Eyesight deteriorating after car accident. HELP!

[ManicMiner]

Hi everyone,

I was in a bad car accident on 6th June this year, and although I was wearing my seat-belt, I still managed to break my nose, fractured my cheekbone and split my eyebrow.... preseumably on the airbag or gear-lever / handbrake lever etc.
I was admitted to hospital unconscious, and remained in a coma for the next 11 days. One of my relations has stated that this coma was induced by the doctors to aid my recovery.

Apparently the sudden impact of the car against a stone wall, caused my brain to impact on the inside of my skull - this in turn caused my brain to swell and bleed in the "sub arkanoid" region? At least that's what I remembered my rehabilitation consultant saying to me.... the sub arkanoid thing may be incorrect but I remembered it because of the videogame "Arkanoid" that I spent much of my childhood playing! LOL
When I regained conscious in the hospital, they carried out a test with mini torches / flashlights which identified a loss in my right-hand side periheral vision. I thought at the time "No big deal" as it was only in my extreme peripheral vision.....

BUT... a week after being discharged from hospital my eyesight has gotten worse, to a degree where it appears that my central field of vision has become affected, rather than my peripheral vision. My doctor doesn't give a rat's ***, and my optician has no experience with head trauma or neurological issues! When I went to get my eyes tested (since my eyesight worsened) my optician told me that my eyesight was "one line poorer" than when he tested me 2 years ago. He couldn't however say whether this was due to the car accident or not, and couldn't comment on my feeling that my poor eyesight was 'sliding around' from my peripheral vision to my main field of vision.

I have asked my rehabilitation consultant about this, and she is in the process of arranging for an MRI scan and a referral to an opthalmic-surgeon.

I also have a sensation of swelling in my face around the left cheekbone, nose and upper lip (which also feels semi-numb). I also get a swelling sensation under my left eye on some days... could this swelling be responsible for my failing eyesight?

I hope someone can help me - I'm at my wit's end and becoming dpressed at the prospect of not being able to drive a car again etc. etc.

Thanks in advance for any help, and apologies for the loong post.... feels like I just wrote War & Peace!

Cheers,
John

[Lullaby121]

Yes I also found that my eyesight had been compromised.
I had 20/20 vision before my accident in April and now only have 20/20 vision in one eye and 18 in the other I now need glasses

[xeppi]

I was just perusing the internet for my own issues and stumbled on your post.  I don't have much information, but I hope I can help.

As far as your numbness around your nose, lip, and cheek area, I too have numbness in those areas.  It's all on my left side, but it's under my eye, along the cheek, one side of my nose, and upper lip.  I had also been in a car accident with a semi, so a cheek bone and lower eye socket were fractured.  Anyway, the point of what I'm saying here is that a main sensory nerve in your face could be damaged.  (In my case, it was crushed... yay... =\ )

As for the vision issues, I too had problems along with a paralysis of my right eyebrow area... but the vision was due to the scopolamine i had been prescribed... Long story short, I looked up a lot of articles at the time (I'm not sure which area of your brain was hurt, but I had a skull fracture at the back of my head, if that relates).  I was told that the paralysis was due to possible brain stem damage, so I looked up related things, and there are cranial nerves that can be damaged which control the way your eyeball sits in the socket (specifically 3, 4, and 6).  The good news is that the nerve damage usually resolves itself.

I don't think the numbness relates to your vision, but I'm definitely no expert.   I know how frustrating it is after a serious injury to wait for all the loose ends to tie up.  I just found your situation similar to mine, so I hoped I could at least help.  I really hope you find a way to pinpoint the issue and fix it!!  Best of luck!

[caregiver222]

Fly to the United States. You'll get an MRI in an hour without health insurance in any hospital I know with your presentation. You need one as of yesterday. They are thinking of "arranging" for an MRI scan? My goodness. That standard of medical care is absolutely unacceptable. You haven't have an MRI yet with that history? Incredible.

[altanswer]

I just googled TBI out of curiousity since I broke my nose at 15 and was curious about many difficulties I've since had since.  Anyway, I found your post.  I thought I would offer some sympathy since no one else has.  I am trying Young Living Essential Oils.  I have a book that recommends (for eyes) their Thieves oil on reflexology points on feet, esp. 2 big toes.  M-Grain, Mister, Dragon Time, and EndoFlex oils on vita flex points (?), ankles, and pelvis.  It also says carrot is good around eye ares...i'm assuming this is also an essential oil.  you've prob. heard of aromatherapy. don't put the oils in eyes, it says.  They are out of the one for Brain Injury.  The owner of the company reports he healed from TBI after he was hit by a log as a logger.  Anyway, good luck to you.  I'm starting w/ oils for my hypoglycemia, then healing my crushed pineal gland (due to the softball injury) since I need my sleep and emotion regulator back!  I'm also curious about quantum healing and just ordered an $11 book about reconnective therapy about healing energy.  The author's story is interesting.  God bless!

[ManicMiner]

Has no-one else experienced sight loss after a head trauma / accident?! I'm desperate for some help here, folks.
I woke up this morning and the sight problem appears particularly bad today :-(

I live in the UK and my rehabilitation consultant has warned me that it might take several weeks before I can get an MRI scan! This scares the &^$£>:}*& outta me, cause if this is caused by a problem which is getting gradually worse over time, then by the time I get an MRI scan done, it might be too late to do anything about it!

For the record I am a 33 year old male, in otherwise good health. I had nystagmus in my eyes before the accident (all my life possibly) and this appears to have gotten slightly worse / more noticeable since this accident. But my eyesight is still poorer than it was, even when the nystagmus *isn't* jumping around.

As well as swelling sensation around my upper-lip, nose, cheek and directly under my eye I also experience swelling in the lining of my nostrils. This is alleviated by taking pseudoephedrine decongestant pills. Is it likely that this is an after-effect of my broken nose?

With my eyesight being poorer, I have trouble concentrating on big chunks of text, so reading for pleasure is no longer an option and using the Internet has become a chore for me - used to be able to lose a couple of hours a day messing around on the 'Net!
I also tend to make more typo's when writing emails / messages... I've just checked my original message and it's my Left eye that's affected, NOT my right eye as I mentioned beforehand  D'OH!

Thanks for any help you can provide,
John