Around last Thursday, my right eye started giving me trouble. I figured it was just eyestrain from having been working too much and staring at the computer screen. Over the weekend it seemed to get better (I didn’t do any work), and Monday I was feeling pretty good (albeit bloodshot).

Monday night I didn’t get more than two hours of sleep because the pain was so intense. I held a cold washcloth on my eye most of the night and loaded up on ibuprofen. I had had enough; it was time to go to the eye doctor.

I was born with Duane’s Syndrome (crossed eyes) and had that corrected when I was really young (they cut muscles in the back of your eyes to straighten them out). Having this eye pain made me a little worried, thinking it had something to do with that (just what I needed; torn muscles in the back of my eye).

Turns out I have a moderate case of iritis, which is akin to arthritis in your eyeball. Apparently they don’t know what causes it; anyone is entitled to a surprise case of it once, but if it happens again then you need to find out if you have some other systemic issue that might be linked to it. Here’s hoping this is a one-shot deal.

I got my eye dilated (and it’s still sort of dilated) yesterday and also got some prednisone eye drops. You’d never believe how affected you are when you have eye trouble - I went home after my doctor’s appointment and could barely walk around. I ended up sleeping most of the day away (and still slept all night), and watching a little TV (it’s easy to make out what’s on TV because details generally don’t matter… I couldn’t read to save my life, though).

So today I’m happy to say I’m pain-free, back in effect, and taking my eye drops once every two hours. I did successfully pick up Jenn’s head cold in my weakened state, though, so I’m pain-free but mega-congested. It never rains but it pours.