Eye problems... again

[buddykat]

::sigh:: I had to go to the eye dr's on an emergency basis today; less than 20 minutes after I got to work, I had a headache and *massive* pain in my right eye. After about an hour, I went outside for a few minutes and felt somewhat better. Within a few minutes of coming back into the office, the pain was returning

Comments

[jeran]

I'll second that. I don't have a problem with fluorescent lights per se, but combine them with a CRT and I need either 85Hz vertical refresh or higher or 60Hz vertical refresh. At other settings I can see the beat frequency between the monitor's refresh and the line-frequency flicker of the fluorescents. My suspicion is that lots of people have this problem but they just ignore it or find workarounds. Actually I think a lot of recently-developing health problems are less some new development than a result of people trying to live with poor ergonomics instead of going (for example) "Hey! If you're going to have us typing all day, either get us proper typing chairs and desks or I'm outta here!".

If those fixtures are work are flickering for everyone, though, there's something more wrong than just your eyes. They need new tubes at least, and there may be something wrong with either the ballasts or the electrical power itself.

[esprix]

Do you think your workplace would spring for a new monitor before you start cashing in that Worker's Comp claim?

[buddykat]

Yes, in fact I talked to one of the managers a few minutes ago, and she indicated that new monitors are on the agenda (Real Soon Now); and since it would be foolish to buy CRTs now, they will likely be LCDs. If they aren't, I'm going to insist on a *real* video card for my machine.

[galtine1]

Check if there's a video driver update for your monitor or system (or both). Make sure that your don't end up with two sets of conflicting drivers loaded (see my problems documented earlier this year). You might want to try uninstalling all drivers and making the system find new ones.

Hope something helps for the sort term.

Oh, and polarized lens on barely tinted sunglasses may help cut the glare issue from the overhear light problem.

[buddykat]

Sadly, I don't have admin rights on my machine. Although it has been re-imaged recently, and I know she made sure that the monitor driver was up-to-date. It's just a really cheap crappy on-board video instead of a decent card.

I'm probably going to ask them to get someone in to take out a couple of the light bulbs for the really bright light that shines right in my eyes - luckily no one is in the cubicle next to me.

[mrmeval]

I take it you can't really use the ADA to force the issue.

What frequency does not cause flicker?

Can you see flicker in the twisted bulbs meant for lamps?

LCDs use CCFLs but they run at higher frequencies around 500khz.

[brownkitty]

it seems that not very many people have these types of problems with fluorescents and flickering CRTs, so there's not a lot of info about it out there;

Aren't these things one of the more usual migraine triggers?

[buddykat]

Yes, but I don't get migranes... instead, I'm getting Ocular Hypertension (and eye strain headaches), which is a pre-cursor to Glaucoma (oh, joy).