My Experience with Pseudotumor Cerebri: When Headaches Aren't Simply Headaches

Valentines Day - A day for love, relationships, flowers and candy. For me, being a practical mother of two, I did not want the more traditional gifts. All I wanted was a heart-felt "I love you" from my husband - and new glasses. My oldest son felt that my glasses needed vacuumed when he was two years old. So, I resorted to an older pair I had put back for a while. I also wore contacts, so this was not a major concern at the time. Six years later, February 2007, my contacts were gone and with a few unmentioned bills and expenses, I had not been able to make it to the eye doctor. But, this was just the beginning of my problems.

I had been having horrible headaches, not to mention pain and noise in my right ear. But, I thought my glasses were the cause of the headaches and I would take care of the assumed ear infection a little later. My (at least) ten year old glasses needed an upgrade. A quick call to the eye doctor landed an appointment for February 14, 2007. Perfect! What better Valentines gift could I have hoped for?

The morning of my appointment, I was awake at 4:00 AM. It seemed like I would never get back to sleep. I was actually excited about getting new glasses! Here I am, 26 years old, married with two young boys, and I felt like a kid on Christmas eve night. I got out of bed to use the restroom and when I flipped the light switch, the light did not come on. I yelled to my husband that the light bulb had blown, but he seemed more worried than I was annoyed. He told me that the light bulb had not blown and he could see the light coming on and going off each time I flipped the switch. This is when I traded my excitement for fear. I looked into the kitchen and I discovered that it, too, was dark. I was blind. The more frightened I got, the faster I flipped the bathroom light switch. Finally, I could see the light come on and go off. Still, I could not see any objects, only the difference of light and dark. I took a deep breath and flipped the switch a few more times. Slowly, I regained complete vision. I went back to bed to try to get some sleep before my appointment. I would be sure to tell the optometrist about this episode.