IIH( Idiopathic Intra-cranial hypertension) in my life

I can never forget the date. It was 7th January 2011. It was Friday and in the evening I had gone out with some of my friends for Friday night party. We had few bottles of beer and food. I was the only person in the group to have mutton. In the night at around 2am I felt excruciating pain in my stomach right below the naval. It seemed as if someone was piercing it with a knife. The pain was so high it knocked me out and lay unconscious in my bed for 2 days. When I woke up, it was Sunday evening and my pain was a little better and on Monday morning it was bearable. I ignored the pain and went to the office thinking that it was one off thing. I had normal spicy food for lunch and dinner. Finally the pain returned again on Monday night. Finally I went to see a doctor. He did an endoscopy and diagnosed my pain as deudonal ulcer. He prescribed me some medicines and sent me home. I came back from the doctor and continued with my normal routine. My pain got better with medication. But it did not go away completely. Again I felt the same pain two months later in March. I went to the same doctor again and to the same hospital. He again prescribed me the same medicines. Again the pain went away. The stomach pain went away but I got strangest kind of headaches.

This time I was fed up with the doctor I was visiting so decided to visit the best hospital in the city. My headache my diagnosed as a normal problem. The doctor gave me some acidity medicines but asked me to visit her again in 2 days if my pain did not go away. But I started taking pain killers and completely ignored advise of the doctor. 

Six months later in the month of August I noticed double vision. My vision deteriorated and I noticed some blurredness too. I went to an opthalmalogist and she suggested an MRI. The MRI diagnosed my problem as IIH(Idiopathic intra cranial hypertension). It scared my like hell. I took a long leave from work and went home for proper care and treatment.

Unfortunately, my family is the most quarrelsome and most uncooperative one. I did not get any kind of help from my family. Instead of helping me my family was eyeing my savings and looking for means to extract it from me. 

Anyway I started jogging, weight lifting, yoga, dieting in hope of improving my health. And it helped. My headaches went away. My vision improved. My double vision went away. But fogginess remained. 

It was November 2011 and I was taking dinner with some close friends and suddenly I realized my vision was foggy. I was not able to focus on faces. Faces looked blurred.

Again I went to a neuro-opthalmologist. He diagnosed my problem as optic atrophy due to IIH and gave me medicines. Medicine included diamox and wysolon steroid. It took me 11 months to start proper treatment and realise that I was in deep shit.

I was lonely, scared, stressed due to work, angry because I cheated of my money, grieving due to deaths in the family and finally this disease. It was too much to take. I said goodbye to my job and headed to Delhi.

My life took a downturn. I used to be a highly paid software professional. I lost my health, my job, my eyes. Till 2010 I was perfectly healthy. I did not even catch cold easily. And suddenly I got IIH, a disease as deadly as cancer. I think those who get cancer are lucky. At least they die and it is quick. They do not have to suffer as badly as those suffering from IIH do.

But that was past....... I think IIH was the best thing that happened to me. IIH forced me to take a hard look at my life and to make dramatic changes to it. Thanks to IIH I learnt yoga and Ayurveda and I am far more calmer and happier than ever. Though I still have a long pay to travel on the path of healing but I believe I'll be able to cure myself completely.