Blind spots, clean exam
Hi!
I have been recently having some strange symptoms, looking for anyone who might relate!
I’m F 31
Hashimoto’s diagnosis
Was on hormonal birth control for around 10 years
Am very sensitive to caffeine
History of Anxiety, panic attacks, in progress for being diagnosed with OCD
Heart issues on fathers side, mainly heart attacks (all 3 of my dads siblings had heart attacks, including himself around age 58 father died of heart attack mother had open heart surgery and one brother died of rare blood vessel disease)
Mom’s side has auto immune conditions(Hashimoto’s),Anxiety, OCD, caffeine sensitivity, ambiguous nervous system symptoms,POTS and migraines. Mom, brother and grandmother get migraines with aura
I have never had persistent migraines, nor aura.
No previous vision issues, no family history of vision issues other than the typical age related things that over the counter readers can fix.
Symptoms first presented a few years ago. I can’t remember what came first but one night I was washing my face, brushed against my right eye and I saw tiny bright balls of light flying around with golden trails in seemingly aimless directions for a few seconds. Then nothing.
Around that time I was noticing bright blue LED-like flashes in the upper right quadrant of my right eye.
(I put off visiting an eye doctor because it just seemed like a random quirk)
Eventually these flashes subsided.
A few months later maybe like 4 or 5 The flashes returned. Intermittently.
Then one particularly anxious day (I just felt off that day) I was walking and saw a sudden black spot with bright blue pink and purple neon edges that appeared for 2 seconds and disappeared just as fast.
Later that night I found myself feeling extremely anxious and the final straw was trying to take a sip of my drink and I felt like I couldn’t swallow, I had a dump of adrenaline and felt almost light headed. Had full strength of my arms and legs though. And could smile normally.
Since then I have seen the flashes here and there very minimally. I did some googling which lead me to an Amsler test and that’s when I realized I had a blind spot in the same area where I saw the black orb. It varies but on the amsler it just looks like a white orb and the grid is missing, and day to day I can’t see it but if I close one eye and look it kind of looks like a smudge of the surrounding colors. Looking at the blue sky I can’t see it at all.
Now I’m realizing I have another even more tiny spot in the other eye. This time only noticeable on the amsler grid or if I close one eye and look at small letters.
I’ve now been to 2 optometrists and had 3 OCT scans and 3 Dilated eye exams and they tell me everything looks fine and dandy…other than a few tiny PEDs the OCT didn’t even pick up.
One of my Optometrists tried to suggest migraine with persistent aura although migraines with aura tend to last longer than a few seconds from my research… then she said one of my PEDS could be causing it but the next appointment said their position didn’t line up was it’s the spot I’m seeing. 😵💫
I have another appointment for a visual field test coming up but honestly I can’t find anything that meets my symptoms 100%
I’ve asked for an Ophthalmologist referral from my Optometrist but I’m not sure if I’ll get it yet.
Unfortunately this has been a living hell as I have health OCD themes 😔
It’s taking a toll on my life currently and I’m freaking out about going blind. No one around me seems to understand.
My next test is weeks away and I’m just trying to manage living in this uncertainty.
TLDR: Two new blind spots in my eye one came on after seeing a black blob with neon aura for 3 seconds, not meeting typical migraine aura perimeters.
Uploaded what I saw (red dots are the now blind spots)