eyes and head

[wishforchange]

Hi everybody again, and thanks for your welcome.

Two questions for the knowledgeable here, that is everybody, and likely more to come.

I had an acute eye problem with a blind spot in one eye and double vision some weeks back, and because of my turning down one consultant before he started (I don't do rude or arrogant) and the loss of my notes, it will now be September before I see another consultant who is a strabisimus specialist.  I have been definitely diagnosed with a squint, with double vision in one eye, and weak muscles in the other.  Together they cause severe double vision when I am fatigued.  I have some exercises to do and am working on them.

Last week my regular optician saw me for a general eye check, as I am moderately short sighted.  When he got to the bit of examining the back of my eyes he got concerned.  He said one pupil was not responding to light or darkness, not dilating or contracting.  It was the eye with the double vision and in recent weeks it is getting harder to see with that eye.  He told me to go back to the hospital immediately if things get worse and is going to do another visual field test himself next week.  This practice has known me for twenty years.  They know this is a new change in my vision.  Do I need to tell the hospital and try to have the appointment brought forward or will they just ignore the findings of an optician?  When they examined me they made not no comments about my pupils, but then they had artificially dilated them.  A very close relative of mine is registered blind, so I am very concerned about this.  Have enough to cope with from my mobility problems.  The hospital is great but very snooty, so am worried they will dismiss me as over-anxious if I pressure them for an early appointment.  Am already in the bad books of this consultant who I snubbed.  He was revolting.  There was no way I was letting him within an arm's length of my eyes.  I asked him a simple question and he snapped 'I am a consultant.  I ask the questions.  You are just the patient, you listen to me' - like a red rag to a bull with me.  He got off lightly.

Other question is regarding whether I have done permanent damage to my brain.  As some of you know, the other night I seriously miscalculated my narcotics and paid dearly for it.  Still I am not right.  Unable to find words when I speak, speaking in spoonerisms (seriously), mispronouncing common words...  I should be grateful to be alive, and I am, but now I seem to have some (hopefully temporary) mental damage.  Am hoping it's just depression or whatever but don't know how much this mistake affected me.

Hip MRI results due in soon.  I hope they are thorough and show some answers.  Was a 1.5 machine and they used contrast.  I'm trying not to get any excpectations up regarding findings but as long as the report is thorough I will have to deal with whatever is or isn't going on.  

I'm so BORED with being ill.  Why won't it just stop, for all of us?  I want my life back, I want my body back, my mind...I'm off again.  3.15am here and can't see a word I'm writing so will sleep.

Have a good night yourselves, whenever it comes!

Wish

Phoned occupational health.  Have to bite the bullet and fill out the form.  Starting in a month, if they let me.  Will be a long daily commute, but no way am I working in local hospitals.  

So that's enough out of my system for now.  Just glad to be back and welcomed warts and all (I don't have warts).  

Hope I've not asked too many questions, I like to go on and on...

[jensequitur]

>  Other question is regarding whether I have done permanent damage to my brain.

I've had experience with the symptoms you've described, but they weren't triggered by narcotics, just being in the middle of a flare.  Spooking in Speanerisms, huh?  That can be really funny, or really embarrassing... and the whole word finding issue is scary, too.

[wishforchange]

I don't want to tempt fate but my speech and coherence is slowly coming back.  Deb you were right that this stuff is probably still hanging around in my system, and given that I still take it everyday it is taking a while for the 'overdose' to clear.  Still slurring when I talk and my balance is bad even by my low standards, but I think this is not permanent.  Ultimately who knows...

Eyes are terrible mess, am on my time of month at the moment so cannot get out but if I could I would likely take this back to the hospital.  The double vision is riddicuous, the images are so far from each other it is like I am looking at one thing with the picture repeated way in the corner of my eye.  It's getting harder and  harder to pull things back into focus.  Optician on Monday and if he finds this pupil is still not reacting may ask him for a letter to take to the hospital the same day.  I'm not waiting for some bored doctor to finally decied there is a problem whilst I lose my vision.

Cannot pick up pelvic MRI until next week as too sick to go out this week.  Also confusion with my neurologist, he told me he had reffered me to a professor of neurosurgery, and have the referral, but his field is not neurosurgery!  Have emailed him as apparently he was talking about someone else and he wants to speak with them first.  So another referral has been messed up.  Found out through his secretary, he definitely gave me the wrong name.  Hope he sorts it out.  There he was making grand declarations of how he was going to proceed and he's just written the letter to the wrong person.  I suppose everyone makes mistakes.  He means well.  I hope.  Forever cynical.

Thanks for responses..  Will be spending the next few days in bed, but right now going to get a coffee and stay online a while, check my emails etc.  Wish you all well.

[floridamom2]

Hi there,

Can you have the optician's office call and get the appointment moved up at his request?  Doctors offices always give more respect to other doctors asking for stuff than patients from my experience.

I don't really know anything about the medication error issue but just guessing I would say you should have no long term damage. Speaking of cog fog I have to keep re reading your post to remember what I am saying so I should probably stop talking.

Take care you and I will keep you in my prayers!!
Hugs!
Kristin

[AmishErin]

Ok you are unDXed and I am DXed so I can only tell you about DXed  stories and you can take from them what you will.  I have had Optic nueursis (speeled wrong I'm sure)  I have had a few MRI's to look for the lesions with and without contrast.  The doctor seemed baffled since I was completely blind in my left eye and my Opthamalogist could see that the nerve was palor in color a few weeks after the attack.  (I have been told a tale tale sign)  

After one of my many MRI's I told the technichen that they were unable to find any eye lesions yet.  She told me that since she had worked at the hospital she had never seen a lesion on an optic nerve but that she had heard of them.  At the cost of an MRI I stopped paying for what they couldn't find.  but then again I am DXed.

2nd.  Fog.  I have Gotten lost at Walmart, At work, Forgotten how to vote, forgotten how to spell Utah, gotten how to get on the freeway,  got lost a block from home,  All of this while I was sober.  My fog did go away.  took awhile but it went away.

My Neuro also underestimates my opthmalogists diagnotic abilitys.  I think the feild vision test goes alot further in pointing out what we see or don't see.  

[Deb61]

I would call the eye doctor if your vision gets worse and ask to make sure your optician is still on your side before going to the emergency room.  Maybe he can give the hospital a heads up before you get there to make things go a little bit more smoothly.  You do have to walk a thin tight rope with those folks!!!!!  I've been lucky that no one has been rude to me like that--- I'd crumble and fall apart.  You must be very strong to endure what you're going through physically and the BS from those doctors.

I have a long commute to where I work.  The good thing about a long commute is that you can get yourself ready mentally organized before starting out the work day.  I do a lot of my planning and destressing during that time.  

I have no idea about the medication incident thing and its effects on your brain.  My knee-jerk reaction is that probably had no permament effect.  I bet the remainder of the medicine is still lingering in your body.  Maybe drinking a little extra water may help flush it out.  When I took a medication that didn't agree with me (something that made my tremors even worse), the doctor told me that it may take a couple of weeks before I returned to normal (whatever that means).  

Take care of yourself.  It's good to hear from you.
Deb