ADHD and Amblyopia

[Geoduck]

So I’ve run into lots of ADHD people around here that also have my weird eye condition: Amblyopia (lazy eye, not to be confused with strabismus, eye turning in). In my internet searches, I have found a connection between convergence insufficiency (or “CI,” where one eye turns out, or what some people call “wall eye”), but nothing for ADHD and amblyopia.

Article linking CI and amblyopia: <http://www.add-adhd.org/convergence_insufficiency.html&gt;

Article defining amblyopia: <http://www.lazyeye.org/&gt;, article defining CI: <http://www.convergenceinsufficiency.org/&gt;

My siblings with ADHD also have amblyopia, and one has esotropia and amblyopia, he also has the greatest ADHD symptoms. I always figured that was a genetic connection, and never associated these things together.

Anyone else diagnosed with ADHD and Amblyopia, or ADHD and any other eye muscle/nerve disorder (strabismus, CI, esotropia)?

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[Geoduck]

AGH!!! I knew I posted about this before, just not sooo long ago…

Who needs a dissertation topic in either opthalmology or psychiatry? Cause I got a couple and have no desire for further schooling…

Okay, so I saw a post on treatment for adult amblyopia, which led to adult brain plasticity, which was previously thought NOT to be a thing until recently.

So it looks like there is hope for us amblyopia sufferers (amblyopiacs???). Anyhow, A study on brain plasticity was done regarding Prozac, and how it may be re-wiring the brain, and that’s why it works, and also that re-wiring of the visual cortex was helping vision problems, as well…

Which brings me to my new and updated question…

If there is a link between amblyopia and ADHD, as has been theorized by another doc in CA (See above link), could the treatment be the same for both, in the form of prozac?

Also, could my adderall be improving connections because of the brain plasticity? The abstract I was reading suggested that it was particularly the noradrenaline and seratonin (<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3223381/#B44&gt;) that was making the connections possible.

So, if my Adderall works via adrenaline rush (is noradrenaline present in adderall? I’m making that possibly huge assumption), couldn’t that work for my amblyopia, if treatment such as patching was done at the same time? Also, if some sort of retraining therapy was done for my ADHD while I was on Adderall, instead of in place of Adderall, would there be more success?

Have studies been done on things like biofeedback being done while on meds, vs. instead of meds? I’m unfamiliar with anything besides biofeedback, but I’m sure there has to have been other sorts of therapies over the past couple hundred years for ADHD or mild retardation, or bad moral fortitude, or whatever the terms were before ADHD (seriously loving the ADHD term after reading Rick’s blog, this week).

Any clue here?

Also, could a lack of adrenaline be part of the problem with my amblyopia, as it is with my ADHD? Is that the missing connection? The CA researcher never wrote me back on that one.

Sorry so lengthy and disjointed, I had coffee after I took my adderall, which really just nullifies the adderal, because I get coffee hyper. Never had that problem before my meds. Too much of a good thing, I guess 🙂

Man, I hope this makes some sense. Oh, and I may be mixing up like 3 different studies.

Any thoughts here would be appreciated.

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[Geoduck]

Eye doc and regular doc are going to hate me. I’m bringing a stack of these abstracts to my amblyopia appt. and my adhd appt.

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[ipsofacto]

I think Amblyopia may well be linked to ADHD. Thiamine deficiency caused neural damage is a known cause of Amblyopia. Thiamine deficiency has also been linked to ADHD. My weak eye is physically perfect, so the eye doc believes the problem is nerve or neural.

I’m really leaning toward malabsorption as a major factor in ADHD. This would explain the numerous nutrient deficiencies that seem common.

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[aj007]

Yes I have had this eye condition all my life and have recently been diagnosed with ADHD. A question I have for you guys is do you notice that your adhd medication relieves your wandering eye somewhat?

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