03/06/2026
FEB & MARCH - Struggles with migraines took on a whole new level of madness recently. I had no physical energy from all the shoveling and the cold weather this year was murderous. I have been short of breath, insomnia, etc.
Without going into a lot of detail here and for brevity's sake, I'll just say I have troubles with Thyroid, Lupus, Migraines, Fibromyalgia, Anemia and 4 serious cancer scares that left me going to oncology & hematology for 3 years. A medication was causing the anemia. Lupus causes Intra Retinal Fluid in my eyes. Something I've been seeing a specialist for. I don't sleep a lot due to insomnia, sometimes when I do get sleep my eyes have a bit more fluid than usual. Slow drainage. My eyes are also a bit slow focusing from nearsighted to farsighted and vice versa.
A few times over the summer while taking Sven out for his potty breaks, my eyes would haze over and get all rainbow-ish. I thought well I just woke up, it's bright out here, and fluffed it off. Turns out that is a dead ringer sign for Glaucoma, unbeknownst to me. I had suspected I had it already due to eye pressures in my eyes at exams, but I had a doctor that wouldn't prescribe eye drops to treat it. Her standard of care was different than some other specialists and I've already dismissed her as my doctor over this and in the process of insurance referral's to a new one.
Anyway, it had all the makings of an impending disaster.
Prior to any of this - all month I was having problems with eggs, it seemed I was getting sick each time I had them, either at home or as a breakfast sandwich. I couldn't figure out the source but threw away an eggs at home thinking maybe they're old or bad. They smelled like sulfur, stood up on the float test. A lot of times food will bother me and i go for a stint not being able to eat certain things. I somewhat assumed this was another episode of that happening.
Well, Towards the end of the month of Feb. I had a migraine that almost did me in. It started in one eye and back of the then before moving the other eye. Something that never has happened before to me involving both eyes at the same time.
I couldn't see, pain from light was excruciating, my balance was off, i was constantly dizzy and exhausted, couldn't keep my eyes open. Nauseated, I took tums to maybe lower acid and avoid vomiting. This went on for days. Pain was intense and everyone was saying go to the ER, only I couldn't drive and Sven was also home sick. The thought of putting him in a kennel wile he's sick was just too much to bear. Nobody knows him like I do, after all.
I took some OTC/PM cough medicine and immuno-support vitamins and tried to sleep it off. I didn't have any new numbness, tingling, slurring and didn't think it was a stroke, albeit Dr. Google did.
I didn't really feel as if I needed EMS with all the bells and whistles, but undoubtedly needed a medical visit but with all the storms it just didn't seem feasible either. I decided where I wasn't continuing to get worse and worse, that I could manage being home and able to watch over Sven. As I really couldn't and shouldn't attempt that either. I needed a bandana over one eye and sunglasses just to minimize the pain from light. I did a lot of voice activated AI Dr. Google searches just to be sure. I recalled from working in the medical field sensitivity to light was a serious symptom. I'm looking up Botulism, Meningitis, Stroke, Anemia, Tumor, etc. Checking and ticking off boxes just to be sure. Calling Grammy & Grampy, saying don't drive here in the bad weather, I'm fine, well unbeknownst I really wasn't fine and could have lost my eye sight, but fine enough to totter around the apartment in the dark with the dog and my walker for the night.
Ultimately, aside from having the migraine, I was taking a daily supplement that had B!2 in it along with generic Nyquil for a night or two and that was causing problems with increasing the pressure in my eyes and is contra indicated if you have Glaucoma, making everything so much worse for me. Yikes. Talk about an ah-ha moment. And that really needs to be on a warning label on every bottle manufactured. Jesus F**k. RFK ought to be worrying about that rather than Dunkin's.
Once I stopped taking it, the pain and pressure started to recede. Holy Wow. Amazing. Thank God I checked with Dr. Google or I'd have kept taking it.
And now checking in with P*P, it's agreed I need appointments with a new eye specialist for eye drops to manage the underlying glaucoma, something my former eye specialist refused to do.
We bumbled and tottered around together in the dark for the last several days and are starting to improve. I'm lucky I live in a day and an age where I can order line and have things delivered to us and didn't have to go out for anything. I'm thankful spring is on the way and temps are expected to be in the 60s next week and will finally melt some of this snow. I have a mountain of laundry to do, but we'll survive.
As for the cause or treatment of the extreme exhaustion, same as it ever was more tests needed.
For now it's just one day at a time and a huge learning curve that eventually will lead to a solution. As is the case most of the time with me, I'll go in for MRI for arthritis, come out with Lupus, get a scan for torn muscles, come out with tumors. Sometimes treatment of one aliment can save you from another. In this case, blindness.
p.s. for those curious, the pain was from fluid and pressure in the eyeball and my eyes were stuck being dilated.
A few pics below.
