Friday, April 9, 2010

Typos and Eyes....

I just noticed on my last post that I made a big boo-boo. "They Eyes Have It" Should have been THE Eyes Have It. So much for the double vision thing.
I have been back to the eye doctor, for a follow up of my last visit, when I had told him about the double vision.
Since the last visit, I had been online with my lupus support group that is soooo terrific, giving me information and insights into this disease so much better than any "learned physician" ever could. I'm not dissing my doctors, or any doctors, mind you, but they haven't actually lived with this beast that has no "normal" progression or symptoms.
And on the subject of my double vision, complaining that my PCP, my rheumy, and the eye doctor (I say "eye doctor" because I always have trouble spelling ophthalmologist)couldn't figure out why I was experiencing this, one of the members of the support group suggested maybe it had to do with Sjogren's Syndrome. HUH?
Of course, that's correct. I don't know if I had told my eye doctor about the Sjogren's or not, but yesterday, when he asked if I had had any more problems with the double vision, I very brightly said, "Oh, I think it might have something to do with my Sjogren's. I don't know if you have that listed on my chart or not, but it's pretty common for Sjogren's patients."
He kind of turned a bit pale, turned to my chart and then said, "Well, it just might be." No comment on whether it was in my chart or not; I'm sure he wanted to save face if he had, indeed, missed it.
So he checked my eyes, after they had been dilated, of course, and during the exam he stated my eyes "aren't too dry" and I resisted the impulse to tell him, "You're not looking at the world thru my eyes." He then asked me if I used my eye drops four times a day (they're OTC) and I said, "No, usually just twice." So he's telling me to use them 4 times a day now. Huh. But they're not that bad....LOL. Rest of the exam is positive. No diabetic retinopathy and the cataracts aren't ripe enough to talk about surgery yet.
Drove home, wearing those dumb dark glasses that really don't cut out the light coming in from the sides of the glasses, pulled the blinds shut, laid down and closed my eyes for about an hour. A total waste of time, since I couldn't watch t.v. read or get on the computer.
And I'm thinking, just like the preparation done before a colonoscopy, "There ought to be a better way to check your eyes," don'tcha agree?
Thus endeth my complaint for the day.

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Friday, April 2, 2010

They Eyes Have It

I began having some double vision recently. Nothing to worry about, I told myself, since I spend a lot of time at the computer screen, staring and forgetting to blink. That will put anybody's eyes at risk for something even more worrisome than double vision.
Oh, it didn't last long, either. Another reason I tended to brush it off. A momentary, transient feeling that my eyes were not focusing properly, and that I was indeed seeing double of everything. I tested my blood sugar, since I'm diabetic, and I wasn't having a low blood sugar drop, something that can get me in real trouble, especially when I'm driving. (Remind me to tell you sometime about the time I was going home from the dentist at 4PM and ended up 50 miles from home at 6PM not knowing where I was and how I got there.)
Anyway, I mentioned it to my doctor during my most recent visit. She frowned and suggested I see my ophthalmologist. So I made an appt. No reason I should be having double vision, he said. Hmmm. Rheumatologist had also recommended I see the eye doctor. He wasn't too sure what was going on with that, but said my tests looked good.
So I'm reading the posts from my good buddies at a lupus support online site, and I mention my double vision. And sure enough, here comes the answer.....Sjogrens Disease can also cause double vision.
Makes sense. I have Sjogren's, too: dry mouth, dry eyes, so that could cause my eyes to act up in that manner. I went to the Sjogren's website, and sure enough, there it was.
Funny how it takes one lone, non-medical person to grasp the situation and respond with the correct answer, when the very same situation had stumped three learned medical professionals.
Sometimes I wish every doctor could experience one day in the life of a lupus patient. On a bad day. Then maybe they'd "get it." Nothing quite like experience, I say.

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