Partial Vision Loss

First off, welcome.

I'm no doctor but a few ideas come to mind. If you have already had these checked, then I don't know what to say, but here are a few ideas:
* high blood pressure
* cataract
* torn or scratched retina
* mini-stroke

I hope you feel better soon; being distressed about this is perfectly understandable.

Dorfie- Welcome to A2K!

Well, you certainly were seen at a good hospital! If you are not getting any satisfaction, IMO, I would start all over again at another facility. I think that it is important that the people who examone you have no preconceived notions. Have you seen a neurologist?Check this out:

http://www.eyemdlink.com/Condition.asp?ConditionID=342

Has your vision gone back to normal since the episode? If it has I may have an idea.

jespah- blood pressure is 110/70. In the words of one doctor, "yeah, that's really really normal." No detected cataract... no detected tear/scratch/detached retina... no other symptoms of stroke, no detection in MRI or CT scan. *sigh*

Phoenix- I haven't yet seen a neurologist, but I did see a neuro-ophthamologist, who said it wouldn't be necessary to see a neurologist. I would like to see some doctors elsewhere, but don't really know where to start. btw, I live on Long Island, but am at school in Connecticut. If anyone knows any highly recommended doctors in either area, please let me know!

fealola- Unfortunately, the vision loss has persisted. But what was your idea, anyway?

I had the same thing happen to me during childbirth labor.

It came and went a few times for a few days after. I had an MRI and it was normal. I've always had normal B/P and health also.

No pain with the episode.

The explanation was "Ocular Migraine" probably due to hormonal changes.

But it went away gradually over a few hours each time it happened and was in one eye only.

It never happened again.

You may want to ask if this could be a possibility with you.

Ah, Long Island. I'm from Suffolk County. :-D

My eye doctor was Thomas Panichella.

Good to hear it's not a stroke or cataract.

fealola- thanks for the suggestion. i think they ruled out migraine because it usually doesn't last for longer than a couple hours, let alone a couple of months. but thanks for the help =)

jespah- thx for your help as well. I'm also from Suffolk County, near Stony Brook. In some ways, it is a relief to know that it isn't a stroke, or cataract, or tumor... but then again, because they haven't been able to make any diagnosis, there is still the slight possibility that it is one of these things, and they just have not yet been able to identify it. we'll see.

I presume they have looked for retinitis pigmentosa? Not to scare you, but it is a eye disease that affects peripheral vision. I have it myself. A good medical center eye clinic should be able to find that if you have it. I would think it would be the first thing they would look for though, so it may have been ruled out already.

ossobuco- I would guess that they have checked for retinitis pigmentosa, but I don't recall any of them mentioning it explicitly. Can you tell me a little more about it, and how it would be detected?

The quick and dirty test is that someone, not always an md, perhaps an assistant or an optometric tech, asks you how many fingers you see as they wave their hands about while you look straight ahead. That of course is quite crude, but does give a gross indication of your visual field.

Another is the Visual Field Test, where you get tested for each eye as you look into a white cone and tell them when you see a light coming towards the center from the periphery. They check your answers by flitting the light several times to double check. This is getting to be more common as a test, even in ordinary optometrist's offices, not to mention regular opthamologists/mds.

Next in line (aside from really looking at your dilated eyes) is the dark field adaptation test, which sounds sort of gory but is not as wierd as it seems... you put on a fat contact lens and they measure actual electronic impulses from your eyes, and that is very accurate as you don't have to make judgements. That is not so much re peripheral vision per se as it is about how fast you adapt to change in light.

Your situation is interesting because you noticed a big difference in your vision, whereas my difficulty was always there, I just didn't know that my seeing was different than anyone else's.

If this turns out to be transitory, wonderful, and I gather that that could be true from other posters. If not (and even if so)
now that I am older, besides having been in medical tech myself, I strongly believe in getting as much information as you can from your doctors, asking them everything you can think of and writing what they say down, at least the main words.