Blurry Vision

[itself]

Hi all,

I cannot figure this out. A couple of times a week, my vision gets super blurry. Might occur for a couple of hours then it goes away. I keep thinking as I am menopausal, that it might be hormonal. Any insights?

[OakLeaf]

See a doctor. First thing in the morning. My experience is that it's easier to get an emergency appointment with your optometrist, and they can make the appropriate emergency referrals to physicians.

[itself]

But it certainly does not feel urgent because it is intermittent. My partner seems far more concerned than I. I know that I am out of the age group for MS, and data does show that this disease occurs far more frequently in less sunny climates (thank goodness I am in AZ).

I see about an eye doctor, I suppose a good place to start.

[indysteel]

+1 on seeing an eye doctor. When was the last time you had a physical with a full blood workup? Blurred vision is a symptom of a number of things, including hypertension and high blood sugar. You might want to see your GP, too.

[tulip]

Go to the eye doctor ASAP. Vision is not something to mess around with. If you lose it, it will suck. If not for you, go for your partner. He/she will have to deal with loss of vision as much as you will, if it comes to that. Don't be stupid. Go to the doctor. Plain and simple.

[Dogmama]

Go to the eye doctor ASAP. Vision is not something to mess around with. If you lose it, it will suck. If not for you, go for your partner. He/she will have to deal with loss of vision as much as you will, if it comes to that. Don't be stupid. Go to the doctor. Plain and simple.

Tulip - how do you really feel?

++1 on the eye doctor. Not an optometrist but an ophthalmologist who has training in eye diseases. I have a good friend who is slowly going blind and it isn't fun. Not to be an alarmist - but really - get thee to a doctor.

[OakLeaf]

I didn't mean an optometrist was likely to be able to treat the issue. What I meant was that getting an appointment with an ophthalmologist or neurologist without a referral could take weeks (not to mention that if you choose a specialist on your own for something that could be so many different things, you could wind up with the wrong specialty), and getting an appointment with a family doctor is likely to take days. Whereas - for example - when I had a visual disturbance that turned out to be nothing more than an acephalgic migraine but could have been a stroke, my optometrist saw me and got me referred to a neurologist for an evaluation and a CT that same afternoon.

[itself]

Thanks! I will go see an opthamologist tomorrow. Probablly nothing as I have no headaches or any other symptoms, but worth checking out.

[indysteel]

I'm glad you're seeing an eye doctor. Hopefully he or she can shed some light as to what's going on. I think it's important to emphasize that there are a number of things that can cause blurred vision that are not actually caused by a problem with the eye itself. If an eye exam doesn't reveal an obvious explanation, I'd urge you to see your GP immediately for a. full workup.

[tulip]

Tulip - how do you really feel? .

Having lost vision in one eye, with the knowledge that the other could go at any time, gives me rather strong feelings on the topic. So yeah, that comes across like I meant it to.

[beccaB]

Get that checked out right away. Nearsighted people are more prone to floaters and flashers which can be caused by vitreous separation and can have implications for the retina. Not something to ignore.

[Duck on Wheels]

"Blurry" can be many things. You say it clears up after a couple of hours ...? Could it be migraine aura without the pain? Most of my migraines are aura-only and blurriness is the first impression those give (perhaps the only one, unless you get fascinated by their details in which case they can be quite "pretty" in a wierd and scary sort of way - like rainbowing crystal saw blades spinning in opposite directions), so the thought struck me. I have that occasionally. Bears looking into. If that's it, then a simple OTC pain-killer at onset can be helpful sometimes, and checking out possible "triggers" can help you avoid this becoming a more frequent issue. So ... If your ophthalmologist doesn't find an answer, you might want to check with your gp. Best of luck!

[indysteel]

Get that checked out right away. Nearsighted people are more prone to floaters and flashers which can be caused by vitreous separation and can have implications for the retina. Not something to ignore.

I've had both flashers and floaters. With each episode, I've hightailed it into my eye doctor's office. I am severely myopic and am at a higher risk for retinal detachment.

[Duck on Wheels]

Doctor. ASAP. First thing tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, I started coughing up blood at 5:30 pm on a Saturday. I live in a small town, so nothing was open except the ER. I briefly considered posting here asking whether I should go, then pictured the response I would get. I was in the car by 5:33, and in the ER about 3 minutes after that. They saw me right away.

Turns out I have tonsillitis.

But really, there are times when we ask in a place like this because we don't want to deal the possibility of it being a real issue, as opposed to something relatively innocuous.

Well, deal with it and go. I hope it turns out to be nothing.

Good luck.

Edit: just realized you said you were going. Ah well, at least I got to share my story

Tulip:

As a sociologist of medicine, this is one thing I can say with professional authority One of patterns patients follow before going to a physician, and one that gives "cred" and helps move your consultation forward, is that people try to "soldier through", then talk to family and friends who will often urge them to see a doctor, then they go to the doctor and say "I'm having x and y symptoms. It's not really a big thing and I didn't want to bother you with it, but my [wife, mother, cycling buddy - it's often a woman!] badgered me into it." This is the point when the doctor takes over and starts examining, asking further questions. The "didn't want to bother you" and "badgered me into it" bits are actually part of the recipe for patient-doctor interaction success, as is stating symptoms rather than proposing diagnoses! I could probably even find the research references on this, but I won't bore you with that.

[Duck on Wheels]

I've had both flashers and floaters. With each episode, I've hightailed it into my eye doctor's office. I am severely myopic and am at a higher risk for retinal detachment.

Yep. Me too. The first detachment scared me! I was lifting wet laundry out of the machine when I felt a pop and suddenly there's this smoke-like dark plume in the middle of my field of vision on one eye. Luckily it wasn't the retina that detatched, "just" the vitreous whatsit (glasslegeme in Norwegian). Next one, I recognized the flashers that preceded it and waited it out lying on my back, so a much less dramatic separation, and again left the retina in place. In the aftermath, just more floaters than before, though some of them were blood that has since cleared. The flashers, btw, are kind of like lightning or camera bulb flashes upward from the lower outer "corner" of your field of vision on one eye or the other. You do want to see an ophthalmologist if this is happening. If the retina does detatch or seems about to (ophthalmologist told me detatchment would, from my perspective, look like a curtain rolling up or down) they may be able to reattach it. If it seems imminent, then lying down can help lessen the event.