I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: Restorer on June 10, 2009, 09:27:22 AM
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Anyone ever had vision problems not related to diabetes? I'm not diabetic, but a couple weeks ago I started having vision problems. On Memorial Day Sunday, I woke up with bleary vision that went away after about 30 minutes. On Monday, it lasted an hour. On Tuesday, it didn't go away, and my vision was full of glare in the light, or significantly darkened inside. I saw an ER doctor (primarily for another reason) and she said it could be related to my blood pressure, which was very high at the time (200/125, brought down to 170/120 by Betalol). 4 days later, on Saturday, the blurriness went away and I could read again, but I still had the glare/darkness.
By now, it seems to have gotten better to the point that I no longer need to use the Accessibility options on my computer, but there's still some lingering darkness. I finally have an appointment with an opthalmologist today (in about half an hour), so we'll see what he says. I was given more BP prescriptions last week, so now my BP is much better most of the day (often a bit low). I hope my vision can fully recover...
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Im not convinced its your bp , mine has been a lot higher than that for a lot longer and i' ve had no problems with my vision. I know there are some things that are renal related that can affect your vision but i didnt think high b.p. was one of them .You are more likely to get bad headaches with high bp. (Its not old age is it ? :rofl;)
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I saw the opthalmologist today. As expected, he found optic nerve swelling, and wanted to find out what's causing he. I'm waiting to be called back to schedule an MRI of my head/eyes, and a visual field test. Even though I kept saying I was on dialysis, they still sent me downstairs to have my BUN and creatinine tested to see if it was safe to give me contrast with the MRI. Of course, BUN and creatinine have nothing to do with it when your kidney function is so low that you're on dialysis. But whatever, stick me again, I like it!
Oddly, for the few hours that my eyes were artificially dilated due to the drops they gave me, I could see very well indoors - the wide dilation counteracted the darkness I've been experiencing. But outside, everything was way too bright and blurry. ;)
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Hi Restorer
Half way through dialysis my eyes start to blur and then they go back to normal about an hour after I come off. It only started a couple of weeks ago and that is when I started having problems with my blood pressure. It is pretty high but I have just started taking new meds so I will see if that makes a difference. My neph said she thought it was optic nerve swelling that caused mine and that in itself can be caused by high blood pressure and a movement of fluid behind the eye during dialysis. The first question my neph asked me when I saw her the first time after I started dialysis was if I was having any problems with my vision. It seems it is pretty common to have some blurred vision or sensitivity to the glare. I am having new glasses made up to see if that makes a difference as well. It is just one more thing that we have to contend with!
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If it's the optic never, that's usually glaucoma and can be treated with eye drops to help not further deteriorate your vision. Did this ophthalmologist take your eye ressure? If so, was it OK?
Hopefully you caught something in time to help reverse or prevent further damage.
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I didn't know at the time what the test was for, but I think they did take my eye pressure. There was a device with a small clear plastic extension that was lit, that was touched to each eye after they gave me anesthetic drops. No one mentioned anything about unusual eye pressure, though.
Now that I know my base problem is optic nerve swelling, I did some more searching and found the term Papilledema, which is optic disc swelling caused by increased intracranial pressure. That makes the most sense to me, because my blood pressure has been up and down, and very high at times, including bad headaches. Fortunately, the prognosis for that is good - vision problems can resolve over days, weeks, or at most a couple months.
Of course we'll still see what the MRI shows. Maybe nothing of too much consequence, because at this point my blood pressure is much better controlled.
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I didn't know at the time what the test was for, but I think they did take my eye pressure. There was a device with a small clear plastic extension that was lit, that was touched to each eye after they gave me anesthetic drops. No one mentioned anything about unusual eye pressure, though.
Yes that was an eye pressure test. The lite is usually blue on most. Then there is also a handheld digital device that is used in some offices instead of that machine. Same drops used, but it is like a ball rolling over your eye till it beeps and a reading can be read.
Just make it a force of habbit to ask what the readings are. It is a good idea to get to know these number readings now that you have an intermitent optic nerve swelling problem. I forgot what the bad range starts at, I use to know when my eye problems began. I just know when I hear a certain number it raises a red flag and makes me aware to ask the doctor further questions.
Glad you hav a good prognosis with the research you have doneRestorer.
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What a long procedure. The MRI took a little over an hour total, first without contrast, then with. I kept falling asleep, and waking myself up with my snoring. :)
I'll hear the results from the opthalmologist next week, hopefully Monday.
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That's one thing I'm afraid of doing, falling aslep during a test and snoring and catching myself doing it. :banghead;
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Fortunately, the only person to catch me doing it is me. The MRI is so loud that they give you earplugs, then turn on blaring music loud enough to get past the earplugs, and the technician goes into another room. The way the MRI was set up to scan my head, my face was mostly obscured from the technician's view, so I doubt he could tell if I fell asleep, even if I did snore.
Unless there was a camera somewhere I didn't see...
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I saw the opthalmologist today. As expected, he found optic nerve swelling, and wanted to find out what's causing he. I'm waiting to be called back to schedule an MRI of my head/eyes, and a visual field test. Even though I kept saying I was on dialysis, they still sent me downstairs to have my BUN and creatinine tested to see if it was safe to give me contrast with the MRI. Of course, BUN and creatinine have nothing to do with it when your kidney function is so low that you're on dialysis. But whatever, stick me again, I like it!
Oddly, for the few hours that my eyes were artificially dilated due to the drops they gave me, I could see very well indoors - the wide dilation counteracted the darkness I've been experiencing. But outside, everything was way too bright and blurry. ;)
Restorer, hubby had similar trouble with his eyes when his blood pressure went up 9 years ago because PD had stopped working for him and he was retaining fluid. For 8 weeks he was telling the doctors that there was something wrong with his eyes. He was lucky they started removing fluid as soon as the opthamologist saw him. His vision was so bad that he couldn't even watch TV. Luckily with the fluid removal his vision improved.He had swelling around the optic nerve as well. He has no trouble seeing now but he says that if he closes one of hjis eyes there is like a spot in front of the other one ( can't remember which eye it is now) that he sort of has to look around but he doesn't notice it when he has both eyes open.
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del, that's a sign of glaucoma if he see's that in one eye. It is due to the pressure on the optic nerve that causes it. If you go to he library or look it up on the internet, you will see examples of what one might see through their eye.I have a book that my eye doc gave me years ago when my vision problems started that has pictures of a few eye diseases that shows how one would see with their problems.
As for the MRI, the ones I have been through, the newer ones I did not need ear plugs, but all had cameras to monitor you.
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Contrast with an MRI? Did you ask what contrast it was? There was trouble awhile ago with MRI contrasts and dialysis/ ESRD patients.
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Chris the opthamologist checked for glaucoma (it's in his family - his Grandmother and almost all of her sibling went blind from it). He is tested every time is has an eye exam and no signs of it. the problem was caused by fluid and pressure on the blood vessels on the back of the eye. He's beeen told what he still sees is probably scar tissue.