Eye Problems - Doctor Friday!

donna723

Well-Known Member
This just makes me ... MAD!!! This stuff never happens to me and I just don't have time for it!!! :censored2:

So last Friday night I was sitting in the recliner with my laptop and suddenly noticed that I was seeing a large, gray swirly "floater" in my left eye that wasn't there before, a bit like spider webs, or like if you put a drop of water color paint in to a glass of water. It's the kind that moves around every time you move your eye. It's not enough to disrupt my vision, just enough to be really annoying. And in addition to the "blob", when I look at the white computer screen or in the bright light outside, I can see a whole shower of tiny floating specks that weren't there before! And, Lord help me, I Googled it, never a good idea! And I learned that the sudden appearance of the floaters and specks can mean the beginning of a detached retina and should have immediate medical attention! Apparently it's quite common. Well, we have no opthomologists here and our local "hospital" is full of bozos, the kind of "hospital" that you would only go to if it was life or death. If I was ON FIRE, I would literally crawl past that place to get to the decent hospital 60 miles away! So I called yesterday and got an appointment with an opthomologist near the hospital 60 miles away, the one where my son had his hernia surgery last year. And I was surprised when I called and described the extent of my symptoms that they didn't seem to consider it a dire emergency and made the appointment for Friday. Apparently it's not so bad and it has actually gotten a bit better instead of worse.

My son is going to take off work that day and go with me - he lives about half way between my house and this doctors office. I think he's more worried than I am. So I get to drive my clunky little car with the squeaky belt and the not-so-good tires all the way there and back and hope to high heaven that we can find this place. But I have no idea what will happen! I absolutely cannot be laid up with this! I live alone and have four dogs that require a lot of attention. Four dogs and no fence means lots and lots of potty trips outside with dogs on leashes, and I absolutely cannot get by without driving! So wish me luck!

One slightly funny part though... for the first day or so, I kept automatically waving my hand in front of my face because some of the the "blobs" look like a bug buzzing around my head, or they look like when you have something dangling from your hair or stuck on your eyelashes in front of your eyes, or when you're walking in to a spider web. I finally got used to it and stopped doing that ... only to walk right in to a giant spider that was dangling from a web hanging from the ceiling of my covered front porch! AAAARRRRGGGHH!!!
 
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Liahona

Guest
That reminds me of difficult child 1 ;) He would bat at bugs no one else could see. Sure your not hallucinating? Just kidding!

Hope all goes well with your appointment. That you get there safe and its not to invasive.
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
Donna a year ago on Mother's Day I woke with what looked like lightning bolts going off in my eye and a veil with cobwebs and floaters all throughout my vision. I was terrified just like you. I had to wait until the next day and called my optomotist who called the Retina experts and got me an appointment that day. Of course that freaked me out even moreso that they thought it was do important I go that day. The good news was that it turned out I had a vitreous separation and it was not a detached retina thank goodness. The bad news was tha the flaoters and cobwebs were there to stay. Like you I kept trying to brush them out of my eye and it was very annoying. The dr told me many people get this and it is not serious other than annoying but if got more lightning bolts or more floaters I had to call right away. I had to go back every three months for a while and now just yearly so he can watch it.

He did tell me that I would get use to the floaters and my brain would eventually start ignoring them and the cobwebs and I thought right, no way. Thank goodness I did get use to it, some of the floaters went away but I have one I can see if I look at something white or solid. The cobwebs are better, not gone but not nearly as bad. I was terrified I was going blind.

I just went back for my year checkup and he said it looked good, no further seperation and the other eye was fine. He explained it's the gel part of the eye that starts to get dry and pull away and happens to us after a certain age....just another reason why it stinks to get old.

I hope this is what you have because it is the best alternative.

Nancy
 
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donna723

Well-Known Member
Thanks Nancy! That's encouraging! I was thinking that it automatically meant surgery. I have just a tiny bit of the flashing way over to the side, but I can only see it in the dark, and even then not all the time. The floaters are so annoying because when I'm reading, just moving my eyes makes the "thing" drift over my field of vision and then drift back. I could put up with the floaters though rather than have surgery. I'll have to call my cousin again. She had some kind of eye surgery, and then had surgery again where the fluid part of her eye was removed and replaced with some kind of substance, probably for the same kind of thing. And she was still having problems with hers! But then again, I'm always thinking of the worst case scenarios and I shouldn't do that.
 
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TeDo

Guest
My mom experienced something similar. Her's turned out to be a slight tear in something or other and they did a quick laser surgery (talking a few minutes here) in their office and she hasn't had a problem since. It freaked her out and afterwards, she laughed her head off because she was literally having a panic attack thinking they were going to have to remove it. LOL Yea, sometimes internet searches are NOT a good thing.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I've had the same thing - I was 28. The opthalmologist wanted me in ASAP. And then... I got to wear my glasses instead of contacts for a week. I still have occasional floaters, but that's it...
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Don't work yourself up unless the doctor tells you that you need to be worked up. There are a wide variety of reasons.........and like you saw, google likes to list the worst ones first. LOL You're certainly doing the right thing getting them checked right away though.

Both my girls have had floaters.......seeing spots before their eyes (quite a bit of them too) most of their lives. doctor checked the retinas and said they were fine, no worries.

Keeping good thoughts it's nothing serious.

Hugs
 

flutterby

Fly away!
I get that stuff on a fairly regular basis and have for most of my life. I've never thought anything of it. I was a bit worried one day when everything looked green out of my left eye (like I had a green tinted lens over that eye), but it didn't last long.
 
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