Any ideas on what's going on with my friend?

[FIAT2LUX]

Hey guys,

This may or may not be in the visual category, hence why it's in the "miscellaneous" section.

I have a friend in his early 40s who has been having some odd symptoms since January, so he's coming back to the US for further testing with our doctors, and I wanted to know if you guys think any of this is visual related, or if you have any other possible ideas, or if I should just let him do his testing.

He had LASIK maybe 10 years ago for severe myopia, which is part of why I think it may be visual related.

He's had 25 debilitating headaches within the last 16 weeks, and has already visited a few doctors in Europe, but they couldn't find anything.

Prior to January he just didn't get headaches (made me think visual). It's progressed now to him being out of breath after walking a short distance, versus before he was running 5 km 3 times a week (reminds me of heart complications) and is having a hard time keeping food down now too (back to the eyes with strain).

Any ideas based off of that, or should I just wait until the doctors have found something and hope it works for him?

Thanks!

[Nancy]

I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like some kind of major straining behavior showing up in his body. You know the Lasik didn't "fix" whatever made his eyesight bad, just postponed the inevitable, so now it may be manifesting elsewhere. Doctors are often trained to put you in a category: does he have arthritis? Does he have heart disease? etc. and then prescribe some appropriate medicine, then try some other medicine if that doesn't work to suppress the symptoms. Bates relaxation work like palming sure won't hurt (it cured non-visual problems for Bates' patients) and in general I'd get this guy to walk outside and think happy thoughts and look at his life and behavior for his major stressors, then see what he can do about reducing those. Just my opinion -- I am not a doctor. good luck.

[FIAT2LUX]

I'm not a doctor, but it sounds like some kind of major straining behavior showing up in his body. You know the Lasik didn't "fix" whatever made his eyesight bad, just postponed the inevitable, so now it may be manifesting elsewhere. Doctors are often trained to put you in a category: does he have arthritis? Does he have heart disease? etc. and then prescribe some appropriate medicine, then try some other medicine if that doesn't work to suppress the symptoms. Bates relaxation work like palming sure won't hurt (it cured non-visual problems for Bates' patients) and in general I'd get this guy to walk outside and think happy thoughts and look at his life and behavior for his major stressors, then see what he can do about reducing those. Just my opinion -- I am not a doctor. good luck.

Thanks! I'll talk to him about that when I see him in a little over a week.

[Nancy]

Let us know, and don't push too hard. People are sometimes surprisingly resistant to change habits that everyone else can see are bad for them. I'm guessing the Lasik just drove the real problem which led to his myopia deeper, and now he will have to start looking at it. Take it slow -- baby steps are better than no steps.

My guess is he's much better at thinking than feeling (headaches can often come on from thinking too much!). Don't be too hard on him, or make it sound like you think this is his fault in any way. Good luck -- he's lucky to have you for a friend.