Warning: medical related
So... i have stayed away from the medical drama related posts for a while.... the medical bitchings, and probably, its doing me some good. But i think i need to get this latest one off my chest and out into the proverbial ether for now.
i had to go see an Opthalmologist to have my eyes thoroughly checked. For one, i have had some serious vision problems for a while now, but mostly my Rheumatologist wanted me to go because one of my main lupus treatments (the drug Plaquenil) has a very rare side effect of damaging the retina and they need to monitor this closely because if they don't catch it, it can be irreversible.
So, a few weeks ago i went in for the exam. It was hellaciously long and basically was like 5 hours of eye torture. i think i mentioned this in a previous post about eye torture. My personal version of hell. Well anyway, they took pictures of my retinas and decided that i had "retinal changes" (read: retinal damage) but they did not think it was the drug that was causing it, but needed to do further tests, come back for test in 3 weeks, yadda yadda. Well, the damage is unlikely to be from the drug, which is a good thing. i would hate to think i would have to stop taking it, since i have to really give it a year before i decide if its helping the lupus or not.
So i went in on Thursday for this other test, which was really interesting. It was a visual field test, which basically means this: Imagine your field of vision (center and periphery) is comprised of a constellation of tiny little points, like a circular grid/constellation, etc. Sometimes you can have missing points, which can indicate a host of different problems. So anyway, for the test i had to put my face sort of into this big white Dr. Evil-looking orb, and with one eye blocked and a little lens thingy in front of the tested eye. Then i had to focus on a little light in the middle, and then there would be little lights blink all over in the 'constellation' and i pressed a button if i saw it. They also did the test so that the lights were red, because i guess one of the ways my meds can damage is in the ability to see red. i scored just fine on this red thing luckily.
So anyway, long story short.... looks like there is definitely damage to my retinas, which so far is not explained, and there were also many "missing areas" on my visual field test.... which means my eyes are seriously fucked..... So now i wait for a call from the eye doctor once she reviews all my results, and hopefully she will be able to give me some explanation for what's going on and then she is going to refer me to a Retinologist. As i go on with all this medical stuff, i am more and more amazed about how many very specific specialties there are within the medical field. A Retinologist? Cool.
But.... i am kind of really freaking out. The idea of losing my vision is terrible. Being an artist through and through, this prospect is frightening to the core. i suppose there may be some ways they can help me, and i am banking on the hope that perhaps there is some sort of surgery they can do to repair my retinas or something and that losing my vision will not be so close a possibility. i have to remain hopeful.....
Anyway.
So, for your own personal amusement, here is a link to an online visual field test. Its not very accurate, and pales in comparison to the actual test which takes a long time, but its kind of interesting in a way anyhow. Make sure you follow the directions to the letter, and most importantly, make sure you are the correct distance from your screen-- it has instructions on exactly how to determine this.
http://www.testvision.org/
i had to go see an Opthalmologist to have my eyes thoroughly checked. For one, i have had some serious vision problems for a while now, but mostly my Rheumatologist wanted me to go because one of my main lupus treatments (the drug Plaquenil) has a very rare side effect of damaging the retina and they need to monitor this closely because if they don't catch it, it can be irreversible.
So, a few weeks ago i went in for the exam. It was hellaciously long and basically was like 5 hours of eye torture. i think i mentioned this in a previous post about eye torture. My personal version of hell. Well anyway, they took pictures of my retinas and decided that i had "retinal changes" (read: retinal damage) but they did not think it was the drug that was causing it, but needed to do further tests, come back for test in 3 weeks, yadda yadda. Well, the damage is unlikely to be from the drug, which is a good thing. i would hate to think i would have to stop taking it, since i have to really give it a year before i decide if its helping the lupus or not.
So i went in on Thursday for this other test, which was really interesting. It was a visual field test, which basically means this: Imagine your field of vision (center and periphery) is comprised of a constellation of tiny little points, like a circular grid/constellation, etc. Sometimes you can have missing points, which can indicate a host of different problems. So anyway, for the test i had to put my face sort of into this big white Dr. Evil-looking orb, and with one eye blocked and a little lens thingy in front of the tested eye. Then i had to focus on a little light in the middle, and then there would be little lights blink all over in the 'constellation' and i pressed a button if i saw it. They also did the test so that the lights were red, because i guess one of the ways my meds can damage is in the ability to see red. i scored just fine on this red thing luckily.
So anyway, long story short.... looks like there is definitely damage to my retinas, which so far is not explained, and there were also many "missing areas" on my visual field test.... which means my eyes are seriously fucked..... So now i wait for a call from the eye doctor once she reviews all my results, and hopefully she will be able to give me some explanation for what's going on and then she is going to refer me to a Retinologist. As i go on with all this medical stuff, i am more and more amazed about how many very specific specialties there are within the medical field. A Retinologist? Cool.
But.... i am kind of really freaking out. The idea of losing my vision is terrible. Being an artist through and through, this prospect is frightening to the core. i suppose there may be some ways they can help me, and i am banking on the hope that perhaps there is some sort of surgery they can do to repair my retinas or something and that losing my vision will not be so close a possibility. i have to remain hopeful.....
Anyway.
So, for your own personal amusement, here is a link to an online visual field test. Its not very accurate, and pales in comparison to the actual test which takes a long time, but its kind of interesting in a way anyhow. Make sure you follow the directions to the letter, and most importantly, make sure you are the correct distance from your screen-- it has instructions on exactly how to determine this.
http://www.testvision.org/