misbehaving vision

AS i TRY TO WRITE THERE IS A broken RING IN MY VISION

Yes, a new symptom of my version of MS I reckon.

Only about an hour ago, there was speckling occurring, a shimmering or glittering like a thin curving squiggly line nearly in my line of sight.

It was a 3/4 circle almost. A fracture there.

It was smaller, like less than a palm width at arms length.

Now as I write it is to the left, with  both eyes shut or open, very slowly spreading like waves from a dropped pebble in a still pond.

I thought at first I had looked at the desk lamp, the old image of what is left when staring at then away from something.

No, it is glistening, a line, snakey or zigzaggy. Pixellation. Is it fading away?

Great, my work depends on Looking at things, and driving too.

technical help

I finally tracked down a help group

After the annual extra-large-family- gathering at Easter time, where one can spend four days literally catching up with nothing in particular but renew kinships at the same time, I was persuaded to join up with a MS help group by my aunt, a long term MS sufferer.

"Aunty" * showed me a Copaxone Injector Kit that looked pretty awesome in it's use. No needle shock as it were and easy to use. She made me practise a lot with a done syringe for half an hour. Even then, by myself using the kit, I still forgot to remove the red cap- wasteful- all over the floor when I realised. But then, I have wasted two others too! Anyway.

Some prehistory- just a few weeks before, up early like 5am for work and I was doing the self injecting thing, and not really noticing how I was holding the dang thing, and must have paused and drew back some-a little bit- blood back- Well when I realised THAT it looked like a red blob in the syringe- I went- CONTAMINATION ARFHGH$%^! Dummy! I took the needle out almost straight away and went into a calamity-oh-WTF-is-going-to-happen mode, and went and laid down on my bed.
I was feeling weak.
Then hot.
Shakey.
Could I call out to the kids?
No- was instantly asthmatic!
Cold.
Spasms wracked my baddish back most intently.
Needed to evacuate the bottom end.
In the rush to the loo, there was an urge to throw up as well.
Get there, hot, cold, shakey,
and
Nuthin'...

Creaked my way back to the bed over-thinking  what can I do? Aids? How did the thing get through quality control etc etc.

Anyway- ten minutes later or so- felt fine, like a plague had not got me feeling so weird,  not contaminated with an instant deadly virus after all!

When back at work, I did the quick rounds later on, of "Help me" type calls: the pharmacist and aunty, and they said- "shock is all, probably happen a few times the next few years, just a typical reaction".

Me- sure...

Oh yes, I do remember reading that too...

Anyway- back to Easter- my aunt encouraged me to grab a help bag kit- "autoinject2". Alright.

I had previously sent off to the Copaxone Help group, but the Join Us note had Never Arrived I was to find out.

I called the help line on the mobile phone at lunch time the Friday after Easter- leaving a message that I had tried to get in touch in November...?

A few hours late, a call back.  From "Pip! Call me Pip!" And how could she help me?

Well- my life story and a bit of quiet shock from the other end and then a pat on the back for how well I was going all by myself- but now she knew what to do for me, and would be keeping in touch and sending a help-pack and all.

Help pack with auto-inject kit arrived by HDL special delivery----

MONDAY morning!

And a few weeks later a call back.

That's great. Just need to attend the MS groups that meet around here at odd times- I completely forgot the last one.

Ah well. Not taking the MS thing lying down, but then it has not really knocked me about that much, like some people I know now- speaking of which- NS and camcer did take Chrissie Amplett of the Divinyls way the other week, that was sad as she was from over the Bay from me as a kid and my age about. Bugger.

Still walking and talking, I still have the odd tingles below the waist, but not as intensely as the initial feelings, nor has the eye sight been affected again, but then, nor has the left eye completely recovered, but I can type this so it must be getting better.

By the way, I have just finished reading a few great books or three on my Kindle#2-
"Power,Sex Suicide : Mitochondria and the meaning of life" by Nick Lane and
"Life's Ratchet : How Molecular Machines Extract Order From Chaos" by Peter F. Hoffman.
That was a few intense weeks I tell you! Highly recommended to everyone.




*And she probably might hate that moniker as she is only 12 years older than me!

Huh did not hurrt

Huh it Did Hurt later

A week into the new self shot medicine that does not hurt to do.

But it does man, a few days there is still an Ow to feel where the shot went in!

Bugger drugs! Man, a sore spot like that will take a while to get used to.

The left eye is still recovering, I can read the key board much better than a few weeks ago anyway.

White cars are still not White though.

What a bugger.

lil old visit

Visit to the neuro today

Another 3 hour trip to this side of The Big Smoke to see what I can do with the last episode still dimming my sight... and only two and a bit back, Not Speeding, and was a lil dampish road-wise.

Hooray- Ernie said I can go on MS meds- capaxone looks good at 30% reducing the effect of an episode, but there is a new one that can be said to be 50% effective- Gelany

Just the side effects... could be fun trying it all out I spose, this dim sight could be frightening next time.

Eyes are dim

Eyes are dim I really can see tho...

Documented today

"Hi Joan
My visual acuity is still the same in the left eye-  but can read the screen with it, not like yesterday, maybe getting better. There is a slight ache behind and up the left ryr, and it sort of hurts to rub it too. My other concern is, is it a tumor etc growing near the optic nerve?

Imaging:

It is weird- concerns the after image mostly.

Like when from my bed I look out at the hall wall, and move the doona half way up, there is an after image with purple pixelating speckling spots in the shade as it moves up, and a lasting darker after image when I drop the doona, while still looking at the wall of course.

It is like there is a slow down of information, and time is needed to fill out an image properly to match the right eye.

It makes it hard to read, the central focus spot is getting smaller than a few newsprint words in diameter, and that is with spectacles.

For instance staring at a line of words and I raise to the line above, it is pixelating until I  slow the rate of ye movement and it is recognisable again.

Is this too much?

Bye, I am off to work Monday
Tony"

A reply was to SEE A DOCTOR
then referred to optic neuritis- which I checked and voila

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optic_neuritis
http://www.themcfox.com/multiple-sclerosis/ms-symptoms/optic-neuritis.htm
Hmm- exactly!

right

left and right

left like an after image sort of

The dimmness is nearly spot on, colour too brown here

Left

right

WHAT THE?

That's Not Quiet Right!

After I got up to make coffee this morning, after the howling fighting horde had whizzed off to school, I looked out at Tarn's jasmine bush with its white flowers tumbling over the...

WHAT THE?

It was foggy smoggy and weird. I rubbed my eyes to clear them up as I had done since I was a kid.

The Same...

Oh oh.

Yes, the right left eye had lost definition  as if some pixels could not recognise all the colours of the white flowers.

The sky and well everything was like seen through a smoked and vaselined lens.

Bloody bugger!

Looks like another MS episode.

Or macular degeneration.

Got on to the eye doc, my aunt with MS and the local doctor.

Nothing to do, looks like the neurologist needs a call and get onto the "capaxone" asap?

left eye

right eye

I tried to see what I could do to show what was wrong, and may add to it-