Get the #%$ out of my eye!!!
 

so... I got these fucking black dots floating around in my eye that won't go away and follow me where ever I look. I have been to the hospital many times about 4 years ago and they were all very un helpful. They say I may have some kind of parasitic thing called toxoplasmosis that can be obtained through cats (fuck I hate cats) Well suddenly things settled down and I managed to ignore the dots but now 4 years later I have a giant transparent-black smear obscuring my vision. I now have to go back to the bloody eye doctors again every 2 days or so, and may have to travel to distant cities to hear the exact same thing I've heard many times (HMMM THATS ODD, WELL I KNOW THIS OTHER DOCTOR...)
I have to get up at 4 am to go to Victoria - Vancouver Island 3-4 hour drive distance to get my blood dyed blue, sweet!

anyone else have had any similar problems or am I alone on this?

.....OMG you are alone indeed. That's very wierd and frustrating I guess, the only advice that I can give you is doing like I do:

Doctor: "Hummm that's nothing, it's just XYZ"
Me: "Can you prove it?"
Doctor: "WTF?"
Me: "I said can you prove it? BTW I'm not leaving this chair until I'm convinced and cured."

Doctors are pure shit, you must treat them like the dogs they are.

I've had small black dots in my vision before, and I've lived with cats all my life, didn't know it was this though. I never bothered to see a doctor because it goes away after a while and it doesn't seem to have reached the intensity you describe.
Sorry I couldn't really be any help on this but I was so amazed that it's not just me either...

The only thing I can think of to compare to your experience is sunspots, like afterimages and such, or when I get a headrush from yelling or something, and my vision dims at the edges. (Had this happen on a couple of looping rollercoasters too)

Nope, I never had a eye problem the way you described it. Well besides glancing at the sun sometimes.

Though the way you described your last symptom (the transparent black smear) sounds alot like a blood clot. Probably caused by the infection =/.

Here I though this would be a topic about the strange things that get stuck in your eye. Still, unlucky...i'll remember to stay away from cats now >_>

its pretty much like I have alot of imaginary debree in my eye that only I can see that started out as tiny dots and intensified into mass clumps, and worm like structures. The doctors all do the same thing, dialate my pupils, shine bright lights into my eyes then send me on my way with a recomendation to the next doctor so they can do the same. Cats and doctors should suffer...

EDIT: heres a general idea of what I see:http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4555/myeye5nf.jpg
I can see through all the lines, and the black smear seems closer than the rest of them (I have reason to believe my sandbox has done this to me as my cats apparently pooped in it)

When I went to the hospital when I had this exact same problem about 5 weeks ago, they said I had a Detatched Retina. The black dot started out small, bull got larger and larger within a week. I ended up having to get eye surgury and have to get another one soon (Eye pressure problems). The surgury went well (aside from eye pressure problems) and the black dot is gone. Maybe next time you visit the doctor, ask them to check if it is that.

oh fuck... for a second I thought you meant you had to get another eye!

Nope never had this problem and I have lived with many cats throughout my life. Don't hate cats, they're too damn cute.

Scotty, have you ever thought that this might have something to do with what you eat? No offence of course, but your diet is somewhat... "questionable".

I never know cat could be dangerous. Hope you get a real cure soon.

Sorry dude, you're stuck with them for life.

Toxoplasmosis comes from a cat parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), a worm that lives in cats. What happens is almost all cats have this parasite/worm in them, in an inactive state. When it poops out eggs (because the parasite lives in the digestive tract), you can get it. And when you do get these eggs, they go around in your system until it turns into (I forgot what it's called) some sort of cyst. Your body makes this cyst around the egg/larva to keep it from harming you, but you're stuck with this forever.

And you've got it in your eye, that sucks. If it'll make you feel better, a good number of people (I think somewhere in the 50% range of the US population) have the same problem. The bad news? If you're female and pregnant when you get toxoplasmosis for the first time, your child's gonna die. And another thing - this'll be what you die from if you ever get AIDS, as the protection from the egg/larva goes away.

Have a nice life ;)

...
this one?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma

Oh yeah, I remember if toxoplasma might be responsible if a baby born with hydrocephalus.

Take Wiki's word over mine, it's been a while since I took a parasitology course.

Does it look anything like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...c/Floaters.jpg

If so, you've got floaters, or a buildup of debris floating in the vitreous fluid of your eye. I've got them, and on some days they get a little distracting.

Where do they come from? Calcium deposits, a de-polymerization of the vitreous humor resulting in fibrils, posterior vitreous detachment (floaters accompanies by flashes of light, and sometimes the presence of a large ring-shaped floater), partial retinal detachment, retinal tear, or uveitis (inflammation of the middle layer of the eye).

Retinal tears release red blood vessels into the vitreous humor, and uveitis can cause a buildup of white blood vessels in the vitreous humor. Both will cause a sudden onset of numerous small black dot floaters. Uveitis can be caused by any number of systemic infections, including toxoplasmosis.

Once you have debris in the vitreous humor, there isn't any easy way of getting it out. There is a laser treatment in which the floater is vaporized, but it is expensive, time consuming, and not wholly effective.

I've had floaters (The semi-transparent dots and lines that move around your eye, if you look up they float down and if you look down they float up.) before, but never anything as bad as your discribing *Knocks on wood*. I'm Sorry to hear that though....

basically yes except they are more black, I had that long string like one a couple days ago but the floaters constantly rearrange themselves as they please every couple days. It's nice to know I'm not alone on this (or sililar eye problems) thanks for the info... except you free.user you bastard, I hate you! :(

Friend of the family was just saying he knew somebody that used to tease his cat, and it bit him, and later he had a blurry spot in his peripheral vision. Turns out it was a parasite. I'm not sure if it was Toxoplasma (probably is), but they couldn't operate on it, and he just has to live with it stuck in his eye. Pretty creepy.

wow...that sucks. Scotty, ever bitten by a cat? If so i sympathize for you, I've only had those black dots when i wake up sometimes and it bugs me for 30 min. before going away but never as intense. Hopefully you can get that fixed...

no I've never been bit by a cat, it most likely came from cat shit in the ol' sandbox as a kid as I said before. Well I'm off to get a nice blue tint in my blood stream tommorrow (As soon as I'm out I'm going to the closest pool to get my eyes blood shot and freak people out :) )

Hey man, I was only prying deeper into the situation. I know that you don't exactly eat very healthy, so I was just wondering if that was one of the causes.

This thread warns me not too close to kittens. Sigh, I really love cats and kittens, but I guess I should be preventative rather than regret it later.

Btw, is this symptom pervasive in any way?

I doubt the occasional bowl of ice tea powder, and bag of chips had anything to do with it *looks up symptoms of diabetes* umm fuck don't look up Diabetic Retinopathy... DAMN YOU FREE.USER!!!

eriol: I've heard some towns where toxoplasmosis was aperant in the main water system and caused wide spread eye problems AVOID CATS AND WATER AT ALL COSTS!

EDIT: oh I should mention I don't have diabetes but it is a problem on both sides of the family

Don't forget the random used gum.

IT WAS NOT USED IT WAS JUST STEPPED ON AND IT LOOKED GOOD AND I ONLY DID IT FOR LOL!!!!!!

Like I said, other than mere discomfort (and what looks like skeet in the eye), only two harmful situations arise on a significant basis..

1. AIDS will reactivate these larva and let them kill you

2. if you get this for the first time while you're pregnant and in your 2nd/3rd trimester, you haven't ben able to encyst it yet so your baby's gonna get it with a high percentage of death associated.. it kills babies

other than that, I haven't heard of anything else.

I have that shit...... :(
I can see it when I look at the sky, not annoying when doing anything else but still. As the wikipedia says the treament isn't that effective so I guess I have to live with it :(

Be glad you haven't gotten Loa loa (eyeworm).. those are real nasty. Wiki it if you wanna know.

O_o
Argh... are you one of those verm loving dudes? Irrgh just looking at those pics makes me sick.

Wait a minute, sometimes I saw transparant things like that when I gazing. Do you think I suffer one too? how to test them?:(

Look at the blue sky in a clear day like today (at least here), it looks like semi transparent things floating in your eyes and they follow your eyes motion so wherever you look in the sky they are there. Thier shape is variable too, but let me quote wikipedia.

EDIT: Original wiki article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floaters

Nah, just a self-proclaimed parasitologist. I loved taking those courses back in my college days, and even diagnosed several friends w/ certain parasites. Wanna know more?

No thanks....... I...have to go, I need to do.... humm... something!

/me runs and hides in a far away place while says to himself: "There's no such things as verms... THERE IS NO SUCH THINGS AS VERMS!!!!! AHHHHH!"


^This was lame :P

After I read this entire thread.. I feel like an alien has parasited in my eyes or something like that.... @_@ but thanks for the information devil. I guess must really take serious stance before this problem getting worse.

I have floaters aswell, but not bad enough to annoy me. I think we all must have a few "floaters", even if they are very tiny.

Once in a while I can see these and I concentrate on them. The second I turn my eye to focus on them it looks like they are moving out of the way in the same direction but it is because they are in a fixed position in my eye.

Never had any serious eye problems as such but once I remember I was at some guy's house and I was to choose players in Championship Manager for someone, and then everything turned spotty and purple colours for five minutes and I lost my balance. This lasted like 5 minutes. I think it was because I was really tired.

I think not, we are a gamers community, a bunch of dudes who abuse their eyes, so expect consequencies of that abuse.

This can also be from blows to the head. Have you done some martial arts? Like boxing or muay-thai?

I've got those floaters too, but this is the first time I've seen a name put to them. I first noticed them a few years ago, floating in a pool looking up at the sky. It's very disconcerting to look up and see something "swimming" in your eyeball. I always assumed it was something everyone had to a certain degree, but I guess It's a smaller club than I thought.

ok so I got back from the doctors who is a retinal specialist of some sort. He told me that I have some old scar tissue in the back of my eye that could have happened years ago. The concern is that the scar is now starting to inflame again which is most likely what is causing my floaters. They took some blood samples to see if I test positive for toxoplasmosis as they didn't appear to document it before when I did it (bastards) He also said that floaters can be kept to a minimum if I keep taking my pregnezone (sp?) but the spores given of from toxoplasmosis sheild themselves and become dormant often. The only thing to do is take a shit load of pills everytime they come out to multiply

Nope but I've did some really stupid (but fun) stuff... but then again haven't we all? :biggrin:

Do you mean Predinsone? If so, be careful about taking high doses (> 30mg per day) over long periods of time. Prednisone, while a potent anti-inflammatory drug, has some very nasty side effects. High sustained doses will bring an onset of Cushing's disease. You will gain weight in the face and torso, you will get acne breakouts all over your body, your skin will atrophy, and you will develop deep purple stretch marks on your body.

So what would you have if you sometimes spot a transparent like circle with a black dot in the middle? I always thought that maybe it was just a permanently burned scar or something from looking at the sun for a few seconds too many times as a little kid.. After reading this thread I'm not too sure about that. >_>

Thats the one, I have to take that with a huge antibiotic pill and some other random pill with a long name, the side effects are I now burn easily in the sun and get itchy.