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| Cat in glasses |
"Everything is slightly blurred, sort of misty, as if you are looking through a mild fog. The symptoms started slowly and at first weren't there all the time, it would be blurry one day and then it would go for a few days, but now it is a permanent thing and I simply can't focus clearly. I also have these terrible dry eyes, and wake up in the morning feeling as though my eyes are full of sand, stuck together and gritty."My right eye is often sore and gritty and gives me a constant "tick", as I involuntarily blink my eye, over and over, in hopes of clearing whatever it is that's irritating it. Of course, nothing is, so it can't be cleared. My left eye, on the other hand, often weeps copiously for no good reason. And every morning I wake up with them encrusted and sticky and am unable to focus until I've washed my face and eyes. The only thing that clears it is naturally antiseptic tea tree wash.
These symptoms wax and wane in severity, but they've been going on for years. Any exertion will make them worse until they badly interfere with my vision.
Sometimes it's headaches or light sensitivity that cause disturbances. Sometimes I can only read for about 30 minutes. Sometimes it's so bad I can't even look at moving TV images. Even just the scrolling movement of a web page can cause me to become dizzy and nauseous, so I can't even skim read, let alone pay proper attention (if the fibro fog lets me take in new information.)
Years ago I became almost completely night blind and long before I stopped driving all together, I stopped driving at night, because I just could not see where I was going well enough to keep up with the speed of the traffic and, oncoming lights would totally blind me so I'd have to slow or stop.
At my last eye exam, I "failed" at the peripheral vision test and trying to follow the random dots, gave me a headache, made me feel dizzy and nauseous; I also have permanent floaters and black spots in my vision. Glasses are seldom comfortable and can give me a headache and, my prescription has been changing very rapidly in the last few years. Other times, my eyesight just goes blurred and stays that way for as long as it wants. Glasses make no difference. Sometimes I can make out shapes of words and images I know, but I'm not able to read anything new. These symptoms are some of the most frightening.
