It's me again, with something completely different and new for me. Last night I felt this horrible shooting pain in my eye, it went away in a few seconds. It felt as though someone was squeezing my eyeball. Then again this morning it happened, terrible pain in my right eye. I called three different Opthamologists this morning, the soonest I can get in is Monday morning. I don't have any discharge and it's not effecting my vision. I don't wear glasses or contacts, I've never had a vision problem.

Has anyone ever experienced pain in their eye? If so, do you know what caused it?

Thanks so much!
Karen

Hi Karen, I often get that shooting eye pain......I think stress may have something to do with it, my eyes are fine and I have no other eye problems and I know it is a very strange feeling - I have even had it in the middle of the night, jumping out of bed with my eyeball on fire! Let me know if you find out anything more when you go to the doc.

hugs, Barb

(((Barb)))

Actually, it just happened again so I started calling Optometrists rather than Opthamalogist, and I found one that can see me this morning at 11am. I'll let you know what they say. I have not been to an eye doctor since I was 16 !!! I'm sure you've been to one, right?? I'll let you know what they say, perhaps it will apply to both of us

Karen

I'm having a problem with dry eyes and a few times I've gotten a horrible pain while moving my eye which I think is due to the dryness. I think my eyeball was stuck !!

You know my Mother suffers from severe dry eyes, I wonder if that's hereditary. Your eyeball was stuck, oh boy, we have to add that one to the list of these crazy symptoms - stuck eyeballs!!!

Hugs

And let me just add this............even though it's my right eye that's hurting, somehow in my mind, that's connected to my heart and it's a pre-cursor for a heart attack! Now, don't you wish your mind functioned as well and as logical as mine does

I'm back from the doctor and I am freaking out!!!!!!!!! She ruled out Glaucoma, thank God, however; she wants me to have a blood work done to check for MS. She said pain in the eye is a symptom of MS. What in the world, I never heard of that!!! She said she will do a full eye work-up after we have ruled that out.

Karen: Whoa, hold on here. What blood test for MS? There isn't one...as least as far as I know there isn't. There was talk last year of a new blood test that could predict who might be susceptible to it...I think it was in the UK.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but I thought an MS diagnosis started with a CT scan of the brain. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

Karen, take a breath and don't jump to any conclusions here. This was an optometrist you saw, right? I wouldn't be worried until I spoke to an opthamalogist. They have to complete 3 years of residency beyond medical school and are much more experienced than optometrists...I only go to them for eye exams and glasses...

Okay, thanks Robin, I'm calming down. All the doctor offices are closed for lunch, so I haven't spoken to anyone yet. If there isn't a test for MS, then what kind of dr is she to tell me to get a lab slip from my dr to check for MS?!!! Yes, she was an Optometrist, I couldn't get in to see an Opthamologist. I went on the MS webiste, yes, eye pain is one of the most common sy mptoms of MS, however; it says something about the swelling of the nerve that causes it. Shouldn't she have been able to see if a nerve was swollen. She said my eye looked fine. You're right, I'm not sure she is qualified enough to even go there with me. Boy she has no idea who she is messing with!!! You don't throw a word like MS at me, and not expect me to freak out!!! Darn it, I should have waited to see an Opthamologist. I'll let you know what my dr says about a test. Watch this space.......
Hugs

I had not heard of a blood test for MS so I did some searching ....

Apparently there's a blood test for neuromyelitis optica (NMO) which is "often misdiagnosed as MS".

I did find info about a blood test for MS, but it was only in the works, it wasn't actually available. I might be wrong.

Karen, I'm sure your very nervous ! But just remember, the vast majority of aches and pains are benign. I'm not saying yours necessarily is, but the odds are in your favor. :-) Let us know what you find out !

Hopefully it's just SES ... stuck eyeball syndrome, of which I am a sufferer on occasion. :-)

I have not heard of a blood test for MS either.

I have Sjorgen's Syndrome and it causes extreme sharp pain in my eyes at times. That can be diagnosed with a blood test and your eye doctor should recognize it as well.

I hope that you are feeling better. Try not to worry.

Hugs to you,
Jeaninne

Hi Karen

Yes I do get the shooting eye pain that you mention. It probably started a couple of years ago when I was 40 and some months are worse than others. I have noticed it being more pronounced in the week before my period. In general I would have to say my eyes are pretty dry.

I am putting it down to a nerve thing, as I have had all sorts of nerve related things since peri started, including the sensation of ants crawling over my skin
and sometimes feeling as though I have a bad burn on one of my legs.

Hope this helps to allay your worries.

Karen: I hope you're feeling better today. I really thing that optometrist was out of line. I look forward to hearing what your regular doctor has to say about this. It wouldn't be the first time that someone in the medical profession behaved inappropriately, and we were the victims...

SS,

Thank you so much for doing that research, I greatly appreciate it! Interesting that the Optometrist didn't know that, however; I've been doing some research on Optometrists, hmmmmm......

Hugs,
Karen

Thank you ladies for your responses and for reassurance. This is how my mind works (since entering peri!)...........
Dr finds a lump in my breast, ultrasound is positive, wants biopsy done to rule out breast cancer. Thank God it was nothing.

Different dr wants to do a colonoscopy to rule out colon cancer (haven't done this one, however; bleeding stopped).

Optometrist wants me to have a test done to rule out MS, I once again, freak out!!!

I suppose my irrational way of thinking is telling me, when does your luck run out?! When do I quit escaping these serious illnesses, and am told that yes, in fact, you are really sick?!!

Millions of people suffer from horrible diseases, so many are terminal, why were they dealt these horrible cards?! Why couldn't they have a test done and it come back negative?! Why have so many of my friends passed away and others are very sick, and besides this peri crap, I'm in perfect health?! Don't get me wrong, every single day I thank God for the health of my family and I, I NEVER take that for granted. I pray to God that our luck doesn't run out, I just also pray for those that are suffering and I keep asking why??! Do you know what I mean? I really was a very rational thinker until I hit my 40's, now it's all gone to hell!

Anyway, thanks again and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend
Karen

Karen, I hear thee. As I get older, it seems I become more bewildered. Every day is a gift. Today the gift feels like cheap socks.

Karen,
I totally understand your logic. The other day I was driving with my daughter and had that exact same pain. The thought of me going blind in that eye, right at that moment, scared me so much, I had to pull over and let her drive. So I guess my mind functions just as well as yours.

I just got back from two appts, one with a Cardio for heart palps and the other with an Opthamologist. The Opthamologist ran several tests on my eye, and said he "was positive it is not related to MS". He said the Optometrist had no right to say what she did and work me up like that. When I told him that she told me to pick-up a lab slip for an MS test, he then asked for her name, I was more then happy to give it to him. Anyway, he told me he suspects two things. Eithor something hard flew into my eye and had to work its way out or I suffer from dry eyes which can cause pain. I know some of you mentioned the dry eyes so that's what I'm thinking. He gave me drops to put in my eyes twice a day, we'll see how that goes. He also told me that because I'm hypothyroid and forty-four, that dry eyes seems to fit the bill.
I'll tell you what, in the past year I have seen a couple of horrible, idiotic doctors! To be fair, I've also seen more doctors in the past couple of years then I had seen in forty or so years or my life.
Even though the Optometrist was wrong, I still hate the way I over react to things. I'm so tired of getting so upset and afraid, I want to old me back.
Thanks for your replies,
Hugs,
Karen

Dear Karen
Hope you are feeling better and more reassured.On the plane back from London I suffered the most excruitating pain in my left eye.I really thought I was going to have a stroke.My husband kept holding me while I screamed and the Steward brought me a cold ice pack.

The next day I went to my ENT who said that the pain was caused by the severe sinus infection I had.I was put on two different antibiotics and it took me about a month to recover.There was still some residual pain in left eye and also later in my right.

I also had my eyes checked out.All fine there so guess the Doctor was right.All I can say the pain is sickening and I hope neither of us goes through that again.

God Bless
Elizabeth