They won’t be able to help. They won’t be addressing the root cause of this problem which is that my eyesight is fucked because of my own stupidity and I don’t want to live with that. There is no crossover between opthalmology and mental health. They are two completely separate worlds. I don’t want this life I have now, it’s a misery.
I saw a psychiatrist at the hospital 12 days ago but all she can do is prescribe more medication, she prescribed me sertraline but I’ve only recently given up venlafaxine which is another anti-depressant. She said I should do cognitive behavioural therapy online but I just put her suggestions in my coat pocket and haven’t looked at them since.
It’s hard to see things when you’re right in it, but what you’re doing now with your mental health is the exact same as you did with your eye and it’s for the same reason. Don’t ignore the advice of professionals, take the help.
@Cheasty man, you said it yourself, it’s like the mountainous stages of the TdeF, only you’ve to be like fuckin Richard Virenque and battle through it! (with the help of the medication of course). If needs be, sign in again pal.
And we’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, there’s people in this life who get by with the one eye. There’s just an adjustment period that you need to adapt to. You go through the 40+ years of full sight, it’s bound not to be easy.
You’re an intelligent lad who the lads before me said has a lot to give, and they’re dead right. I go on this everyday and give thought to your views and a few others more than anything. Give the idea of sending an article or two into the Galway papers a thought, could be the greatest thing that’s happened to you! It’d keep ya busy if anything. You literally said it yourself, you were writing for an hour to get your mind out of the reality, go for it!
I don’t honesty know if this will help in any way but a friend of mine had similar problems with one of his eyes
He seemingly detached the retina or whatever, literally did it whilst scratch ing it ,or rubbing it.
Anyways he spent a week in tbe CUH with his head in one position after they worked on him,
Way he described was his head was facing forward,him lying on his front,and he couldn’t move for days.
He’s still using some drops of something or other daily but everything is attached,
But they warned him can’t be repeated,
He said twas hell but it’s saved hos eye
I honest to God don’t know if I should have mentioned this ,but fuck it
You may be able to get something done.
PS my mates vision isn’t fantastic since but adequate.
Ie hes driving etc
Everyone makes mistake and fucks things up, and medical things have a way of sneaking up that you couldn’t possibly predict until they happen. You acted the same towards your eye that I’d say 90% of posters on here would have, it just turned out horribly. Stop giving out to yourself you acted normally. A friend of mines father in Wicklow complained of chest pains the last few weeks and feeling dizzy, his family were at him to get fully examined but bar one brief ER visit he ignored them and said he’d plow through. He dropped dead last Thursday. But you’re still alive, and things will improve in your mind and in life I guarantee it. You will adapt, and you have no idea what medical advances might come about in the next few years. (also can you go abroad and seek another opinion?)
Can you just accept that eye is no use at the minute and cover it up. Then start a Twitter account or website on a passion project. You could be the go to on 80s/90s soccer or British culture or obscure GAA factoids. We’ll get it going viral.
Hang in there @Cheasty. The eyes are delicate though. I had some difficulty with mine a few years ago, largely brought about by degenerative changes post 40. I did have some deterioration with my right eye in particular (nothing as significant as yours admittedly) but it has improved significantly again with the passing of time and medical advances.
I’m very sorry about your friend’s father. That’s awful. May he rest in peace.
Patching or occluding the eye isn’t really an option bar very short periods (ie. for the World Cup I had a pair of glasses with tape over the left lens to occlude it) because the way I’ve had it explained to me is that the brain has to try and learn a new language as it were if you ever want to achieve binocular vision again, be that true binocular vision or for the brain to learn to “train out” the bad image. As with learning any language this takes a very long time and requires immersion, which means exposing the eye pretty much 24/7.
Going abroad for a second opinion isn’t really an option either, both for cost and practicality grounds. I imagine they wouldn’t be able to tell me anything that a retinal surgeon in this country couldn’t. Moorfields in London is commonly thought to be the best in the world but some of the stuff I’ve heard about it especially the public NHS section (it also has a private section) hasn’t been that great.
Even some of the prestigious clinics in the US like Bascom Palmer in Miami or the Stein Institute in UCLA, some of the stuff I’ve heard hasn’t been amazing. There’s a place in Philadelphia, Wills Eye Hospital, which does seem to have pretty much universally positive reviews but again realistically they aren’t going to be able to do anything that wouldn’t be attainable in Ireland, and also they aren’t miracle workers.
I’ve heard good things about Kilmartin from multiple sources and also about Paul Connell in the Mater Private, but my health insurance doesn’t cover the Mater Private whereas it does cover the Beacon. If Kilmartin could get rid of my distortion I’d never make a joke about Kilmacud Krokes ever again, but I don’t expect he’ll be able to do that.
