What would cause a deep pain in ONE eye (that woke me up)?

[Milliways]

OK, so last night I had a large glass of red wine at a night out, followed by a fairly strong Brandy & Coke at home.

Woke at just before 6am with a pounding ache right inside one eye - felt like it wantied to burst out my head! Other eye was fine. I had a slight headache but the eye pain was agony.

I have had hangover headaches before, but never anything like that - and I was not drunk!

Eventually I got up to get some paracetamol, checked eye was working (it was - bit a little painful to look down) and managed to get back to sleep.

Have taken more paracetamol today.

This same eye has felt a little "blurry" recently, but an eye test found nothing wrong, and it is more a feeling than a real vision problem.

Any ideas?

[moaningminniewhingesagain]

When I had sinusitis it felt a bit like that? A bad headache in the eye, paracetamol didn't help much. Had a cold lately?

If you gently tap the bone just under the eye with your finger is it very painful?

[Milliways]

No, it's fine Thank you.

My eye is almost OK now (although painkillers are in system), but I did have a slightly bunged up nose when I eventually got up this morning (but not at 6am). When I've had sinusitis before I get face ache/cheek pain, which is horrible, but this was different to anything I've had before.

Hopefully it has gone now & will not return!

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Pressure on the optic nerve can cause such pain to arise.

Did you go to an opticians recently to get your eyes tested or was it somewhere like a Boots or Specsavers type of place?. If it was the latter I would make an appt to see an optician asap. Do get it properly checked out, your sight is too important!.

[Milliways]

Thanks. Twas a "proper" optician, did loads of tests + pressure testing etc (was about 2 months ago) and I ended up with my first ever reading glasses!

I had a brain scan this week (for an unrelated problem) so if anything scary was happening I would have been told by now!

It was just such an intense pain an a very localised spot. If it happens again I am going straight to the docs.

[magso]

Very mysterious and frightening!

It sounds like you do not wear contact lenses, your vision is back to normal and pain gone and you had a thorough eye exam with field and eye pressure checks very recently.

Hmm - a corneal abrasion (perhaps wiping unclosed eye on pillow) or severe corneal drying (from a poorly closed eye lid) can cause severe pain (similar to tooth ache) until it sorts itself out. Alcohol can cause poor lid closure (sleeping with eyes half open) in some people (actually some have poor lid closure even without alcohol). Have you had an eye injury - such as a finger poke or scratch from a twig recently?

The best thing would be to get your optometrist to check you over (can they fit you in today perhaps?), as they will have the knowledge and equipment to quickly rule out the main causes of acute pain - and certainly if any pain or blur remain or return.