What is this mysterious vision problem?

This post is a little long because I've included a brief medical history of myself. I would very much appreciate it if you would read or skim through...



This post is a little long because I've included a brief medical history of myself. I would very much appreciate it if you would read or skim through it and offer some advice - if you're short on time, just read the last 1/4 of it. I'm very nervous and am not sure where to turn for help. There's a lot of diverse symptoms that my doctors haven't been able to make sense of. I've included a lot of things that might not be relevant just in case they are.

I'm a 26 year old white male from the upper midwest USA, but I have been living in the northeast for a few years. I'm an architecture student. I've generally been described as healthy by my doctors and family. Here's a chronology of what's been going on.

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Family history:
*Aunt on father's side with severe diabetes and schizophrenia
*Mother has thyroid issue
*Uncle on mother's side died at age 57 of heart attack; he was not overweight
*Brother has slight heart arrhythmia that does not affect his activity

Age 4:
*Surgery due to weak muscle in left eye to correct lazy eye.

Most of life:
*Frequent double vision - seeing two of the same thing due to the offset between the eyes (not present, obviously, when I have one eye closed); never went to eye doctor
*Vision is otherwise fine. Always score perfect on vision chart tests at doctor.
*Occasional fainting, usually from needles (getting shots or getting blood drawn); this happened a few times also after getting hit in the head. MRI and EEG at age 10 do not indicate any issues.
*Significant dandruff and itchy scalp problem.
*Mild Tremor in hands
*Always been told I am a fairly tense and intense person.

1994 (Age 13):
*Hands and feet become extremely swollen halfway through meal at Chinese restaurant. Doctor gives pills that I have to take every few hours for a week or else I get a lot of spots all over me. Allergy skin-test a few weeks later comes up totally negative. Cause for outbreak never determined.

Summer 1999 (Age 16):
*Blood in urine after working out; ultrasound indicates no issues.

Summer 2001 (Age 18):
*Moved to Europe for a year as an exchange student. During first month, began getting symptoms such as: (1) strong awareness of heartbeat, ability to see heart beating vibrate my abdomen (2) shortness of breath (3) difficulty sleeping. Doctor says this is just stress. After a month this calms down to a manageable level. EKG (while resting) is normal.

October 2001:
*Was unknowingly given hot chocolate laced with hashish by friends; a few hours later was very messed up. I was shaking like crazy and kept forgetting where I was - and thought something was seriously wrong with me. I was mostly better after a few hours.

April 2002:
*Wake up one morning with very sore and tense neck, shoulders, and lower back. Orthopedist (and x-rays) indicate that vertebrae in neck are arranged kind of straight when they should be arranged in a curve but can't say whether this is a cause or a symptom. Physical therapy and acupuncture reduce problem but it is never fully solved and continues to this day.

August 2002 - June 2006 (In college):
*Overall seemingly good health.
*Occasionally drink heavily, but less than most college students
*Become sexually active, but never engage in activities of significant risk
*Go jogging/running/biking often. After jogging, often feel mild chest pains that go away soon
*In architecture school and internships, am occasionally exposed to things like (1) solvents for melting acrylic (2) fumes from laser-cutting acrylic, wood, and cardboard and (3) sawdust
*Frequently get much too little sleep due to school demands

August 2007 (Age 24):
*Enter graduate school for architecture. Health is seemingly fine.
*Get somewhat nervous because hairline is receding significantly even though no one in my family has any hair loss; doctor says this is genetic. I do not treat it.
*Begin again to be occasionally (frequently?) exposed to things like (1) solvents for melting acrylic (2) fumes from laser-cutting acrylic, wood, and cardboard (3) sawdust (4) glues and (5) spraypaint
*Begin again to frequently get much too little sleep due to school demands
*Occasionally watch laser-cutter in action, whcih means I am looking at intense laser light, although it is not pointing at my eyes.

March 2008:
*Travel to Asia, specifically China, for the first time; overall feel fine there and do not get sick.

April 2008:
*Begin sexual activity with somebody new for the first time in a while; as always, do not engage in any particularly risky activity.
*For the period of one week, get a few quarter-sized white bumps on hips each day. Spots are in different location each day and do not itch.

May 2008:
*Late at night, notice shadowing double-vision on text on computer screen; this is different than my typical double vision because it is present in each eye individually (when I close one eye, there is still double vision). T

2 Responses to “What is this mysterious vision problem?”

  1. parrot_gurl says:

    The double vision you get when you have both eyes open is probably due to your eyes not being perfectly straight. A pediatric ophthalmologist (medical doctor who specializes in strabismus (misaligned eyes) in children and adults) will be able to recommend appropriate treatment for you- whether you decide no treatment as it doesn’t bother you very often, prisms to align the images and hopefully eliminate the diplopia (double vision), and/or surgery. This link will help you find a pediatric ophthalmologist:
    http://aapos.affiniscape.com/associations/5371/aapos_search.cfm

    The shadowy double vision present with just one eye open may be from uncorrected astigmatism (which may be helped with glasses), dry eyes from not blinking as much when you’re on the computer (a fairly common thing), lack of sleep, early onset cataracts, etc. You may consider seeing an ophthalmologist about it.

    Sorry I don’t know much about your other medical issues. And as is easier said than done, it probably wouldn’t hurt to eat right, exercise, get adequate sleep, and use proper personal protective equipment at work/school (ie safety glasses when you’re supposed to use them etc).

    Good luck!

  2. fruitsalad says:

    A shadow image in one eye is usually due to astigmatism, but may be due to dry eyes or occasionally for other reasons. See an eyecare professional to get it checked out – perhaps you could benefit from some glasses, or perhaps it’s too minor to worry about.

    As far as the rest of your history goes, I can’t see anything there that would affect your eyes other than the eye surgery at age 4. In fact it all sounds like the history of a very healthy person. You do sound like you may suffer from stress and anxiety though – that may well be what causes your neck and shoulder tension/pain. Have you discussed this with your doctor, and perhaps seen a psychologist to talk about it also?

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