All Without ‘Shrooms
Posted on | March 2, 2006 at 10:40 pm | 7 Comments
So I went to the HMO eye doctor today, not only because my vision has been decreased in general since the virus hit, but also because I’ve been having some dandy visual hallucinations. The diagnosis – no surprise to me- was Ocular Migraine (the graphic in that link is a pretty close approximation of what I see during these episodes, and the animated pic in this link is close too, though mine don’t zip around that fast). Before the virus hit, I’ve had exactly two occurrences of this in my life – one in the early 80s and one in the early 90s. Both of those times, the incident was immediately followed by a whooping headache. Since the virus hit, I’ve been having about one incident every other day or so, but luckily not followed by headaches. I got a little scared on Wednesday night because I had two incidents, separated by only an hour. (Appropriately enough, the first incident happened while I was watching Lost, which just added to the trippy nature of the episode.) Each occurrence lasts for about a half hour, and there’s pretty much nothing I can do during it other than just enjoy the pretty light show and wait for the visual disturbance to grow beyond the periphery of my vision. It has yet to hit me while I’m driving, but at least it always starts off small so I have plenty of warning and time to pull over.
It’s caused by a dilated blood vessel in the head and is not a problem with the eye(s) per se. My eyes checked out okay at the doctor’s. It’s a fairly rare thing, and there’s no real treatment for it. I could keep having the episodes, or they could suddenly go away again for another 10 years. I’m hoping for the later. Though I’m not really frightened by it anymore, it is very annoying and brings whatever I’m doing to a stop for a half hour. Trying to read is especially hard, as the distortions block my vision. Closing my eyes doesn’t help, nor does retreating to a dark room – the distortions have their own “inner light”. I just have to let it pass.
Personally, I think the whole thing is probably due to alcohol or caffeine withdrawl, since I’ve had pretty much none of either since this whole thing started. Time to start drinking again!
Next week I have my annual eye exam with my regular eye doctor, and we’ll see just how much my overall vision has been affected since Virus Day One. The fact that I now suddenly need my reading glasses to read the computer screen is not a good sign. I think my vision is coming back a bit though as the virus retreats.
So… how was your day?
Latre.
Comments
7 Responses to “All Without ‘Shrooms”
March 3rd, 2006 @ 4:29 am
>> So… how was your day?
Well, mine was considerably brightened by receiving a mix disc in the mail from a dear friend who’s been not in the best of health lately. I heartily wish for him one of those unexplained spontaneous remission-type dealies.
March 3rd, 2006 @ 10:39 am
Thanks, villain – hope you enjoy the mix!
March 3rd, 2006 @ 12:14 pm
Eek, Mister — ocular migraines sound mightily unpleasant. I hope your optometrist/ophthalmologist is able to help you out in that department and that your vision returns to consistently normal SOON.
March 3rd, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Just lie back, relax, and listen to one of your bootleg recordings of the Grateful Dead doing “Dark Star” for like 7 hours… The transitive nightfall of diamonds!
March 3rd, 2006 @ 8:20 pm
It actually could be caffeine – the withdrawal headaches are due to its effect on blood vessels in the brain. Something to Google.
I had a short spell years ago when I’d get what I thought were painless migraines – distorted vision, an odd feeling in the head, almost as if I was watching someone else in a lot of pain (it’s hard to describe but it was like painless pain). Glad they went away!
How was my day? Still no gas in the new apartment – it’s day 4 without a shower now so I finally caved and got a taste of what the Polar Bear Club guys go through…
March 3rd, 2006 @ 8:22 pm
Oh yeah, and the other guy I keep in touch with in Denver – about your age, similar personal habits too – recently came down with almost daily migraines. Check the water table, or something… (and do it before I come for my visit in a couple weeks!)
March 6th, 2006 @ 10:07 am
I have now gone over 72 hours without an ocular migraine episode, which I think is the longest since this whole thing began. Maybe it’s behind me, but I’m not getting my hopes up yet. I did have a bit of alcohol this weekend, so part of me wonders if that has anything to do with it. My caffeine intake really hasn’t changed much in the last week or so.