Retinal detachment requires prompt treatment
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have never seen you write about retinal detachment. It’s an important topic. I’d like to tell your readers what happened to me.
Since I was in the eighth grade, I have worn glasses for nearsightedness. Through the years, the prescription got stronger and stronger, but I managed well. I traded them in for contact lenses. One day while doing ordinary housework, I saw flashing lights and a bunch of floaters. I called my daughter, who immediately drove me to the emergency room. The eye doctor who examined me discovered the problem and fixed it right away. He said that I would have lost sight in that eye if I hadn’t been treated. I would like everyone to know what this is. — N.H.
ANSWER: Your story is deeply appreciated. Retinal detachment is something all should know about.
The retina is the back part of the eye. It’s a multilayered affair composed of special cells and nerves. The retinal cells convert incoming light into nerve signals, and the nerves conduct those signals to the brain. We really see with our brains.
The retina can pull away from the back of the eye for a number of reasons. Diabetes, sickle cell disease and eye inflammations can loosen the retina’s attachment. Eye injury is a cause. Perhaps nearsightedness (myopia) is the greatest cause. Nearsighted people can’t see things at a distance clearly because their eyes have elongated. Incoming light is not focused properly on the retina, so distant objects (and the distance doesn’t have to be all that great) are fuzzy.
Everyone has some floaters, tiny black dots that dart around a person’s visual field. A shower of floaters, however, is a sign of retinal detachment. So are momentary flashes of light. Sometimes a curtain descends over the field of vision, and that’s another sign of a detaching retina.
As you say, quick treatment is important to preserve vision in the affected eye. Eye doctors can effect reattachment in a number of ways. One popular method is the use of a laser beam to weld the retina back in place.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I live alone, and I don’t like to cook. My diet, therefore, is somewhat lacking in vegetables and fruits. Can’t I get all the benefits that come from eating those foods by taking a vitamin pill? Do frozen foods have as much nourishment as fresh foods? — H.K.
ANSWER: You probably can meet all your vitamin and mineral requirements by taking supplements, but it’s not the best way to get them. Vitamins and minerals from food seem to be absorbed more readily. Furthermore, supplements lack fiber, something essential to good health. I don’t want to pass judgment, but people who don’t do any cooking often have a diet high in fats and carbohydrates — not the ideal diet.
You don’t have to do much preparation to eat many vegetables and most fruits. Frozen vegetables and fruits often have more nutrients than so-called fresh produce. They’re frozen soon after picking. Canned fruits and vegetables lose a little percentage of their nutrients, but not all that much.
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: My left ankle swelled and began to hurt, but I didn’t injure it. It’s still hurts and is slightly swollen. I haven’t seen a doctor. I have been in good health except for a bout of diarrhea two weeks before this happened. Could these two things be related? I thought I had stomach flu. — B.F.
ANSWER: They could be related. There’s such a thing as reactive arthritis. It’s pain and swelling in one or a few joints that comes on suddenly. It follows an intestinal infection or a sexually transmitted infection. Salmonella infections, the same Salmonella you read about as causing food poisoning, can cause reactive arthritis. Joints of the leg are the most often targeted.
You need to see a doctor. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicines usually can control this joint problem; however, if the involved germ is a sexually transmitted germ, you need antibiotic treatment. And if a diarrhea germ is the cause and is still in your stool, you also might need treatment.
Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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