Starting to panic about optician visit

[sarahsarah]

Has anyone here been very nervous of eye tests and lived to tell the tale?

Just booked myself in for an eye test. This is a big step for me as I panic over having tests which might reveal something wrong with me. I don't have any vision problems as such (apart from a few occasional floaters which I have had for years and years) but my distance vision is a bit blurry.

The earliest appointment I could get was Thursday afternoon. Now I will spend the time between then and now worrying that the optician will discover a serious illness. I've never had a thorough eye test before, just a basic vision test for employment purposes which was no more than reading off charts.

I had the same fear of the dentists but when pain finally drove me there, there wasn't very much wrong and now I go to check-ups regularly with no worries at all. Hopefully the same will happen with the opticians.

Any experiences anyone wants to share would be great, I would really appreciate them xx

[unsure_about_this]

Hi

I also get nervous about visiting the doctors, dentist, opticians etc. I went in January 2013 for an appointment because I was worried about my eyes, even though I was not due 2014.

The optician did a eye test and also had a photo done. It all came back fine. The optician are aware about my NF as this is how something was picked up (not serious, but worrying enough for me.)

I would also mention it to the optician on Thursday you are worried calmly.

As your signature says please try and not Google about eye conditions etc.

[Mipsy]

Hiya. It is quite nerve wracking. But the good thing is the optician will share the results with you that day. They are usually very thorough.i had one recently. It was quite reassuring.
Good luck.

[Munchlet]

I can totally relate to your fears, I keep thinking I should get my eyes checked as I haven't had them checked for years.

I have also had floaters for years and get a bit of blurriness now and then.

I did have them checked when my floaters first appeared and all was well but I haven't been back since, purely because I'm frightened of what they will find.

I think the chances of them finding anything serious is very very small. To try and convince myself to go I did read some opticians views on eye tests a few weeks ago and out of 5 opticians only one or two of them had ever picked up anything bad and on the occasions they did they saved the peoples lives.

One optician said he had being doing the job for 16 years and only ever detected symptoms of something life threatening twice and one of those was due to a cyst.

So I think that's important to remember as if your anything like me my HA leads me to believe that they are diagnosing terminal illnesses on a daily basis which is obviously not the case.

I'm not much help to you as I can't bring myself to go but just wanted to let you know you are not alone in your fear.

take care x

[sarahsarah]

Thank you both. I am trying to convince myself that if there's something seriously wrong, and there's no real reason to suspect there is, then it is better to know about it as soon as possible when it comes to vision. Of course this should apply to all health matters but I'm afraid I am very much a head-in-the-sand person when it comes to tests etc.

That there is no waiting for test results is great. It's the waiting that eats me up.xx

---------- Post added at 16:00 ---------- Previous post was at 15:58 ----------

Oh thanks Munchlet, you must have been writing that post as I was writing mine. We sound very similar in our attitude towards it all and your words are a great help.

Just got to get through the next 3 days xx

[sarahsarah]

Update: I've had my check-up, a very through one including eyeball photographs (or whatever they're called) and everything is fine, I don't even need glasses, let alone have some serious illness revealed only by chance at a routine opticians visit (I think I read too much 'Take a Break') and I will have another check-up in two years.

Thanks to those who wrote kind comments on this thread. I was really worried, now I feel relieved, if not a bit silly for fretting so much xx

[scaredy-prat]

I totally understand how you feel. Since having children I worry about my health all the time!!! I am terrified of the opticians, I have -14 prescription which is really really bad eyesight & this means if my glasses are even slightly misaligned then my vision is blurry, I get headaches & feel really awful. Most opticians I have been to seem to not realise this and so mess my glasses up so I have to try to voice myself and make them listen but this is hard for me with so many anxieties. I recently had to spend 3 days taking public transport to get to my opticians to fix my glasses. It was hell. luckily the guy doing it was so lovely and understanding. It actually turned out in the end that I had dry eyes and this was messing with my vision. I was so happy with how nice the guy was that I went & got him some cupcakes to say thanks. Boy did I go red and run away after!!

Glad you have nothing wrong. Im putting off going to collect my new glasses as they will not be right for ages :'(