Up to now my posts have been about my wife’s experience following her stroke in September. Now in a twist of fate I have joined her albeit in a different and less serious way but nonetheless scary.
On Monday of this week something happened in my right eye, an arc of ‘cloud’ obscured my vision at the bottom of my field of vision. As the evening wore on this cloud extended to my full field of vision accompanied by lightening flashes and pinpoints of flashing light.
To cut a long story short after examination by a hospital ophthalmologist I was diagnosed with an arterial branch occlusion, a clot blocking a small artery in my retina, which they described as an Eye Stroke, something I had never heard of. I would need further examination by the Stroke Unit.
There followed ECG, CT Scan, Ultrasound, CT Angiogram examinations which confirmed the diagnosis but thankfully little else. However, there would be permanent damage and I would need medication to prevent any further attacks, Clopidigrel for life, aspirin and atorvastin for a month. To add to the misery I must not drive for a month or until cleared.
I am left with a small cloudy patch in my right vision which I am told will not improve. I don’t see it with both eyes open, vision seems OK. But using only right eye the small patch obscures near vision.
What are others experience of this as far as recovery and treatment (is there any) are concerned and what happened re clearance for driving.
I do realise I have probably dodged a bullet compared to my wife’s and others. Grateful for any feedback.
I guess the small consolation is it is not as serious as your wife’s and also you have been through this with your wife. But a small consolation is all it is.
I don’t have anything specific to offer you right now other than all that I may have offered you when I met you first back on October of last year.
Being only a carer myself, I shall leave it to our more learned and experienced stroke survivors to give you the detailed and specific dos and don’ts.
If you search eye stroke in the forum search bar, I think you’ll find quite a few on here who have posted about that particular stroke. I know little about it but hope you are able to diver a little deeper into it and lean on the forum for support, for you and your wife.
Thank you for your support. I am coping OK, it’s such a shock and whirlwind of consultations, tests, scans plus all the unexpected consequences. It has been a big shock to my wife too, probably affects her worse than me as I tend to rationalise things and get on with sorting out what I can. She doesn’t drive, so that’s an added complication when we live semi rural, no buses! Lots of support though, so must look on bright side and be positive! David
I have also had a stroke in my eye which happened five years ago and can could be considered a TIA or at best, a warning.. ( an eye stroke raises your risk of a future cerebral stroke). My main stroke was three and a half years ago. I have impaired field of view in my right eye / lower half. In time optic nerves can improve and regain strength, and to some small extent my eye has.
A small clot has blocked one of the tiny arteries supplying blood to part of your retina… it may require further investigation. I was in Portugal when it happened to me ; dehydrated and tired walking about in the hot sun.
Hi Roland,
Thank you for your reply. That’s exactly like mine except I was at home watering the plants! It started like a fluffy cloud lower third of field of vision but spread like a curtain to totally obscured in the right eye. Over 8-12 hours it improved to just a small oval patch lower right quadrant of field of vision. The strange thing is that, according to Dr, I had low risk factors for stroke or heart disease at the time with recent low cholesterol, but I do take low dose BP meds. Likewise scans, angiograms, ECG have revealed little.
If you drive, were you stopped from driving and were you able to get clearance to drive again in a reasonable time, I have been told a month.
Thanks, David
You are welcome David. I remember being told that one can drive with one eye only but you had better check up on that .. You can legally drive with only one eye , provided you meet the visual standards for driving set by the DVLA but if you suddenly lose vision in one eye due to a stroke, you must stop driving and notify DVLA though you may be allowed back after testing the remaining eye.
@DavidG11 what rotten luck. A lot for both you & your wife to take in & deal with.
I don’t know specifically about driving after an eye stroke but ai so know you can drive with vision in juat one eye as long as that eye has vision to the standard required to drive.
I have a colleague at work who has recently lost the sight in her left eye due to a detached retina and she ia driving fine again.
I know after a stroke if you have any issues temaining after 1 month you must report it to the DVLA. They will then let you know what happens next.
