Sensitive Eyes

[tommy1982]

Hi I'm Tom

New to your forums and I must say its wonderfull to see they are so active and helping so many people.

I have suffered from GAD and OCD for about 5 years, since I was 21 I am 26 now. It comes in spells every year or 2 years I have kinda a crisis for a period. Most of the time it just hangs around but I cant manage it.

I have never taken ssri's although I probally should be, I have done a lot of CBT.

I have a habbit when the anxiety comes of also getting health anxiety and obsessing and obsessing and obsessing about total irrational things.

This time around I am very worried, I had some sinus issues, from abusing a nasal spray and started to feel off balance dizzy like I was walking on a boat, and my anxiety ran with this and obsessed about it for a long time.

My main fear is a Brian Tumor, I went to the doc with this off balance problem a number of times he checked out my reflexs, pulse, heart all that sort of stuff and said it was fine and i didnt have a sinus infection etc..

Anyhow after he checked out my eyes i started to get sensitive eyes, like a nervious type thing when i looked at a passing car or at the corner of a table, anyhow now they are sensitive daily and it has me really worried.

I went back to him and he checked my eyes, out and done an eye test and said again I was fine.

I told him my concerns and asked if I could get a CAT scan or MRI and he told me I am giving in to the anxiety and there was no medical reason to do so.


The off balance is gone now, it comes back on the odd osscasion but I really think that was anxiety.


Has anyone else ever had these sensitive eyes ?

What should i be doing.

[Dazo]

I dont know if its the same thing but i have strange blurry vision, dry eyes or watery eyes sometimes.
They can also get sore.

I have been seing eye doctors and opthicians and they all say its fine, nothing wrong.
I can totaly understand your worry, i have the same.

[mf]

Hello Tom

I have experienced anxiety very similar to yours, several years ago i developed a fear about having something wrong with my eyes and tumours etc.. I became completely obsessed to the point that if i was looking at something and my eyes felt sensitive or a little blurry i could feel the panic rising and the imagination go into overdrive...I found that when i was like this i needed reassurance to give me some peace of mind, so i went to the opticians to get my eye health checked,they can see and tell a lot with the equiptment they have.... For me i knew that going to the doctors would not provide me with any satisfaction as they would just say i was highly anxious and suggest medication/counselling of some description when all i felt i needed/wanted was proof/reassurance from an eye specialist.. Because the fear and anxiety became so intense to the point that i could not function normally i decided to see an opthalmic surgeon privatley as i could not carry on the way i was, he was able to give me a more thorough examination than an optician and they actually put drops into the eyes and can see into the back of the eye and if there was anything untoward they could see it... Of the course the anxiety did not go away overnight but at least i had complete reassuance from an expert that there was not anything wrong and that led me onto the rd to recovery, and if i ever feel the need for reassurance again i would go and see him without hesitation and thats a comfort to me...

[tommy1982]

Thanks for the reply folks, its so hard I am up today finding it hard to do anything as all I am thinking about is my eyes, its like this obsessing is taken away my life.

I feel like i am hitting walls at the moment, and the worse thing is I cant do anything about it.

[tommy1982]

Sorry to be a pain but has anyone else had anything similar I am finding it hard finding anything online.

[tommy1982]

bump*

[Yvonne]

Tommy

I have extremely sensitive eyes. It's like dry eye syndrome but worse. My eyes get so sore and my eyes go very strange when I get anxious they go very dry and sensitive to lights in the shops and I have to squint a bit - it's horrible.

I don't get blurred vision but I used to. I always put the blurred vision down to withdrawal or start up of meds. Also high anxiety can cause badly blurred vision.

I'm on meds and they have what is called a "cholingeric" effect on the body which basically means drying out of secretions. So, with me suffering dry eyes and especially with the heating on. I have to keep bowls of water everywhere and use visco tears and a gel from gp. My eyes get so sore that the skin around the eyes gets red with soreness.

Anxiety can affect any part of the body according to my shrink - so there you go aren't we lucky.

[tommy1982]

Thanks so much Yvonne , it brings releif that other people have eye issues from the anxiety also.

Its so scarey at times :( I guess I just need to beat it over the head with some CBT.