Eye Pain

[bamba chicka]

Dear Sirs

A few days ago I suddenly experienced extreme pain in my left eye.  The pain also extended to immediate areas of my head around my eye.  My vision became extremely blurred and the pain got worse by the minute and became so bad I vomitted. It was a shooting, sharp pain and my pupil became completely dilated, so much so that you could hardly see the blue of my eye.  I had been in the sea surfing for a few hours in the afternoon and watched the sun set.  I went to The Eye & Ear Hospital in Dublin last night as the experience truly shocked me.  The doctor there tested my eyes and said he couldn't find anything (thankfully) and to return if I felt the pressure and or pain again.  However, I am still concerned that such severe pain, pupil dilation and blurred vision can occur for no reason.  My pupil is still slightly dilated yet nothing like it was on Saturday night.  I had a bad headache on Friday afternoon also and the only other thing I can mention to you is that I had a filling put into a tooth on top left hand side of my mouth about two weeks ago.  I'm sure that's unrelated yet I want to give you all possible factors.

Thank you for your attention and I look forward to hearing from you.

regards

Cathy Maguire, Dublin

[Ag-i-doc]

thats pretty much the only thing you can do.  almost no one will be able to tell you what occurred in your eye after the fact.

[Ag-i-doc]

yeah, you need to at least find out IF they checked your IOP (intra-ocular pressure) and if so, what was the reading.  thats not too much to ask IMO.  that would tell us whether it was a cluster headache or whether angle closure was still a possibility.

yes, i would consider IOP testing standard procedure in that case.

[bamba chicka]

To be honest my eye wasn't red and I also am not 100% sure whether the doctor checked my intra-ocular pressure.  Would it be standard procedure to check this?  In your opinion should I call the doctor in question?  If the incident was a once off one then I don't want to be dramatic for nothing, however I also don't believe that I could be in as much pain as I was for no good reason!  I recently have experienced strong, shooting type pains in the left side of my head that last somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds at a time.

Any advice as to where I should go from here?

Thank you for your attention.

[LukeL]

You might want to ,research cluster headaches

[bamba chicka]

I have just telephoned the hospital to ask them if the doctor checked my Intra-Ocular Pressure last night and they have confirmed that same was done and that the pressure was perfectly normal.  However, they did say that they could not really give an explanation as to what happened unless I go back to them when and if I experience something similar again.  Do you think it is safe enough for me to just write this incident off as a one off matter and deal with it again if the symptoms reoccur at a later date?

Thank you for your attention once again.

[Forum-OD-MP]

was your eye also RED?  off the top of my head, you most likely experienced either a cluster headache (a form of migraine) or an angle closure glaucoma attack.  did the doctors test your intra-ocular pressure?  if they did check the eye pressure and it was fine, then we're probably talking about a cluster headache.  if they checked it and it was high, or if they didnt check it at all, then we could be talking about an angle closure glaucoma attack, which would be more serious in my opinion.  you need to find out if they checked your intra-ocular pressure, and if so what the measurement was.  consider any reading over 22 mmHg to be abnormal...however most people dont experience PAIN until their pressure is over 40 or so.