VERTICAL Double Vision? SERIOUS answers, ONLY, please!?

Question

When we think of "double vision" we think of two images side-by-side. However, back around mid-summer, my boyfriend began to experience occasional incidents of VERTICAL double vision - one image ABOVE the other! The incidents were sporadic and short-lived at first, but have become more frequent and longer-lasting with the passage of time.
In Late August, his vision got "stuck" that way for a couple of days, then turned loose and went back to intermittent again.

The eye doctors he has seen at the VA Hospital are totally bewildered and have NO idea what it is or what to do about it.
He thinks it is a side effect from his medications, but the doctors keep denying that - even though it lessens if he cuts back on his prostate meds and one of his inhalers. However, both of these meds are vital to him, so he cannot cut them out entirely.
Has anyone else ever encountered this?
Does anyone know what it is and what we can do about it?

The pharmacists deny any possibility of side effects with ANY of his drugs, even though I have OTHER problems that he has listed among the side effects of his durgs - but THIS, SPECIFIC one is NOT mentined ANYWHERE! NO ONE seems to have heard of it before.
"Blurred Vision" is listed but not double vision of ANY kind.

I wish we COULD afford to consult a doc in the private sector, but that is out of the question, unfortunately. They DID call in TWO different kinds of eye specialists there at the VA Hosp, and one of them mightn have been an ophthalmologist, but BOTH were completely stumped by it.

Answer 1

Actually, diplopia can manifest it's self in all directions. It can be a side effect of meds (Call the pharmacy and ask for side effects), it can be a muscle imbalance, it can be caused by a virus or a nuerological problem as well. If you can consult an Ophthalmologist it would be a good idea. I am not knocking military doctors, but paying for one in the private sector might be a good idea.

Answer 2

I support Lori on this.
Acquired double vision in any direction needs full assessment.
If the onset coincided with a change in medication (type or dosage) then that might be an obvious suspect, but the other possibilities, basically of something interfereing with the freedom of one eye to move (either physically or due to a change in blood or nerve supply to one or more of the eye muscles) need to be assessed.
None of them have to be disastrous, but none are really things that should be ignored.

Answer 3

FIRST FIND AN EXPERIENCED OPTHAMOLOGIST TO DOUBLE CHECK THE V.A. DOCTORS EXAM. A SECOND OPINION IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. ALSO CHECK WITH HIS DOCTORS AND EVEN THE DRUG COMPANIES FOR ALTERNATE DRUGS IF THIS IS THE CAUSE.