The most important year of my life

The story of Justine

I was 20 years old and in my final year at University, I spent 2 months with severe headaches and eye pain. It was affecting my job and affecting my school work, so I finally went to the doctor, she did an examination and told me my eye wasn’t moving and she was sending me to the hospital immediately. 

I spent a week in the hospital with people from every department. They told me all the different things it could be and begun ruling each one out after each test I had. I was told Orbital Myositis was the likely culprit and was referred for a biopsy on my eye to confirm this. During this time I was suffering from double vision and couldn’t go to my lectures because I couldn’t even read the board! My dissertation was due in a month and I hadn’t even begun because I couldn’t read the screen on my computer. 

The hospital’s optician gave up his lunch break to see me and put a prism in my glasses so I could see one image again! I had 5 months of work to do in one month… I did it in the end and I successfully graduated!

I finally had my official diagnosis of Orbital Myositis 6 months later, it made it easier when it had a name. I’d like to thank my family for their support, as well as my friends and work colleagues and the amazing staff at Lincoln County Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary for being my support and making this disease something I didn’t have to be scared of anymore.

*Find others with Myositis on RareConnect, the online platform for people affected by rare diseases