Tricky post this as I’m still slightly reeling from a somewhat unexpected shock from this morning, but on balance I decided this is good advice to give as it might increase the possibility of nipping potential problems in the bud for you lot.Back in December I had my biannual checkup with my opticians, Boots, and they asked me if I would like the optional retinal photo taken for an extra tenner. I said yes to that as I had never had that done before, and after looking at the photos the optician referred me to my GP due to unusual pigmentations.
The GP referred me to my local hospital eye unit. That appointment was this morning, and I had more photos taken there and the doctor carried out a thorough examination of the retinas and he said the pigmentation is nothing to be concerned about (although it has revised my ethnic background to mixed-race ). However, he said there were signs of pressure on the brain due to the way the optic fibre was joining the eye. He’s now referred me to Moorfields Eye Hospital for a brain scan, and I’m to ring my GP straight away if I get a headache.
Now that has freaked me out somewhat; there’s every possibility it’s a false alarm about nothing - and I would say it definitely is a false alarm as I have never had any untoward symptoms apart from getting slightly more forgetful of late, but I have put that down to age :hehe: However, if it isn’t a false alarm, it might turn out that was £10 very well spent.
So - if you get offered the optional retinal photo at your next visit to the optician, it might be wise to say “yes” to that, just to be on the safe side.Of course my girlfriend’s first words when we left the consulting room were “they only want to see if you have a brain” :laugh: :crazy:
Some opticians photograph the retina as part of the check-up with no extra cost.
I had it done once and its good as even if theres no problems they can compare it year after year to see if any deterioration is taking place. Unfortunately I moved to a different part of the country and they dont pass the records around like the NHS do.
I’ll definitely check out boots now though, cheers for the advice.
Many thanks for your kind messages, all.The NHS is only offering a CT scan but having seen the documentary several weeks ago about the guy with the hiccups, I will definitely get a MRI scan done as well, I will pay for it myself if necessary (£400 - ouch) but hopefully the “friendly society” I’m a member of, Benenden, will help with that.
Unfortunately Benenden don’t do brain surgery, so if it came to that then I was wondering if Adz could do it? I was hoping he could fit me with a bigger brain, along the same lines as Da Artist’s Gixxer 600 to 750 conversion that he did the other month :blink::hehe::crazy:
Specsavers now does funduscopy ( retina pic ) as standard and don’t charge extra for it. To be honest when they do opthalmoscopy ( shine the light into the back of your eye while they breathe on you ) they can see your retina anyway. Even simple stuff like pigmentation so I wouldn’t get too hyper about the fundus camera but it does make the opticians life a bit easier to diagnose issues.
). However, he said there were signs of pressure on the brain due to the way the optic fibre was joining the eye. He’s now referred me to Moorfields Eye Hospital for a brain scan, and I’m to ring my GP straight away if I get a headache.