Ok i am totally at a loss, a new symptom started with me last night. My vision will totally be nothing but a white blurry/fog for a min or so then back to normal again, but with this intense pressure in the eyes. The pressure in constantly there, but the vision coming and going is random.
I am not on any medication anymore for the past month because of side effects, and now a neurosurgeon and radiation oncologist is involved in the past couple days. Is this because of the bilateral atn or is it from meds. The only meds i am on right now are for my back (duragesic and vicodine for pain, xanax to sleep).
It’s really freaking me out. Is our eyesight effected also with this disorder or is it something else? Should i be worried about this, or just wait till i see my neurosurgeon on Fri.
This symptom might not have anything to do with the ATN as such. Rapid vision lapses should be taken to an ophthalmologist and then a neurologist or neurosurgeon ASAP. But Friday pretty much is the best you're going to do for either a neuro or surgeon appointment. Your ocular pressure needs to be evaluated and you may need MRI to eliminate for AVM or benign tumors close to the optic nerves.
My vision has been doing good now for the past hour, I still have the pressure behind my eyes. It was scary my vision would completely be gone and all that i could see was like a white fog everything was blurry. This is something that is going to be brought up Friday for sure. I did have a MRI done last month the neurologist wanted to rule out MS and the MRI didn't show no tumors or nothing abnormal per se except from my neurologist said i have allot of polyps in my sinus cavity again. The dr didn't seemed to be too alarmed by that, so i didn't think anymore about it either. Could my MRI been read wrong and the polyps be something else. Or could the polyps be the cause of the vision issue?
Polyps in the sinus cavity wouldn't cause your vision to blank out. Not likely that these features would be misinterpreted on MRI, either. If you do have an AVM or tumor pressing the optic nerves, it will likely be quit a bit deeper inside your head.
If a blank-out happens again before your appointment, get somebody to drive you to an emergency room for immediate examination.
Red: According to my ophthalmologist some of the meds we take could cause an early onset of Glacoma if you were prone to that already. You are correct that those who experance this time of problems need to get to a ophthalmologist as soon as possible. Mine has me on eye drops to help control the pressure. I have to see him every 3 months so he can adjust as needed. The real good thing that I have going for me is that my Primay Care Doctor does not give me anthing without checking with him and my ophthalmologist does not give me anything without checking with my PC doctor. They have been very good in working together and that helps. However when I have severe TN attacks, my vision blurs and doubles and I do get intense pain behind the eye with the heavy pressure in the temple. So far both have racked it up to the ATN, jsut saying. And yes in time (maybe 10 to 15 years) I will be blind in both eyes, they are trying to keep my good eye going as long as possible.
Jerry, I'll add a task to my research list (it's a long list at this point) to investigate connections between TN meds and Glaucoma. It's conceivable that you are getting pressure changes either within the eye cavity or directly along the nerve pathways, due to spasms generated by your reaction to the pain attacks. But this is a subtle set of connections. I'd much rather that you be advised by a doctor in generating conclusions or a treatment plan change.
You mention your "good eye". Have you been diagnosed with any specific problem, such as macular degeneration? Double vision is a fairly frequent side effect of Tegretol and other meds, but it's not always associated with pain attacks as such.