Vision Problem and Scopes

[mcdonl]

I developed very scary and potentially devastating health news this weekend.
Tuesday (New Year’s Day) I did what I always do, went to the range to ring in the New Year. I recall that day having some difficulty focusing with my dominate eye. I was wearing my contacts, and this often happens. I only wear them riding my motorcycle and hunting/shooting as I wear protective glasses and these times and of course shooting through a scope with glasses is difficult for me to do.

I have hypertension that is successfully treated with medication. The problem is I tend to stop taking my medication for no good reason. I have never had a good reason to NOT stop other than elevated BP on the monitor. I am active, over weight but exercise. I am a per diem Fire Fighter and EMT-I, Highland Games Athlete plus a teacher and professional. So, my life was never impacted… Until this week…

I noticed Saturday morning that the blurry spot was still there in my right eye so I went to the eye doctors. It seems as though I had an “eye stroke” and it may or may not be treated with laser treatment. It is dead center in my ocular so it impacts my vision.

With both eyes open I see fine, but just the right eye. Not good. Makes looking through a scope a scary prospect.

I am waiting to hear from a Retina Specialist, to have a closer look to see what the next steps are but I wanted to see if anyone on here has experienced this.
I know I “should” be shooting pistol with both eyes open. So, my pistol shooting (IDPA) is not concerning me too much but what about rifle? Should I consider shooting left handed?

One thing for sure. I am sticking to my diet and WILL NOT MISS A SINGLE DOSE OF MY MEDICATION AGAIN…

Thanks for listening.

I have been in many life and death situations, but this is the most scared I have ever been.

Leroy

 

[mcdonl]

Don't ignore the floaters....

For what its worth I will give an update on my situation.

I ended up getting a Central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) which is essentially caused by high blood pressure. This occlusion caused fluid to seep out into my eye causing a macular edema.

Well... I will need to get a series of 1 - ?? injections in my eye (The first was yesterday) to reverse the condition followed by laser surgery on my eye. I also need to stay on my medication to prevent it from happening again.

Those floaters you see, are the beginning phases. I now have 70% of my vision back in the effected eye and should get 95+ before it is done.

 

[hemiram]

You're lucky. Two friends of mine, both in their early 60's have developed eye problems recently. One had a stroke and lost a lot of vision in one eye, and the other one has glaucoma, and a pretty bad case of it. He has damage to both eyes. He hadn't gone to the eye doctor for close to ten years and it burned him. I had a kidney scare, almost certainly due to taking a lot of NASID painkillers over the last 25 years due to a bad shoulder and later on, bad shoulders. Luckily, it was caught before any major damage was done, and I'm ok. I do hurt more than I used to, but it's not that big a deal, compared to dialysis that could have resulted if I hadn't caught it in time.

 

[mcdonl]

I have come to a conclusion... two really...

1 - Getting old sucks.
2 - Seeing things is pretty awesome

But, I am still interested in hearing about needing to switch eyes from dominate eye to "other" eye when it comes to using optics... I

Also, what about shooting with both eyes open using a scope. Is it the same or different than with open sights on a handgun?

 

[Carne Frio]

1. Getting old does suck.
2. The alternative is usually worse.
3. Yes, seeing is awesome.

 

[Trent]

I've shot left handed on bolt guns. (You have to switch to shooting off your off-shoulder to get a cheekweld and see through the optics..)

It's VERY strange .. at first.

My accuracy wasn't great - have to re-learn trigger control (the hardest part), your hold feels awkward, your cheekweld is strange, you can't get centered properly...

In short, it's like learning to shoot ALL OVER again.

Best advice I can give is grab a variable powered scope, a snap cap or expended (empty) casing. Set up at the furthest distance you can in your home from an object, set the scope as low as it will go so the target is clear, and sight in at a sticky target; off handed. Practice.. practice.. practice. If you don't have enough distance in your home try a window out the back yard at a sticky target on the back fence, garage, whatever you have available. (Just don't point the rifle out the front window or at a neighbors house, if someone happens to see you, you'll get a nasty summons by official visitors.)

It'll take several hundred iterations before your "off side" feels remotely competent and accuracy returns.

Not a bad thing to practice; when I'm evenly matched with a friend plinking, I'll often raise the challenge "Ok, offhand!"

"What, on rifles?!"

"Yup, shoulder up man, let's see what you got."