Disclaimer - Of course I am seeing a medical professional about this next week, but as this is a holiday weekend and the situation does not appear to be an emergency, it’s always fun and alarming to seek opinions and try to self-diagnose with the help of the internet.
So a few days ago my right eye and the area around it started acting like I had a mild sinus infection. Pain when I moved the eye around in the socket, a feeling of pressure, that sort of thing. Sinus headache meds didn’t do much and a couple days later it changed nature. Now my symptoms are muscle pain when I move the eye around in the socket but no pressure or headache. I seem to have a sort of cloudy band of semi-opaque glaring yellow fog across the middle of the field of vision. Pain gets worse throughout the day but the vision issue doesn’t change. Ibuprohen eases the pain but does not affect the eyesight.
Any guesses what this might be before the doctors get a stab (hah!) at it?
I’ve gone from the eye doctor straight to hospital admittance with symptoms less severe than that (not the same ones). I think you need to step it up, too.
It sounds like have an infection of some type in you eye or socket. I would seriously go now as that is a bad region of the body to get an infection; if it starts to get out of control it could do some serious damage to your eye. If it gets past the blood/brain barrier around the optic nerve (which I believe can happen more easily there than in other locations) it will become very difficult to treat. Hie thee to urgent care pronto.
I am not an ER doctor, I’m a nurse who does care in the home, deciding when it can wait until Monday or when you need to go to the ER.
If you were my patient and called me on the phone to tell me what was happening, I’d send you to an ER. I wouldn’t even have you wait long enough for me to drive to your home and assess you in person.
Okay, on the excellent advice of the Doper community, I went to Urgent Care. The doc on duty looked at everything, asked a bunch of questions, and said it sounded like an ocular migraine. I got a shot in the butt and he said to come back if it got worse, tor the symptoms did not go away in a day or so, or I developed any new symptoms, so here’s hoping all will be well.
He said both eyes look normal and the same, are responding normally, there was no pain or swelling where there shouldn’t be, so no reason to think right now it will be anything worse than what it is.
On the downside, I probably picked up 3 new strains of flu in the waiting room. Wow, were there a lot of sick toddlers out today.
I get ocular migraines (google it) and there is never any pain or swelling. Usually it’s just flashing lights. I’d be tempted to follow up with an ophthalmologist*. Your vision is to precious to screw around with.
I spelled that without looking it up! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!
I have had both kinds of ocular migraines, the scintillating scotoma kind (sparklies that expand in a ring and go away after 20 minutes) and the gray veil over half the vision (that goes away in 20 minutes) and have never had a yellow haze, eye pain, or the kind of persistence that you report. At the very least, keep your upcoming appointment - I hope it’s with an ophthalmologist?
I’ve had ocular migraines, and that doesn’t sound anything like what I experienced. Muscle pain in the eye itself and a cloudy yellow fog that persists for DAYS? I know the ER isn’t cheap, but it sounds like the urgent care doc didn’t know his head from a hole in the ground. Ocular migraine auras are nothing like what you’re describing, at all. If you can see a real eye doctor (like… yesterday), it’d be for the best. Sucks that it’s the weekend :(((
The only responsible advice people here could have given you is the advice that was given. It would be irrevelant anyways what us dopers think you may, or may not have…
the standard advice given at completion of an ER visit is for the patient to follow up with either their doctor or specialist, so when you go next week hopefully that doctor can give you more info
For what it’s worth, at least some eye institutes have emergency rooms. One of the multiple times my father fell and hit his head, he had some swelling around the eye. The ER doctor suggested he go to Bascom Palmer’s ER.
We’re lucky to have a very, very good eye institute less than an hour away.
I’ve had a few friends with serious eye problems, and they were treated there as well. One of the universal comments from the doctors was about how critical timing was, and if certain things changed, let them know IMMEDIATELY. In fact, one of my friends had something questionable, and e-mailed his doctor. The doc responded about ten minutes later with a note asking (politely) why he bothered with the e-mail, and telling him to go to the facility away to be checked out.
I don’t know if you have anything like that near you…or if you want to pursue it. Just mentioning the possibility.
Urgent Care was really the wrong place to go for this. UC is for strep throat, urinary tract infections, and minor, easily-diagnosed and -treated things like that. Complex problems concerning vital organs necessitating a specialist? Not so much.
Op said she went to a hospital ER …but in a weekend, if someone is having serious symptoms it would be irresponsible to advise someone to sit at home and wait…although doctors at an ER or urgent care may not have specialists in a certain area available, they are still qualified physicians who can provide some type of intervention and usually advise you to see a specialist if need be after
The urgent care on my plan has excellent doctors…one of the doctors on staff there is chief of emergency medicine at the local hospital, so he has plenty of training treating serious issues including cardiac arrest, trauma, etc. my relative went there for an unusual ear symptom, and the doctor provided preliminary diagnosis and treatment
My son was just diagnosed with central serous retinopathy, which can have those symptoms and can also involve a detached retina. Doctors don’t give shots for ocular migraine, at least in my experience. Good luck.
I’m not a doctor but it sounds like glaucoma. If you google it and it matches your symptoms, take a puff of weed (it’ll reduce the pressure) and go see an eye doctor.