How many of you have Optic Nerve Damage & find it stressful to go out in Public?

Question

I have it in one eye & am constantly juggling with 2 different perspectives & find judging how near people are to me a real hassle!
This is not a "Poor Me!" statement, I just want someone else's story, as it feels like I'm the only one on the Planet with this problem!!

Answer 1

Ok, you found one! In 1994, waking down the corridor in my house,
the lights were off in the corridor and on in the room ahead. All of
a sudden the lights seemed to go off in my left eye. Well, next day
I had to travel 400 miles by car and had forgotten of the mishap,
but when I got up expecting to see again, nothing registered in my
my left eye, so I decided to take the bus. Went off for one week,
each morning expecting to be able to see again.

Upon my return I visited my doctor who outrightly told me that it
was an idiotic thing to do, travel in my condition. He examined me
carefully and said there was very little hope of recovery. A small
vein had ruptured and the eye was full of clotted blood. He said
the the only hope would be to inject myself subcutaneously with
a blood thinner and hope for the best, which I did. After the month
was over, I returned to the MD and the test revealed that I was
totally blind of one eye!

So it became a physical problem since I was bumping into people
on my left side, tripping on objects and so on. From then on, I
began to educate myself to a new way living. I have blue eyes
and my one big worry was that the eye should turn into a white
"dead fish" appearance. Well, it did not. My only loss was the
sense of perspective. But my MD did tell me that the right eye
was subject to the same problem since the veins were just as
fragile and I suffered from a very high blood pressure.

So off I went to the cardiologist and have been medicated since
the misfortune. The best he could was to bring it down to 15/10,
which still is on the high side. I have had several similar popped
veins. Fortunately all in my left eye since the first bout.

Today, my only problem is to exercise my eyelid to keep it looking
normal. And normal it is. My cautions are not to drink nor smoke,
or take any exercise which may increase my blood pressure.

I have learned to live my life back to normal and my only
restriction is driving. Nobody ever has noticed my shortcomings
and I feel perfectly normal and happy at all occasions. Only
spillover problem remains to be an unusually high blood pressure,
which is carefully controlled and monitored.

So, I am sorry for the lengthy tale but I only wish to let you know
that you will be living a perfectly normal and happy life with no
regrets. PS. did you know that Gordon Brown (chancellor) has
one glass eye resulting from a rugby match accident? If we can
do it, so can you. Only make sure that you don‘t spill the sugar
on the table when trying to get it into the coffee or tea cup. This
is my only problem today. I wish you well pal, you are not alone!
Iain Ritchie.

Answer 2

You are NOT the only one with optic nerve problems!
I'd rather not get into it here, but if you want to e-mail me I will tell you more, although, sadly sharing stories will not make the stress of dealing with being out in the world any more pleasing.
I relate to it being a hassle and a limitation. It's definitely life altering and most people are clueless.

Answer 3

Ask your doctor about an exercise routine. Regular exercise, such as walking three times a week, may reduce neuropathy pain, improve your muscle strength and help control blood sugar levels. Gentle routines such as yoga and tai chi might also help.

Answer 4

That's horrible...I'm sorry...anyway, you would be better off talking to your doctor. Don't get your hopes up though. At best, you'll probably only get limited vision.