical about it. Did a bunch of searches on it, and read a lot of 'red light therapy may improve cognitive function, may smoothen skin and assuage skin imperfections and wrinkles, may reduce inflammation...'. Then I saw a few videos about Andrew Huberman talking about it who advocates red light therapy and I said 'ok, let's try this.'.
It works. It's hard to say the biggest thing it does, because the effects are comprehensive. This is probably because they say the mechanism of action is on the mitocondria. Apparently it helps with the generation of ATP. When I read about that, I thought 'hmmm, if that's the case, then the effects should be very general and comprehensive all around the body, because mitocondria function is central to all aspects of our biology'. Indeed, that appears to be the case.
I do feel like I have quite a bit more energy. As I sit here writing this, part of me wants to get up and move, and lift weights and swing some kettlebells around or something. My appetite has increased a bit. As well, I have gotten leaner. Normally on Monday I will look at myself shirtless in the mirror to inspect damage from weekend eating. Actually, I noticed I'm quite a bit leaner. I kinda have a six-pack now, actually, and picking up my buddy from the airport, he confirmed that I appear leaner. I think my skin has smoothened as well, and I do feel like my brain is functioning on a much higher level. This stuff be cray.
Haven't made any changes to the regimen yet. It feels like I'm still making fast progress. There is still some difference in the power of the image on the right side when I do Columns. I'm still noticing fast progress with the double vision images coming together, and improvement when do VR. There's still a significant amount of work that has to be done. I do notice my eyes look better every day when I look at myself in the mirror.
I did make another printout of Columns. You can see in the previous entry I've worn out my sheet. I fired up Google Docs and created another one which has a slightly different font, and has four sets of columns instead of three, so that my eyes have more work to go in on the inner column. The nice thing about the new font is that there is more detail to look at with the tails of the letters and numbers. It's more stimulating, particularly on the right-hand side when I look at it. When I slide over from left to right--at least initially--I notice it takes a number of seconds of staring to get the letter or number big and bold--while keeping the left hand side big and bold. This is where the stretching and workout occurs. After around 30 minutes or so, both sides are nearly equivalent. There is still some 'floatiness' between the two sides, which is a result of not yet having fusion--but I feel like the floatiness is slowly going away. Eventually it will be solid, which will indicate fusion. I'm happy with progress. Excited to think about where I will be in another two weeks.
Well... I'm not sure that things are indeed taking so long. I'm grinding my ass off and loving it.
I think part of why things are taking so long for me is my accommodation reflex: it's difficult, and takes so much work for me to plant my eyes on a piece of paper. That needs to happen in order for fusion to occur. That has to happen in order for my eyes to fuse and read the same piece of text with both of my eyes. It is a bitch. But I am doing the correct things at the moment. I flattening on my eyes on the paper, for around an hour a day. It is tough, and incredibly work-intensive. But it is paying off, and I do see my vision improving at a rapid pace.
Naturally the accommodation reflex is going to be a bit out-of-whack for people who have had strabismus their entire life. There is naturally going to be variability in out-of-whack-ness between people. I think that may be the biggest contributor for why this is so work-intensive for me. However, it's only been a bit over a month since I've made the correct adjustments to my regimen. Things are going fast. Keep going.
Today has been a great day. Noticing quite a lot of improvement.
I have quite the stack going on at the moment. I'm doing:
Things are moving quickly. I just got done with a session of Columns. When switching from side to side, I noticed a few things: one is that both sides are becoming equivalent to one another in terms of size. The left side was always bigger and sharper (which I assumed was due to hyperopia and difference in refractive index on the right side). However, today, they seemed surprisingly equivalent. Also, the accommodation was close to being the same. There is some minor adjustments that I have to make, but it was minor. A month ago, it would take me around 45 minutes to get both sides to be somewhat the same in terms of clarity. This means the workouts are working. I wasn't sure how things would look as I progressed. But now I kinda know. It's like it's all becoming one eye, and the paper is moving around less. It feels like I'm definitely making good, and rapid progress toward eventual fusion. Lots is going on in software behind the scenes.
What else. No one told me how powerful Matcha is. A buddy convinced me to try Matcha, and holy god. That stuff is... bananas. Er... green tea leaves, rather. I did not expect it to be so powerful. I normally drink huge quantities of green tea, because I like the taste; it's good for hydration (I drink around two liters a day--I make it with my French press), and it has a good mild stimulant effect. I read that Matcha is like green tea, but cranked up several levels. It has all the health and energetic benefits of green tea, but way, way more intense, because you're not just drinking the juices of the leaves: you're drinking the leaves whole.
Well, the first day I tried it, I threw it up with my entire breakfast. I had way too much of it. A serving is one teaspoon. I had a few glasses, each with heaping tablespoon. This stuff doesn't mess around. Next day (today) I tried it again, but only one glass, but still with a heaping tablespoon, and this time I would have it on an empty stomach. I threw that one up as well. Tomorrow I'll try again, but only a single serving with a single teaspoon on an empty stomach.
But what about the effects? Well, I can see what the fuss is about. Matcha gives you quite a lot of long-lasting, sustained, and focused energy. And to boot, it has nice appetite-suppressive effects. One of the reasons I'm generally so vigilant about eating breakfast is because of the energy breakfast provides. But if I can get those same energy effects from a glass of Matcha, I might do Matcha instead of breakfast. Then I can get the energy benefits of breakfast, alongside the benefits of fasting (of which there are many), along with all the health benefits of Matcha (of which there are many). This might be an interesting experiment.
Yeah, things are still moving fast. I think I'll achieve my goals with the current regimen. We'll see. It really is incredible how long this freakin' ramp is. I am getting impatient, but I cannot deny the rapid progress. So it's a combination of impatience, excitement, and a lot of let's-get-this-fucking-thing-done-already.
Heh, what a nut I am. I do quite a lot.
Here's the current regimen. I wake up, do a 15-minute workout consisting of 10 pull-ups, 40 push-ups, and six deadlifts (315lbs). I do three supersets of that, which takes around 15 minutes. Then I go directly to the cold plunge, and submerge my entire body 35ยบ F water for about five minutes. Then I eat a large four-egg omelet, with lots of butter and cheddar cheese. Then I wash that down with about two liters of green tea I make with my French press over the next few hours.
I use quite a bit of supplements that I take with the omelet. Beef liver tablets, lecithin, Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin D3, turmeric, rare-fraction alpha lipoic acid, coenzyme q10 (Ubquinol), a large swig of cod liver oil, Ashwaganda, and Lion's Mane extract.
Lately I've been doing red light therapy for about 20 minutes before doing exercises. I'm not sure it does anything yet, but I think it does. Interestingly, it would appear I'm doing Syntonics again. Full circle.
Sometimes I will pop a Nicorette before I do the Columns workout. I read that nicotine is a drug (among others, like Adderall) which increases neuroplasticity. Nicotine is not good for you (though it's not terrible), but I do not think I'll be using it for very long. I'm sort of using it strategically for the stimulant effects, the effects it has on neuroplasticity, as well as the anti-inflammatory effects it has on the body.
Then I'll do the Columns workout for around 1-1.5 hours while chewing the Nicorette.
Then I basically fast all day, and then eat a bunch of cream and broccoli soup I made in large batches and which I thaw out. In terms of macronutritents, it's basically all fat and some trace amounts of protein. I'll eat that with some spinach, and chicken that I've thawed out and grilled. I eat about 20 grams of chicken, so we're talking maybe around a total of 60 grams of protein a day, and the rest is fat. So... we're talking pretty low protein, so I force my body to stay in fat-burning mode (ketosis), which helps with vision, vision therapy, and cognition in general.
Later in the day I'll try to do two hours of VR, or for as long as I can bear it, which is around two hours. I think VR helps with integration, because of the power of the binocular cues it provides. I think the Columns workout works to get the eyes working together, and to tune the accommodation reflex, as well as eye coordination. Then the VR works to tell the brain, 'Hey, here's some input you can use. Now start using it. Open the channel.'.
My night time supplement cocktail is zinc, magnesium threonate, apigenin, l-theanine, Tongkat Ali.
I'm not where I'd like to be on this particular ramp (Special Columns + VR), but I feel like there's still a bit more to be squeezed out of this particular regimen.
Tomorrow will be the 10th, exactly a month since I discovered this new regimen. I'm going to keep going. Things are still moving quickly.
