Readers tell writer to get her eyes checked

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This article was published 13/04/2018 (3054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Readers: There’s been a flurry of letters in response to the woman who signed herself Going Crazy?, who has been seeing things that sparkle like fireflies at night in her bedroom. Her husband can’t see them, and she wondered if the lights were something supernatural. Readers who have responded to her warn it could be a serious eye problem.

It’s always good to hear the medical side of things, and especially from those with personal and/or professional experience. Thanks to everyone who promptly wrote in on this since it’s important this woman get help right away. Here are some of their urgent letters:

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I had a similar experience a few years ago. I would turn the lights out to go to sleep and would see little sparkles up by the ceiling. Sometimes during the day, I would also see tiny flashes of light as I was walking down the hallway and rounding a corner. As it turned out, these incidents were a precursor/warning of a detached retina. — M.R., Winnipeg

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I, too, saw fireflies when I knew it wasn’t probable. I called our vision centre and was sent to an eye clinic where I was diagnosed with PVD: Posterior Vitreous Detachment. PVD is common as we age and occurs when the vitreous gel behind the eye separates from the retina. It can be serious if the retina tears. This lady should get her eyes checked. — R.R., Stonewall

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Seeing flashing lights that no one else does, especially if they occur in one eye and during the day as well, needs checking into by a medical doctor or eye specialist. This may be a sign of an intraocular problem such as retinal detachment which needs prompt attention to avoid permanent visual impairment. — R.R., Winnipeg

Dear Readers: People are also responding to Helpless Mom in Tuxedo, who is furious because her friend started secretly dating her son. Here are two of those letters:

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Boy, did you miss the boat answering the letter from Helpless Mom, Tuxedo. Somewhere in your reply, which for the most part was well-written, should have been a comment on the writer’s double standard, which is just a variant on the NIMBY complex. Any of her friend’s dalliances, if not, in fact, all of them, were somebody’s son! — Old White Privileged Male, Man

Dear Old White Privileged Male: You have a good point. The “Not In My Back Yard” reaction, sarcastically known as the NIMBY complex, is certainly at play in this situation. A woman listened happily enough to her friend’s stories of conquests of young men, but then went crazy when she found out the friend had started sleeping with her son in his 20s. The son told his mom to mind her own business because he’s of age and he was going to continue to see her friend if he liked.

I suggested a trick — that she call up the cougar, pretend she missed her and hint that she would renew her friendship when she was no longer dating her son, and that might hurry things along if the friend has a short attention span anyway. Then the mom could renege on the re-friending. There’s no honour among thieves.

And then there was this note from a regular responder to my column…

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I know you will not be able to do so, but I’d like to help out the friend of Helpless Mom, Tuxedo. Those types of women drive me crazy. I would love to be dominated sexually by them. Makes my heart race. — Cheers! G

Dear G.: You’re right: you’re on your own with this, pal. By the way, a cougar is not necessarily a dominatrix. Cougars just dig young men and expect them to be vigorous and grateful for the experience to be with an older woman.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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