still awake...
25 January 2002 00:56![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juldeaI took a short nap today (hour and a half), and therefore I'm still up. I had this plan to try and wake up for the 6am exercise class, but I don't think that will happen. I think my plan instead will be to wake up at 7:30, go to Saxon, go to Pad Thai, go to the lab (actually I will drop off goldbug to watch the lab for me for about half an hour while I run two errands - getting my MVR from the tag agency (in case it takes a day to get, I can pick it up on Monday before going to Papa John's) and mailing a package to a mud friend), then go to the aerobics class at 5:30. After that, I can come home and take a shower, since it won't be band practice night I don't have to be there right at 7.
That's right kids,
at Brendan and Chris's house.
A lot of stuff happened today, but I guess I'll get to the most important part first.
I went to the ophthalmologist today. Her name was Dr. Wise, and she was really neat. She picked up my chart which had the orders from Dr. Hulsey, and said, "Your doctor asked to have a (insert big word here) done, and I can see why - you have really large eyes!" and I said, basically, what in the world does that have to do with anything, and she said, "Well, usually it means thyroid eye disease," and I shut up and sat down. I got a whole barrage of weird things done to my eyes, at least 3 different drops put into them, lots of bright lights, and weird thing that looked kind of like a skinny version of Geordi LaForge's glasses (this was the test that Dr. Hulsey asked for, it was a "measuring the bulge of your eyeballs" test), and even had a test where my eyeball was touched by a sensor to measure the pressure! I ended up with my pupils dilated and my eye muscles relaxed - I couldn't deal with light, and I couldn't focus on anything that wasn't in a range from about 5 to 50 feet from me. That made driving home fun - I could see the street fine, but not really my dashboard. ;) And when I got home, I couldn't read my email, hehe. It was weird - I'm so used to moving something closer when I can't see it, but that didn't work. That is why I couldn't post any of this earlier :)
But yes, I have Thyroid Eye Disease, also known as Thyroid Related Orbitopathy, Graves' Eye Disease, or Graves' Ophthalmopathy (and a host of other names that I didn't think you cared about). So yeah - it's almost Graves' disease - it can turn into that if I'm unlucky.
It's not anything that harms me directly; at least in the mild form I have right now. Basically right now for me it's just "big eye disease". What happens is that, like Graves' disease, there's an antibody that is messed up in me that is attacking my eyes. There are two possibilities - the antibody comes from my thyroid, which is farked up, or the antibody is ALSO attacking my thyroid, making it farked up. Either way, it's affecting my eyes definitely. What is it doing now? Well, it simply is causing excessive swelling and protrusion - big eyes. I've always had them, but apparently they're more than just something I have. :) During the bulgy-eye test, Dr. Wise found out that my right eye is more protuberant than my left, which (according to her) is a symptom (apparently if you're normal neither one of your eyes is supposed to bulge more than the other). Also, one of the symptoms is "lid retraction", where your upper eyelid doesn't extend to cover as much of your eye as normal. In normal people (and I inspected goldbug's eyes to check this out) the upper lid normally covers up some of the top of the iris when you're just, like, hanging out and looking around. With lid retraction, it sits higher, sometimes even high enough to see the whites above your eye. This of course makes your eye look bigger, because there is more area visible. By the time I could see close enough to check myself in a mirror I was really tired, making me either sleepy-eyed or wide-eyed, so I will have to check that out tomorrow.
Before I wrote this, I did some online-surfing to find out more about this disease. The best page about symptoms and such is here, the Royal National Institute for the Blind - really bad cases can make you blind. However, most of the pages I saw noted that this condition is most often related to hyperthyroidism, not hypothyroidism like I suspect I am (if I were hyperthyroid, I wouldn't be able to stop losing weight, I'd be jittery all the time, super-nervous, unable to sleep.... the opposite of my problems!). However, as this page says, it also happens rarely in people who are hypothyroid. Also, it could happen even if my thyroid were fine! So, interesting.
Here's my theory, assuming I do test positive for hypothyroid - the antibody from Graves' disease is attacking my thyroid andor my eyes (or attacking my thyroid and therefore messing up an antibody that helps my eyes). Usually, according to the webpages on Graves' disease, attacking the thyroid makes it function more to fight - hyperthyroidism. But, I think I just must have a wimpy weak thyroid! It gets attacked, and rolls over and plays dead. Waves the white flag, so to speak.
So now I get to call back to Dr. Hulsey's office and schedule another appointment so I can find out the blood test results and if I really do have a thyroid problem. Yay! =P
Let's see, more I was going to talk about. While at the Bookhouse tonight watching Trigun,, Brooke, Jon, and Ben ordered some Papa John's. I was excited because I was going to grill the delivery driver. When she arrived, I recognized her from one of my classes! My self and identity philosophy class from, um, a year or two ago. Her name is Tracy. We chatted a bit about the job, and now I am happy I will know at least one person. She seemed really content with working the job, and I remember her being cool and smart in class, so I hope I will be okay with it too.
Well, goldbug just said, "Sounds like you're making a long post!" from the couch, so I think that's a sign I should wrap this up. Maybe I'll go lay in bed for another hour and see if I fall asleep yet (11:30 to 12:30 didn't do it). Goodnight!
That's right kids,
tonight is dinner party night!
at Brendan and Chris's house.
A lot of stuff happened today, but I guess I'll get to the most important part first.
I went to the ophthalmologist today. Her name was Dr. Wise, and she was really neat. She picked up my chart which had the orders from Dr. Hulsey, and said, "Your doctor asked to have a (insert big word here) done, and I can see why - you have really large eyes!" and I said, basically, what in the world does that have to do with anything, and she said, "Well, usually it means thyroid eye disease," and I shut up and sat down. I got a whole barrage of weird things done to my eyes, at least 3 different drops put into them, lots of bright lights, and weird thing that looked kind of like a skinny version of Geordi LaForge's glasses (this was the test that Dr. Hulsey asked for, it was a "measuring the bulge of your eyeballs" test), and even had a test where my eyeball was touched by a sensor to measure the pressure! I ended up with my pupils dilated and my eye muscles relaxed - I couldn't deal with light, and I couldn't focus on anything that wasn't in a range from about 5 to 50 feet from me. That made driving home fun - I could see the street fine, but not really my dashboard. ;) And when I got home, I couldn't read my email, hehe. It was weird - I'm so used to moving something closer when I can't see it, but that didn't work. That is why I couldn't post any of this earlier :)
But yes, I have Thyroid Eye Disease, also known as Thyroid Related Orbitopathy, Graves' Eye Disease, or Graves' Ophthalmopathy (and a host of other names that I didn't think you cared about). So yeah - it's almost Graves' disease - it can turn into that if I'm unlucky.
It's not anything that harms me directly; at least in the mild form I have right now. Basically right now for me it's just "big eye disease". What happens is that, like Graves' disease, there's an antibody that is messed up in me that is attacking my eyes. There are two possibilities - the antibody comes from my thyroid, which is farked up, or the antibody is ALSO attacking my thyroid, making it farked up. Either way, it's affecting my eyes definitely. What is it doing now? Well, it simply is causing excessive swelling and protrusion - big eyes. I've always had them, but apparently they're more than just something I have. :) During the bulgy-eye test, Dr. Wise found out that my right eye is more protuberant than my left, which (according to her) is a symptom (apparently if you're normal neither one of your eyes is supposed to bulge more than the other). Also, one of the symptoms is "lid retraction", where your upper eyelid doesn't extend to cover as much of your eye as normal. In normal people (and I inspected goldbug's eyes to check this out) the upper lid normally covers up some of the top of the iris when you're just, like, hanging out and looking around. With lid retraction, it sits higher, sometimes even high enough to see the whites above your eye. This of course makes your eye look bigger, because there is more area visible. By the time I could see close enough to check myself in a mirror I was really tired, making me either sleepy-eyed or wide-eyed, so I will have to check that out tomorrow.
Before I wrote this, I did some online-surfing to find out more about this disease. The best page about symptoms and such is here, the Royal National Institute for the Blind - really bad cases can make you blind. However, most of the pages I saw noted that this condition is most often related to hyperthyroidism, not hypothyroidism like I suspect I am (if I were hyperthyroid, I wouldn't be able to stop losing weight, I'd be jittery all the time, super-nervous, unable to sleep.... the opposite of my problems!). However, as this page says, it also happens rarely in people who are hypothyroid. Also, it could happen even if my thyroid were fine! So, interesting.
Here's my theory, assuming I do test positive for hypothyroid - the antibody from Graves' disease is attacking my thyroid andor my eyes (or attacking my thyroid and therefore messing up an antibody that helps my eyes). Usually, according to the webpages on Graves' disease, attacking the thyroid makes it function more to fight - hyperthyroidism. But, I think I just must have a wimpy weak thyroid! It gets attacked, and rolls over and plays dead. Waves the white flag, so to speak.
So now I get to call back to Dr. Hulsey's office and schedule another appointment so I can find out the blood test results and if I really do have a thyroid problem. Yay! =P
Let's see, more I was going to talk about. While at the Bookhouse tonight watching Trigun,, Brooke, Jon, and Ben ordered some Papa John's. I was excited because I was going to grill the delivery driver. When she arrived, I recognized her from one of my classes! My self and identity philosophy class from, um, a year or two ago. Her name is Tracy. We chatted a bit about the job, and now I am happy I will know at least one person. She seemed really content with working the job, and I remember her being cool and smart in class, so I hope I will be okay with it too.
Well, goldbug just said, "Sounds like you're making a long post!" from the couch, so I think that's a sign I should wrap this up. Maybe I'll go lay in bed for another hour and see if I fall asleep yet (11:30 to 12:30 didn't do it). Goodnight!
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no subject
on 25 Jan 2002 07:40 (UTC)Re:
on 25 Jan 2002 11:07 (UTC)no subject
on 25 Jan 2002 07:45 (UTC)Re:
on 25 Jan 2002 11:15 (UTC)My eyes won't necessarily shrink if I go on medication. I mean, I don't have a bad version of it - look up the disease on google and check out the picture pages, eek! I think possibly the "lid retraction" thing might clear up, but it's not really major.
no subject
on 25 Jan 2002 16:42 (UTC)Re:
on 25 Jan 2002 16:51 (UTC)the song...
on 25 Jan 2002 22:21 (UTC)Re: the song...
on 25 Jan 2002 22:39 (UTC)Re: the song...
on 28 Jan 2002 00:44 (UTC)Re: the song...
on 28 Jan 2002 01:06 (UTC)Re: the song...
on 28 Jan 2002 01:11 (UTC)Re: the song...
on 28 Jan 2002 01:13 (UTC)