Has anyone else had a history of Eye pain with GPN but also had eye pain from an obvious corneal erosion ? Has anyone had a Superficail keratectomy procedure for corneal erosion only to find the pain was actually from your GPN ? . I have had eye pain from both and this week an obvious corneal erosion is not responding to the usual treatment ( Acular--a NSAID ) . The pain is so severe it seems like GPN pain . The OPTH is rec a superficial keratectomy to remove the erosion .I hesitate to have a procedure on an area when GPN is active . A prior root canal taught me that lesson . Anyone else have had this dilemma ?
Wow, that is not an occurrence I have heard of happening. I was an Ophthalmic Assistant in my other life (too many years ago to be up on new treatments - and ophthalmology is a fast changing - life changing medical field. Do you remember when cataracts were only removed when they were "ripe" and they didn't do lens implants? I do, after the surgery they were put on strict bed rest with sandbags on the side of their head to prevent any movement and then they ended up with coke bottle glasses and could hardly see?). And I know from seeing it 1st hand that pain from corneal erosion can bring a grown man to his knees... one of the worse pains.. I'm so sorry you are going thru this. Sounds like you have a 1st class ophthalmologist, which would be my 1st recommendation - get a corneal specialist!, you don't want to mess around when it comes to corneal problems - you only have 2 eyes!. Have you tried soft contact lenses as a band aid? esp at night to prevent you from lifting that delicate cornea apart again from a dry eye esp while you are sleeping?
Thanks for posting about this interesting phenomenon... If it helps just one person it is worth it!
We did try a contact lens and eye lubricant . I am frustrated beyond belief…it has been two weeks of Hell. Usually my GPN eye pain responds to a NSAID and an anesthetic compounded nasal spray. Not this time . The confusing part is that there was a corneal erosion present at the beginning so we naturally assumed that was the cause of the pain . When NSAID drops and the contact did not help I realized it was probably NOT the cause of the unrelenting red- hot- poker- in- the -eye- pain. Today the ENT ( who diagnosed the GPN ) said he thinks it is Shingles pain. I took my Dad to retinal specialist today. She use to work in Conn. She saw how much I was suffering and offered to see me. She said the erosion is no longer present and that the contact should have stopped the pain if it was caused by the erosion She and the ENT rec. NOT having the Superficial keratectomy as that would cause increased pain. Her best guess was Lyme disease ( I had the rash in the distant past ) .Recurrent shingles pain in the eye can present without a typical lesion so she also said that was a possibility
Unfortunately the NC Medical Board does not recognize chronic Lyme disease ( the deer know to stop at the border of NC and Va.) so it will be hard to find out if that is what I have ….I have been in this diagnostic limbo for years . The GPN should cause bradycardia yet I have tachycardia ….I am glad to find this group. I hope when I feel better I will be able to read more entries and perhaps learn something that will help me find a solution.
This past week I developed Horner's syndrome in my eye on the side where I have GPN . The pain has continued and after placing a contact lens over the corneal lesion ( and no improvement in the pain ) the Opth. decided the corneal erosion was NOT the cause of the eye pain. We have tried an anti-viral in case this is Shingles . It does not help matters to have a corneal erosion at the same time there is pain from another cause . It makes me wonder if what he is calling an erosion is in fact some other kind of lesion . They did a MRA today to rule out a dissection causing the Horner's …has anyone else had anything occur like this ??