MORE stress, another trip to the ER vet last night, and now eye floaters, ugh....

[les26]

As some have seen on here I have been dealing with my elderly parents and their nursing home and selling their properties and cars and lawyers and banks and working full time, and having to put Slim down Tuesday night, LOTS of stress, not much sleep, etc. etc. etc....I finished up work yesterday, really beat and numb, thinking I could try to relax and try to process losing little Slim, but after 7 last night Deb's mom calls, she had to have one of her cats put down 3 weeks ago, and has a cat Suzy who is 19 and having issues of her own, and says that Suzy is sneezing and blood is going everywhere and is very upset. Deb has taken Suzy and her to the vet several times now, they do some tests and try to treat it, but last night it sounded really bad and her mother was wondering if it was time to put her down, and they were going back and forth with this. I was laying on the floor playing string toys with Sylvester and a few others, was listening to this conversation, and told her "let's take her now so we don't get a call at 3 in the morning to take her", so we were getting ready to go to the SAME VET that we were just at Tuesday night to put our little guy down, and I started seeing some flashing motions on the right side of my right eye. At first I thought maybe it was just the dark backdrop and the kitchen lights, but this progressed as we were racing out to the vet, calmed down somewhat but then I started to see a very wispy floater going back and forth, almost like a cobweb that I wanted to brush aside, so there I was at this vet, we didn't get them home and go to bed until 2:20 in the morning, slept a bit to get up to scramble around to find someone that could look at my eye, found an optometrist who did a really nice job, and said it is the Vitreous tearing away, something she says is quite normal albeit scary with age, had no retinal tear, it should settle down, wants me to get a recheck in 3 weeks but call if anything else happens, and Deb who worked 42 years for opthamologists said she did a nice job and was correct, Deb has one for years, and they both said "with time you almost forget about it". I told her that I have been under a boatload of stess like I said, especially this last week, and she said that doesn't help and can actually cause you to see them more, so I am TRYING to settle down but everytime I turn around there is another problem and another and another....

I take a lot of vitamins and read that Bromelain and Hylauric acid can help with floaters, so I am taking them plus my other vitamins/ minerals. Anyone else have any comments and experience with these annoying things?

Oh, and they didn't put the cat down, they are having her mother try an oral liquid antibiotic to see if that helps, but also said there of course is a chance that she might have a tumor or something going on in that right nostril, and it was VERY tough hearing that while standing in the place where we held Slim for the last time....

And today her mom told Deb that she spilled most of the liquid medicine trying to give it to her with the help of a friend So I'm sure Deb will end up taking her and Suzy to their vet in a few days...

Thank you

 

[Margret]

The best I can suggest for dealing with stress is a good multi-B vitamin; look for the ones that say "Stress formula" or something like that. They won't make the stress go away, but they can help to reduce the toll it takes on your body.

You might want to look for a book about meditation; I've found it to be good for dealing with stress. And check YouTube for guided meditations. If the first guided meditation you try seems to be geared for some issue that you don't have, or designed for a person whose personality is vastly different from yours, keep looking. There may well be a meditation that's a good fit for you that's readily available.

Beyond that, take however long you need to grieve for Slim; don't try to rush that process. And you might want to ask your doctor whether an antidepressant would help.

Please don't worry about the floaters. I've had them for years; at this point I only notice them if I'm deliberately looking for them. Because I'm diabetic I visit an eye doctor at least once a year to check for retinopathy - she always checks everything, and she's never given any indication that the floaters are a concern.

Margret

 

[neely]

Anyone else have any comments and experience with these annoying things?

Yes, I had it happen awhile ago when I was shopping with my daughter. I reached up to get a piece of clothing down for her and thought a spider fell in my eye. I kept trying to get it out but couldn't so I made an appointment with our ophthalmologist and found out it was a floater. If it helps, it did get better and hope it will for you too.

Thinking of Suzy, Deb, her mother and you. Sending special thoughts and healing vibes your way.
As Margret mentioned above, stress takes a toll on your body. Everyone deals with stress differently but I'm glad you have a faithful companion, i.e. Deb, to support you.

 

[les26]

I am just thinking of something, I was laying on the floor Friday night playing string toys with Sylvester and some others and did not have any eye issues, but as I was listening to the conversation Deb was having on the phone with her mom about her cat and I realized if we don't leave NOW to take her we'd be getting a call at 3 a.m., plus I knew Suzy needed help, she's a good cat, but it wasn't until we had our jackets on and I was very uptight (it doesn't take much) knowing that we were possibly going to put another cat down at the same place we just did for Slim 3 nights earlier, it was then that I all of a sudden had these issues.

It's moot now, it happens and I'll deal with it, but I can't help to wonder if we didn't have to do that if this issue would've happened at all?

 

[Margret]

I am just thinking of something, I was laying on the floor Friday night playing string toys with Sylvester and some others and did not have any eye issues, but as I was listening to the conversation Deb was having on the phone with her mom about her cat and I realized if we don't leave NOW to take her we'd be getting a call at 3 a.m., plus I knew Suzy needed help, she's a good cat, but it wasn't until we had our jackets on and I was very uptight (it doesn't take much) knowing that we were possibly going to put another cat down at the same place we just did for Slim 3 nights earlier, it was then that I all of a sudden had these issues.

It's moot now, it happens and I'll deal with it, but I can't help to wonder if we didn't have to do that if this issue would've happened at all?

Are you talking about the floater? If so, it would have happened some time; floaters are just a fact of life as we age. In fact, I'm not at all sure that this is when it did happen; I think it's likely that this is just when you noticed it, and the circumstances gave it added significance.

Here's what I suspect happened: You were on the way out the door, and terribly worried about Suzy. The circumstances were triggering huge amounts of anxiety. You felt like you were reliving Slim's death, and it seemed like too much to bear. So your subconscious looked around for a distraction and found the floater. "Aha! Something to explain my anxiety that isn't Slim or Suzy! Good! We'll go with that." All in the space of a millisecond, and all below the level of consciousness. It was a way for you to get through a very stressful situation without experiencing it at full intensity, because you had something else to worry about.

This is one of the techniques our minds sometimes use to protect us from perceived threats that we can't actually do anything about, but it comes with a cost, which you're experiencing now: after the immediate threat is past, you're left with the distraction threat, and you don't know how to deal with it.

The thing is, there are two things you actually need to be doing right now, and neither of them is worrying about floaters. You need to be grieving for Slim, and you need to be thinking about how you're going to help Deb and her mother get through Suzy's likely imminent death. Having a plan, something you can actually do to make it easier for them, will be the most effective way for you to get through the stress of another euthanasia, because it will give you some control over the situation. But as long as you're spending all your energy on floaters you aren't doing the things that would actually be helpful. So it's time to jettison the distraction and concentrate on the things you need to do to take care of yourself and your loved ones.


Margret

 

[denice]

Deb has one for years, and they both said "with time you almost forget about it

I have had one for a while, not years but a few months. I can't say I forget about it but it doesn't annoy me any longer.

 

[les26]

Are you talking about the floater? If so, it would have happened some time; floaters are just a fact of life as we age. In fact, I'm not at all sure that this is when it did happen; I think it's likely that this is just when you noticed it, and the circumstances gave it added significance.

Here's what I suspect happened: You were on the way out the door, and terribly worried about Suzy. The circumstances were triggering huge amounts of anxiety. You felt like you were reliving Slim's death, and it seemed like too much to bear. So your subconscious looked around for a distraction and found the floater. "Aha! Something to explain my anxiety that isn't Slim or Suzy! Good! We'll go with that." All in the space of a millisecond, and all below the level of consciousness. It was a way for you to get through a very stressful situation without experiencing it at full intensity, because you had something else to worry about.

This is one of the techniques our minds sometimes use to protect us from perceived threats that we can't actually do anything about, but it comes with a cost, which you're experiencing now: after the immediate threat is past, you're left with the distraction threat, and you don't know how to deal with it.

The thing is, there are two things you actually need to be doing right now, and neither of them is worrying about floaters. You need to be grieving for Slim, and you need to be thinking about how you're going to help Deb and her mother get through Suzy's likely imminent death. Having a plan, something you can actually do to make it easier for them, will be the most effective way for you to get through the stress of another euthanasia, because it will give you some control over the situation. But as long as you're spending all your energy on floaters you aren't doing the things that would actually be helpful. So it's time to jettison the distraction and concentrate on the things you need to do to take care of yourself and your loved ones.


Margret

I'm also concerned about Simba, our 23 year old. Deb and I thought that we would be seeing him leave us not Slim, but that's how life goes, and he's still here with us and we're doing the best that we can with the old guy!

 

[rubysmama]

I started seeing some flashing motions on the right side of my right eye. At first I thought maybe it was just the dark backdrop and the kitchen lights, but this progressed as we were racing out to the vet, calmed down somewhat but then I started to see a very wispy floater going back and forth, almost like a cobweb that I wanted to brush aside, so there I was at this vet, we didn't get them home and go to bed until 2:20 in the morning, slept a bit to get up to scramble around to find someone that could look at my eye, found an optometrist who did a really nice job, and said it is the Vitreous tearing away, something she says is quite normal albeit scary with age, had no retinal tear, it should settle down, wants me to get a recheck in 3 weeks but call if anything else happens,

I had that happen a few years ago, and it was scary, as all I could think of was a detached retina. As in your case, it was the vitreous detaching, and the pulling sensation that was causing the flashing motion. In my case I did have a tiny tear on my retina that needed to be repaired by laser surgery to prevent a possible retina detachment. But it wasn't an emergency, and it was months before I had it done. At first I was constantly seeing the little floater, but after a while I got used to it and rarely notice it now.

Not sure if your optometrist mentioned it or not, but there is a good chance it will happen to your other eye in the next year or so. In my case, though, as far as I know the other eye still has its vitreous attached.

Sorry this happened on top of all your other issues. You've definitely been going through a stressful time. I hope 2024 is better for you.

 

[Margret]

I'm also concerned about Simba, our 23 year old. Deb and I thought that we would be seeing him leave us not Slim, but that's how life goes, and he's still here with us and we're doing the best that we can with the old guy!

So add spending quality time with Simba to that list of useful things you should be doing.

All of these are the kind of problems that come from a life well lived. You wouldn't be getting floaters if you had only taken the precaution of dying young. I'm glad you didn't. You lost Slim because you had Slim, and it hurts because you love him. You're worried about Simba because you love Simba. You're worried about Suzy because you love Deb and Deb's mother.

I'm not minimizing the stress you're under; it's real and it's a problem and you need ways to deal with it. I am saying that you should give yourself credit for doing things right.

Oh yes, and there's one other thing you did right - you joined The Cat Site, so you're a member of a community that's here for you when you need a place to vent, or a shoulder to cry on, or someone to reassure you that floaters don't mean you're about to go blind. Everyone here has lost or will lose a cat, because everyone here loves cats and feline lifespans are too short, so we understand that pain and anxiety. And almost always, after we lose a cat we get another cat, because the joy outweighs the pain. We know all this, but sometimes when we're in the midst of the pain we need to be reminded why we adopt cats in the first place. Consider this your reminder.

And remember that we'll continue to be here for you during the tough times that undoubtedly lie ahead. We have lots of shoulders to cry on when you need them and many years of experience with stress, and grief, and joy. Hang onto that joy; it's the thing that makes everything else worthwhile.

Margret

 

[les26]

So add spending quality time with Simba to that list of useful things you should be doing.

All of these are the kind of problems that come from a life well lived. You wouldn't be getting floaters if you had only taken the precaution of dying young. I'm glad you didn't. You lost Slim because you had Slim, and it hurts because you love him. You're worried about Simba because you love Simba. You're worried about Suzy because you love Deb and Deb's mother.

I'm not minimizing the stress you're under; it's real and it's a problem and you need ways to deal with it. I am saying that you should give yourself credit for doing things right.

Oh yes, and there's one other thing you did right - you joined The Cat Site, so you're a member of a community that's here for you when you need a place to vent, or a shoulder to cry on, or someone to reassure you that floaters don't mean you're about to go blind. Everyone here has lost or will lose a cat, because everyone here loves cats and feline lifespans are too short, so we understand that pain and anxiety. And almost always, after we lose a cat we get another cat, because the joy outweighs the pain. We know all this, but sometimes when we're in the midst of the pain we need to be reminded why we adopt cats in the first place. Consider this your reminder.

And remember that we'll continue to be here for you during the tough times that undoubtedly lie ahead. We have lots of shoulders to cry on when you need them and many years of experience with stress, and grief, and joy. Hang onto that joy; it's the thing that makes everything else worthwhile.

Margret

And my elderly parents and the nursing home and selling all of their belongings and lawyers and banks and my job transporting blind and visually impaired people 1,500 miles a month in crazy traffic, the stress is relentless...

Slim is the 8th cat that we have lost over the years, it never gets any easier. But we still have 6 more to go, so the road ahead is full of heartache and pain, but we chose to take them all in years ago and this is the tough part of having them, seeing them fade and losing them.

But that's life.

 

[les26]

It's been two weeks since this episode and while I still see this weird floater and a smudgey thing at times it is improving, not as bad but still there but surely getting better. I did a lot of research on them and started eating Pineapple and at times taking Bromelain which is in Pineapple, supposedly it helps break up the floaters. Also taking Hylauronic acid to lubricate the eyes, and also Billberry and have been taking Lutein and Zeaxanthin for quite awhile now, drinking more liquids and doing some eye exercises and facial massages to help get this thing to leave as much as it can but also to keep my eye health, I need it to drive clients that are blind and have eye issues, isn't that a bit ironic?

I have many other floaters, have for years, smaller clear and a few black ones that move like a shooting star, but this one is different, different shape and acts differently. I also still have some white flashing on the right side of my eye that I can see in the dark, but from what I've read this is all part of it, is normal and will take time to calm down and I just have to have patience and deal with it, along with all of the other stressors in my life, but that's life I guess...I go back for a recheck in a week.

 

[nurseangel]

I am sorry you are going through all this.

I do an exercise for visual floaters. I stare straight ahead at the blank wall and pretend there is an imaginary clock there. I slowly look from each number to the opposite (12-6, 1-7), etc. When I've gone through the clock, I repeat in the opposite direction. If your eye doctor thinks it's okay for you to try this, it helps me when my floaters get really bad.

 

[les26]

Well I had my 3 week recheck today and got a really good report, she said the 3 week time frame is when something really bad could've happened and it didn't thank God, said to just keep doing what I'm doing and it should fade away. I told her I was really uptight when it happened, I have had floaters before but this one was different and had the light flashes, but she said that will fade away too. She was very patient and answered all of my questions about it, very happy with her. She assured me that it is something that happens to some people, not all, but some, to get these things. But I am dealing with it the best that I can...

 

[les26]

This floating thing is still there but a lot less than it was, and I hope with more time it lessens even more. I can deal with it though.

But I had an interesting thing happen, I had read about eating pineapple to help dissolve the floaters thanks to the bromelain in it, so I have been doing that and really ramped it up the last week or so, even eating the core which has the most bromelain in it, but I started to have to urinate more the last few days, and when I went I went, it wasn't where I felt I had to go and couldn't, I went each time. I at first thought it was because of overtight pelvic floor muscles, this happened to me about a year ago when I had to push a client around in an archeic really heavy wheelchair at a local farmers market, pushing and pulling her up a ramp etc. I even went to the urologist back then and they said there is no infection and couldn't find anything wrong, but my physical therapist said if you are overtight down there it signals your brain that you are "holding" so you pee more. I did a few nights of the exercises that she told me to do, but it dawned on me it might be from the pineapple, I Googled it and sure enough there are MANY sites that say this can happen. I didn't take it yesterday and it seemed to be calming down, I only got up to go once during the night, a few days earlier it was around 3 times a night which signaled that something needed to be investigated. If that was the cause I'm sure it will clear up, but I also have been very sore in the left Psoas muscle area and groin and upper thigh and that was from shoveling snow and pushing snowblowers around, which was akin to pushing that tank of a wheelchair before!

Live and learn...