Oh, My Dilated Eyes!

Raise your hand if you have ever had your eyes dilated before—If you actually just raised your hand, smack yourself in the face and then continue reading! Today I went to the Ophthalmologist to have my eyes checked for glaucoma and nerve damage, but, in order to do that, I had to have my eyes dilated, which isn’t that big of a deal, it’s just more annoying than anything. Up to this point every time I have gone to the doctor in regards to my illness, without fail, each one has stated that my pupils are so tiny that they can hardly see whatever it is that they’re looking for back there. Today, once those gnarly drops were put in, I think the people in the next room could see them THROUGH the walls! Boy howdy, they were huge!

The doctor came in and looked at my eyes and declared that my headaches are not attributed to my eyes, because there was no sign of nerve damage or glaucoma, which is nice, but adds to the frustration level. It seemed to me that he looked a little harder at the left eye than he did at the right eye, which I think is interesting since my headaches are primarily on my left side, but he seemed nonplussed by it all. Then, with a hardy handshake and my AVS (After Visit Summary), he sent me on my merry (blind) way.

Everyone that knows me knows that I have worn glasses for a LONG time—since I was 3 ½ to be precise—and so by adding in the lovely dilating drops, I was a mess! With my glasses on I could manage…okay, but if I lifted them up to look at something (because inside with sunglasses on, you can’t see anything) everything and everyone was reduced to a blurry blob. I even told my dad that he looked like a Muppet if I lifted off my glasses! I could see his hair and see a blob that could only be his nose and that was about it! By the time we made this stop and that stop and another stop on the way home, I was really hurting. I did not come prepared with medicine for after the appointment, so going into it I already had a headache, but after the dilation, I was really hurting! Even my eyes had a “headache”! I later told my mom that I could feel my heartbeat in my eyes, that’s how much they were pounding. My dad enjoyed singing “The Three Blind Mice” since I have to walk with a cane (because of my balance issues) and then having on sunglasses (plastic fake things you slide behind your real glasses), so at least someone got enjoyment out of the situation.

Wednesday I go back to the Neurologist to see what he has to say about the continuation—and no improvement—of my symptoms. We’ll see what he thinks about it being Atypical Migraines or something else, what, I don’t know, but I guess we’ll find out. Maybe he’ll have me do an MRI with contrast or maybe he’ll just prescribe me a different cocktail of medication to try. All I know is that I’m ready for all of this to be over with and now coming into tax time, I am TOTALLY stressing out, which will not, in any way, help my headache (which I have had for almost 2 weeks straight with only a VERY short respite).


MY NORMAL, EVERYDAY EYE

DILATED EYES


7 HOURS AFTER DILATION