I can't afford to go private or self-medicate so I am unsure of where to go from here. I am back at the GP tomorrow about a couple of different symptoms I am worried about (flashing lights when moving my eyes and difficulty driving at night) so I will ask her what the next course of action is.
Thank you all so much for your help over the last few months, you've been an invaluable source of information and support for me. I've got a feeling she's going to go ahead and refer me to the chronic fatigue syndrome department now.
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saltylu
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The symptoms you mention are similar to those I have and probably are something you should see an optician about. Mine are caused by the start of cataracts - I certainly would not be able to drive at night (even if I had a licence!😊). Flashing lights are certainly a problem at night for me and also in bright sunlight. Although my symptoms are due to early cataracts I think there are other possible causes. I would definitely see an optician.
Thank you for your reply. I actually had my eyes tested not long ago and everything came back normal with them which is why I want to see my GP about it. I will definitely go back to the optician if they suggest it though.
Think I would go back and see the optician again. If you’re not confident in the one you saw, ask around for one who comes highly recommended. How old are you, when do the flashes happen, how often and how long do the flashes last for?
I don’t like driving at night, I don’t think that is uncommon. I used to find night driving difficult, then there was a huge improvement unfortunately I’ve gone back to not feeling happy about it, I’m ok on main roads but narrow, winding country roads are horrible.
Make sure the optometrist knows why you are there and get a thorough eye test with a scan etc.
I know I’d prefer my optician’s opinion about my eyes to a generalist GP who may not have a particular interest in eyes.
I'm 31 and it's been happening for a couple of months, it'll happen throughout the day on and off and I usually get a headache at the same time. I don't mind driving at night at all but when the flashing happens while I'm driving I get really disorientated, it's like my brain can't catch up with what my eyes are looking at.
I'll book an optician appointment for ASAP as I thought it was just about symptom to add my my ever growing list.
I need prisms in my lenses. Without them I can't drive at night (and not too well in the day) as I see double. When this first happened as a child, the double vision was really marked and obvious. When I got older it "improved" for a while so everything was just blurry esp at night or with bright lights. With prisms, I'm fine, so ask optician about that
Oh thank you I will, my mum bought me some glasses that you put over your normal ones to drive at night as it makes nighttime look more like day time, I'm going to try and give them a go.
I agree it could be cataracts, I had an eye check at a new optician and nothing was said, I wasn't happy about it so went back to my usual optician and immediately was diagnosed with cataracts and sent for surgery.
Would defiantly go see the opticians ask to see a senior one and explain your having flashing light in eyes as my husband had this and our optician was very thorough even had a pellet put in the eye to open the iris so they could look in the back of the eye turns out he had a small bleed at the back of the eye but GP has said so small so nothing to worry about but always good to have these things checked out.opticians can refer you to hospital if necessary.
Flashing lights is something you need to get checked as I can be something more serious. I’ve had this happen a couple of time and I’ve gone down to the hospital eye clinic. Both times I needed to be seen there and then. There is a chance that it could be a PVD which is similar to a detached retina but in a different place. Each time I was taken in to wait about 10 minutes and examined to make sure there was no detachment and then a booking for about a week later to have more tests. This was more extensive but necessary to check everything is at it should be. I wasalso yold st my first visit that any issues before my next appointment or anytime in the future to come in. If the eye clinic is closed then I was told to go in the hospital and go to the eye ward. Thankfully with both visits no further problems or action but it can be a sign that could get worse and needs to be thoroughly checked out by the experts in clinic. So please see someone ASAP. It’s probably not a problem but eyes are precious and both mine have been affected so glad I took their advice for peace of mind. See if your local hospital has a walk in clinic for eyes, if not go to A&E.
I have had flashing lights on moving my eyes and my gp sent me to the eye a&e immediately. It can indicate possible issues with the retina so you should get it checked out in a hospital asap, rather than the optician.
My retina hadn’t become detached but could have done so do get it checked out,
I have recently had very similar symptoms. In my own case, they occur in discrete episodes and the effects tend to settle over 10-20 minutes. My optician has advised such symptoms can be caused by several different aging processes within the eye, which all need to be checked promptly in an emergency eye clinic (my nearest eye A&E being 45 miles or a 90 minute drive away!) She thought my poor general health was more likely to be responsible for the most recent episode.
I've got an appointment on Tuesday with an optician so I'll see what they say about it. I know where the emergency eye place is if they say I need to go there, luckily it's within my normal hospital.
This sounds very much as if you have a cataract problem. I did for years before surgery. I was initially referred to a consultant at the local hospital who advised that they avoided doing anyone in their 50s as they preffered to wait until older. I was unable to drive at night for years, finally had them done when I was sixty, it opened up a whole new world although I am still a little nervous about night driving after ten years of being unable. Glad to see you are going to get this sorted.
Tick off your symptoms and take them with you. They probably are unaware of any symptoms these days (we used to be only diagnosed according to symptoms before blood tests were invented).
Did you get your blood test at the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water). If on thyroid hormones you'd allow 24 hours between last dose and test and take it afterwards.
p.s. if you've not had thyroid antibodies tested, ask for these to be done. If antibodies are present it shows you have An Autoimmune Thyroid Disease and should be prescribed, although in the UK doctors have been instructed to only diagnose if TSH goes to 10 but if abroad we'd be diagnosed if it is above 3 along with the clinical symptoms.
so what happened with the registrar who was concerned with demonstrating it wasnt something else. Did he not do anything? Did you get results of the tests they did in endocrinology?
I haven't seen the actual results from the hospital for the thyroid or sycanthen test but it was the registrar who called me to say that he still thinks there is something wrong but that the team don't believe it is an endocrine issue. They ruled out Addisons and Cushings with the sycanthen test as my cortisol was lowish to begin with but then rose as it should over the course of the hour.
I've requested a copy of my health records from the hospital though so I should get those soon so hopefully I'll see some numbers. But they have formally discharged me so I'm going to have to go back to the GP.
I haven't been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism as my thyroid results done back weird (normal TSH, low/out of range FT4) so my GP has said I'm subclinical and won't medicate me.
I had that at the beginning of the year it was the membrane at the back of my eye becoming detached when this happens there is small chance it can cause a tear in the retina so you need to see and optician urgently. I saw mine within days and he put drops in my eyes to look at the back of the eyes and told me there was nothing to worry about. I did have loads of floaters which I can not see now and the flashes have stopped.
I am now in remission from Graves' disease and no longer have blurred vision and don't need to wear my reading glasses all the time. As for driving I had to give that up when I was very ill because my vision was blurred and I felt very sluggish and unsafe on the roads. Now I have driven to York, Leicester and recently Birmingham with no eyesight problems.
Once you are the correct medication I think your eyes will get better, mine did.
The GP I saw is refusing to put me on any kind of medication as she thinks I am subclinical due to the blood test results. I think I've seen most of the GPs at the surgery now so I doubt they're ever going to agree there's something going on with my thyroid, especially now I've been discharged from endocrine.
Just self treat I did with Thyroid S from Thailand. You would then get your TSH to around about 1 or lower and you will feel a lot better. My TSH is 0.70 at the moment and I feel really well. Don't let your Doctor let you get really ill like mine did. It took 2 years before they realised I had a goitre and Graves' Disease and even now they are refusing to help me when I need blood tests etc because I am in range. I pay for private blood tests at medichecks because they are more detailed than NHS tests who just test the TSH and nothing else if you are in range.
Flashing lights can indicate a detached (ing) retina....I suggest further investigation.
My niece, an artist, saw flashing lights for some time before her optician sent her immediately to hospital....she thought it was eye strain from painting.
I don't want to alarm you but better to eliminate the possibility as soon as possible by visiting an optician rather than a GP.
I've had eye surgery twice and it was fine....even my nervous niece was astonished at how straightforward the procedure was. It possibly won't come to that but don't worry if it does!
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