Laser Surgery

I wonder if anyone has experience with this laser surgery for glaucoma. My IOP's range fropm 12 to 17. I have been getting a great deal of vision loss at this range. I guess the laser would lower it even more??? How low can it go? This is really sort of scary as I though my pressures were low. Ususally they are 12 to 15. I did check with one of the chain vision places about refular and frequent checks and they said they dont do that unless you are actively using their services. I guess this means 'full service.' If anyone knows about this laser stuff it would be great to hear. Thanks

andrea - if you are having a great deal of vision loss, maybe you need to find a better glaucoma specialist. Did you consider Dr. Ritch in NY? You might also want to ask your doctor (or new doctor) about a 24 hour intraocular pressure exam with IOP and blood pressure measurements every 90 minutes while awake and every 2-3 hours while asleep (and supine). The measurement in the morning when you wake up should be supine followed by a seated exam.

andrea:

I did check with one of the chain vision places about regular and frequent IOP checks...

I don't recommend those vision chains for this. For frequent eye pressure exams (weekly or more frequent) find a local doctor of optometry. I have several that will work with me and they even offer me a "volume discount." One of these doctors of optometry does practice at my local WalMart (or Sam's Club actually), but I think the best bet is usually a totally independent doctor of optometry.

But keep my prior post in mind. If you are rapidly losing vision, you need to be examined on a much deeper level.

I have a glaucoma specialist and saw a neurologist optic nerve specialist. My understanding of the surgery would be to lower my pressures into the very low normal range.The doctor did say that there was no way to know how much fluctuation there was beteen visits and in case it goes higher at times, this surgery would make it very low so if it did go higher, it would be lower. I have had my head examined as well. I had a CT to see if anything was going on there. There wasnt anything said a neurologist. I really cant afford to travel to see someone like Dr. Ritch. I did have a few arrythmia episodes but they were not full blown arrests so I dont know if that would lessen the blood flow temporarily. I am not sure what else would be a deeper exam. A MRI would show blood flow but I cant have that test due to my implanted device. As for eye checks, my original doctor had a PHD and was an optometrist. I changed to a glaucoma specialist. To see her would be a expensice copay. The local big box stores dont have vision centers in them. I thik it is due to being in the middle of a city, they have limited space. They dont even have grocery stores with them like some of the big box stores, Target. I will check though on an independent doctor of optometry and see if there is any way to do this. My insurance isnt any help. It seems like the systems in place to help folks who do not have money, make ya get to the worst states before they help. It would cost less if they could intervene prior to that. Thanks for the great idea though

andrea - in your list of all the tests you've had done, I see a few very obvious (and critical) missing tests:

1. The diurnal (24-hour) intraocular pressure exam (with blood pressure).
2. A Pascal DCT intraocular pressure exam with full data for at least 1 minute (graphed by the DataWiz software).
3. An Ocular Response Analyzer exam.

If you haven't had those tests done, then you are missing critical information that could make the difference between maintaining your sight or not.

My insurance isn't any help either, so I can understand. But rather than say, "I can't afford to do that test..." I said, "I can afford to go blind." (However, to put my statement in perspective, one needs to fully understand the messages of loving what is and present moment awareness. That's a different conversation, however.)

This reminds me -- do you know how to use the Law of Attraction and/or manifestation? Those things are carried out on the basis of specific, practical mental skills. Going down that path is like becoming an athlete -- a mental, emotional and spiritual athlete. It is not a taxing process at all, but it is a process of building skills and applying those skills. It is the adoption of a can-do attitude. It is living in joy. It is letting go of stressful thoughts.

My specific recommendations to you are:

1. get the tests I mentioned above. They are not that expensive, and if needed, you could be creative to get them done more inexpensively.
2. read the FitEyes.com posts lists in my favorites: http://fiteyes.com/members/Dave/favorites/default.aspx
3. start working your way through the books (and DVDs) in my recommended resources lists: http://fiteyes.com/blogs/dave/2008/06/11/Recommended_2D00_Reading_2D00_FitEyes_2D00_Book_2D00_Club
   1. Make sure you watch Peaceful Warrior or one of the other uplifting "can-do" movies on my DVD list.
      
4. re-evaluate whether your current glaucoma specialist is providing the care you need. Maybe you should have a conversation with your specialist to address your concerns. Maybe you could point your specialist to FitEyes.com.
   

Thanks. I found out I did have the tests you mentioned except fot the 24 hour test. As to your response about the laws of attraction and/or manifestation, I agree and work on them. Money is the one area where I have stress. If I cant but food, I get stressed. I had my phone disconnected for 29 dollars. I went to the Public Utilities Commission and filed a complaint as that should not have happened. I rarely use it though. I would rather speak face to face as it is more joyous. I also am doing physical theapy to try to walk. That would help a great deal.I posted a reply to a recent blog of yours about my DR becoming mor e progressive. If I have an extra 200 dollars, I would first pay my budget gas bill. The next extra would be the electric and the water bills. The next would be the phone/internet and gas for my car. If I had all these one month ahead I would be less stressed to pay 200 for a doctors visit. Golly gee though, I pay 600 a month insurance premium, they should pay for all the second opinions I would maybe need. I really dont lke the state of our health care system. The copays and co-insurance fees are an extra 200 a month. So half of my income already goes to healthcare. It should cover what I would consider reasonable. Oh I found I have many of the books on your list and many the authors wrote previously. The new ones will be on my future list but I did contact the library. They take time to get the newer books and then they are listed. Thank you.

To reply to my reply, I did have the SLT. It was no big deal, I drove myself home after it. The biggest change so far is a decrease in my near sightedness in that eye. DR said the nerve may be getting more blood flow so the cells 'on the edge' were restarting to function.This is related to the eye exercises by playing video games-one eye at a time. I am re reading many books. The parts I found helpful in particular were already marked by m so some was easy. It works well thet my eyes fatigue easily. It gives me a chance to think about what I read. On a more uneducated note, What are Tags? Below where it says to select tags, what is that? Thanks a bunch.

Hi Andrea - I'm glad your SLT went well. Glad it was no big deal.

Tags are simply a way to categorize the messages here on FitEyes.com. You can add tags to any messages you post. For example, you could tag a message with "SLT". You can also search by tags to find messages that other uses have tagged with certain terms.

Tags are a bit like folders except you can put several tags on a message whereas you can only put an item in one folder at a time.

I tagged this message "FitEyes.com Site Help". Searching for that tag, you will find other messages about using FitEyes.com.

 I had SLT about six months ago. I had learned that younger patients such as myself don't really benefit from SLT , so I questioned the specialists and didn't really get a reply. They wanted to go ahead anyway and as predicted did nothing, or at least no-one has explained to me whether it has or hasn't. My pressures after SLT were around 18 but then got up to 30, so I am still on medication.  We are made to believe that SLT and surgery or even drops are "no big deal ". To me however, it is a big deal. SLT can sometimes make IOP higher, surgery can cause blindness immediately,not to mention worrying about leaking blebs for the rest of your life, and God knows what years of using drops will do to our bodies. So what do we do? That is why we are here .

Hi Dora1 - Wow! Thank you for sharing that.