concerned or relieved?

[pops53]

Had a small blind spot appear in left eye for about 10 minutes, happened twice in March.  Dr. first sent me to Ophthalmologist and all checked out OK.  Next sent me for ultrasound of heart and neck.  Report from that test came back and said 70% stenosis in one carotid artery and 60% in other.  In addition, enlarged left ventricle at 7.2cm, and thickening of  LVH at 1.7cm.  My DR. then referred me to a cardio/vascular specialists who ordered several tests -
cat scan of brain and neck (with contrast) and nuclear stress test (with dilation).  All I have heard back from these 3 test is that all looked normal and that my carotid was only 7 and 9% blocked.  Specialists has requested copies of images from original ultrasound but have not been able to secure yet.

Now I'm confused and my question is - could the cat scans/nuclear stress test be that far off or could the Dr. conducting the ultrasound be that far off?  there is a huge discrepancy and not sure of the next steps I should talk to my specialist about when I see him next week.

Thanks for any input/thoughts.

[joshua77]

I've had these blind spots for a little less then a year now they come and go not anything to do with retina as I've been there every month nothing in the findings also if I look at a bright sky there's little sparkles that fly around. I agree with pops I think its vascular but seeing as I'm so young I can only be diagnosed with anxiety. Good luck all

[pops53]

ed34 - you need to have that looked at. I'm not a dr but from what I understand in talking with both my ophthalmologist and internal guy is that the cause could be vascular in nature and you may have been having TIA's or mini strokes.  Again, I'm not a dr but would definitely get this checked out.

[ed34]

Interesting, I had vision problems in February and went for an eye test. I was seeing tiny blotches of colours around my vision, flashing and this would last for about 10 minutes a time, probably twice a week. Then this stopped and a new symptoms started. The centre of my vision would disappear, but the outside of the vision was fine. It was like looking through a camera with a circular piece of tape over the middle of the lens. This was happening maybe once a week. During the eye test I mentioned this and my eyes received drops to dilate my pupils fully. The Optician had a good look at my retina but nothing was wrong, he thought it could have been retina degeneration. He then tested the pressure in my eyes and this was also normal. He then blocked one eye and asked me to look at a card with tiny squares all over it. It looked normal. Then he tested the other eyes, but this time the vertical lines were curved and not straight, yet my retina looked fine. I have no idea what caused these symptoms but they have not appeared now for over a month.

[erijon]

You're right, that's a big difference. I would think I would put the most confidence in the nuclear stress tests as they are  very accurate in finding heart disease. They have a specificity of 97% meaning they will find heart disease 97% of the time it is present where an echo can be effected by body type and the orientation of the heart.

I think I would be looking for a third opinion.

Jon