Simple eye strain or something else

[mtcell]

Last week I went to my optometrist with the following symptoms in my left eye for the past month.

- Twitching of the eyelid
- General weakness of the eyelid
- Noticeable decrease of vision in the eye.
- Fluctuating mild to moderate pain in the eye.
- Feeling like something was in my eye.
- Less production of tears in that eye as compared to the other eye.

After completing a compressive exam of both of my eyes, the optometrist could not find any obvious illness or disease that would explain the symptoms that I was experiencing so he went the easy route and diagnosed me with an acute strain of my left eye which does not seem like a probable cause of all of my symptoms, but I am not an optometrist / ophthalmologist so I thought it would be best to ask the experts here for more information about my symptoms and to see if more testing was needed. Specifically, the questions I have are:

1.) Can a simple eye strain could explain all of these symptoms, even though that have been going on for almost a month now without letting up?

2.) Generally speaking, how long can I expect these symptoms to continue before they start to subside?

3.) How long should I wait to get a second opinion if the symptoms do not subside?

4.) Finally, what other disease or illnesses could cause these symptoms ?

Thank you for your time.

[Doreen Fazio, M.D.]

I also do not think that "acute strain" explains the symptoms you are having.  Eye strain or fatigue does not cause decreased vision or moderate pain. You need to see an ophthalmologist for a complete eye exam.  Before the dilation, the doctor needs to perform a gonioscopy to be sure that there is no narrowing of the anterior chamber angle.  

[mtcell]

I forgot to mention in my first post that a few days before all of this started, I began to make alot of changes in my life with respect to diet and exercise due to being recently diagnosed with high cholesterol. To be more specific, I started eating less than 1200 calories a day and started walking a mile a day. I also started taking 4800mg of fish oil a day where I never used to take this before. Also, I forgot to mention my age and gender. I am male and soon to be 40 if any of this helps.