Greetings,

First time post and long time cluster sufferer... a little background:

I am 55 years old, live in Southern California, and I am in generally good health. I have had clusters for about ten years now, usually in Spring and Fall. The triggers seem to be high sodium foods, and alcohol even though I only consume one beer nightly. Usually the headaches last about 30 - 40 minutes, but my most recent one lasted much longer.

On August 28th, I had a CH at 3:30 am and this time the pain would not go away in my left eye. It took about five hours for the pain to subside. Here I am now, a week later, and my vision has only returned to about 75 percent. There is no irritation, just blurry vision.

When I have had CHs in the past, my vision would be shot in the affected eye for about 24 hours, but with a good night's sleep it would return the next day.

Has anyone experienced the same issue? Any responses are appreciated.

Hi Castaway. Welcome to the forum.

You might want to see an ophthalmologist just to be on the safe side. If you have been experiencing blurry vision during CH cycles for ten years, then the main difference here is that you're not recovering as quickly.

I have experienced blurry vision in the affected eye as well, and it seems to recover quickly. The Trigeminal nerve has an ophthalmic branch which is involved with us getting redness and tearing during attacks. You didn't mention if you get these symptoms. They're not uncommon with an attack. I would track this issue to see how quickly your vision bounces back, if only to have some solid data to give a doctor. You can even get blurriness from the autonomic system going the opposite way with dry eye syndrome. That doesn't get better. There are lots of conditions which can cause blurry vision, so again, track it and maybe see an eye doctor if it doesn't improve. Hope this helps.

Patti

Hi and welcome

Pattik has some good advice.

During the CH, did you rub your eye at all? I wonder if you might have got an eye infection as a result?

Thank you Patti and Mike!... I did get the tearing up and redness in the eye with the CH, and of course, unbearable pain. Typically I use ice on the affected area in order to numb it and I drink a ton of water in the recovery phase (it seems like my body badly needs it at the time). The pain this time took far longer to subside.

As for Mike's question if I rubbed my eye at all, it may have happened as a reaction during my sleep. I am not aware, however, that I rubbed my eye at all. There is no discharge, itchiness, or apparent infection- only blurred vision which I would liken to an astigmatic view of things. Ironically, about five years ago I scratched my cornea as I awoke from a CH and had to go to the ER, where they identified it. This time, however, felt different because there was no residual pain associated with a possible scratch. The actual pain I felt (and still feel) this time is almost muscular, coming from behind my eye.

I have actually sustained nerve damage in my right eye from cluster attacks and because of it I am extremely light sensitive in that eye.
Vision is fine,but bright sunlight will make it droopy and has for the last 5 years.