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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Glaucoma / March 2004Just Diagnosed
Hi, I have just been told I have got Claucoma in my left eye. They are going to refer me to another doctor to find out what medicine to put me on. I had trouble with one test, but what if they are wrong what will this medicine do? Are there any side effects? Glad for any comments. Bryan > I have just been told I have got Claucoma in my left eye. They are going to > refer me to another doctor to find out what medicine to put me on. I had > trouble with one test, but what if they are wrong what will this medicine > do? Are there any side effects? There are often side effects to the various drops, and you may have to try 2 o3 3 medications to find out the one that suits you best. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Bryan Even if you specialist is incorrect and you are started on medicines in error, they essentially all work by lowering your eye pressure to slow or prevent further optic nerve damage. On the other hand, different medications have different side effects. I can't answer what the side effects are until you tell us what medicine they want to start you on. --Rick Cohn, MD Glaucoma Specialist Winter Park, FL Hi There, Have same - problem, I am 31 y old and just have been diagnosed in the left eye, Right seems to better - but there was also some nerve damage observed. I did the thorough checkup of my eyes because I am now 7 yrs diabetic and I knew that I can have several different types of eye complications. Unfortunately .... HRT scan showed that left eye as "borderline" and right as ok. But later another test (GDX) showed that both eyes have some nerve damage. I have plenty of different results with me but so far do not understand what they mean. Doctor did not have time to really brief me what they find out or what each measure really means or what my perspectives are. I just know that this is relatively early stage (I don't have yet any vision problems). Unfortunately my case seems to be more problematic becuase IOP are within normal range (i did 2 day tests, 5 times a day and both eyes were around 15 all the time). Anyway doctor decided that since it is now recomended to lower IOP even if they are in the "normal" limit - so I am now on Xalatan. After next 10 days I will have another IOP tests to see if it works. Anyway my questions are: 1. I am 31 and I intend to live long :) - can I go for say next 40 yrs without getting really big vision problems due to glaucoma? I know knowbody can really predict - but I am interested if say my chances are 10% or 50% or 80%? 2. What are most important of the factors that I had measured (apart from IOP)? Cup/disk ratio, Disk area, cup area? NFI, TSNIT????? hell I don't have idea what they mean - and I am type that really wants to know what the hell is happening. 3. How important is to keep same hour of Xalatan drops? I live active life so sometimes I take it at 8pm, other day I take it at 11pm - does it make a difference? Thanks for all info / advice Jarek > Anyway my questions are: > 1. I am 31 and I intend to live long :) - can I go for say next 40 yrs [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > life so sometimes I take it at 8pm, other day I take it at 11pm - does > it make a difference? > Dear Jarek, Most of us concentrate on the C/D ratio, but really, it is the appearance of your nerve, especially the health of the rim that matters...that is not labeled numerically but rather descriptively by most docs. I can't give you exact percentages of your risk of losing vision over a lifetime, but I can tell you that studies have shown that lowering IOP in low tension glaucoma does help to slow progressive visual field loss. The most important thing is to look for progressive changes on the HRT and GDX as well as on visual fields. Relax...it sounds like you are doing all of the right things. You may want to seek out an ophthalmologist who has more time to answer your questions. There are some of us out there. Don't worry about the specific time you use your Xalatan. I tell patients to put it in right before going to bed, but if you're off by an hour or two, don't worry. At least you're using it. Take care, Rick Cohn, MD Glaucoma Specialist Winter Park, FL Hi, Thanks for info and encouragement. For the last 10 days I ve had lots of questions popping to my head - especially as I wrote that I feel I did not get sufficient info from my doc yet. Some of the questions / worries are below, so would welcome all input but I will try to get this info from him - have another appointement in 10 days time. I have tried to look and some stats on the web and get info on the level of progression of glaucoma yearly. All info I found was that according to Mayo Clinic research people treated for glaucoma in the very early stage have 14% chances of getting one eye blind within 20yrs. (If glaucoma is detected late then this probablility is 54%) In some other study I've found that on avarage vision loss is around 2-3% yearly (study was about some other glaucoma stuff and stated that this info is not yet confirmed by thorough research). That does not look too encouraging (means that 10yrs usually brings significant changes). Hmm, well my attitude is that I will try to do all possible to stop progression and try not to worry about things I cannot control. In my case (diabetes) i will try to control it even better because I suspect this could be major factor of nerve damage (will not forget eye drops though of course). Are there any lifetime changes advised for glaucoma? Things I should / should not do/eat/drink? Drugs (medicins) you cannot take. Unproven but harmless herbal remdies etc? Thanks again Jarek > Most of us concentrate on the C/D ratio, but really, it is > the appearance of your nerve, especially the health of the rim that [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > Glaucoma Specialist > Winter Park, FL > Hi There, > Have same - problem, I am 31 y old and just have been diagnosed in the [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > Thanks for all info / advice > Jarek Dr Cohn has given you excellent advice. You are wise to take the precautions to screen for complications early. In case you are not already aware, there are tons of useful information relevant to your case in the world wide web. Just use one of the search engines such as google, type in keys words such as low tension glaucoma, HRT, GDX, ete etc, and you will be delighted with the results. Good luck. Sun Chong Hong, a fellow glaucoma patient. Bryan, I was about 31 years old when diagnosed, and am now 67. While there has been some deterioration of my visual fields as demonstrated on examinations, I still see just fine. Follow doctor's orders, and don't be upset! Don Singleton > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Bryan |
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