Paranoia postponed.

[doubtfully]

Last week I paranoid about flashing lights and fear of GCA return. This week is better. My GP organised an emergency appointment for me at the local Eye Infirmary. They did tests and said the flashing lights and spiders were nothing to worry about and unrelated to GCA. He could see no GCA signs in my eyes. I didn’t know there were things they could see! I was told to start immediately reducing Pred. I had a week on 50 and 2 days on 40 and then gp phoned me so say to cut to 30 today. They are always in such a rush, the headaches stopped 3 days ago and brushing my hair doesn’t bring tears to my eyes now😀 so with luck th flashing light will decline over the next 3 to 6 months and the spiders in my field of vision should improve at the same rate. Ah the joys of GCA and PMR, the gift which just keep on giving!

Once again a huge thank you here for your wisdom ,compassion and support.

[Marijo1951]

This must be very reassuring. It's good that they took you seriously and examined you thoroughly. I don't think you were being paranoid. Any person who has GCA or had it in the past should be very vigilant about any kind of problem with the vision.

[SheffieldJane]

Good outcome but stay vigilant!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If the blood flow to the optic nerve is reduced then looking at the retina, the back of the eye where the optic nerve joins the eye, will see that the optic disc, as it is called, is paler and larger than it should be, It doesn't rule out that you have GCA - it doesn't mean there isn;t GCA somewhere else.

There is an image here:

reviewofoptometry.com/artic....

[doubtfully in reply to PMRpro]

Really interesting article, thanks 😀

[tangocharlie in reply to PMRpro]

Very interesting article thank you. I have had a couple of GCA scares where they have checked the optic nerve in A&E and wondered what that involved.

[Jackoh]

Good news but always need to be aware of any new symptoms. X💐