In honor of the eye doctor telling me this morning that my eye has healed perfectly (woo!), I give you part two of my epic adventures (which also has much to do with eye doctors).
In 2006, after years of dealing with daily migraines and after a night of way too much laughter (I blame my sister and her then-boyfriend [now-husband]), I ended up in the ER.
Which prompted my trip to the Jefferson Headache Center in Philadelphia. My doctor there, Dr. A, sent me for an MRI, but seemed pretty convinced he already knew what the problem was by the end of our first meeting. At our second meeting [EDIT: after a lumbar puncture that took place on my 21st birthday - fun!], he said my MRI was normal and diagnosed me with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH).
Thus began the "tour of medications". Nearly all of them would knock me out for 24 hours straight (so it was always a choice between pain or sleeping through the next day), at least one caused me to jitter like an over-caffeinated chihuahua, and one caused (minor) hallucinations. I admit I called him rather frequently due to side effect concerns. I would also like to take a moment to admit that from day one I was not thrilled with Dr. A and I asked the Headache Center (after seeing him for a while to see if, perhaps, my first impression was wrong) to assign me a new doctor. They refused (they had a rule against it). However I was afraid to stop going to the Headache Center because that was were I got my diagnosis and I honestly didn't know where else to go.
And then, in 2007, Dr. A increased 2 of my medications rather drastically at the same time. Approximately 3-4 days later, I lost my vision.
I would like to take a moment to explain what I mean by losing my vision. I wasn't completely blind. Everything was incredibly blurry. I could see colors, but shapes were very indistinct. It was as if everything were underwater. Following trips to Wills Eye ER, my neuro-ophthalmologist, and my regular ophthalmologist, nobody could find anything wrong with me. Until my mom finally put two and two together, googled the side effects of the two medications I had increased and found out they both cause visual problems. I cut back the meds and, lo and behold, my sight returned. So, I called my doctor (I figured he'd want to know, right?). And he informed me that I should find a new doctor. Nice.
(Coming Soon - Part 3: Where I find another new doctor, get another diagnosis, and have surgery [plus my post-surgery story, in which I scare the hell out of a doctor and prove myself to be more politically savvy than I realized])
**Please take a moment to read the disclaimer at the bottom of this blog**
In 2006, after years of dealing with daily migraines and after a night of way too much laughter (I blame my sister and her then-boyfriend [now-husband]), I ended up in the ER.
Which prompted my trip to the Jefferson Headache Center in Philadelphia. My doctor there, Dr. A, sent me for an MRI, but seemed pretty convinced he already knew what the problem was by the end of our first meeting. At our second meeting [EDIT: after a lumbar puncture that took place on my 21st birthday - fun!], he said my MRI was normal and diagnosed me with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH).
Thus began the "tour of medications". Nearly all of them would knock me out for 24 hours straight (so it was always a choice between pain or sleeping through the next day), at least one caused me to jitter like an over-caffeinated chihuahua, and one caused (minor) hallucinations. I admit I called him rather frequently due to side effect concerns. I would also like to take a moment to admit that from day one I was not thrilled with Dr. A and I asked the Headache Center (after seeing him for a while to see if, perhaps, my first impression was wrong) to assign me a new doctor. They refused (they had a rule against it). However I was afraid to stop going to the Headache Center because that was were I got my diagnosis and I honestly didn't know where else to go.
And then, in 2007, Dr. A increased 2 of my medications rather drastically at the same time. Approximately 3-4 days later, I lost my vision.
I would like to take a moment to explain what I mean by losing my vision. I wasn't completely blind. Everything was incredibly blurry. I could see colors, but shapes were very indistinct. It was as if everything were underwater. Following trips to Wills Eye ER, my neuro-ophthalmologist, and my regular ophthalmologist, nobody could find anything wrong with me. Until my mom finally put two and two together, googled the side effects of the two medications I had increased and found out they both cause visual problems. I cut back the meds and, lo and behold, my sight returned. So, I called my doctor (I figured he'd want to know, right?). And he informed me that I should find a new doctor. Nice.
(Coming Soon - Part 3: Where I find another new doctor, get another diagnosis, and have surgery [plus my post-surgery story, in which I scare the hell out of a doctor and prove myself to be more politically savvy than I realized])
**Please take a moment to read the disclaimer at the bottom of this blog**
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