Re: Temporary loss of vision

Posted By Mary Ann on May 18, 1999 at 21:57:40
I am a registered nurse who runs a medical transcription service.  One of my subcontractors, also a registered nurse, has been experiencing eye problems over the past year.  She has episodes of what she describes as "a sponge-painting type blurriness of vision".  These episodes last for only a few minutes.  Recently, she had an episode where she totally lost vision in one eye for a couple of minutes.  She has no eye pain with these episodes, and no headache following them.  She has been to an opthalmologist, and glaucoma has been ruled out.  Her eye doctor said they were ocular headaches. She has also been to a neurologist, and a CAT scan was negative.  The neurologist said they were not ocular headaches, because she has no pain.  She has also been battling back problems for the last 2 years, with no definitive diagnosis being made except for possible reflex sympathetic dystrophy.  Is there any connection?  If not, what could she possibly be experiencing?  She is only 43 and in very good health.  

[HFHS MD JL]

Posted By HFHS M.D.-JL on May 19, 1999 at 06:53:11
After listening to your comments, my first thought is that this represents ocular migraines.  You do not necessarily have a headache with this.  Certainly it is important to rule out a atherosclerotic cause for this by examining the carotid arteries.  It sounds like the other work up has been complete.
This information has been provided for medical educational purposes only.
HFHS M.D.-JL










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