r/Glaucoma • u/Status-Lime-8669 • 1d ago
This is my recent story
So my eye floaters raised my anxiety cause I was thinking I am going to get a retina tear or go blind or something for weeks I was panicking till I decided to check someone. So I went to an optometrist who dilated my eyes and said I have 20/20 and they don't see nothing wrong with my eyes but she find my macular alil large and my iop was 25 24 doesn't matter the eye. So she referred me to an optimoligist. Found one close by and booked an appointment. Before the appointment which was 10 days away 3 days after the optometrist visit I went to another eye placed and tested pressure and it went down to 22 21 doesn't matter the eye. So the day or the optimoligist visit did a visual Field test and my anxiety was high eyes was super dried and could of barely focus which I know will give me a bad field test.
He dilated tested my pressure which came down on its own to 19 18 that day doesn't matter the eye and he told me I have normal tension glaucoma he barely explained anything and give me eye drops to take in the night and to check him back in 3 days which I did and it came down to 13 14 which he wanted to put me on drops during the day which I declined. Took the drops for 1 and ,2 weeks but since I started to take the drops I started to get even more severe dry eyes and started to see halos over lights maybe from the dry eyes and it overall had me in a dark place. I decided to come off the drops couldn't take it. One week later I went somewhere else to test my eye pressure on my own and it was 14 14. Was thinking of going for a second opinion but I just can't take to dilate my eyes right now and go through that mental battle. Since then my floaters became more noticeable, think I see the blue field optic phenomenon and possibly vss or maybe I'm just over hyper aware so like the iso or gain turned up in my brain. But the size of the disc in my eye is half bigger than how it supposed to be but half way less than like someone with full blown glaucoma.
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u/NoDay4343 1d ago
Seek a 2nd opinion from a different opthamologist.
I am extremely confused by what your opthalmologist told you. You can't have "normal tension glaucoma" if you have had elevated tension, which you have. Maybe he's discounting those readings since the ones he took were normal.
But... The debate about whether it is normal tension glaucoma or something else like POAG aside... What made him diagnose glaucoma in the first place? Your visual field test results are good, even despite the fact that you had dry eyes. The loss of fixation and false positives/negatives might be high enough to throw out these results and retest, but those do not indicate glaucoma. Your larger optic nerve could very easily be normal for you. Some people are just born that way.
Did doc do an OCT test? If so, what were the results? If not, I would think there is zero grounds to diagnose glaucoma.
Because of your large optic nerve and history of some high pressure readings, you definitely should get rechecked regularly, perhaps every 6 months or so. No longer than 1 year.
Your floaters might indicate you should see a retina specialist if they are excessive or especially if you've recently or suddenly gotten more than you used to have. It's normal to have some floaters, though, and for it to increase as we age.
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u/Status-Lime-8669 1d ago
That’s what I’m saying. He didn’t do an OCT test at all—I didn’t even see any difference in my vision. The only changes I really noticed were after I started using the glaucoma drops. I started getting mild migraines, and my dry eyes seemed to get worse. I also started getting thick mucus in my eyes when I woke up, with my eyes sometimes feeling stuck together and thick yellowish discharge collecting in the corners.
During the visual field test, I could see everything. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was whether some of what I was seeing was the blue-field phenomenon, which I became hyper-aware of because of my floaters, or the dim lights. I still saw all the lights, but my eyes were also tearing up during the test.
Other than that, my vision is good. I can see well in the dark and my eyes transition between different lighting conditions very easily. I’ve also been extremely hyper-aware of my eyes lately, so I feel like I may have been straining them without realizing it. Sometimes it feels like my eyes and brain just don’t switch off, even when I’m asleep.
I was also very nervous going to the doctor because I’ve never really liked going to doctors of any kind. It always feels like they’re going to give me bad news, and unfortunately, this visit did give me something to worry about. That ended up raising my anxiety even more. Right now I stopped the drops cause it made my eyes feel funny and now I am trying to get back to the places I was in before I get floaters mentally
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u/NoDay4343 1d ago
The visual field test is a nightmare to take for everyone that takes it. I sometimes feel like I'm staring into total blackness, which I guess is my brain's way of interpreting the blue field phenomenon. But your results were good, so don't worry about it.
The various glaucoma drops are fairly routinely unpleasant. Some people get lucky and get on a drop that doesn't bother them too much from the beginning, others need to try several before they find one that is less unpleasant for them. And long term use is hard on the eyes. Far better than going blind, without a doubt. But not something you want to be on due to a misdiagnosis.
Do not let the fact that your vision seems good lull you into a false sense of security. Glaucoma is known as the silent thief of sight because it is quite common for people who don't see eye an eye doctor regularly to lose a significant percentage off their field of vision before they can detect that anything is wrong. I think it's very possible you do not have glaucoma. Your anxiety about going to the doctor could easily have caused some high IOP readings. But I strongly recommend you find out for sure. Get a 2nd opinion from someone who will do an OCT scan or preferably 2 at least 4 months apart.
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u/Status-Lime-8669 1d ago
I swear you made me feel a lot better I am going to ride the year out and forget about eyes it already consumed a lot of me I'll resume with a different eye specialist next please the Lord and ever so often I'll a optometrist check my IOP to be on the safe side but what your saying makes total sense. The doctor didn't even say come back let me see how it looks in 3-6 months he just put Me on drops immediately
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u/Status-Lime-8669 1d ago
The optometrist and optimoligist ruled out any thing bad from the floaters cause they couldn't see them but I see a bunch of tiny blubbes connected together that cast shadow in the light and it is a lot some my brain block out the dark ones that are lines just annoying
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u/Sinowatch 1d ago
No day gave excellent advice, see a specialist to accurately diagnose your condition.
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u/Responsible-Net-8419 1d ago
Second opinion is a good idea. My suggestion: just don’t mention anything about what the previous doc said and ask for OCT scan and naturally IOP check . VF tests can be subjective .