lol Natural Nystagmus

[Mitzi]

I ran into a cop friend today I hadn't seen for awhile. We talked a bit and as I went to my car, he walked with me. He said, "Mitzi, look at me." I was surprised and said, "Why?" I had also noticed he walked behind me on the way to the car, thinking that was strange.
He said, "Are you on medication or something?" Then remembered. I said, "Oh, I know what YOU are tallking bout. Len, I have natural nystagmus." He knew what it was.....My eyes shake a little because of an inherited eye problem. Something about the back of my eye compensates for something and my eyes shake to focus. The Catch22 is I have really good vision for a person with this vision problem.
He was really surprised and said, "You know, I don't think I have EVER seen anyone with natural nystagmus. Do you mind taking your glasses off so I can see? (I wear tinted glasses because of this but he, being a police officer, was very observant. He looked at them and said, "Make sure, if you are ever stopped and an officer looks at your eyes funny, tell them. If I didn't know you had this, I would look at it as you possibly being drunk." I said, cracking him up, "Oh, I am drunk, Len. I just have natural nystagmus too." lol

[OkieNarc]

There are several categories of nystagmus. Vestibular (movement or action to the vestibular system), which includes Rotational, Post-Rotational, Caloric, and Postional Alcohol [PAN - which has two types]. Nystagmus can be the result of neural activity. These include Optokinetic, Physiological, Gaze [separated into 3 groups of horizontal gaze, vertical gaze and resting]. What you describe is the resting nystagmus, which is rare and highly probable that the individual is well aware of his/her condition. From a law enforcement perspective, a resting gaze nystagmus (unless a medical condition as you mention) might indicate high doses of PCP. The third basic category of nystagmus are those of pathological disorder (brain tumors or other brain damage or inner ear disease). Those with this disorder are rarely capable of driving.

Anyway ... now one sees why it is important to be trained and certified in the use of SFST.

[Mitzi]

My vision is very good despite this. In fact, I never would have known I had it until my eye dr found it many years ago. He was surprised how good my vision is. As I have gotten older (NO THAT OLD,DON!lol), I have noticed just a slight change in night driving, which I do very little of. If I turn my head slightly and use just perphial vision, I can see the dotted lines moving. If I close my eyes and lay a finger lightly on a eyelid, I can feel my eyeball moving. WEIRDS ME OUT! lol
This seems to be a female inheritated trait in my family. The dr said that contacts may or may not help with the moving but I made him laugh when I told him that maybe that would stop my eyes from moving but then my head would move from side to side.
At any rate, I think somewhere along the line, as I get older, this may mean I might not be able to drive someday. My dr was amazed at how good my vision is despite this problem.

[ 07-23-2002: Message edited by: Mitzi ]

[klar]

See that Don she is talking about herself getting older again and then she gets mad at us for pointing it out. LOL

Klar