What's the deal with your vision?

My Eye after the Cycloplegic Exam

Those of you that know me personally know that I have been having problems with my vision. Those of you that don't, probably think I am a lousy blogger who never seems to blog anymore.  So for those of you that don't know me or those of you who have asked or simply wonder what the deal is with my vision, here goes.

oc·u·lar [ ókyələr ]

1. relating to eyes or eyesight: relating to, perceived by, or performed by the eye.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with ocular migraines. Though they are classified as migraines they don't come with the typical "brain smashing" pain that comes with regular migraines (is there anything regular about a migraine? I am sorry I digress.)  Ocular migraines are visual aura's that affect the vision in both eyes.  They can include flashes of light, zigzagging patterns, blind spots and\or shimmering spots or stars.  They temporarily interfere with certain aspects of life, like reading or driving but they don't last very long and the condition is not considered very serious.  For the last two years I would get these infrequently, about one every other month.

Around February of this year however, something changed.  I started experiencing long bouts of blurred vision.  At first one a week, then one a day, then multiple times a day and then August hit and the times without any visual problems became less than the time with visual problems and the headaches started.  I went to three different optometrists in the span of approximately a week and each one had a different theory.  I saw an ophthalmologist that stated it is simply ocular migraines and there is nothing wrong with your eyes, but you should go back to see your neurologist. Well that is funny because I can't see very well right now so something has got to be going on! Anyway, the next day I saw an optometrist who listened to my symptoms and suggested a cycloplegic exam. 

• Cycloplegic refraction is done by applying a cycloplegic agent to the eye (atropine, cyclopentolate or tropicamide) to paralyze the ciliary muscle so that the absolute refractive error can be measured. it is helpful to detect latent hyperopia in children compensating their hyperopia by accomodation. (http://www.eyeweb.org/optics.htm)

One of the optometrists that I talked to asked me some questions that got me thinking and helped me understand that this is not necessarily affecting both of my eyes. The questions went something like this... Is the blurring vision affecting both eyes? It seems like it does. Well close your left eye, is the vision in your right eye blurry?  Well, actually it seems like my eye is spasming in an up and down motion really fast, kind of like a bouncing ball, but it is not just one thing it is everything I am looking at. What about if you close your right eye?  Wow, that eye is a little blurry but not spazzing out like the other one.  When I have both eyes open this right eye spasm causes what appears to be blurring vision in both eyes that I am unable to focus.  The cycloplegic exam found nothing else wrong other than my actual vision is getting better...Yay me! I went from a -2.25/2.50 to a -1.75/2.00. So he suggested I see a neurologist.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, onto to the neurologist we go.  He is concerned because the ocular migraines usually affect both eyes, not simply one.  He thinks that the problem really has nothing to do with my eyes themselves, but with the way my brain is processing visual cues.  So he decides that I should get an MRI to rule out anything "sinister" that might be going on in my brain.  His word, not mine.  He also decides to go ahead and treat it as if it is an "ocular migraine" in the meantime.  So I had my MRI last Wednesday and tomorrow I am going in for an intravenous infusion of Depacon, which is used to treat all sorts of fun things from seizure disorders to depression to migraines.  I have had this done before when I had a two week long migraine that actually sent me to the hospital and it helped so the hope is, if this is indeed a migraine of sorts, that this will sort it out.

I have not received the MRI results yet, but I figure no news is good news.  In all honesty I am doing pretty well.  Sure I have moments of self pity and what if, but they are usually short lived as they fix absolutely nothing.  I am supposed to to limit my computer usage, reading and anything visually strenuous as it seems to make my eyes very angry and like David Banner, you won't like them when they're angry. So now you know as much as I know. I think I have used up my computer viewing quota for the day and I leave you with one of my daughter's favorite verses and I hope all is well in your life.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 (NIV)