I'm not drunk. I'm totally fine!
News flash! Alcohol screws with your vision.
Seems like old news, but most people think they are perfectly normal when they drink. One night out at a bar with friends and you are bound to hear, "I'm not drunk, I'm totally fine" as your friend is swaying back and forth, bumping into tables, slurring their words, and screaming in your face instead of talking. This is why partying without a designated driver is super dangerous. People think they are "okay enough to drive" because they truly don't recognize how alcohol is impairing their senses.
According to www.verywellhealth.com one of the five senses that is affected by heavy alcohol consumption is vision. Some of the common side effects of alcohol on vision include:
Decreased visual performance such as blurred vision or double vision due to weakened eye muscle coordination.
Slow pupil reactions affect the speed at which your iris constricts and dilates.
Drivers cannot adapt as quickly to oncoming headlights.
Decreased peripheral vision or tunnel vision
Contrast sensitivity affects how precisely you can discern between shades of gray.
Optic neuropathy is a painless loss of vision, decreased peripheral vision or reduced color vision.
Frequent migraines that include visual auras that appear as blind spots, greying of vision, or zig-zag patterns of light.
Blood vessels in your eyes expand making them more visible, otherwise known as bloodshot eyes.
I am a perfect example of how alcohol causes weakened eye muscle coordination resulting in double vision. 6 months ago, I went through treatment for Ocular Melanoma and one of my side effects from the radiation and two surgeries is the terrible double vision in my bad eye. During the last 6 months, my double vision has significantly improved and now I only struggle when I try to look to the right without moving my head, or when I try to look over my right shoulder such as when I am driving. However, since I am no longer doing the booze snooze I have found that when I drink alcohol I have significant double vision issues. It takes me back to the first few months after treatment and how horrible my vision was. Just one or two glasses of wine affects my eye muscle coordination so severely that I can't drive safely and I can't enjoy watching tv or movies.
Last night we were watching a few episodes of Stranger Things. My hubby and I enjoyed a couple of glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and by the time we were wrapping up for the night, everything on the screen was double. I wasn't drunk and I wasn't even really buzzing. Yet, what I was seeing on the screen was actual PROOF that the alcohol was impairing my eye muscle coordination. I took a screenshot of the TV last night and then used a photo graphics program to create the image below. This is what it looked like to me after two glasses of wine. Well, that sucks!
For me, this is just one more example of why I don't need alcohol in my life. There is always an ugly side to excessive.