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Medical Forum / General / Vision / May 2005Blinking shadows in time with heartbeat
Greetings, I've got pretty bad nearsightedness, (around -9.75 in each eye). I've had problems for a few years now with massive numbers of floaters, flashing lights, and sometimes when I sneeze or cough real hard, I see what look like fireflies blinking on and off all over in front of me. My eye doc has examined me several times for retinal holes and tears, but hasn't found any yet. He has observed "quite a bit" of what he calls "lattice degeneration". He just says the stuff I'm seeing is a normal part of getting older (I'm only 27!). I've also complained to him of flashing lights that I can see at night with my eyes closed when I move my eyes. I.e., in a dark room, eyes closed, when I move my eyes left to right I'll see flashes on the sides of my vision. I went in for an exam after this and was again told that there are no holes or tears. Well, I've got a new strange occurance and am about to schedule another apointment, but just hoped to get a little information beforehand. Recently I've noticed that when I really get my heart pumping and producing a heavy beat, I see a dimming of my vision that goes in time with the heartbeat. Sometimes it can get pretty bad, enough that it looks like someone is flicking the lights on and off. What is this? Does the stuff I've described sound like things that I just have to wait on, i.e. don't worry nothing can be done about them? Or should I be looking at going to a different doctor to have someone else look at this stuff. My nightmare is that I'm going to sneeze too hard someday and go blind from a retinal detachment or something. You are right to be concerned about these symptoms, but don't get carried away. I mean all 10 D myopes are in the same boat, and most of them never detach. Having said that, don't take up prize fighting or gymnastics. The pulsile changes in your vision can indicate a blood pressure or intraocular pressure problem, but nothing of an emergency nature. Just make sure your bp is normal and your iops are normal, and if they aren't, take care of it medically. And don't socialize with the likes of Mike Tyson. You'll do fine. w.stacy, o.d. > Greetings, > [quoted text clipped - 31 lines] > My nightmare is that I'm going to sneeze too hard someday and go blind > from a retinal detachment or something. > You are right to be concerned about these symptoms, but don't get > carried away. I mean all 10 D myopes are in the same boat, and most of > them never detach. Having said that, don't take up prize fighting or > gymnastics. The pulsile changes in your vision can indicate a blood > pressure or intraocular pressure problem, but nothing of an emergency > nature. Just make sure your bp is normal and your iops are normal, and > if they aren't, take care of it medically. And don't socialize with the > likes of Mike Tyson. You'll do fine. > > w.stacy, o.d. Thanks for the reply. I check my blood pressure regularly and it's normal. If I remember correctly, the intraocular pressure is checked at my annual exams and has never been out of the ordinary ... hopefully that'll be the case at this next exam too. Are there any other things that could explain the darkening that goes along with my pules? Just something that comes along with my crappy eyes I suppose. I see that Larry is more concerned about the pulsile dimming than I am. I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry. But what causes this is when the intraocular pressure is greater than the diastolic blood pressure (at eye level; NOT the same as in your arm at heart level, as is usually measured), the eye momentarily "blacks out". So maybe your blood pressure is LOW. That would cause this, especially if you're artificially raising your eye pressure, as by "squeezing" (e.g., and sorry to be graphic about this, but does this by any chance only happen when you're on the toilet?). The little arterioles in the eye can get flattened out momentarily because the surrounding fluid pressure in the eye is briefly higher and it "flattens" the little hoses. No biggie. Just make sure your iops are not too high and your bp is not too low. w.stacy, o.d. >>You are right to be concerned about these symptoms, but don't get >>carried away. I mean all 10 D myopes are in the same boat, and most [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > along with my pules? Just something that comes along with my crappy > eyes I suppose. > I see that Larry is more concerned about the pulsile dimming than I am. And knowing that his bp and iop are "normal", my concern continues. Something is causing the vascular - retinal change and that needs to be addressed. --LB, O.D. I would also think about carotid artery stenosis, and possibly a "steal" syndrome. A steal syndrome detours blood destined for your head to some other part of the body, due to an arterial problem. Organs that need more blood, during exercise or digestion, for example, can "steal" it from the arteries going up to the head, and cause a depresion in the blood pressure going to the brain. If a carotid artery is very narrow, it can take a high pressure to get it through to the brain. Exercise can again cause a lower blood pressure to this area, if it going to the muscles, and the pressure gradient to get across a narrowed carotid ma not be there, causing dimming and pulsation in the eye. This would be in 1 eye only. Narrowing of the vertebral-basilar artery system, posteriorly, would affect blood to both occipital areas, causing a bilateral dimming. Cardiac reasons can lower blood pressure temporarily, causing bilateral dimming also. Lot of systemic reasons for symptoms like these are possible. This is where medicine is an important part of understanding the visual symptoms. On 5/15/05 5:03 PM, in article 1116201813.586086.63140@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com, >> You are right to be concerned about these symptoms, but don't get >> carried away. I mean all 10 D myopes are in the same boat, and most [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > along with my pules? Just something that comes along with my crappy > eyes I suppose. Add lattice generation, high myopia and symptoms as you describe, no resolution from your doctor and the advice is: go see another eye doctor, tomorrow. You may indeed have something as simple as a vitreous detachment along with the lattice and that is causing your symptoms, or it could be he/she missed seeing the real cause. And that, combined with your added symptom of dimming vision with elevated heart activity is far more worrisome. You should see an internist/cardiologist in conjunction with your *new* eye doctor and until you have this figured out, I would avoid any kind of strenuous activity that causes increased heart rate and blood pressure. I'd suggest you move on this first thing in the morning. I don't think it is appropriate to list the possible causes, as there are many, but I will say that although some of them are quite serious---most can be treated to prevent serious outcomes. Do let us know what you learn. --LB, O.D. > I've had problems for a few years now with massive numbers of > floaters, flashing lights, and sometimes when I sneeze or cough real [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > My nightmare is that I'm going to sneeze too hard someday and go blind > from a retinal detachment or something. Do you suffer from unusual shortness of breath? Are you extremely tall and thin? Did you ever have rheumatic fever? DrG > Do you suffer from unusual shortness of breath? Not that I've noticed. > Are you extremely tall > and thin? 5'11", 245 lbs > Did you ever have rheumatic fever? No. > DrG |
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