Hi
@PenguinMum, I know exactly what you are going through!! I had a Central Retinal Vein Occlusion about four years ago.
I don't post much these days but still look from time to time and thought I really need to respond to this!
Scary! Is an understatement! When I first had mine I was told by a registrar to 'go away and see if your vision clears and we'll see you in a couple of weeks!' They were the worse couple of weeks... I don't know how your occlusion is affecting your eye sight? But mine was hopeless and I even gave up driving at that time and was scared to death that I was going blind!
When I returned to clinic, which you are scheduled to do, I saw my consultant and they they went into overdrive! Basically checking that everything else in my body was okay. So I had numerous blood tests to check my stroke risk and an angiogram to the back of the eye. This involves putting fluorescein dye into a small cannulla in your hand (exactly the same as if you were having a 'drip' in hospital), this then shows in detail the state of veins specifically to the back of your eye.
And then the injections! I was absolutely dreading those! But I can honestly say they were a amazing for me as I had been going around at this point for several weeks before my injection with limited sight and couldn't believe the difference it made to my eyesight, to me it was miraculous! I now still drive and do all the things I used to do with the exception of reading, which I love and succumbed to the kindle simple so I can 'up' the font!
I worried hugely about the risk of stroke and when I signed the consent form for the injections it highlighted the risk of stroke from the injections and I must admit I convinced myself I was going to have one!! But I think if your eye clinic is 'on the ball' excuse the pun, they should have exhausted the risk factors to a certain degree.
Sorry for the long winded post when you were asking about statins! I don't take statins, simply because I tried, not because of the eye problems but simply because on my 40th birthday I was offered them as a present
I tried them, but couldn't tolerate them! My cholesterol is mainly 'good' cholesterol so no one has pushed them since. I do however take 75mg Aspirin a day on advice from my eye specialist but everybody is different so you really need to be guided by your specialist.
A very close friend of mine also had a vein occlusion (branch) and although she still went through all the same tests to the back of her eye she had required fewer injections to get on top of hers, but has been told she may still need them in the future. She is not diabetic.
Please PM me if you would like to talk, I know this a hard time!
Nina