Hi,
I think the breathing problems (at least the ones explained during the hospitalization) was due to the extreme fatigue and stress from all the gagging that was happening as they put the scope down my throat to look at my stomach (the medicine that i was on was causing severe acid reflux - which was aggravated by a hyatal hernia that i have - a hyatal hernia is where part of the stomach comes back up through the opening for the esophagus in the diaphragm) and they were checking for any signs of esophageal erosion from the acid that was coming back up all the time.

The vision problems alone, have been longstanding (i don't know if i have mentioned that before) but they have been long standing since at least the age of 7. I was dx w/ esophoria (a eye misalignment that the brain can compensate for) but my family was in denial about it so i never got treatment.

Fast forward to age 23 when I tried to drive and found out that i couldn't see past the end of the car, i was seen by a ophthalmologist in my college town who immediately referred me to Medical college of Georgia where i was seen by an ophthalmologist who specialized in strabismus (eye misalignment).

by the time that i saw her initially i was at 12 prism diopters and by the time i had surgery I was at 28 prism diopters (i elected to finish college before having the surgery b/c I didn't want to disrupt my academic pursuit by the unknown of what that surgery would do. I do not regret that decision.).

as a frame of reference on the prism diopters 6 prism diopters is considered severe eye misalignment.

I was at that in high school (when i first realized that i had double vision when driving - i had it other times too but my brain had learned to compensate for it when walking - driving at 60 mph or less was more than my brain could compensate for and thus severe double vision).

I didn't make an issue of it with my family at that time, if i even told them b/c i didn't want to loose my driving privileges that i had just gotten (i do regret that decision)! Plus I was in the midst of a domestic violence situation with my alcoholic step dad and i didn't want them to THINK that i had been drinking which is what i was always taught was the sole cause of double vision! (i don't drink to this day, never have but I don't think they wouldn't have accepted it at that time that i wasn't drinking - they do now).

the surgery that i had at age 23 is a surgery that normally is done at age 3!!!!

anyway, that might help explain somethings that i had forgotten to say earlier. let me know if that helps this make any more sense.

BTW when you have double vision that sometimes your brain can compensate for and sometimes it can't that can be very distressing, especially when your brain decides that it can no longer compensate during driving! That might could account for the anxiety attacks!