It's been awhile since I've posted. While in the process of being evaluated in November 2005 for a possible second bypass (EDAS) due to occlusion of my left STA-MCA, I quickly deteriorated.  I had a cerebral angiogram as part of that workup. When they injected the dye into the right side it felt like a bullet went through my head and I saw stars, etc. At first I just thought it was an extremely unpleasant experience, but then the following weeks I noticed my vision would get blurry and the computer screen was harder to focus on. Then the last week of December I woke up with double vision which still persists. I was admitted to the hospital and received IV dexamethasone in huge doses to try to control the inflammation from my lymphocytic hypophysitis which I have in addition to moya moya. When I was discharged I noticed the vision in my right eye was different. Everything appeared darker, smaller, distorted, and there is a constant "shadow" in the central portion of my vision. This WAS my good eye. I have seen an ophthalmolgist, a retinal specialist who said I have a retinal pigment epithelial detachment and central serous retinopathy. There is also a probable optic nerve component to this and I fear I have permanent damage as I have noticed no improvement since being discharged the first week of January. I know there are several components going on here, both vascular and inflammatory, so difficult to pinpoint exactly what caused this and I sincerely hope no one here has experienced this, but if anyone has I would really like to hear of your experience.

hi heide

i have only had one angiogram, october last year and i too felt pain and incredible discomfort - and saw stars! - when the dye was injected...

i didn't have any ongoing vision problems from this, however for the past 5-6 years i have had problems with blurred vision, temporary vision loss etc... (never any problems found by optometrists - i had a light prescription which never really solved much) which my surgeon thinks is resulting from occlusions of my arteries in the basilar region.

after my next direct bypass, my surgeon is hoping that the increased bloodflow from both sides (i had one side done in november) might "open" up the MM affected arteries in the basilar region.. but we have no idea if this may work. otherwise we are speaking of surgery in the vertebrobasilar arteries later this year.
i wonder if you could have had a small stroke in the basilar region during your angiogram?
do you know whether or not your angiogram showed occlusions/stenoses in the basilar region? it's a very rare occurance but i'd be asking questions!!

best of luck.

Hey Heide,
So sorry to hear of your problems with your vision.
I can't help you with that but I can tell you that the pain from your angiogram comes from lack of blood flow. I had the same excruciating pain with the first angio I ever had, to diagnose MM and when I was told to have a follow up angio after my first STA-MCA bypass I was dreading it, but there was no pain whatsoever, as my blood flow was vastly improved to before. As far as I know, the pain you experienced on only one side comes from the lack of blood flow on that side, so your blood flow must be sufficient on the other side. Hope this helps
Moira

My son Michael (11-years old) has MoyaMoya.  He recently began complaining about blurred vision.  I'm not sure why his vision is occasionally blurry, but I'll discuss it with his neurologist when he sees her again.  Thanks.