I am going to share my experience of getting PVD in my left eye on my blog in case it helps anyone else who has this horrible thing happen to them come to terms with it and to know as dreadful as it is at first it really does get better, even though you feel blind to begin with. I was 36 and it is not supposed to happen to people under 60 which made me feel particularly cursed. Before it happened I had taken a lot of flights - nearly a dozen just in the month of March travelling from the the UK to Argentina and all over Argentina. I don't know if that was a factor at all. I found it very helpful to read and engage with the forum at http://www.rnib.org.uk/messageboard/thread.php?threadID=5547&topicSort=&msgSort=desc.
Marta in June 2008: "Dear friends. Life really is a bitch. Just as I get the dream house by the sea and dream job then WAM! I can't believe the timing but part of my left eye has liquefied and become detached (called PVD - posterior vitreous detachment), and is now a big bit of jelly moving around the centre of my eye which makes my eyesight feel blurred as if I have not put my glasses on yet but the eye Dr in casualty I saw yesterday in a panic, says it can take months or years to go so I will need to get used to the flashing and they will monitor me every few weeks to ensure it is not tearing the retina as it travels around. It either goes or your brain gets used to the blur/flashing and ignores it. Not a great time to leave your job that had private medical insurance and decent sick pay. I have to try to relax about my eyes as the blurriness can provoke migraines. God help me. I also just cancelled my critical illness insurance as I am selling my house in Bracknell. Doh!
It happened Friday and brought on a hideously painful 4 day migraine (and I had a horrid 3 day one the last weekend) so I thought I was just having an extraordinarily long episode of blurred vision but when finally the pain went I still had the weird sight. The pain was bad enough. My usual migraine pills did nowt again so I went to the Dr who gave me codeine but I discovered that makes me horribly nauseaus. It's been a crap few days indeed and for the forseeable future life is a blur. I can still see everything but takes a bit more work to. You know when you've looked at a bright window with vertical blinds and look away you have the imprint and you see flashy bits - that's what it is like all the time and you don't feel as if you have the whole picture. All computer monitors seem to need serious adjusting and sometimes my hands on the keyboard seem like ghost hands which freaks me out. I'm sad about it but trying to remain positive and get on with it taking it day by day as to how it will affect me.
Fortunately it is not serious and quite common although it is very irritating. Right now it is taking a lot of getting used to and I do not feel confident to drive but am going to have to try with Andrew with me to begin with. I'm worried abut driving and being able to work. At least I have a smaller mortgage now but still concerns me greatly. Andrew was laughing if it were worse he'd be able to decorate the house however he wanted and I would not know. He thinks on the upside I won't be able to see him age. You'll have to let me know if I start making worse typos in my emails or missing stuff visually - or if Andrew paints any rooms weird colours ;-). I think I should retire rather than start a new job but at least I am going to live somewhere famous for old decrepit people so I will be surrounded by my own kind :-)"
Update in September 2008 on RNIB forum I joined: "Just wanted to write an update for the benefit of all those suddenly trying to cope with PVD. That was me back in early June of this year - so 3 months ago. I thought I was losing my sight altogether, was totally freaked out and wondering how I'd be able to drive or use a computer etc. It started with this flashing ball in my line of sight like a bouncing pulsating disco zebra. But I was changing job and moving house so had to go with the flow and get on with it.
I moved to Bournemouth from Reading area so took the opportunity to sneak in a second opinion which was worse news than the first visit. At least I felt to have a thorough check up with goo put on my eye and this magnifier put right on my eye. I would never have thought before I would have coped with that. Verdict was "Yes you have PVD in your left eye and it won't get better, in fact it could get worse and it could happen in your right eye. Avoid bumps to your head." I felt gutted.
The nurse gave me a helpful leaflet which, as many say, is basically telling you to live with it, it is not serious, it is irritating but you will get used to it and over months or years the floater will go. The leaflet also said the changes to be alert for and rush back in for are sudden rush of floaters, sudden change in or loss of vision, a dark shadow or curtain effect or flashing lights getting worse.
I can safely say that it is so so much better now and most of the time I forget I have PVD because I/my brain have adjusted. The biggest adjustment I have had to make is getting my sunglasses made darker. Using the laptop in the morning can be blurry to start off with some times as if my eyes are still demisting.
I can drive (long periods like over 5 hours and my eyes can ache though with the concentration on the road) and use a computer with no need to adjust settings. I can even cope with white screens although I loathed them at first. Walking into a bright sunny day without my sunglasses is tougher and takes a while to recover.
Once in a while, like in a meeting this week, I suddenly notice that the world is going fuzzy "like you have had too much wine" as the song says and I can feel a bit bewildered but then I am being asked how to solve a problem. Before I know it I have forgotten about the eye problem all together. I need to remain aware of what symptoms to look out for which could mean my retina is being torn as that needs surgery right away to avoid losing sight.
I think the worse thing you can do is dwell on it, fall into the trap of feeling sorry for yourself (especially as the doctors can be very cold and no-one else understands what you are going through) and let it interfere with life. The brain/body has a wonderful way of adapting. If you move your brain's focus to something else, which is not hard for me as I have a demanding job leading a digital team in an advertising agency and hardly have a moment to myself even in my spare time with a new house always full of DIY to do or guests to entertain, then you do not notice the PVD weirdness. If I think about it or write about it then I notice the blurriness.
My partner it turns out has had floaters for ages which can drive him mad. He says the same in that when he thinks about them it is worse, although bright rooms on a sunny day can be hard for him. He has not even mentioned to me that he had them for the year we were already together as he was so used to it.
Positive mental attitude goes a long way especially in being able to laugh at yourself. As a female I have always lived up to the stereo type of impaired spatial awareness and now it is seriously in deficit with the PVD to boot. Watch me trying to hit a ball with a racquet or swat a fly - I don't have a cats chance in hell.
The worst of it is if I forget and rub my eye hard - that is a dumb thing to do Marta no matter how itchy it is. Then things get very fuzzy for a bit. My spatial deficit also seems to make me more prone to hitting my head. A classic was my partner asking me to admire his work on the house up near the gutters. I stood back and tilted my head back to look way up there, only to bash it on a fence post behind me. I try to be careful but at this rate I better work hard on maintaining a positive outlook long term no matter what comes.
I have got used to missing some normal vision and life goes on. After I have visited the eye specialists (only twice) my sight is really blurry coz of the liquid they put on your eye and it makes me thankful I can see better than that!
Well this has been my experience and I appreciate everyone is different but I hope it gives hope to people newly diagnosed and panicking. If that's you, then I send you a great big hug because it does feel awfully scary."
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