The Following Events Occur In Real Time.
Sunday.
I woke up with a slight headache. Nothing too serious, just an ache behind my left eye. I took some paracetamol, made sure to top up my fluids regularly and got on with the day.
Monday.
I spent the night in London visiting my girlfriend. I awoke to discover my headache hadn't gone but also as soon as I turned on the light, my left eye really hurt. Like someone had shon a laser pen into my face. I managed to ignore it for most of the day. I had to do a spot of filming and voiceover for a student campaign film about homelessness and how the government could be doing more as a solution.
Barely able to look at anything bright by the end of the day, I promised my girlfriend I'd go to the doctors on Tuesday when I got home.
Tuesday.
I woke up and got ready for work, called the doctors surgery and managed to get an appointment for when I got back from work. Barely able to function today, looking at a computer screen, the weather being particularly sunny, I was fairly concerned for what was going on. My left eye was/is blood shot and the slightest change in lighting creates a blinding pain through my left eyeball.
After getting to my GP around 5, I was told I had suspected antiuveitis, an infection that can be caused by autoimmune diseases, such as Diabetes.
Thanks Diabetes.
It seems my Diabetes and my body are joined in some sort of Pokemon style battle to try and catch 'em all when it comes to associated problems.
This one, like many others, can't be cured with paracetamol and fluids. It can actually cause blindness if left untreated. It can also cause issues with the pupil if the uvea (the coloured part of your eye) sticks to the cornea. When the pupil dilates, it can tear or become disfigured... nice.
As I've had it progressively for 48 hours now, it's time for concern. So, tomorrow I'm off to the ophthalmology clinic in the RUH in Bath, first thing in the morning. Fingers crossed folks.
I will update this tomorrow, post appointment.
Wednesday.
Woke up at 5:30am having what felt like the worst hypo I'd had in ages. My sugar level were at 4.9 though, which isn't remotely a hypo. I couldn't concentrate, I was shaking and I felt so nauseous. I had a few jelly babies and tried to get back to sleep. I was then awake every half an hour to relieve my bowels but I felt seriously ill. My entire body ached and I was dehydrated. I also had the worst headache. I struggled to get out of bed to get to the hospital. Once there I waited in the eye clinic for my appointment. I then got brought in for a quick eye test, to which I told the nurse I couldn't see a thing. The slightest hint of light was agony. Then the nurse decided to shine a light in my face, one that was so painful I couldn't hold back the tears. She then told me I had photophobia, if she'd only asked, I could've told her!
She then pushed me up the waiting list because she noticed how much pain I was in which was lovely of her. I got in to see the doctor, still feeling horrendous. He looked at my eye through a contraption than just shon a super bright light in my eye again, causing excruciating pain and discomfort. His diagnosis was Uveitis. An infection in the fluid around the eye which causes inflammation of the eyeball, a muscular spasm causing the pain and photophobia and can cause loss of vision. Luckily we had caught it early enough for me to be prescribed some eyedrops. One set to take hourly which numbs the eye and surrounding area and the other to take three times a day which is steroid based and dilates the pupil in order to fight the infection. Due to my Diabetes however, any infection takes over my body causing the flu-like symptoms I was also experiencing. Trying to sleep while taking hourly eyedrops isn't the easiest thing to do. But, a few days bed rest and an appointment on Friday will hopefully sort it and I'll back fighting fit for the weekend. At least I'm not blind!
Matt.