Optic nerve symptoms and conditions

4 years ago i was given simvastatin 20mg for high cholesterol when i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes....last year (November) i stopped taking it after someone commented after hearing me complain about aches and pains and asked if i was taking statins....i checked and found i could relate to several reported side effects...over the last 10 months my aches and pains had slowly disappeared and my cholesterol was recorded at 4.9 in July ....however 4 weeks ago i suffered an optic nerve stroke and my doctor immediately put me back on simvastatin at 40mg despite my complaints is there an alternative i can take as i don't want to risk loosing any more off my vision and as the aches and pains are returning ...i will reluctantly take it but carefully monitor myself....

Hello to All
I'm 33 yr old female who began taking Topamax 2 years ago, after diagnose with Pseudotumor Cerebri,(elevated intracranial pressure),doctors still don't know why i have PTC, it is common overweight women, certain medications, secondary to disease, which all did not connect with me as I was not overweight, have never taken any medication, other than OTC allergy or pain relievers, and all secondary diseases I was tested, and nothing, with a history of migraines headaches, that suddenly became unstable, with vision disturbance I was put on diamax, it lowers elevated intracranial pressure, finally help for this horrible headaches, , I had a side effect it elevated my glucose levels to dangerous levels, due to elevated intracranial pressure I was hospitalize, undergoing several lumbar punctures and eye surgery for decompression of my optic nerve, doctors still unsure of my diagnosis, but telling me I must have surgery for a spinal fluid shunt, I was terrified, I decided to try and consulted with another neuro ophthalmology who had a totally different opinion, I switch doctors and this is when I was prescribe TOPAMAX 25MG to start, now I'm taking 250mg daily, at first the fact that I was going to be OK, that I can continue my life without shunt, no more lumbar punctures, the fact I was not loosing my eye sight, I can go running, rock climbing, after been told I couldn't, I was convinced TOPAMAX was a miracle. The 1st side effects constipation; decreased sweating, drowsiness, dry mouth, loss of appetite I lost about 20 pounds, family friends were really concern, after a while I gain it back, numbness, tingling, I was ok with it, because I no longer had debilitating headaches, had perfect vision, surgery was out the question. and I was stable, but then I suddenly experience seizure, 3 different occasion, no explanation, severe joint leg pain, trouble with speech, bruising, light sensitivity, severe acne, irregular menstrual cycle, vaginal issues, anxiety, heart palpitations, and the worst one yet, the reason I began to search on line mood swings, I'm in the medical field and the people that I work with tells me I'm just getting older, depression, 1st sings of menopause, I'm very active healthy women, with normal daily stress 2 children and 16 years marriage, I have seen my family doctor, had blood work done, and all normal. I have told my neuro about my experiences, and he says is not topamax, my ob says take birth controls it might help, im just lost any one suggestions?

I am so glad I'm not the only one that has the crazy symptoms. I am being treated for an inflammation in my optic nerve. I woke up over a month ago now with double-vision. I was on 100mg a day for seven days then went down to 60mg. I feel like I'm high all the time though. I have to take my pills at 7 in the morning and they are still effecting me until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I can't drive or do anything that would take a lot of concentration cause I just feel out of it around my eyes. Also I have tingling in my face and arm. Not sure if this is a side effect or if its the possibility that I may have Multiple Sclerosis. (getting an M.R.I. done for further testing) Does anyone else have those tingling sensations?
My vision has almost come back to normal now. The Prednisone has done wonders for that, but I really hate taking it.

After being injected with lidocaine during a root canal procedure, the vision in one of my eyes was beyond distorted (the side they were working on). I had 3 injections prior to prep the tooth which is located upper right near the wisdom tooth. An hour into the procedure, I began to feel the doctor working on the tooth. So I wouldn't experience major pain, he then injected me one more time in the roof of my mouth. Within seconds, I noticed my vision was in that eye was beyond blurry. It was like I was seeing cross eyed, but my eyes were not physically crossed and my vision was distorted beyond belief. This totally freaked me out and lasted for a few hours until the lidocaine wore off. I have had a few root canals and dental work over the course of the years, but they used carbocaine instead, because I get too jittery with regular novacaine. Therefore no epi. What makes matters worse, is that they were unable to finish the root canal procedure, because it freaked me out so bad and my vision was messed up, that I was sent to the ER. I was told that he must have hit an optic nerve during the injection which most likely caused this situation and they were categorizing it as a possible allergic reaction, but again feel as though it was just the optic nerve that the lidocaine traveled to. Now I have to finish the rest of the root canal a week from now and will be having another dentist perform it. I'm so frightened that this will happen again. I honestly thought that my vision wouldn't be restored back to normal. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?

Thanks.

My 17 yr old daughter received her first Gardasil on April 17,08 with only pain at the injection site on June 16th 08 she received the 2nd within days she started complaining of severe headaches and eye pain so I scheduled a routine eye exam thinking that her glasses may need to be updated. After her exam her optomatrist called me intot he room telling me that she had severe swelling of her optic nerve and scheduled her for an MRI before we could get that done she went to the ER for severe pain in the eye and headaches there they did the MRI and it was normal no tumors or anything that would cause such headaches. On July 3 she called me from work asking to be picked up because the pain was so bad she could not function at all she was weak, dizzy and overall just not feeling good. I took her to the ER again where they performed a spinal tap and tons of bloodwork and admitted her for pain control on July 5th she had a 2nd spinal tap and every day more bloodwork was performed so far ALL tests ran have come back normal. She was in the hospital 5 days. She seen her ophthalmologist a week after being released and we talked to her about the Gardasil and she felt there was enough "coincidence" to have my daughters pediatrician file a adverse reaction form. That has been done and my daughter has learned to live with the pain since nothing seems to help it anymore. Also the last 6 weeks she has had bad insomnia and nose bleeds.

My father has been taking Warfarin for 13 years now 2.5mg a day. He's been complaining of headaches, heavy feeling in his head, dizzy spells, extreme fatigue,swelling of his legs, spontaneous numbness of his fingers, blurred vision, cold hands and feet, loss of balance and memory loss. I have spoken to his Doctors and no one believes him that the Warfarin is doing this to him. By the way, he was diagnosed with AF 13 years ago.

Does any one experience the same symptoms? what can he do? he is 77 years old.

I was prescribed 750mg of levaquin 9/11/07. I read all the side effects but also read in many scientific studies that the odds of these side effects occurring were slim. I believe the exact figures were around 1-3%. I have my bachelor's of science in biology and am planning to attend graduate school next year, so I thought I was educated enough in the realm of how drugs interact with the body. "1-3%" is such a low probability, right?

I took one pill at approximately 9pm then around 11pm I began to feel dizzy and light headed. I had been drinking water all day and continued to do so after taking the first dose so I decided to go to bed. I awoke the next morning still dizzy and my muscles ached. Then, while walking to the bathroom to put my contacts in, I began to hear ringing in my ears until it was all I could hear around me, I developed tunnel vision, then completely blacked out. The only way my vision returned is when I sat on the ground with my head between my knees barely moving. I remembered reading that levaquin could cause hypoglycemia so I literally crawled to the kitchen and poured a plethora of sugar into a cup of gatorade and drank it as quickly as I could. I've never been more thankful to be an athlete and keep that in my refridgerator constantly...well... I WAS an athlete. I haven't been able to walk, let alone run, without my head throbbing with each step.

It is now 9/19/07 and I still have a pounding headache that won't go away. It is as if my optic nerve is on fire. I've tried vitamins, flushing my body with constant fluid, sleep, massage, and an optometrist examination for new contact lenses in case the headaches were due to eye strain. Nothing has seemed to work. My sinus infection that the levaquin was initially prescribed for has subsided but I can only hope that this headache will subside as well.

Has anyone else experienced an on-going headache as well? And if so... what have you found provides relief?

I was dianosed with an immune disorder of the inner eye. It was advanced enough that regular treatments were not effective. So the dr. started me at 60 mg of prednisone and started to taper it off at 20 mg. every 2 weeks. At 6 weeks, it was observed that my symptoms had reappeared and so he started back at 60 and the tapering was much, much slower (50 mg, 40 mg 30 mg 25 mg 20 mg 15 mg 10 mg 7.5 mg 5 mg 2.5mg) the first week I had panic attacks and wanted to physically attack people. I couldn't sleep. After that I had mood swings, fuzziness, forgetfulness and confusion, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch. I had heart palpitations, moon face (people thought that I'd had dental surgury) went from a size 6 to a size 12. I had terrible yeast infections, and wanted lots of fluid and had frequent urination. It was horrible. By the time I was done (and I had withdrawel symptoms long after I stopped taking it) I'd lost 2 years to the side effects. I do get to keep my eyesight. Fair trade, I suppose. In the next year and a half I lost weight down to a size 2, not as good as it sounds, all my muscle tone had gone and I'm having to rebuild from being nearly skeletal. The worst part of it is.. at any time I can be put back on prednisone and will probably choose to over losing my sight. At what point does one have to worry about osteoporosis? How much prednisone for how long effects the bones? There are things I'd like to do, but I'm not sure if I should.

For anyone who is taking steroids of any kind, injections such s Kenalog apply, should be having their eye doctor monitor their eye pressure. About 8% of the population will have their eye pressure (IOP) go up. This is damaging to the optic nerve over time. In my opinion, ANY doctor giving these shots should be required by law to inform patients of this potentially harmful side effect. Because there are no visible effects with the vision until it is too late, no one has their pressure checked. I heard one study say that one out of 2 people will have this side effect with long term usage. Take it from someone who is a steroid responder.

My mother is currently using Alphagan-P to lower her IOP. Her doctor has recommended that she switch to Xalatan or add it as a second drop at bedtime. I want to be especially cautious given that she is monocular and 90% of her optic nerve is damaged ( she seem to be progressively losing her perpheral vision despite an IOP of 13-17 ), and she has some macular degenerative problems. I understand with Xalatan, there could potentially be macular side effects. I would appreciate it if anyone has used Xalatan or Alphagan-P to comment on side effects that they may have experienced or efficacy and also if anyone may have some insight or perhaps personal experience related to this. I would be so very, very thankful for your help.