Hi Everyone,
I know theat there was some discussion in the past about visual changes. I was wondering if any of you have had a similar experience or if perhaps I'm simply nuts...not a stretch at this point. I have glaucoma and cataracts in both eyes from the steroids that I have been on for more than 2 years. I am used to the blurry vision in the sunlight and think I have adjusted to it as well as can be. Every now and then my vision seems much worse and then after a day or two will return to it's former state. Last week at work I noticed my right eye expecially blurry. Nothing had changed with the lighting or my exposure to sunlight, yet it was so concerning that all day long I kept testing it by closing one eye and then the other to compare vision. I guess everyone thought I was winking at them all day long. I also had a headache and it was painful in my right temple. Driving home from work, at a red light, I closed my left eye and again tested my right, and found that my vision was completely gone. Not only could I not tell if the traffic light was red or green, but the entire rectanglular light and everything around it was completely gone. Only a blurry fog remained. This really scared me, and of course I was thinking "temporal arteritis" with the headache and vision together, so I made an immediate emergency visit to my opthamologist who did a thorough examination and even checked my optic nerve for possible damage, and found very little difference from a couple months ago when I last had an exam. I felt foolish, but still I couldn't see worth a pickle in my right eye. My eyes are now back to the normal vision I have adjusted to, but there was no conclusion and the doctor didn't have a clue. I didn't call my rheumatologist because if the opthamologist saw no optic nerve damage then why end up with yet another high dose of steroids for no apparent reason. My eye doctor laughed at the possibility that I might have temoporal arteritis at my age and said that "no one under 55 ever gets it"....I know better, and at 53 I'm not that far off anyway, but my goodness, you would think that these doctors would not make such assumptions when someone's vision could possibly be at risk. I know that mine is okay because of his testing, but thinking about the many others who have this disease and are basically laughed at because of "an age discrepency" or some other detail that doesn't quite fit the picture, is inexcusable behavior for a professional. Okay, now I've gotten off track..sorry. My question is basically does anyone suffer recurring blurriness in either one or both eyes that is severe enough to frighten them, and then have it spontaneously go away. Thanks for listening. Susan M.
Susan, I do know that blurry vision can be a symptom of Dry Eye Syndrome, which can be a side effect of certain meds such as anti-histamines or birth control pills. - So maybe also some of the meds you are taking for PMR?? I dunno, but it might be worth while giving your opthalmologist a ring - seeing he has examined your eyes recently, he might be able to discount that.
I had cataract operations several years ago, and have had Dry Eye ever since. Feels like I've been out on the beach on a windy day - kinda dry and gritty. Funnily enough, you can get very watery eyes with Dry Eye, but apparently it's mostly water, and doesn't contain enough lubricant material - that's what's missing. There are lots of products OTC for Dry Eye, they usually call them something like Natural Tears - just simple drops.
Being in air-conditioned or centrally heated offices and such can have the effect as well. If that happens to me, I just have a couple of big "screw-up" blinks every hour or so, and that seems to settle it. But not advisable probably when you are driving or herb-chopping!!
I hope that you can get to the bottom of it - it's pretty worrying when your eyes are playing up - scarey really!!
By the way, I had my cataract surgery at 50 yrs old - I was told I was too young to have them - but there they were. When I had my surgery, all the other patients must have been in at least their 70's or 80's - I felt like a fraud!
I googled and found this
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/dryeye.htm
Hi Susan
I have cataracts and glaucoma also and have been plagued w/intermittant blurry vision since PMR but have never totally lost it. (Cataracts pre-existed PMR; glaucoma due to prednisone after 3 mos use
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