The joys of aging: eye doctor interlude
What have I been doing lately besides contemplating Robert Frost and deploring Donald Trump?
Well, yesterday I had a previously-unscheduled sojourn at the eye doctor’s. First, I’ll tell you the ending: I’m okay. But what preceded it was no small amount of anxiety.
It began Thursday evening when I was at Macy’s trying on some clothes and attempting to unwind from the day. I’d been in the dressing room for about twenty minutes when suddenly, with no warning, I found that when I turned my head to the right something resembling a lightning bolt flashed in the far right side of my vision.
This is the sort of thing that gets a person’s attention, especially when there aren’t any external flashes going off anywhere around. Whenever I tested the phenomenon by turning my head, I’d see that bolt. So it became apparent that this lightning was completely internal—my own private lightning storm.
That’s when the anxiety began (otherwise known as “fear”). Now, I sometimes get the light-show of visual migraine auras, but this seemed very very different. If it was a migraine, it was the strangest one I’d ever had, so that wasn’t my lead theory. Was the problem in my brain or my eye? Because of the consistency of the symptom’s appearance when turning my head, and the fact that it was much diminished with my right eye closed, I became convinced it was in my eye. And I knew that the symptom might be consistent with a detached retina, which sometimes happens rather suddenly (mostly in people over 60) and must be surgically repaired within a timely fashion to avoid dire outcomes.
What did I do? I left the store and went home and Googled it, that’s what I did. I discovered that although my symptoms could be those of a retinal detachment they also fit very well with something else far more innocuous and far more comm,on, a posterior vitreous detachment.
I would much prefer that, of course (not that I get a choice). But there was one little hitch: twenty years ago, I’d been told by a retinal specialist that I had had a PVD in both eyes, and I know that once it’s occurred in an eye it doesn’t happen again. So although I thought PVD fit my current symptoms better than a retinal detachment, and wanted it to be a PVD rather than a retinal detachment, I didn’t see how it could be.
I couldn’t tell if I had an increase in floaters, another symptom of both conditions, because I already have quite a few floaters in each eye—that’s what initially drove me to that retinal specialist twenty years ago, and to that initial diagnosis of bilateral PVD.
On Friday morning I woke up early and called the eye doctor to tell my tale of woe and ask to be seen that day (at least it was Friday and not Saturday). I had read that PVDs can lead to retinal detachments, and although PVDs are far far more common and need no treatment, it’s strongly suggested that a person with such symptoms should go quickly to the eye doctor to make sure. So that’s what I did, and when the doctor looked into my dilated eyes, she said what I had was a right eye PVD but that the left eye was okay.
What a relief.
She was so brusque (although not unkind) and in such a hurry that I forgot to ask what on earth that first doctor had seen, the one who had said it had already happened in both eyes. Not that she could have answered anyway; is she her brother doctor’s keeper, or explainer, or apologist?
As of now, the lighting bolt symptom seems to be happening with less frequency, and it’s not quite as bright. I suppose this means my PVD has progressed. The scoop is that a PVD can take days, weeks, or months to fully detach, and then things should calm down. I feel much calmer already.
[NOTE: I’ve long known the symptoms of a retinal detachment, perhaps because a friend of mine’s husband had one years ago. But I’ve got a bone to pick with the descriptions of symptoms I read at most of the websites. Most of them say you get “flashes of light.” To me that always sounded as though they meant a sort of flashbulb-type illumination, much like when you’re having your picture taken, where things light up in general. Apparently not. Apparently my symptoms were exactly what they mean by “flashes of light”: something in the outer periphery of your vision in the affected eye that looks like a bolt or arc of lightning but is not a general illumination. So, please take note.]
Gets to the point that, when you see one, you hope to hear thunder, and you wish people would quit taking flash pictures unless they tell you first.
Sunlight flare off a car….
Minor correction: lightning, not lightening.
I had almost identical symptoms about 8 years ago in both eyes (after having floaters since childhood). I went to an eye clinic on an emergency basis the next morning, and I received the same diagnosis you did. After several months everything calmed down, except that every once in a while there is another lightning bolt, and nothing but thumbs up with every subsequent eye examination.
Ripple:
Thanks, will fix.
neo exclaims, “What did I do? I . . . went home and Googled it, that’s what I did.”
This reminds me of a recent exchange between my wife, who was concerned about a certain physical condition, and her doctor. Said wife waxed loquacious on what she’d been learning about said condition on the internet, and said doctor reproachfully but jocularly asked if she’d been consulting with Dr. Google again.
I had a similar occurrence 3 years ago but my lights were individual “stars” starting at 12:00 and going to the 3:00 position (if you imagine your visual area as a clock). This would happen when I blinked. Same diagnosis as you. Yes, I have lots of floaters, one big dark one in my right eye that scoots across my vision as I move my eyes. I have a trouble reading because of the proliferation of floaters in my right eye.
Scary. I’m glad you’re OK, Neo.
This happened to me last year and was definitely one of the scariest incidents of my life. I have been warned for many years to look for symptoms of a detached retina. I am extremely nearsighted and have had a condition called “lattice degeneration” for over 20 years. It is a thinning of the retina that is stretched due to the shape of a myopic eye. I had no idea there was such a thing as a PVD so I freaked when I saw that lightning bolt. I was sure my retina had finally detached but thankfully, it had not. I have had floaters most of my life but the PVD cause a very large one in my left eye that is still a distraction. Perhaps that first doctor saw the lattice condition that was pre-PVD? Glad you’re ok.
I hope your health continues to be fine. The internet can make you think your condition is worse than it actually is. I’m currently training for a half-marathon but that distance will most likely chance to a 10K due me being diagnosed with tendonitis in my left foot. At first I thought it was a stress fracture; thank goodness it wasn’t.
On a more serious health note a month ago I had mono double vision which carried on for a few days – this is more serious, but I think it was due to serious eye strain. I google my health scare and I got some scary results. To make it even worse I experienced vertigo for a few hours once the double vision subsided on separate occasions. I received a text from the eye doctor to come in for my yearly eye exam since last year I took in October. I’ll take this as a sign to finally get some professional word on my condition. I hope it’s just some serious eye strain which can be fixed by rest because any neurological disease would be devastating.
GRA:
Thanks for the good wishes.
In this case, however, I already knew I might have a retinal detachment before I Googled it. I also knew I might have a PVD, although I didn’t think that was possible since I’d been told I already had had one. However, the Googling made me think the less serious event was more likely than the more serious one. So it had the effect of calming me down somewhat.
I’ve got a floater or two and am mildly diabetic with various other occasional and fleeting ailments. But hearing of other’s more serious conditions leads me to a deeper appreciation of just how lucky I am.
Hey Neo…I had the exact same thing about a year ago too…i also had some eye irritation, just in the beginning, in addition to the flashing phenomena…after several visits to a retinal specialist all is well
Hope you are too…enjoy following your blog
Detached retinas do not just happen to old people. I was diagnosed with detached retinas in both eyes when I was 18 and needed immediate surgery to correct it, scleral buckles. I was in college with three weeks left in the semester and asked if I could finish the term and was told “NO”.
Sorry to hear about this eye issue, Neo. I hope it works out successfully.
I’m on my last week (8 weeks in total) of eye drop protocol after having my cataracts removed and lenses put in. The first two weeks were distressing because my first eye wasn’t getting better (hazy vision) after the surgery. The doctor diagnosed it as my being allergic to the eye drops. They replaced three different eye drops with a single drop of some other solution. It certainly made a dramatic difference. My eye improved almost immediately. I was very distressed during that first two weeks. We don’t realize how precious our sight is until something like that occurs.
I also have dry age related macular degeneration (ARMD), but have been taking Bausch and Lomb AREDS vitamin supplement for that. It has not gotten worse for the seven years since it was first diagnosed. Those vitamins have apparently worked quite well.
J.J.:
Glad you’re feeling better.
I also have developing cataracts, much as anyone my age usually does, but it freaks me out because it’s related to my concept of “old,” and I can also see some of the effects now. I have a feeling that cataract surgery is in my not-all-that-distant future.
You are not alone, Neo. I’ve got “flashers” & “floaters” and rarely bothersome early cataracts. Also “pigment dispersion” and nearly lifelong nearsightedness. Welcome to our generation, Kiddo!!
Not sure how much anyone wants to hear about my medical history but as long as we’re discussing cataracts I have had the operation in both eyes, the first a long time ago when I was in my mid-40s, an unusually early age for it. It may be related to my early retinal surgery. After both cataract operations I needed a follow-up procedure with a laser to eliminate a defect. Apparently the lens implant sometimes leaves behind an air pocket that interferes with your vision and the laser takes care of that. It takes about one second.
“nearly lifelong nearsightedness”
Me too, I was wearing coke-bottle eyeglasses from the time I was 5 or 6. That likely was related to my later eye problems. The interesting thing is that since the two cataract surgeries, performed 10 years apart by different doctors, I have been able to go most of the time without glasses. When you get the implant they check your eyes to try to have the implant correct whatever vision impairment you have. One eye was “tuned” for close-up i. e. reading while the other was corrected for distance vision. Now I rarely wear glasses except while driving.
FOAF: Forgot one other problem of recent years: High Pressure in both eyes. Adopt Drops helped for awhile until they “turned” on me. He switched me over to Dorzolimide Drops a.m.& p.m. and they’ve been perfect, Thank God.
Been wearing B & L Aviators since 1969.
Aaahhhh…As my late Uncle Burke used to say: “Old Man… Old Age ain’t for Sissies.” I’m in amazing good health, but I’m sure seeing that the early seventies sure ain’t quite like the early sixties!!
About a month ago I noticed lots of things floating in my left eye. The doctor said it was a torn retina and did some laser and cryo surgery on the eye. When he triggered that laser into my eye it was the brightest flash I ever saw. It didn’t hurt, but I was sure glad when he finished the laser part. The hurt part was when he put the cryo probe into the eye socket. I was ecstatic when he said all finished. The whole procedure couldn’t have taken over 15 minutes but at the time it seemed like it was going on forever. The next day my eyeball was blood red and looked like it was hemorrhaging. The doctor told me if I saw any flashes in my eye to call immediately because this was a symptom of a detached retina.
Be glad you didn’t require surgical intervention because that’s no fun.