So, that last bit of navel-gazing was all just a lead-in to this post: I was diagnosed today with central serous retinopathy. Practically speaking, I’m suffering from blurring in the central vision of my right eye. The vision distortion is fairly mild, but my ability to read text on a computer screen is severely hampered if I cover my left eye. The condition is supposed to be temporary, lasting only a month or two.
I noticed it for the first time this weekend. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t happening when I left work on Friday, given the difficulty I have focusing on text now. There’s no actual discomfort or any outward sign that my vision is impaired. CSR is characterized by fluid leakage in the central macula, but thankfully that leakage hasn’t made its way outside my actual eyeball.
What’s most frustrating about this malady is that it’s almost certainly stress-induced. While I fret about global warming and the trade deficit as much as the next man, I’m pretty sure my job is the high-order bit in my stress stack these days. And problematic vision isn’t going to make dealing with that stress any easier.
There’s no real treatment for the disease. I’m supposed to just wait it out. I’ve been reading up on others’ experiences with CSR on the web, and there’s plenty of folks advocating cutting out caffeine in all its forms to help reduce both the longevity and recurrence of the symptoms. I’ve never tried writing code without a constant flow of caffeine to my system, so that will be an interesting endeavor to undertake. However, I value my sight more than I do heightened alertness, at least at this stage of my life.
I grow weary of my health being compromised because I take my work too seriously. I mean, I know I have a pretty sweet gig compared to most. My hours are flexible, my pay is good, I can wear shorts year round, I like who I work with, and I like the technology I’m working on. But what’s that all worth if I keep getting sick?
[tags]health, csr, work[/tags]
house of haug 
All I know is, the fewer answering machine messages we get from your wife like the one she started to leave five years ago, the better. That was a scary couple of weeks, to say the least.
Sorry to read about the vision thing. I’ve never said this before to anyone, but I hope your retinal pigment epithelium gets better soon.
We owe y’all a phone call. Maybe Wednesday evening?
Good luck with this. I hope that all it takes is a switch from MD to Sprite.
There are two ways I’d like to respond, and I can’t decide which is more appropriate, so here you go:
“My retinal pigment epithelium smells like cat food.”
“Don’t Dew what Donny Don’t, like, totally does to the extreme, dude.”
That is all. Get well soon–and remember, the top letter is usually “E”.