Some very traumatic events occured in January of 2008 which cast me into a severe depression. The emotional event also triggered some confusing physical symptoms. I saw my keys spinning on the floor, and a big black spot descend. These symptoms disappeared. And the fog of depression settled in. The event was so upsetting, I attributed the initial symptoms as cognitive/emotional and the fog that settled in - to depression. It was not all depression - but I didn't know it. If the event did not occur and the symptoms did, I would have attributed the symptoms to a visual cause. But, in addition to being deeply depressed....I was going blind.

After about seven weeks I went to the supermarket, still depressed. But I became confused and frightened, as people were appearing and disappearing. I thought I was losing my mind. I could not make any sense of the markets, and I tried to avoid them, after a few scary episodes. So I didn't go out much. I read and recorded..and tried to get over the emotional trauma. But the depression was masking a villan. And the villan was glaucoma. I didn't find that out until April, when I was reading a book. I was having a bit more trouble with strong reading glasses. But I did a self test. I closed my left eye, and tried reading with my right. The text was completely blurry. I did the same thing in reverse. I could see the text well. But four months earlier  I was reading a fine print book with no reading glasses in January.

I removed the glasses and looked distant following the same sequence. The right eye was completly blurred, and the left was a tad foggy. I panicked and jumped in the car and drove to my daughters opthamologist. The doctor took me right in after hearing me describe my symptoms to the secretary. So by chance, I got immediate treatment, as - she was going to book me in August.

Within 1/2 hr, I had the diagnosis. GLAUCOMA. My eye pressures were off the map at 52 and 56. But by that time the damage was done to the peripheral visual field of both eyes. In the central fields, my right eye was badly damaged, and my left, only milding affected. With three eye drops and a pill, those pressures dropped to normal. And further damage was averted. If the depression, and the traumatic event did not occur, I would not be what i am now -legally blind. . However, if I had had regular eye exams, with pressure checks, the disease would have been detected earlier. The doc said the trauma might have raised occular pressure that January, and closed the angle for drainage in my eye, and decreased circulation to the optic nerve to produce the weird effects.

But the high pressure over a short time is what damaged my peripheral vision, and that was preventable. The reason occular exams are so important is because when you loose peripheral vision, you don't notice it and you don't get it back. That's why they call glaucoma "The Thief." And so, the lesson for you - is: go to your opthamologist, or optomatrist once a year, because this disease can strike anyone, at any time. I have written a more detailed article on my website, with some educational links, and so, for your own sake, avail your self of them, and/or other resources on the internet. I will post the link here a bit later.