I'm so sorry your sight is diminishing. Mine too, and it's a challenge to always adapt to a new low in vision.

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First, you need some wrap around sunglasses that don't let much light in. That will help you, I hope. :-)


Here's the link to the US Amazon for some sunglasses that might help and cost only $30. I'm hoping it transfers to your UK version:

Rapid Eyewear Nimbus DARK CATEGORY 4 SUNGLASSES for Extreme Sun Conditions and Sensitive Eyes (Photophobia). Glasses for Men and Women

$1

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Second, try looking for a counselor/therapist who specializes in adjusting to vision loss.

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Here's someone in my area, and I hope you can find someone like this in yours.

$1

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For example, here's someone on your side of the pond: $1

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Here's what I entered into Google: Uk vision rehabilitation therapist

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No quotes just the words above.

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Wishing you well!

I can assure you that you won’t be a burden to your friends. You’re there because they want you to be. Any adjustment can be difficult so just persevere and the end result will not be as bad as you’ve imagined. And if you need assistance from any of them, be sure to ask. They won’t mind.

I strongly advise you to seek therapy. It is completely normal to struggle with depression when you're losing your vision. I have been visiting a wonderful therapist for the past 2 years and probably will continue to see her for at least one more year. Usually I go there every other week and the therapy has helped me tremendously. I don't know where I'd be today without it. The pain, sadness, frustration and all those other negative feelings haven't become milder but I have learned ways to deal with them. I have also learned to change certain aspects about my social behavior now that I'm nearing blindness. For example standing up for myself has always been extremely difficult for me but now that I have gone blind and I'm far more vulnerable and dependent on other people, I need to train this.

As for the light sensitivity, I probably feel you more on this than anyone else here. I was born with a condition called aniridia, which is characterized by the fact that I lack an iris in both eyes. The iris functions like an aperture in a photograph. Without it, you get blasted with the full amount of light the whole time. The light directly hits the retina because there's nothing to filter some of it out. In other words, I've been living with a constant bombardment of light for my whole entire life. The good news is that at one point you get somewhat used to it. There are still moments where I particularly struggle but on an average day I can handle it without feeling too irritated. I love cloudy and rainy days and I generally try not to go outside too much on very bright summer days. Having a quality pair of sunglasses is also very important, as others have already mentioned. And finally, I recommend a good amount of sleep every night. I struggle a lot with my sleep-wake cycle and it has become worse since I have gone nearly blind. This is why I'm sometimes up at very strange hours and end up sleeping only 2-3 hours in a night to get the rythm back in order again. However, what I have found is that my eyes work much better and with less pain if I make sure to sleep a lot every night. My body would probably be okay with 8 hours but my eyes need about 10-11 to feel really nice. Of course I can't always provide my eyes with so much sleep but when I have the time (weekends, holidays etc), I do. It's not the most adventurous way to spend my time but I can tell that after 2-3 nights of sleeping a lot, my eyes start to feel better and sometimes even my vision seems a tad improved. And that's definitely something worth too.

I feel you with the eye strain and light sensitivity. In elementary school I had a lot of problems with headaches from light sensitivity and chronic eye strain.

Since you’re on vacation, the best solution for the light sensitivity is to wear a wide brim hat/carry a parasol. If you don’t have tinted glasses you can just wear sunglasses inside and/or a hat. If there’s a shady area, you can take a break in take advantage of it.

Also, be open with your friends about it. Undoing the whole I’m a burden thinking can take time but the first step is recognizing those thoughts so keep up the good work.

As for eye strain, modifying how you do things to reduce it is a personal thing but minimizing the glare exposure should really help.

For every day I love tinted glasses that transition in the sun and sunglasses that fit over them to minimize glare from the angles the regular ones don’t cover.

I’ve gotten super light sensitive too recently.

I’m actually cautious of sunny days.

My friends don’t mind but it means I have to take as much care as possible. For a while I didn’t even want to go out, but I’m sitting outside enjoying the warmth today.

When my partner discovered in his 30s that he was losing his vision and there was nothing that could be done about it other than to slow it down a bit he sought out cognitive behavioural therapy. Might be worth it if you have the funds to access it. There actually is a CBT app for the iPhone, I’ve never looked into it but apparently it gives you the fundamentals