No Macular Degeneration!

A few weeks ago, I had a killer migraine. Nothing new there, I figured it was just my hormones trying to kill me again, but a couple of days later, I noticed a strange, grey, blurry spot in the center of my field of vision in my left eye.

Not want to mess about with something like that, and since I had been told about ten years ago that I had the beginnings of macular degeneration in my left eye, I made an appointment with the eye doctor. A scan of my retina and macular area did indeed show a buildup of fluid in that area, so the eye doctor referred me to the retina specialist for a follow up. The eye doctor kept asking me how old I was, since macular degeneration isn't something that usually shows up until you're in your 50s or 60s.

There's a history of macular degeneration in my family - my grandfather eventually lost his sight to it, and my mother was told she also had the beginnings of it in her eyes before she passed away in 2008.

The appointment with the retina specialist was today, and I was more than a little nervous. I wasn't looking forward to the tests and I was afraid that I would hear that the macular degeneration was getting worse.

Well, lo and behold: in walks this Melrose-Place-hot Bulgarian doctor (probably not a lot older than me), and he takes a good long look in both eyes with those horrible Medieval-torture-bright lights, and he shows me my scans and tells me: it's NOT macular degeneration!

I was so relieved, I almost leapt out of the chair.

The scans proved it: all the fluid that was behind my retina last time was gone. The doctor said that what I have is a central serous retinopathy, which usually has an excellent prognosis, provided that I take care to manage my stress levels. (Stress levels? Me?) The cause of the reinopathy is either idiopathic (meaning that they don't know what causes it) or from a high level of cortisol in the body, usually as a response to stress. He said there was some scar tissue back there, meaning that I've had attacks of this before, but this was just the first time that I'd ever noticed it.

So, my response to the whole thing was to go out and buy myself a brand-new yoga kit: new, extra-thick mat; two blocks; a strap; a blanket; and an embroidered cotton mat bag. Because, really, I can't let this get the better of me. If my body is trying to tell me something, I had damn best take care to listen.