Helen1973
16-12-08, 13:15
I really, really, really need your advice! For the last seven days my HA has gone through the roof and I can’t decide whether to go to my GP or not. The reason I would rather not is that I have come to believe that there has to be a point where I take a stand and refuse to give in to anxiety. However, I am also worried that I’ll ruin my own and my kids Xmas with anxiety and stubborn symptoms that won’t leave me alone because I haven’t sought enough reassurance.
I’ll give you some details of what has set me off this time.
1st December
On the first of December (a Monday) I came in from shopping and very quickly developed a headache and an ache above my right eye...sort of behind the eyelid (it was really cold and the house was warm).
3rd December
Then I was in work on the Wednesday (with the extra heaters on because the building is drafty) and I got the same thing.
This happening twice got me thinking and I decided it was either eye strain or sinus issues…I’ve been battling a cold for a while but not actually getting congested. I remembered getting a letter from my opticians a few days earlier saying that my eye test was due; which I’d ignored as I felt that there was no difference to my eyes and I’ve not been having any issues whatsoever—now I decided to have the test.
4-5 + 6th December
I got a bit of eye ache (but no headache) on the Thursday and Friday and had the eye test on Saturday morning. The optician said everything was fine with the health of my eyes but the prescription would need to change very slightly.
6-8th December
I relaxed and just as if a magic button had been pressed everything was fine for 3 days—no headache or eye ache or anything, and I’m picking up my new glasses this coming Thursday 18th Dec.
9th December
Then…on the Tuesday (last Tuesday now) I started to seriously fret for reasons I won’t go into as they aren’t linked to me personally, and, hey presto! almost immediately the eye ache came back. I came on the forum here and read similar posts and posted one of my own.
10th December
Still fretting I saw a doctor the next day who also checked my eye and my blood pressure and both were fine and normal. His suggestion was that headaches can happen behind the eye etc and they wouldn’t need to investigate without other symptoms and as ten days had passed from that first headache on the 1st he felt there was no need to worry.
On that same afternoon I developed a tension headache (like a tight band across my forehead but not throbbing etc etc).
During the evening and when checking in the mirror, I noticed that my left pupil (not the one with the ache) was larger than the other and started to freak. My husband did a test under the exact same light conditions and proved that his pupils reacted the same way—so I turned off the lamps and, leaving only the main light on, found that both pupils were the same size.
11th December
First thing in the morning (practically after stumbling out of bed) I checked my eyes again in the same mirror with only the main light on and again found the right pupil bigger than the left, and freaked again. Then I grabbed my glasses and put them on and found the pupils were the exact same size. Still freaked I grabbed a smaller make up mirror and immediately checked them in every room in the house with stronger lights and checked them again and again and found them to be the same size.
I must have checked fifty to a hundred times during the rest of the day and found them normal. I also suffered a short episode of mild nausea. I also paid for a second eye test with an optician. The optician did a thorough check and found everything was normal (looking with lights and magnifying equipment at the back of my eyes, peripheral vision etc etc). He told me that emotions can sometimes cause the pupils to react the way I’d explained to him—I,e stress, but that he would write to my doctor to keep them informed. (My pupils have been normal ever since).
12-14th December – The occasional twinge from my right eye with an odd feeling of pressure where the corner of my eye met my nose, as if someone was keeping a finger pressed in there. However, as I’d read in the forums I also started to notice some floaters and wonder about my vision and worry about getting other symptoms such as nausea and dizziness without actually experiencing them—I even stewarded at a church event for four hours outside without any symptoms at all.
15th December – I was in work and developed another tension headache in the form of a tight band across my forehead that went after I took some ibrupofen. In the evening I developed eye ache again and that went after about the third glass of red wine!
16th December – I’m in work again and started to feel a little nauseous, woozy and spaced out.
Okay, so now you know it all. My options are to try and get to see a particular doctor that I trust who is usually adverse to sending folks for tests (and always happily been proved right on that stance) and is usually very reassuring and not afraid to state strong opinions on why they aren’t necessary: an attitude I find very helpful. The thing is I’m afraid that this time he’ll send for me for tests and totally freak me out for the weeks it will take for the test to take place etc etc
Or, I can try and be strong and leave it and see if it all goes away—remembering that apart from the initial two headaches and recurring eye ache—my vision was fine and I felt no wooziness or nausea until two weeks later and after I started to worry about such ‘symptoms’ appearing. I have an appalling habit of manifesting the symptoms I read about within very short order—which is why I avoid reading about symptoms wherever possible and I stumbled across the nausea and dizziness etc while going through some posts on this site.
What do you think, doctors visit or be strong? I would really appreciate and value your opinions on whether you think this is all stupid anxiety and I should be strong etc?
ETA: I'm on carbimizole and Levothyroxine as 'block and replace' therapy for my overactive thyroid, but no other medicine, and I've been eating regularly.
I’ll give you some details of what has set me off this time.
1st December
On the first of December (a Monday) I came in from shopping and very quickly developed a headache and an ache above my right eye...sort of behind the eyelid (it was really cold and the house was warm).
3rd December
Then I was in work on the Wednesday (with the extra heaters on because the building is drafty) and I got the same thing.
This happening twice got me thinking and I decided it was either eye strain or sinus issues…I’ve been battling a cold for a while but not actually getting congested. I remembered getting a letter from my opticians a few days earlier saying that my eye test was due; which I’d ignored as I felt that there was no difference to my eyes and I’ve not been having any issues whatsoever—now I decided to have the test.
4-5 + 6th December
I got a bit of eye ache (but no headache) on the Thursday and Friday and had the eye test on Saturday morning. The optician said everything was fine with the health of my eyes but the prescription would need to change very slightly.
6-8th December
I relaxed and just as if a magic button had been pressed everything was fine for 3 days—no headache or eye ache or anything, and I’m picking up my new glasses this coming Thursday 18th Dec.
9th December
Then…on the Tuesday (last Tuesday now) I started to seriously fret for reasons I won’t go into as they aren’t linked to me personally, and, hey presto! almost immediately the eye ache came back. I came on the forum here and read similar posts and posted one of my own.
10th December
Still fretting I saw a doctor the next day who also checked my eye and my blood pressure and both were fine and normal. His suggestion was that headaches can happen behind the eye etc and they wouldn’t need to investigate without other symptoms and as ten days had passed from that first headache on the 1st he felt there was no need to worry.
On that same afternoon I developed a tension headache (like a tight band across my forehead but not throbbing etc etc).
During the evening and when checking in the mirror, I noticed that my left pupil (not the one with the ache) was larger than the other and started to freak. My husband did a test under the exact same light conditions and proved that his pupils reacted the same way—so I turned off the lamps and, leaving only the main light on, found that both pupils were the same size.
11th December
First thing in the morning (practically after stumbling out of bed) I checked my eyes again in the same mirror with only the main light on and again found the right pupil bigger than the left, and freaked again. Then I grabbed my glasses and put them on and found the pupils were the exact same size. Still freaked I grabbed a smaller make up mirror and immediately checked them in every room in the house with stronger lights and checked them again and again and found them to be the same size.
I must have checked fifty to a hundred times during the rest of the day and found them normal. I also suffered a short episode of mild nausea. I also paid for a second eye test with an optician. The optician did a thorough check and found everything was normal (looking with lights and magnifying equipment at the back of my eyes, peripheral vision etc etc). He told me that emotions can sometimes cause the pupils to react the way I’d explained to him—I,e stress, but that he would write to my doctor to keep them informed. (My pupils have been normal ever since).
12-14th December – The occasional twinge from my right eye with an odd feeling of pressure where the corner of my eye met my nose, as if someone was keeping a finger pressed in there. However, as I’d read in the forums I also started to notice some floaters and wonder about my vision and worry about getting other symptoms such as nausea and dizziness without actually experiencing them—I even stewarded at a church event for four hours outside without any symptoms at all.
15th December – I was in work and developed another tension headache in the form of a tight band across my forehead that went after I took some ibrupofen. In the evening I developed eye ache again and that went after about the third glass of red wine!
16th December – I’m in work again and started to feel a little nauseous, woozy and spaced out.
Okay, so now you know it all. My options are to try and get to see a particular doctor that I trust who is usually adverse to sending folks for tests (and always happily been proved right on that stance) and is usually very reassuring and not afraid to state strong opinions on why they aren’t necessary: an attitude I find very helpful. The thing is I’m afraid that this time he’ll send for me for tests and totally freak me out for the weeks it will take for the test to take place etc etc
Or, I can try and be strong and leave it and see if it all goes away—remembering that apart from the initial two headaches and recurring eye ache—my vision was fine and I felt no wooziness or nausea until two weeks later and after I started to worry about such ‘symptoms’ appearing. I have an appalling habit of manifesting the symptoms I read about within very short order—which is why I avoid reading about symptoms wherever possible and I stumbled across the nausea and dizziness etc while going through some posts on this site.
What do you think, doctors visit or be strong? I would really appreciate and value your opinions on whether you think this is all stupid anxiety and I should be strong etc?
ETA: I'm on carbimizole and Levothyroxine as 'block and replace' therapy for my overactive thyroid, but no other medicine, and I've been eating regularly.