A while back I had an infection in my eye. It came on so suddenly that it rather frightened me. I woke up in the middle of the night with a stabbing pain in my left eye that was so bad that even with ibuprofen I had trouble going back to bed. The next morning I awoke, called the optometrist, sent Nyssa and Nathaniel off to school, and got the younger children ready for the doctor visit.
By this time, my eye was stinging so badly that I couldn't bear to even open it. Both eyes were tearing up to the point that I was concerned about getting to the appointment. Fortunately, my eye doctor lives within 5 minutes of my house and I was able to get there without incident. I signed in, continued to wipe my eye, and asked if I could get some drops. Rarely have I been so thankful for pain relief as I was at that moment.
After the typical eye exam and dilated eyes, my optometrist gave me the news. I had iritis. My iris had swelled dramatically. In fact, he said it was a good thing I came in because without immediate care, I may have been blinded in my left eye. He prescribed me some prednisolone eye drops as well as an antibiotic. I was to be on them for 2 months.
What caused the iritis? He didn't know. He said that the eye is a sympathetic organ. Any swelling, any kind of infection in my body, any major attack on my immune system at all could have caused my eye to respond in that manner. In order to determine the true cause, he sent me to my regular doctor. He said that it was just a symptom of something else going on in my body.
Later that morning, I had 9 huge vials of blood taken. I joked that they were feeding the vampires off my blood. Sure enough, it showed that a few areas of concern, but no evidence of anything that would have caused the eye trouble. The good news is that we were able to determine why I was constantly so sluggish all the time and unable to concentrate. Now before you jump to conclusions, I was NOT pregnant. My Vitamin D levels were deficient. Though I get in the sun, my body was evidently not processing the D. I've often wondered if that has to do with the fact that I tan but never burn unless I wear sunscreen (I'm allergic to it).
Jump forward 2 months. I am now taking a daily dose of 3,000 units of Vitamin D along with a weekly dose of 50,000 units. Those levels are normal, my triglycerides are back to normal, and my cholesterol is within 19 points of normal. Fortunately, except for the Vitamin D capsules, everything else has been brought down with diet and exercise, even more than I would have thought possible. All these concerns were able to be addressed because of eye pain that required dilated eyes and wearing sunglasses indoors for 3 weeks.
Another thing...within 3 days, my right eye was doing the same thing to a lesser degree. I learned that if one eye gets an infection or is hurt, the second eye often will sympathize and emote the same symptoms unless treated equally. Interesting. I know that when my day is off, it can affect that of my family's as well.
How often do we have these big problems of which we are unaware or which we shove to the shadows because they don't feel important enough? How often are they brought to the surface by a situation that may seem wholly and completely unrelated? Life is full of so many challenges that we often don't even realize they are there until we wake up stumbling in the dark because we can't open our eyes for the pain.
There is a solution. Silly as the cliche' sounds, it's simple. Diet, exercise, and rest. Whatever goes in affects us. This is true both in the physical and in the mental. What are we feeding ourselves? Is our lifestyle such that we are disciplined to steer away from those shows that are bad for us or that feed our negativity? Exercise...are we constantly challenging ourselves to improve on our weaknesses and turn to those that would encourage us to be strong? Rest: that is my greatest weakness. Are we able to say, "No, I don't need to take this extra burden right now. I need to recharge." There has to be that balance.
If we lose our proverbial sight, we will stumble along in life. We may even drag others down with us. So we need to go to the source that addresses our pain and determines what needs to be confronted. Put in those drops that allow all the light to chase away the shadows and, if necessary, put on the sunglasses if it gets too bright...we won't be given more than we can handle. Sometimes a little eye trouble, if addressed, can be quite an eye opener. It was for me.
