Ocular Migraines, Corneal Ulcers and Vision Loss - I Woke Up Blind!

Feb 03 '08    Write an essay on this topic.


The Bottom Line You never know when something so unexpected might strike.

As some of you already know, I am a frequent migraine sufferer. About a month ago I had been having an ocular migraine for a few days, making it difficult to even open my left eye because it hurt so bad. This happens to me every now and then, and the only thing I can do is to keep taking my migraine medications and wait for the pain to ease up.

One day when I woke up, my eye didn't hurt so bad. I was relieved, until I opened my eyes and discovered that I was nearly blind in the left eye. All that remained of my vision was a little bit of lights and shadows, but other than that I was blind. I have had my vision impaired after one of my migraines, but never to this extent. Needless to say, it scared me pretty bad.

A friend of mine drove me to the emergency room, where I spent several hours and went through a lot of testing. They determined that I have a corneal ulcer which got infected. The cause is unknown... The specialist said that I could have scratched my eye on something, perhaps even a bit of dried mucus in my eye could have caused the damage.

In any case, I was given three types of drops and two different ointments to put in my eye on an hourly basis and have been making at least one trip every week to see the specialist to try to get my eye healed up. The lights hurt terribly so for the most part, I sit in a darkened and rarely leave my house without wearing at least two pairs of sunglasses and a hat to shield my eye from the sunlight.

Even with the dark glasses the sun seems to drill right through me. Even a short trip to the store is agony. Nights are a little easier. Although I can't drive because of the lights, the headlights and streetlights aren't nearly as painful as the sunlight is.

Over the past month my eyesight has improved, although it is still difficult for me to see. My vision in my left eye is still extremely blurry and I get headaches every time I try to read or anything for more than a few minutes. The doctor doesn't know if I will regain my vision completely or not. I guess I just have to keep visiting him once or twice every week and see what happens.

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