Eyes and fluid

yes,I don't experience any ofthat. The doc said my eyes are dry....It feelslike a huge relief when Iput in the artiificial tears.That's the only wy I really know they are dry...although I do find myself rubbing them at times,which I know I'm not supposed to do. The black spot sounds more like macular degeneration than glaucoma.But I don't know all that much about it...either the Mac Degen...or the glaucoma. I have an eye ointment I put in at night some times.... forget who makes it...

I have had the experience when I'm on the computer when all the letters seem to each have shadows...like a form of double vision. I do suffer horribly with double vision...I wear reading glasses with prisms in them and that corrects the regular double vision....but has no effect on the"shadows"...I don't know if it is related to the glaucoma or not.

Good luck to you.

Thank you to all who responded to my eye problems. It’s so wonderful to be able to talk to people who actually know what you’re going through. I can’t get the info or personal experience from the doctors who are suppose to know most of this stuff. I am truly grateful that I found this support group.
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Hi everyone, I am still having problems with my eyes. Unfortunately my eye has blanked out again and both are still very red and swollen. I went to the eye Dr. again on Friday and the sight in my rt. eye has become blurry. She is now talking about macular degeneration. I know very little about it so if anyone has any tips for me it would be great. The big problem that I have not been forthcoming with is possibly what’s behind all this. It’s very embarrassing to admit this to drs. or anyone else for that matter is in march of 2013 I was assaulted by my husband. In the process I had two teeth knocked out and a crown fall off. He hit me repeatedly in the head and face after he pinned me down and threatened to kill me. I did call the police and this not being the first time finally got the courage to have him arrested. I have a no contact order still in place and have not spoken to him since that night. We were married for 37 yrs. I am in the process of divorce. I have been asked by two different eye drs. and a dentist if I have had any head trauma lately. I have till now been too ashamed to admit this. This eye business had got me terrified and am having to admit this assault. Dealing with the other problems this has caused me and now possibly the eye thing has made me crazy and very depressed. Sorry for ranting thanks for listening.

Sorry to say this, but that was really silly not to mention this assault to the doctor. I have a neighbor whose tractor rolled and threw him off. He spent a week in the hospital. Afterwards, he noticed that the small bloodshot area in one eye didn't clear up and it was starting to bother him. Well, it is about three years later and he has had so much trouble with that eye and just had another surgery. I don't know the details on this last one but the earlier ones were to relieve pressure. Please call your doctor and tell him about the assault!

You don’t need to go into major details. You can tell the doctor that you experienced an assault last year, and that you did experience facial trauma. It doesn’t need to be any more detailed than that. And you have nothing to be ashamed of. It takes a strong person to stand up to an abusive relationship.
If you haven’t already sought counseling to help you work through this, I strongly suggest it. You have a lot that you’re dealing with. If finances are an issue, you can start off with a domestic violence center in your area.

Where's the shame in an assault? Is it because you made a
"bad choice" fora husband? It can be very easy to be fooled by an abuser. They can look very kind and sweet to others --and to the partner--until a switch gets pulled and suddenly they are a whole new story. Because you got away and got the law involved,it shows great strength and courage.Please do not be ashamed. All the shame belongs to him. Definitely look in the phone book for women's counciliing or domestic violence center...I will pray for your eyes.

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement with the abuse situation. I have checked into domestic violence run by the state I live in. Unfortunately there is a long waiting list to get in to see someone. I did for a short period of time see a counselor and she was quite helpful but with the fact that I’m not able to work I had to stop seeing her. People say that when you finally get enough of the abusive relationship you’ll know when it’s the right time to do something about it. I’ve tried to leave many times but as I now know now the control and power someone can have over you is incredible. I unfortunately am still at this time still being controlled by finances and it just adds so much more stress on me. I don’t know what the future holds for me in that regard and like the rest of my life I feel as though I am in emotional purgatory. As for my eyes the doc. said this could very well be trauma related we just don’t know at this point. I saw her today and she is referring me to a neuro-ophthalmologist. So I guess it’s more waiting and worrying. One good thing my pressures were lower today so the glaucoma drops are working. I know it’s not logical but shame is something that domestic violence give you plenty of. I am mostly ashamed to have put my children through this kind of life. The guilt is overwhelming.



Felter said:

sadymay, it sounds like your eyes don't fully close when you are asleep. The cornea specialist that I saw said this can be a real problem for some. You may want to try some night eyewear like at http://www.dryeyeshop.com/all-night-eye-products-c97.aspx

hi I attemted to send tis message earlier but but "brain fart" I think i hit the wrong button. I was trying to thank you for your advise about the eyes possibly not closing all the way when sleeping. I have been using the tape at night and it has made a big difference thank you. I was also trying to say that it is amazing when you sit back and realize how many of the symptoms that sjogrens and other autoimmune diseases have overlap. I was also diagnosed yrs. ago with scleroderma and alot of the symptoms are alike. It's also amazing to me that I can remember as a child having weird symptoms "complaints" I was told that are now actual disease related. I can remember my Dad constantly saying stuff like "everybody feels like that" and pretty much "suck it up" My legs would hurt so bad walking aroud the zoo with my sibblings and I couldn't play in the ocean for very long cause when I got out I shook violently for two hrs. Even back then my thermostat wasn't working. I have had teeth issues and extractions as long as I can remember they used eather back then. The list goes on and on as I'm sure you are all aware of. It just boggles my mind that you have almost get to the point of disabled to be believed.



sadymay said:

hi I attemted to send tis message earlier but but "brain fart" I think i hit the wrong button. I was trying to thank you for your advise about the eyes possibly not closing all the way when sleeping. I have been using the tape at night and it has made a big difference thank you. I was also trying to say that it is amazing when you sit back and realize how many of the symptoms that sjogrens and other autoimmune diseases have overlap. I was also diagnosed yrs. ago with scleroderma and alot of the symptoms are alike. It's also amazing to me that I can remember as a child having weird symptoms "complaints" I was told that are now actual disease related. I can remember my Dad constantly saying stuff like "everybody feels like that" and pretty much "suck it up" My legs would hurt so bad walking aroud the zoo with my sibblings and I couldn't play in the ocean for very long cause when I got out I shook violently for two hrs. Even back then my thermostat wasn't working. I have had teeth issues and extractions as long as I can remember they used eather back then. The list goes on and on as I'm sure you are all aware of. It just boggles my mind that you have almost get to the point of disabled to be believed.

I may be way out in left field, but please ask your ophthamologist to check the size of your blind spots by doing a visual field test. There is something called pseudotumor cerebri (false brain tumor) also known as papilledema - I had it many years ago, as a 12 year old. It's too much cerebral spinal fluid building up and increasing pressure on the optic nerve, basically strangulating it. Symptoms are massive headaches, painful reaction to bright lights, and large increases in the size of your normal blind spots (peripheral vision). At the time, my ophthamologist said if I'd waited another 3 weeks, I'd been blind. This is a true emergency. Mine was not related to trauma. This was back in the late '50's, and the solution was fairly simple - he did a spinal tap and drained some CSF out and I was good to go. I know of another elderly man who developed it about 5 years ago, and they put in a shunt to drain out the extra. But please get seen ASAP.

Hi Jambs, Thanks for responding to my problems (never ending) with my eyes. I have an appointment with a neuro-opthamologist on friday. The fluid at this point seems to be the worrisome part for the doc. that referred me. I too have had blinding headaches for the last couple of weeks even before all the trouble with the loss of vision. I failed miserably two field vision tests. They repeated it the second time cause she, the tech, tried to claim i was not looking straight enough towards the light. When the second one came back worse the doc. got a bit alarmed. I was seen also this past week by my rheumy and he has not completely ruled out temporal arteritis or also called giant cell arteritis. They ordered brain mra and another brain scan that i cannot remember the name. I have had two episodrs of blank spots appearing in my line of vision. It is no longer blanked out but is definately shadowy. I hate tests, waiting for results and eveything that goes along with it. I say just pick a diagnosis and lets get the treatment started! i am today having one of the worst headaches yet I am also running a fever of 103 degrees most probably a different problem but I got the chills so bad. motrin took it down about 1 degree so I'm gonna climb under my covers and try to sleep. Thanks again for brainstorming with me, friday is the soonest ASAP appt. I could get. Have a good night.

Even tho it's been 50 years since my bout with pseudotumor cerebri I can still remember how bad I felt - had to be in a dark room because light made my horrible headache so much worse - poor vision due to massively enlarged blind spots on both sides. The awful headaches were from too much CSF pressing on my optic nerves. That MD didn't want to believe it either. It's only supposed to happen to overweight adults and I was a skinny 12 year old girl...just goes to show you it's not hard and fast. My folks thought their eldest was going to be blind sooner or later, but they never said that to me. I just figured it out for myself after I got to university and had access to all kinds of medical info in the library.

So I know how you feel - and I know that you are really in pain and suffering. Please get someone to drive you to the MD on Friday and stay with you for moral support, and because you may need someone to drive you home, if they use a bunch of drops. I'll pray for a successful and pain-free solution to this crisis for you. But please mention that "pseudotumor cerebir" to the MD you see, because it's so rare that it's not the first thing they think of - but your symptoms match. And for such a crisis, the fix is quick!

After I had the spinal tap (s?), back then it was in-patient, I had to get visual field tests done every 6 mos. to make sure it wasn't coming back. I was told that my blind spots were always going to be very large and were never going to be 'normal', but that they were stable and "normal for me". I went & got tested every 6 mos. religiously, even after I married and started teaching. When I was 30, and having my field tests done, the MD repeated the test twice - that made me feel alarmed. I asked what was wrong, and he said that my blind spots had reverted to true normal! He said that never happened. It was like a miracle! As soon as I got home, I called my folks long distance and told them! We all cried.

Blessings, Jambs