subben cross eyedness and dizzy spell

[Wuxijohn]

I'm a 49 year old Canadian male, and the exact thing just happened to me about 30 minutes ago. I was working on my computer when my vision suddenly became crossed followed by some dizziness making me feel like I was about to pass out.

I immediately stood up, drank some water and walked out of my office (in case I really did pass out, some one would see me). I walked around for a minute or two and then I was fine except for the scare it gave me.

I thought I may have been having a stroke of some kind. Whatever it was, I'm sure has been self induced by my life style.

I've been living and working in China for about a year and 3 months now. Two years before coming to China, I suffered from high blood pressure (again the life style variety, not the inherited kind), migrain headaches, was about 40lbs over weight and a smoker to boot. No sure how I did it but I went on an 8 month long health kick lost the weight, quit smoking, exercised daily and as a result had the best physical in years. My doctor even got me off my high blood pressure medication.

Now, fast-forward 2 years, I come to China where almost every adult male smokes and does so freely everywhere (it's like being back in the 70's), the food (oh the wonderful food) I eat is lased in salt and msg’s, mostly fried, and cholesterol ridden.
Need I spell it out, I've been living like there is no tomorrow. I have gained almost all the weight back, I smoke again, do not exercise much and eat very rich and fried food.

I think today has, hopefully just been a wake up call, but either way, I need to find the same type of dicipline and energy I had 2 years ago and get myself healthy again.

My contract here ends this March and though I am not looking forward to leaving, I think the constant temptations or lack thereof back home might be the best thing for me now.

My question: Could it have been a mild stroke, or a painless migraine like someone else stated earlier?



This discussion is related to Sudden Cross-eyed Vision NOT double vision.

[Suzieq123]

I started experiencing this about4 months ago immediately after open heart surgery.  I also had surgery for thyroid cancer in October and again in November.  I am concerned that it may be a pituitary tumor.  I am really scared.

[JohnHaganMD]

Suggest you see an Eye MD ophthalmologist for an evaluation of your problem.  A pituitary tumor would not be high on the list of common causes.

[stevethegreen]

I awoke this morning with the same problem: I could't see straight and it took several miutes before passing. During the attack I  felt  light headed and quite frankly very scared. I do suffer migraine hedaches and had one two days ago and yesterday, and atribute the cross-eyedness to that. My migraine is always proceeded by bright, jaggered  lights and flashing in one or both eyes and sometimes partial loss of vision but never being unable to see straight. I usually take 200mg iboprufen when the lighs start and the pain is much less or even absent. However, this time I awoke with cross-eys (not litterally) as I asked my wife to check and she said they werer normal. Migraines seem to be more frequent when I'm tired and/or under stress and it only takes coffee ,Orange products,  chocolate or anything very sweet (on an empty stomach  )or a sudden  bright light to set one off. I hope sharing my experience  will bring some comfort, as it has to me. Thanks to those who have posted comments and advice. I suppose I should see the doctor or optician if it happens again.

[achillea]

I also have experienced this.  Like several here, I also have migraines (both with and without aura), but I had more of these when my rapidly developing cataracts were, well, developing rapidly.  Several times, I almost had to pull off the road, but the sensation, though powerful, passed in fewer than 30 seconds or so.

A few things I've read here lead me to think this might be what's called
'spasm of accommodation,' which can be googled.

Interestingly, I have not had an episode like this since my intraocular implant surgery.

[nh_vamp]

I had the same experience..my eyes involuntarily started pulling, I got dizzy and sick feeling. I was driving at the time, so I rolled the window down and pulled over. It passed quickly, within a minute, but feaked me out. Im 42, female. No medications. Last year I had high cholestrol. I do have reading glasses prescribed, but hardly wear them. I still feel like my eyes can start pulling inward/upward again, its a wierd feeling. Came home and went right on google.

[shelle470]

My boyfriend and I were in my car watching the waves from Hurricane Irene and I suddenly felt pressure behind my eyes.  I immediately started seeing double and it felt as if I was going cross-eyed uncontrollably.  I was very frightened and about to tell my boyfriend to take me to the ER when the episode passed.. He said it didn't look my my eyes had actually gone crossed, but thats exactly what it felt like, and I just held my head in my hands for a about 30-45 seconds before it passed.  I felt helpless during the event like I couldn't function.  I'm a 22 yr old female and I've suffered from migraines with aura since childhood.  I've always had perfect vision, so my first thought was that it was simply a sign that I was going to have one monster of a migraine later, but it never came.  The whole experience just seems odd to me.. I usually pass off my visual abnormalities to some various stage of migraine but I've never experienced anything like this.  Im not on any prescriptions other than an oral contraceptive I've been on for awhile.  I'm inclined to assume it's migraine related but I told my doc I could see migraine aura in my dreams and she looked at my like I was nuts and not a lot is known about migraines in general, so I was planning on just letting it go..  Unless of course someone thinks it could be something else?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Yes, it was probably a TIA (transient ischemic attach).  This can lead to a stroke.  Take an aspirin and see a doctor ASAP.  See if you can get a blood pressure check with in a local pharmacy.

Dr. O.