So, about a week ago I’m driving down Feeder Street a little after dark, and I see these weird flickering lights, sorta thumbnail-paring shaped, in the far right periphery of my right eye.
At first I think it’s headlights reflecting on some part of my glasses.
Wrong.
Then I think holy sh!t. Within a couple of minutes, though, the phenomenon dissipates. I’m wildly busy and don’t have any time to think about it and besides there’s not a thing I can do about it after doctor’s office hours anyway.
Next morning I’m heading out at the earliest crack of dawn for the weekly SBA meeting and the same damn thing happens. Only…uhm…there are no headlights at that moment.
When I get back from the morning’s junketing, I hit the Hypochondriac’s Treasure chest and and learn that flashing lights, especially when coupled with new eye floaters, are a sign of a retinal tear (serious) or retinal detachment (blindness!). Either occasions surgery, one more drastic than the other.
The weekend arrives and yea verily so does a new crop of floaters. And a headache.
Call Young Dr. Kildare’s office; get his partner, who’s on call. “Eek!” quoth she (not in so many words: think a doctorly “eek”), “you need to go to the emergency room.”
Ahhh shit. I hate the ER. But if this phenomenon weren’t alarming enough, a worried doctor saying “go to the emergency room!” will make it downright terrifying.
Amazingly, I get in and out of the Mayo’s ER in less than an hour. The doc on duty can’t see any obvious signs of a retinal tear or detachment; thinks it’s another optical migraine (ooooh no it’s not, I think, but refrain from saying so). He says I need to make an appointment with a specialist.
Monday the Mayo’s underlings are on the phone, trying to make an appointment with an ophthalmologist for me. Moi, not desiring to make yet another trip halfway to freaking Payson, I have already found a doc in town who will take Medicare assignment, very good. Make an appointment. Get in with him today.
He and his staff go to elaborate lengths to examine the suspect eye. After 90 minutes of eye dilating and examination, he delivers the good news: absolutely, positively, I do not have a torn or detaching retina. This interesting experience is yet another of the many entertaining events of advancing age.
He, who is even more advanced in age than I am, reports that he had the same darned thing happen to him a couple of years ago. And of course it happened on a weekend. He being the real deal — an actual living, breathing ophthalmologist — was petrified, understanding what this could mean. He betook himself to his office and was waiting with his eyes already dilated, early on Monday morning, for his partner to show up. The two docs came to the same conclusion in his case: old age creepin’ up, nothing much to worry about. Yet.
Then the bad news: he thinks I might have the start (maybe…maybe not) of macular degeneration. He recommends that I run out and start swallowing multivitamins and a special antioxidant snake oil concocted by Bausch & Lomb (which, we might add, paid to sponsor the study claiming this miracle supplement delays the advance of dry macular degeneration).
Delightful.
At least I’m not in any immediate danger of going blind, assuming I don’t accidentally stab myself in the eye with a fork while scarfing down a lamb chop. But…
Macular degeneration?
Not. Good.
I look up this study and find that the one published in 2010, the one sponsored by B&L, was a shade problematic and, even if you buy the results, proved rather little. A newer study, published in 2013, showed some benefit, maybe. However, the ingredients of the magical concoction of antioxidants pose some risks, not the least of them significantly enhanced chances of developing lung cancer if you have ever smoked (both my parents were very heavy smokers, and so I spent the first 16 years of my life inhaling the equivalent of several cigarettes a day in second-hand smoke). Neither study included people with “maybe” early symptoms: subjects were all people with intermediate to advanced age-related macular degeneration.
So. There we are: I’m not going blind, but maybe someday I will be going blind.
Here. Take these pills!
I am PETRIFIED of going blind. Only 25 yet I have a bunch of floaters that cropped up over the past year. Been told it’s nothing to worry about, but to watch out for the more troubling signs of retinal detachment. Super glad yours isn’t!
ooohhh don’t worry about floaters. They’re fairly normal. Everybody has floaters.
The signal clue to a retinal tear or detachment is a sensation of flashing lights. You’ve got another 50 years before you have to worry about that…and by then, they’ll have developed something to prevent or fix it.
Glad to hear it’s nothing serious….yet….My folks both have “MD” to different degrees…DM has to take drops twice a day (presription…not cheap….WITH insurance) and it has seemed to stabilize the onset…DF on the other hand was given the news and basically said…he’s not doing the drops ….cause…”he don’t wanna”….and doubted the Doc’s diagnosis…His MD has gotten no worse but he is having troubleseeing and does have “floaters”….crazy…He did share some sound advice the other day on the way to chemo….”don’t get sick and don’t get old”…Good advice….
Yup. That’s what I keep telling all the young pups. They think it’s funny…apparently don’t recognize serious advice. 😉
Hi Funny,
Glad to hear it is not serious. It is interesting when the doctor you get at least has some age and seems to know their stuff. I did hear that there are new and better treatments for MD around now and more coming down the pike in the near future.
My folks used to say “there isn’t much golden about the golden years”.
Anyway, here’s hoping md is not in your future or not until they have a free to medicare users treatment.
Welp, y’know, if it’s not that it’ll be some other damfool thing. I’ve just given up worrying about this stuff.
You did the right thing by seeing a specialist ASAP. One of my friends had a partial retinal detachment that required immediate surgery and she is only in her mid-thirties. The symptoms were as you described: flashing lights in her vision. This happened during a weekday so she was able to get into an ophthalmologist same day. She thought she may be having an ocular migraine since a mutual friend had similar symptoms a year or two ago and that’s all it was. Instead, my friend J had to go into surgery the very next morning. Her eye is fine now, thank goodness, and it’s been more than a year since she had the surgery.
Apparently people with moderate to severe near-sightedness are more prone to retinal detachment, so they really need to get checked if there are any potential symptoms.
Wow! She was very young to have that happen!
Retinal tears and detachments come with the territory in old age. And yes, I’m radically near-sighted, too…so it was kinda suspicious.
I’ve had myopic macular degeneration since I was in my early 50’s. I’m also extremely nearsighted. I’ve had laser surgery in one eye. It left a blank spot where I can’t see anything but gray, but it was the only treatment available at the time. For the past several years I’ve been treated with shots of Avastin, used off-label. It’s not fun to get a needle in the eye, but it does work so far. My doctor says the Avastin works better for myopic MD than for age-related MD, but research is going on all the time. MD is a horrible disease and ironically bad for a librarian who reads all the time.
That sounds hideous! I have a horror of needles and don’t know if I could sit still to have someone jab me in the eye with one. Jeez!
But I guess if it were that or go partially blind, one would have to find a way to stomach it.
I also am extremely myopic — always have been. Glasses and contacts worked OK until the age of presbyopia set in. Now the glasses are generally pretty dreadful, especially progressives. With the progressives, I can’t see clearly in the distance OR close-up. With the traditional bifocals, I can see fine in the distance but the close-up field of view is too limited to be useful. Neither style allows you to work in front of a computer without spavining your neck.
So to use glasses, I need four pairs: 1 pair of progressives for navigating grocery stores and sometimes for driving and teaching; one pair of mid-range close-ups for reading, computer work, and navigating the house and yard; one pair of clear distance vision glasses for driving at night; and one pair of distance shades for driving in the day.
That, my friends, is what we call a damned nuisance.
The contacts, which are a nuisance in their own way, cut the number of required glasses to two, both non-prescription: a pair of readers and a pair of shades.
Right now neither the progressives nor the reading glasses are working well — since the contacts are fine, though, I hope the problem is that I need new prescriptions.
That’s going to rack up some fine new bills. Goodie. I started 2014 by going over budget in January. Now I can continue the pattern into February and March!
Just found you through I Pick Up Pennies. Instant fan!
On the eyesight thing, though, K-rap. I’m well over 50, severely myopic, and can’t wear contacts (dry eyes). Had cataracts removed last year, and I’ve been suspecting that a complete wardrobe of eyewear is going to be necessary. You have just confirmed that. Bummer.
On the plus, love your sense of humor, looking forward to reading your book(s), and this blog is now on my favorites list!
Thanks, L! And welcome. I love I Pick Up Pennies.
Yeah, the vision system is a nuisance, that’s for sure. On the other hand, it’s better than being stone blind, so I can’t complain. Much. 😉
If you can get an optometrist to give you a reading-glass prescription (which they do, when you have presbyopia), you can order various prescriptions on the Internet. My understanding is that Internet providers don’t do well with progressives, but they’ll make regular bifocals.These are Third-World cheap.
If you want progressives, it’s worth it (in my experience) to pay top dollar to get the best, from the best provider in town. They’re difficult to make correctly and difficult to fit on the patient.
And if you’re in front of a computer a lot, try to get your provider to choke out a mid-range prescription that will allow you to see the screen without having to tilt your head. The trick is to use the word “occupational.” Tell them you need a pair of “occupational lenses” and that your occupation involves working in front of a computer monitor all day. The mid-range glasses, if you’re lucky, come in very handy — these are the glasses I use around the house all day and in the classroom, because I can see across the room in them and also see to read copy and to read the computer monitor. They’re not good for driving or for negotiating a large space like a supermarket or warehouse store, but for most other purposes they do the job.