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Glaucoma, guys?

Old 11-12-18, 02:04 PM
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peterws
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Glaucoma, guys?

Reckon one or two o' ya might have experience of this. I been told to take drops to reduce eye pressure in order to forestall further damage to the optic nerve, which can result in peripheral vision loss, rendering driving (and riding a bike even) rather dangerous to one and all.

So, I'm interested in the drops you take, and your response to them. I've had latanoprost, (Xalaton) and bimatoprost (Lumigan) which both irritate the eyes and surrounding area. Also, Brinzolamide, which works differently, but does not cause eye soreness. It seems however, to have other side effects, exhaustion, increased allergy activity and loads of other more tecnincal horrendous medical stuff.

I got the exhaustion and allergy bit. It was dreadful, I never felt that bad before. Ah, well; seems like there are few forums or advisory centres concerning this subject, so I'm off to see the Opthalmologist come Wed . . . . .

Being a true man I refuse to suffer in silence . .
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Old 11-12-18, 03:37 PM
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fietsbob
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VA Portland Hospital Eye clinic, over 2 decades ,
they have put me on a number of different ones over that time
I'll go look for a few...

brimonidine
timolol maleate 2 different % contents
ofloxacin
prednisalone
dorzolamide-timolol combined
latanoprost these go in at night
and 20+ years ago a surgical trabeulectomy
follow up, a 2nd one and a cataract surgery, combined in my right eye...
more recently..





...
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Old 11-12-18, 04:04 PM
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There is an FDA approved laser treatment call sla or something like that, many people have good luck with it for reducing pressure. I am currently in middle of this, one eye done, it’s a very simple procedure takes about 15 minutes once they start. Medicare covers it so I would imagine many insurance companies would also. Basically they use a laser to burn a hole in something to reduce the pressure. My Dr. said it works best for people,who haven’t been on drops but it might be worth a try if you are having a lot of problems. It was my first choice as I really didn’t want to have to use drops if it doesn’t work well enough you can always use the drops. The success rate is pretty high.
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Old 01-02-19, 02:48 PM
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I have the peripheral vision lose in right eye and due to a optic vien getting *****ed I am sort of blind in the left, started this fight with drops 40 year ago at 17 y.o. So the aforementioned hitting at 57 I guess is not bad!! You sound like you are on the top end drugs, my advice is use them and you will not be me! This discomfort will subside given time. As someone else said I have been on the list of drops to lower or at least stop increase of IOP; the worst was Pilocarpine that blurred my vision bad I told the doctor who prescribed it that I would rather go blind later than now --- I was in college at the time! I have had cataract surgery (thank you Timoptic) I have a trabeculectomy in the right eye, laser trabeculectomy in the left twice both did little to lower pressure. This past June I had a shunt placed in the left to lower pressure with the addition of a fourth drop my pressure in that eye is under 17 in the left and at 17 in the right. The vein ***** has caused Neovascular growth (the eye want to drain the ino\coming blood so the brain sends "Grow vien messages to the eye" Good thing is there are new viens bad thing is THE VEINS DO NOT STOP GROWING!! That can be fixed with a injection on a certain schedule mine appears to be +/- every two months


Now all you guys who are new to glaucoma I give this as a horror story to say DO AS YOU ARE TOLD TO DO!! Remember my eyes had 35-40 years to go to heck; your mileage will vary!!
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Old 01-13-19, 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted by McCallum
I have the peripheral vision lose in right eye and due to a optic vien getting *****ed I am sort of blind in the left, started this fight with drops 40 year ago at 17 y.o. So the aforementioned hitting at 57 I guess is not bad!! You sound like you are on the top end drugs, my advice is use them and you will not be me! This discomfort will subside given time. As someone else said I have been on the list of drops to lower or at least stop increase of IOP; the worst was Pilocarpine that blurred my vision bad I told the doctor who prescribed it that I would rather go blind later than now --- I was in college at the time! I have had cataract surgery (thank you Timoptic) I have a trabeculectomy in the right eye, laser trabeculectomy in the left twice both did little to lower pressure. This past June I had a shunt placed in the left to lower pressure with the addition of a fourth drop my pressure in that eye is under 17 in the left and at 17 in the right. The vein ***** has caused Neovascular growth (the eye want to drain the ino\coming blood so the brain sends "Grow vien messages to the eye" Good thing is there are new viens bad thing is THE VEINS DO NOT STOP GROWING!! That can be fixed with a injection on a certain schedule mine appears to be +/- every two months


Now all you guys who are new to glaucoma I give this as a horror story to say DO AS YOU ARE TOLD TO DO!! Remember my eyes had 35-40 years to go to heck; your mileage will vary!!
I find the part about getting used to the drops very useful. Thx for that; I shall do it!
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Old 01-13-19, 07:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Baboo
There is an FDA approved laser treatment call sla or something like that, many people have good luck with it for reducing pressure. I am currently in middle of this, one eye done, it’s a very simple procedure takes about 15 minutes once they start. Medicare covers it so I would imagine many insurance companies would also. Basically they use a laser to burn a hole in something to reduce the pressure. My Dr. said it works best for people,who haven’t been on drops but it might be worth a try if you are having a lot of problems. It was my first choice as I really didn’t want to have to use drops if it doesn’t work well enough you can always use the drops. The success rate is pretty high.
I've also had this done. My father suffered from Glaucoma as well. Contrary to what some folks believe, the laser treatment doesn't drill little holes for additional fluid drain but rather scars tissues between existing drain to shrink tissue and pull the existing drains wider.
Only one eye exhibited troublesome pressure about 8-10 years ago. Pressure has remained very good without further treatment of any kind. My ophthalmologist views the daily drops as a last resort. You might want to ask your ophthalmologist about the procedure. It was very easy and just a bloodshot appearance for a day or so as I recall.
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Old 01-22-19, 06:42 AM
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I was diagnosed with glaucoma last year to go along with my cataract replacement lenses in both eyes and several retina detachments, some requiring laser surgery to repair. I went through several different eye drops with very poor results. Timolol almost put me in the hospital when it reacted with my blood pressure meds. I've had the laser surgery for glaucoma in both eyes. It worked for one and at first didn't work for the other. My pressures were hanging around 19/20 which is supposed to be "ok" but the doc was worried because he could already see some optic nerve damage.

At any rate when the drops started giving me trouble I saw my regular doctor and we determined that my blood pressure control meds had stopped being effective. At the time I was taking Vallsartin and we doubled the dose just before it was taken off the market because the Chinese manufacturers were found to be using a cancer causing material. Losartin now at the double dose rate. The eye doc was surprised that the pressures dropped off to 15/16 at that point because the two are not supposed to be related. He thinks the laser work that didn't seem to work at first finally took hold????

I agree though that the drops are a pain in the ass. Anything that slows my vision loss for another few years however will have to be lived with.
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