Hi Dr. Forred,
About five weeks back I was planning a flying trip but the weather did not cooperate and I had to take the airlines and as usual I ended up with a nasty head and sinus cold. Around the fourth day of the cold I woke up and found that my left eye would converge on my right and I had double vision. I saw an ophthalmologist and he told me I had a 6th nerve palsy that could have been from the cold virus, blown blood vessel caused by a sneeze or something else and there was no way to tell the cause. He said, there was no treatment but it would most likely clear up in 4 to 6 months. He suggested I see my PCP and have him run some tests to rule out more serious things. My PCP ordered up some labs, EKG, MRI and carotid ultrasound which all came back ok. My blood pressure was a little high (160/80), and my LDL was 162 with a total cholesterol of 227. So he put me on Lisinopril/HCTZ 10-12mg and Zocor 20mg. I do suffer from “white coat high BP” and still had the cold.
My eye mostly cleared up in the first week or so and now at 5 weeks I would say its 99.5% normal, we rechecked the BP at three weeks and it was 130/76. I believe the eye problem was partly caused by the nasal spray and menthol-lyptus drops I used the night before the problem occurred, never used that spray brand before.
I am due to renew my 3rd class medical in August and wondering what sort of issues I face? What paperwork do I need to get from the ophthalmologist and my PCP? This will be the first time reporting being on BP medicaiton.
Thanks,
Jim
About five weeks back I was planning a flying trip but the weather did not cooperate and I had to take the airlines and as usual I ended up with a nasty head and sinus cold. Around the fourth day of the cold I woke up and found that my left eye would converge on my right and I had double vision. I saw an ophthalmologist and he told me I had a 6th nerve palsy that could have been from the cold virus, blown blood vessel caused by a sneeze or something else and there was no way to tell the cause. He said, there was no treatment but it would most likely clear up in 4 to 6 months. He suggested I see my PCP and have him run some tests to rule out more serious things. My PCP ordered up some labs, EKG, MRI and carotid ultrasound which all came back ok. My blood pressure was a little high (160/80), and my LDL was 162 with a total cholesterol of 227. So he put me on Lisinopril/HCTZ 10-12mg and Zocor 20mg. I do suffer from “white coat high BP” and still had the cold.
My eye mostly cleared up in the first week or so and now at 5 weeks I would say its 99.5% normal, we rechecked the BP at three weeks and it was 130/76. I believe the eye problem was partly caused by the nasal spray and menthol-lyptus drops I used the night before the problem occurred, never used that spray brand before.
I am due to renew my 3rd class medical in August and wondering what sort of issues I face? What paperwork do I need to get from the ophthalmologist and my PCP? This will be the first time reporting being on BP medicaiton.
Thanks,
Jim