Worried sleep deprivation has damaged my eyesight

[ReySky]

Single mum to a 1 year old and 3 year old with zero respite or support. 1 year old wakes about ten times a night, naps for around 15 minutes a day, if that. I've tried all sorts to rectify, he cosleeps with me.

Had an appointment with Opthalmologist at eye unit today to check up on a scratch I had on my eye that has now mostly healed. As part of the checks they did an eye pressure check. The nurse asked if I had family history of glaucoma, which I don't. She said my reading was quite high. Then I went through to the Opthalmologist and he checked them again with the probe thing and said my reading was 20 which is borderline high and that I'll have to have them checked again in a few months. I've got myself into a Google rabbit hole and have convinced myself I have glaucoma and am going to go blind as a result of poor sleep for the last few years (3 year old didn't sleep through till just before he turned 3, and is a nightmare to get to sleep still and often still wakes through night a few times). Coupled with my poor diet choices as a result of aforementioned tiredness, I'm worried.

I have severe health anxiety and on top of a few other recent health niggles, this has tipped me over the edge and I'm struggling to calm down. Can anyone offer any reassurance, please? 😔

If they were concerned you'd be fast tracked to the hospital asap, they're really good with anything eye related in my experience. You're shattered and thinking the worst, stop googling x

It's not a good idea to Google symptoms (although I do it!) Google always confirms your worst suspicions. If anything was urgent you would have had a hospital referral.

I have had eye problems caused by sleep deprivation due to severe nerve pain in my leg and spine from another condition
It was temporary but terrified me at the time
I have health anxiety too, its horrible
As regards eye pressure you might have a lower reading if it was checked with local anaesthetic eye drops first so the pressure can be checked by actually touching your eye rather than just the puff of air things they initially try
That happened to me. My pressures were 19 and 20 but when checked by touching the eye only 16 in both
If you are really concerned go to eye casualty if you can and ask for this test
Hope that helps

Hi OP, have you read the Ferber sleep training book?
It saved my sanity.

Thank you, that's what they did today, the one where it touches the eye, after the initial puff of air thing, and that's what gave a reading of 20 😪 the puff of air thing was higher.

Sorry to hear you suffer with health anxiety too.

Have you ever had your thyroid checked?

Yes, a couple of weeks ago in fact, my result came back as "perfect" along with my full blood count and CRP etc

Hi @ReySky
Sorry hun you're going through this.
Hopefully this will reassure you, my Mum didn't sleep for years with 3 kids under 5 yrs old and i don't have any help with my baby, honestly i don't think it's the sleep xx
Try taking these vitamins, you can get them from Boots or Superdrug, honestly it will really help xx

Op please try not to worry , you’ve had it checked out and good chances are it’s nothing serious. I have 3 dcs and even though they are older I actually think I have trauma and health effects years later over how badly one in particular slept , my 2nd woke up around 8 times a night until 3/4 and I had a baby when they were two who also woke and obviously a slightly older child . My dh was great but had to work away a lot and I had absolutely zero help from family whatsoever so no respite or support.
It was v v v tough, I was chronically sleep deprived and nothing worked as I’m sure there’s loads of suggestions (we tried all, all and consistently ) but my dc had no issues going to sleep but screamed and screamed while asleep every hour pretty much for years , obviously we went to drs etc to see if it was physical, pain etc - nothing worked…..
Sorry to go on but my main point was I had loads of physical symptoms as a result including eye floaters , muscle pain, headaches etc . I was very anxious as I was so sleep deprived my body was producing so much adrenaline to keep me standing . I think your anxiety is linked to sleep deprivation. I feel for you , now my kids are older I wish I could help other sleep deprived mothers who have no help or support. Your eyes could absolutely be feeling the effects of sleep deprivation, I think that’s normal but it doesn’t mean it’s serious.

If it helps if you did indeed turn out to have glaucoma, which is by no means certain, you are catching it very very early which will give the best possible outcome
There are effective treatments which although they don't cure they do prevent deterioration dramatically for most people
I have two friends with glaucoma btw
On the health anxiety front, I have cancer and me and a friend who also has cancer were joking the other day that if we actually had every type of cancer or related issue we have worried we have in the years since initial diagnosis we would be medical marvels
I can't tell you how many things I have been sure I had and I turned out to be wrong
And I am a retired nurse so should know better!

Thanks everyone. I'm such a worrier and being chronically sleep deprived obviously doesn't help. Have since read that stress and anxiety can cause higher eye pressure results, so that's mildly comforting although I don't want to be too optimistic.