Boomer Alert: Glaucoma is the Sneak Thief of Sight
It is called the “sneak thief of sight” for a reason: The diagnosis, closed angle glaucoma, the most uncommon form, was given to me just one month shy of her 47th birthday. Dr. Shrader says “There had been significant damage to her optic nerve, and she had four surgeries after taking Xalatan in both eyes and Cosopt in her right (she has higher pressure in her right eye than her left) to stop the disease from progressing. Since that did not work she had 4 surgeries to help save the sight she had left.”
As a glaucoma patient, now 54, the importance of proper eye health care and eyesight education is vital to our well-being.
I slowly started noticing a loss of sight but thought to myself, oh I’m getting older, and I probably just need my prescription changed. I went to my optometrists and was told nothing to worry about…dry eye syndrome. My sight and discomfort did not seem to be getting better so I went to an ophthalmologist. He was astounded by the levels of my eye pressure and sent me to see a glaucoma specialist immediately.
I have seen Dr. Rob Shrader, Dr. Harry Quigley and Dr. George Spaeth the best in the world and there is nothing they can do to bring my sight back. So……… Ophthalmologists strongly advise… GET YOUR EYES CHECKED It takes an hour out of your life every two years. My sight will never come back. I am blind in one eye and have limited sight in the other. This has changed my life completely.
Let me underscore…. get your eyes checked.
Years pass before patients notice vision loss — an absence of symptoms while damage is done and sight is stolen with no way to get it back. I know all about it, because it happened to me!In the summer of 2002 my sight started getting blurry and I went to get my sight checked …I went to the optometrist and he said “dry eye syndrome that it was not anything to worry about so I got the drops that he advised me to get and went on my merry way. Soon after that I noticed I wasn’t seeing steps that my visual perception was being affected and went back to the optometrist. He sent me on a neurologist thinking I had a brain tumor or Multiple Sclerosis. The fear was overwhelming and I called Dr. Richard Eiferman, a friend of mine who is a leading ophthalmologist and world reknown for his cornea transplants. He sent me to Dr. Rob Shrader and my pressure was 55 in one eye and 30 in the other. He gave me medication, drops, and I was there for 6 hours that day and every other day for the next two months. The doctors were very concerned about saving my sight. I was treated with drops and went to Dr. Shrader every two days to get my pressure checked. The most common treatment to lower eye pressure, is usually with prescription eye drops.
The medication didn’t work and I had four surgeries to help reduce the pressure and save my remaining sight … it has changed my life completely. I was in numerous car accidents before I realized something was wrong, lost my job, had back, knee and hip problems due to falling and became depressed and worried about my future.
If you want more information about glaucoma, read my article on ezine.com Boomer Alert: Glaucoma is the Sneak Thief of Sight
smbizguru 7:51 pm on February 5, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
This was a really great post and a very important topic. You’re a shining example of how important it is to watch this aspect of your health.
Janie Behr 10:31 pm on February 15, 2009 Permalink | Log in to Reply
thank you very much.