The Warning Signs of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a serious eye condition that, if left untreated, can cause complete blindness in some people. There are two types of glaucoma; angle-closure glaucoma and open-angle glaucoma. With the former, there are some definite signs and symptoms you should look out for. Sadly with the latter, there don’t tend to be any symptoms, at least not in the early stages.

What Happens To Your Eyes?

When it comes to angle-closure glaucoma, the drainage canals in the eyes become blocked and that means that fluid backs up into the eye. The resulting huge pressure is what causes all the sight problems associated with glaucoma. Open-angle glaucoma has the same reason behind it, but the angle between the cornea and the iris is much wider, which means that more fluid can pass through, and the pressure is even greater. This pressure can damage the retina, and once the retina is damaged, it may not be able to be repaired, and the result is permanent sight loss.

There are treatments, however, and these can be effective if the problem is caught early on. They include prescription eye drops, medication taken orally, and surgery. In states where cannabis use is legal for medicinal purposes, this is said to help too. Check out HarvestHouseofCannabis for more information.

So what are the symptoms that you should look out for in order to prevent too much irreparable damage from occurring?

Severe Headaches

We all get headaches from time to time, and there are many different reasons for them, from stress to tiredness to illness and even allergies. However, a severe headache can be one of the symptoms of angle-closure glaucoma, especially if the pain is coming directly from behind – or even in – the eyes themselves. This can indicate that there is a major problem and seeking medical advice if this happens (particularly if it is out of the ordinary, but if you get them a lot, it could mean you have had a problem for a while).

Nausea And Vomiting

Pressure in the eye area can have a dramatic effect on the rest of the body, touching on many organs all at once. This upset can cause nausea and even vomiting. Although this by itself isn’t necessarily a symptom of glaucoma, unexplained nausea and vomiting should never be ignored. It could be due to many different things, some serious and some not so bad (sometimes vomiting is the body’s way of ridding itself of toxins, for example). If your nausea is accompanied by any or all of the other symptoms of glaucoma, then it is essential that you seek medical attention as soon as you can.

Problems With Your Vision

Perhaps the most obvious symptom of glaucoma is problems with your vision. This can come in a variety of forms and isn’t always easy to pin down, but if anything strange happens to your vision, especially if you have also been experiencing nausea and terrible headaches, the signs are pointing towards glaucoma.

One of the vision problems that people with glaucoma can suffer from is blurred or hazy vision. This can creep up slowly, or it can happen all of a sudden, but whichever the case happens to be, it should be taken seriously. Rainbow auras are another issue. If, when you look at a light source, there are rainbow auras dancing around it, the pressures in your eyes may be suffering.

Finally, sudden unexplained vision loss, even if it returns almost immediately, is not something that should be happening and can easily be a symptom of glaucoma. To prevent this from happening more and more often, perhaps even permanently, an expert should definitely be consulted.