During my flu or whatever it was, I felt so bad, I neglected keeping the left eye "maintenanced" as I should. I'm paying dearly for it now!

I've got crust that the warmest, wettest washcloth won't touch! I've got a blob of thick mucous hindering my vision, that the fake tears won't touch. The eyelid is more red again also.

I don't know why my Dr. can't give me something that will cut and thin (eliminate?) that garbage in that eye completely, when I get up with it like this!

I'll probably be calling his office again Monday! :mad:

I don't know why my Dr. can't give me something that will cut and thin (eliminate?) that garbage in that eye completely, when I get up with it like this!


I think this is what we all want. :)

I have been neglecting my eyes a little bit also. (and I'm sure I'll be yelled at for that at my next visit to the eye dr.) But I just had surgery on wednesday and I've been taking Vicodin (prescription pain medicine) and sleeping so much that I haven't been putting in the tears or allergy drops nearly as much as I should be. But you know what? I am in the house 24/7 so my eyes aren't bothering me nearly as much as they do when I go outside. We know I have severe outdoor allergies but the allergy drops don't help much. :(

Isn't it really gross when you have so much mucus and crap in your eyes? It is the worst feeling.

Howdy, Alyse! I think we're getting back in the groove now. I think I said how sick I'd been, to the e.r. twice with flu-like stuff week before last. Weird thing is the lab said it wasn't flu, so I don't know on that.

Yep, got up with the usual eyeful of goop today. How I ever get an accurate fit for glasses with that in there is beyond me!

Surgery! Holy Mack'el! Well, I sure hope you're doing good from that. I'm sorry that you are housebound. I'd go crazy if I couldn't get out. (I'm half crackers anyway!:D)
Maybe they will come out with something that will help our eyes better, before long.

Well, that's all I know for now. Hope you have a better day. We shore as shootin' deserve that!;)

I am doing better now. Almost completey recovered. I had to have an IV port put in so that I could get this new medicine that just came out for MS treatment. I got the surgery and then had to spend 7 hours at the ER last night ebcause there was a problem that needed to be fixed immediately. I came home, went to sleep and woke up and it's all over the news that this medicine killed somebody and is being pulled from the market until they can do further analysis. If you want to read my griping and complaining it's on the MS board! (all I can say is that when my surgeon hears about this, that he may have out this port in for nothing, he is going to be shocked to say the least!)

I was so upset last night at the ER and this morning with the news, that I've spent about 2 hours crying hysterically. My life has just been one big roller coaster. So, my eyes are just TERRIBLE right now! Terrible, terrible, terrible! Goopy and dry and hurting and itching and burning. One would think that crying would be good for somebody with dry, goopy eyes, right? No. It just washes out all the good tears that U have and replaces them with watery ones that aren't worth anything. All I have to say now about my situation, especially my eyes, is #@!$&%$# %$#@!&% %$&#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Grrrrrrr!!!! ! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Am very sorry to hear this.

((((Alyse))))

Awwwww, thanks.

How are your eyes feeling? I hope you are fully recovered from your flu.

Hello, Alyse! Well, I'm fully recovered, I "think". Doing pretty well for an old dog.:D
I was going to post at you that I had to resort to Q-Tipping this a.m.! I had a world class first prize blue ribbon chunk of goopus in that left eye!

Man, I soaked it in hot rags, artificial teared it, did all I knew to do!
Finally, out of desperation and being ready to kick th' cat, I got a Q-Tip and decided to see what would happen. I thought "If I touch the eye, OUCH! but I might get it out!" Well, lo' & beholdin', I touched only the upper eyelid, and it grabbed that ugly piece of hamburger and pulled it right off my eye! Talk about proud?! I thought I had landed a 20 pound bass!:D :D

This may sound like an Andy Griffith funny tale, but it shore as shootin' happened.! Henceforth, me thinks I will deal with the crud with a Q-Tip after I first try to soften it good with warm rags, etc.

That's my grim little story for tonight.

Hoping you feel okay.

Talkin' later~

LOL, you make me laugh. :)

I'm certainly glad that you didn't poke yourself in the with the q-tip. (go try and explain that one to your eye doctor!) My eye doctor cringes when I tell him that I pluck the mucus out with a q-tip! I've also removed several eyelashes that were just sitting ther einside of the lower lid. If they are too close to the eyeball I don't touch it, and I call him and scream for help. But some I can get on my own.

Have you tried lid scrubs to get the gunk off? I tried the one made by OcuSoft. I thought it was OK. Cleaned my lids pretty well. I just haven't gotten around to buying it. Gonna ask the doctor for more samples when I see him on saturday. My eyes haven't been too goopy, just very very dry. Painfully dry. Sigh, if it's not one thing it's another.

Talk to you soon,

Elyse

Howdy, Elyse! Dangies, I was misspelling your name, but I got it in my head now.
Yep, I was sooo proud I got that bird dropping out of my eye. I told that hooty owl he needs to roost somewheres else besides my eye!:D
I almost hate to tell you what a good day I've had, but the eyes have been clear all day! That'll never happen again in a blue moon, but it did today.

Those Q-Tips really are handy. I use this magnifying mirror and I can really tell what's going on when I do my amateur "surgeries".;)

Say, I see the eye doc come sunup, and I'm gonna ask him about those lid scrubs! Thanks for reminding me of those.

Well, despite the better day, I too have had the dryness. I didn't tell that right, but really with these probs we have, there is no perfect days, maybe just better ones. Since the illness, I've had my rt. eye especially, to burn like fire, then of course, "lefty" has to sympathize with it and tune up with burning too.

Any-who, I'm glad your eyes haven't been as goopy today. That's a tiny bonus when they're better.

I'm glad I cheered you up. I like to make folks laugh and try to spread some happiness along the way. I figure that's what God wants us to do, so I try to do my thing.;)

Well, I don't know a whole hootin' lot more, about told it all for now. Guess I'll fade into the polluted sunset for this installment. Hope those eyes stay goopless and of course, praying all goes better for ya'.

Yakkin' later

~Tony

lol, you really do crack me up. :)

My eyes actually have not been too terrible lately. Not good, but not bad. My dr said my corneas look better. I think it is because I am using thicker tear drops. But they make my eyes really crusty.

I am worried about my eyes because every time I get sick with an upper respiratory type infection, I tend to develop pink eye. I have a really bad case of strep throat right now. My eyes have been extra sticky, so I'm watching them carefully.

I actually forgot to ask my dr for samples of the lid scrubs, and I could kick myself because he's away right now and I didn't really want to buy them until I am positive that I'm not allergic to them.

Howdy! Good to see ya' again. Sure am sorry to learn about that strep throat. When it rains, it floods! We'll just pray it doesn't cause pink eye again.

Well, I'm in a new pair of glasses tonight, and the battle is on! My eyes seem so hard to fit anymore. They seem weak at distances,(with the new ones) and diagonal lines running one way are sharp, while the other direction diagonals are blurred. I think if the eyes do strengthen in to these specks, that should resolve. I'm going to give them a few days and see what happens. I'm so sensitive to bodily changes and my eyes are no exception!

Well, "corn"fession time arriveth! I was better, so I cancelled the appt. with the eye doc. I've not had any of that stringy stuff, and have been a bit better the past few days.

Well, I do hope you are well soon with no eye complications from that.

I'm kinda tired from battling the new specks, so will fade for now. The TV is on the blurry side, and that's a downer right now!

Yakkin' at ya' later, gator~

My eyes are feeling pretty crappy right now, Burning and itching, and very goopy. I might go bother my very favorite eye doctor over the weekend.

Give the new glasses a few days. It takes a while to get used to new glasses. It took a long time for us to get the right prescription for me, because my eyes were always so darn goopy and dry during the vision tests!

Found lots of goop in my eyes tosay. It was clear, and really really thick, and sticky like glue. Yuck.

Too much computer time I think. :(

Hey, ((((Elyse))))--Sorry I'm late getting back to ya'. Last week was a royal butt-kicker. It's a long off topic story, but I had some medication manufacturer problems. Drugstore changed the only brand I can take, and I went through the hot place finding another outlet for my brand of med. Two days of ultra stress!:eek: I was out of that med too!

Sure am sorry you're goopy today. I went back to the optom, and she checked the left eye again. Shore 'nuff it had changed gears on me again! I think I have unstable astigmatism in that eye, if there is such a condition! So, she carved out another Rx for me to take to the optical, and told me to have 'em save the other lens in case my shifty lefty changes again. This is what I call aggrafrettin'!:D Sometimes, I think I need my ******' sent back to the factory and rewired! They got my wires crossed in the visual circuits.:D

Well, I'll go for now. Never give up on me, if I'm late--it'll be because I'm getting my Texas butt kicked again.;)

God Bless,

I wouldm't giove up on you. :) I know life can be hectic, and healthboards isn't the only thing people have to do!

My eyes are goopy again this morning, with a little yellow stuff coming out of the right one. I don't have any time to go to the eye dr this week though. I've got to do parent teacher conferences and professional development after work this week. It's going to be hellish.

Do you see an optometrist or an ophthalmologist?

A few years ago I had been seeing a different ophthalmologist. She was our family eye doctor for years and years. I wanted contact lenses, and she told me that I had a slight astigmatism in my right eye and that I would need Touric contact lenses. She sent me to an optometrist for a fitting and he was really nasty. He refused to let me look at the letters on the chart long enough to decide if I could see them well or not. So I went to a second optometrist. All 3 doctors agreed that I had an astigmatism. They gave me Touric lenses for that eye. But the contacts kept falling out. I went back to the second optometrist who was really nice, but apparently didn't know what he was doing with my eyes. He told me that I was just putting them in wrong and they showed me at least 2 more times how to do it. But they never stayed in. Plus, they hurt when they were in my eyes. So finally I just gave up on them and went back to glasses. But I still couldn't see "perfectly", even with the glasses. It wasn't until a few months later that I had an infection in my eyes and went to see a new ophthalmologist. (just by luck, the one I had been seeing was away and left nobody covering for her.) He told me that there was no way that I ever should have been prescribed contact lenses. My eyes were too dry. (well, his own words were "what moron told you that you could wear contact lenses?") I told him that I was wearing Touric lenses, and he asked me why. He said I never needed those, that I didn't have an astigmatism. I said "Oh good, so you mean it went away?" and he laughed and told me that an astigmatism can't go away. I must have never had one. He did a new vision exam and prescribed new glasses. Now, without the lenses for the astigmatism in my glasses, I can see very well. Needless to say, I never went back to any of the other doctors. I will stick with my "new" ophthalmologist until I die or he retires! But he's only 32, and I'm 24 so I have a long way to go before that happens.

Howdy-Howdy! Well, that dang ol' goop! Gonna have to figure a way to get rid of this stuff. I have that egg yolk stuff too sometimes. It's amazing how an eye can excrete all that mess!:eek:

Well, I see an optometrist for glasses, and the opthal for my glaucoma checks and other stuff like goop, mucous, and other delicious concoctions!:D

You sure had a merry go round of goofups with the contacts and glasses! Bless your heart. Whatta mess! Makes me wonder if I really have astigmatism, but the optometrists I've seen have all agreed I do. I think the left eye just likes to change every day or so! But, I'm glad you got a good doc who knows what's going on. It makes you wonder if those el-quackos mail ordered their shingles!

Nosey time: What grade level do you teach, what subjects? Just wondering.

Talkin' at ya' later~

I just got back from the eye doctor today, and I still have conjunctivitis!! My corneas look OK, but my conjunctiva are even worse than last week. Very inflamed, and my eyes are very puffy and goopy.

Oh, I teach elementary school. 4th grade. I teach all the subjects. It's the little darlings that keep getting me sick!

Hello, Purple 2067

I'm sorry to learn that you still have conjunctivitis.

I woke up this a.m., as most a.m.'s, with my eyes so fogged over, it is like looking through waxed paper!

The glasses I found the other day that were fitting my eyes, today, my eyes are too strong. I'm in a no-win situation there.

Take care

Maybe you could get a few different pairs of glasses for different days of the week! You could wake up each morning and try on all of the pairs until you figure out which one is right for that day!

I am not having a good eye day. They were bothering me all day. Then, about 30 minutes ago I was putting some stuff away on the top shelf of my bedroom closet, and a piece of construction paper fell down and somehow went under my glasses and hit my open eye! AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH! It immediately started to hurt, so I immediately picked up the phone and called my doctor. Unfortunately he is in the middle of a family emergency and can't see me. (how dare he?) But he just told me to keep it really well lubricated and make sure I get those anti-biotic drops in there, since I am on them for the pink eye anyway. It's not red or anything. Just hurts. He said he'd see me first thing tomorrow morning if it is still not feeling any better. But he thinks that I'll be fine in a few hours. If it's not red, I couldn't really have done any damage.

So I've got to get those gel drops in there. I'm going to put a nice, cool compress on my eyes too. That will help.

I can't believe me. Sometimes I just amaze myself. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Well, Elyse! What are we gonna do with ya! Bless your heart again! Isn't it always the sore spot or weak spot that gets hit with something in a freakish accident! Sure sorry to read about that!

I lol'd when you suggested several pairs of glasses!:D That's perzactly what I've been considering! One for every day of the week, because my eyes seem to go through 7 phases and strengths!

Well, that's about a wrap for now. Sure hope that eye recovers from that paper attack. Before I fade, this a.m., like all a.m.'s, I woke up and the first thing I see is a fog! It looks like if you look through waxed paper! What a mess til that dry eye gets moist again, plus all the gunk in it.

Well thank heaven my left eye is fine. (well, back to its normal crappiness) It felt better a few hours after it happened, just like my doctor predicted. Plus, I flushed it out lots with tears and put anti-biotics in it. Both eyes are very sore today, but that's got to be from the pink eye. The good news is that my throat finally feels better, so since the strep is gone the pink eye should hopefully be next! I've been on the freakin anti-biotic drops for almost 12 days with no relief. I don't see anymore goop coming out, but there is lots of it floating around in there. I'd rather it was crusted to my eyelids than floating around in my eyes. It hurts when it is in there! GOOP GOOP GOOP! ALL I THINK ABOUT IS EYE GOOP!

If you wake up with very dry eyes in the morning, that means they are drying out during the night. You need to sleep with an artificial tears ointment to prevent that. I also keep tear drops by my bedside and put them in the verys econd that I wake up. That's what seems to help me. It can't hurt, anyway.

Hello--
I'm glad that left eye has improved. I'm also glad to hear the strep is fading away.

Sounds like I do need some kind of "goop for the goop" such as an ointment.

Well, I'm very tired tonight from other health concerns, so will go for now. Please forgive this rather short response. See you later.

I hope your other health problems are getting better. I am tired all the time from my MS. I come home and fall asleep in the afternoon.

I am very sad to report that yesterday and today my eyes have felt the worst they have felt in a very long time. They are itching and burning and watering and full of goop. I went back to the eye dr yesterday and he changed me back to the allergy drop that I had been on previously. I had been on Alamast, and was feeling somewhat better with it. But then he started going to all these seminars given by Inspire Pharmaceuticals (he's going to be their local "spokesman", so to speak.) He had been hearing all of these wonderful things about their allergy drop, Elestat. It is supposed to have great results. So, he was very excited to try it with me. He said that they can show him all the reports they want, but if it works for ME then he'll REALLY believe how wonderful it is! If it works for me, it'll work for anybody! But it's not working at all. Since switching to it, my eyes have gotten infintely worse. So I am back on the Alamast now, but I have to give it some time to kick in.

So, I am having a terrible eye allergy attack, and my eyes feel like they have absolutely no tears in them. And, my pink eye still has not completely gone away. And my eyelids are all inflamed and the glands are very clogged even though I use hot compresses. I am really getting fed up with this darn conjunctivitis now! It's been almost two weeks and I notice no improvement!

Oooops, I almost forgot to use the anti-biotic drops! I better go do that right now! And with my bad eyes, I shouldn't be looking at the computer screen so much.

:( :( :(

Hello, Alyse--I'm late and do apologize. I've got several "fishing lines in the water" regarding forums and fell behind on all of them!:eek:
I'm battling a new one, high cholesterol. I'm on that portion of the boards now, if you wish to hear me moan and complain!:D

I'm doing pretty good, but am so sorry to read of those eyes being so bad again! I'm glad you're back with the Alamast again. Your Dr. should know "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But I guess he thought his company's stuff was better.
That really is one stubborn conjunctivitis case you have! Like you, I think the eyes take a beating watching these screens so much. I sometimes wonder if my eyes would be more stable with the varying strengths and astigmatism AND the goop if I didn't ever look at a computer screen!

Well, sure hope you get better soon. Talking later...
:wave:

Well, I've had an exceptionally rotten day vision-wise, and have had blurred vision all day long! Surely there is a doctor somewhere who can tell me what is going on, Purple! I'm about to decide I'm going to have to get an MRI brain scan or something to see if it's something in there. These major "swings" seem to come overnight, maybe during sleep because I see one way when I hit hay, and another the next day! Rhymes, but true.

Hope you're doing better, and talkin' later...:wave:

Tony, you might be on the right track getting an MRI to see if there is something wrong with your optic nerve. Have you seen a neuro-ophthalmologist? What kind of vision tests has your doctor done on you? My doctor would have had me at NY Eye and Ear Infirmary or John's Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute by now if he couldn't figure out why my vision was fluctuating (which thank GOD it's not!) I've actually been to Wilmer for my dry eye problems, but the head of the corneal service, and one of the world's leading dry eye specialists, know's my local doctor personally and said that my doctor is one of the best he's ever seen, and to stick with him! The funny thing is that I just found out that the doctor I see down there, Dr. Terrence P. O'Brien is on the board of directors for my health insurance company! Good! When they start to question why I am having so many ophthalmology visits, they can ask him!

Well, I don't have pink eye anymore, but my eyes are continually getting worse because the preservative in the anti-biotic really irritated me very badly. It's called Medicamentosa, which is a condition that comes on from using too much of a medication. But I HAD to use it! I had pink eye! I couldn;t help it! So now the pink eye is gone and I am off of it, but my eyes are REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD! THE WORST THEY'VE BEEN IN A LONG TIME! But since I am off of the anti-biotic and they are feeling slightly better, and should continue to improve over the next few days. I have to return in a week for a follow up. My corneas are still really beat up and dry though, and I have a ton of that stringy white stuff in both eyes. It's at the point now where I'm carrying q-tips and doing "mucus-ectomies" at stop lights when I am driving! They come that frequently! He said the anti-biotic probably caused that to increase, too. So, I am hopnig for less strings now that I am off of it.

I am sorry that I haven't been around, but my eyes have just been sooooooooooooo sooooooooooooo soooooooooooooo bad, that I haven't been able to look at the comotuer screen for several days now. My eyelids are literally raw.

I am just so fed up with my eyes. I can't take the pain anymore.

Hello Purple-Today has been the worst yet with the distortion. I see the Dr. in the a.m. at 8:15. I'm ready to get down to the nitty gritty. I feel like telling him if he can't find what's causing the rapid changes, then I need to see someone who can.

We don't have a neuro-opthal here, and I've read every Dr. listing in the book! I'm probably looking at a trip to Dallas or somewhere for such an "animal". :rolleyes: The problem with my getting an MRI is I'm claustrophobic plus I have bad ears-tinnitus and hyperacute hearing. I'm afraid the noise, even with muffs over plugs, would be damaging--just not sure.

Sure sorry the eyes are getting worse. That's really something having to do mucous surgery at lights! Be careful! Sounds like a case of "mucous diahrrea", and that's not meant to be funny either. I know that has got to be horrible. I battled it all day yesterday, but when it finally is clear, I'm still dealing with bad, changing vision. Having the starts of small cataracts, I'm wondering if this is causing the rapid changes? I read in a med book this a.m. that this can happen. That left eye is literally smeared today--everything looks smeared.

No need to apologize for not being on. I understand because I battle the stuff too, though not as bad as you have. It's a bummer.

Well, gonna sign for now. Been depressed today, but that's another forum!:(

I have had a lot of brain MRIs and what they usually do is play music in my ears. They put special headphones on my head and they play Billy Joel for me. :) To me, being in the machine sounds like sitting next to the amps at a heavy metal concert. I just tell myself that I am listening to the guitar player tune up. :)

If you are claustrophobic, you can have an open MRI. You have to go to a place that has one though, and the pictures aren't as accurate. They can also sedate you. I usually take a Xanax or Valium before going. I don't like being in the tube either. It gets very uncomfortable. But I have no choice.

It sounds like you are going to have to make a trip to a larger city to get some answers. Maybe your doctor can recommend somebody in Dallas for you to see. About once every six months I travel 4 hours to Baltimore, MD to see specialist that my doctor recommended. He also calls him on the phone whenever I have a really bad infection that he can't get rid of.

What if you go to a teaching hospital? Do you have one of those nearby? I would find the largest hospital in the area and call the department of ophthalmology and ask them to put you in touch with neuro-ophthalmologist. They've got to have some names for you. Your doctor probably even knows some. If you want to come to New York my doctor can recommend one for you. :)

Mornin', Purple! Well, just got back from the doc's and I don't think I'll need an MRI or a trip. They did an extra type of test to check the optic nerves. They are fine!! He did say the left cataract has grown and is a lot of the problem! He said in 4 to 5 years, they will be "ripe" and he looks forward to getting them off because after they are taken out, a lens is put in, and my vision will be a whole lot better! During the growing period of them, the vision can vary, be good one day, not so hot the next.

The bleparitis is flaring also, and causing some distortion. I talked him into some lid wipes like you use! Cool! He said a stye is trying to form, so gave me some antibiotic ointment to smear on those pups. I came away feeling better about a lot of things, knowing nothing bad is happening behind the eye in my skull, and that one day, the cataracts will be taken off and things get better. Just need to stay the plan, fight the fight, and keep on truckin'. He did say the mucous strings were also from the blepharitis. Do you have bleph too, Elyse?

Any-who, I feel better about a lot of stuff. Hope your day goes better.:)

Yo! 'Tis I again. I f i n a l l y got all the crust off my lids! I thought I was going to have to sandblast 'em!:eek: I took that hot rag and soaked that lid til I had it begging for air!:D If they ever need a scary eye for a horror movie, I'll rent mine out, for a good fee of course!;)

Well, I'm back on the other pair of glasses now. I bounce back and forth between two pair now! I have to wear what my eyes' "mood" best suits. Until those 'racts are ripe on the vine to get, I have a feeling I'm going to go a merry-go-round of different glasses! I don't know if I can stand that for 4 more years or not!

Well, just checking in with the latest eye woes bulletin.:D

Actually, maybe SEE you later. :wave:

Sigh, yes, of course I have blepharitis. :( Now that the pink eye is gone I am going to force myself to use the ocusoft lid scrubs.

I get a lot of styes that are "trying" to form, but I don't use anti-biotics for them. I just blast them with the hot comrpesses a few extra times during the day, and they always go away. My doctor doesn't believe in using anti-biotics for a stye unless he really has to, because with me he likes to save the anti-biotics for when I really really need them!

I am happy to report that he was right, my eyes do feel better now that I am off of the anti-biotic. They are just back to their usual crappy selves.

It's a relief to hear that your tests came back fine, but what a pain to have to wait 4-5 years to have the surgery! Why do you have to wait that long? If he is going to take out your lens and replace it with a new one, why does it matter if the cataract is not fully developed yet? If it is causing a problem now, then why do you have to wait? I hate when doctors tell me "wait until it gets really bad, and then we'll do something."

Just now getting on--been and still am, very depressed about my so-called "quality" of vision. I didn't clarify, but the antibiotic is an ointment, not pills.

That's good that the eyes are "better".

The questions you raise about waiting a while for surgery are the same ones I have for the Dr. I will have to talk with him more about this.

Yes, I figured that the anti-biotic is an ointment. Just so you know, the ointment will blur your vision. :rolleyes: LOL, like you need more blurred vision. How long do you have to use it for? Which one did he give you? When do you go back?

Usually a stye will go away on its own with hot compresses if you catch it early enough, but I am sure that your doctor has his reasons for giving you an anti-biotic ointment. (if anything, it will keep your eyes nice and lubricated.:))

I've been going back & forth between two pair of glasses today, not satified with either. What beats me is with one pair, the rt. eye looks too weak, but with the other, it looks too strong at distances. At the screen here with my readers added to them, things look pretty fair. I know there's not that much difference between those two rt. lenses. *sigh*

I'm uncertain as to the time of using the ointment on the eyelid.

The name of the ointment is TobraDex (tobramycin & dexamethasone).
I usually just Q-tip it on the lid real thin where it won't get in my eye "if" my dexterity is up to snuff.:D I use a magnifying mirror to get the "surgeon's edge" as I call it.

The stye "embryo" looks better today, so maybe the gunk is working.;) I'm really thinking of calling the Dr. office Monday and slating a consultation about this cataract situation and how it's keeping me torn up with day to day vision swings. If there is nothing wrong in my brain, and I don't think there is, then this needs done soon, not 5 years down the road.

Thanks for being a great listener because I've been one bad complainer today! I rattle at my poor Barb all the time, so it's good to get to whine to a person on the internet!:D

Get baaaack...(CB radio lingo)

Thanks for being a great listener because I've been one bad complainer today! I rattle at my poor Barb all the time, so it's good to get to whine to a person on the internet!:D


Oh please, I whine just as much as anybody else!

I am glad to listen. We all need someone besides our family to speak to. It is very helpful to speak to someone going through the same thing. Others can try to understand, but nobody can really know what you are going through until they have walked a mile in your shoes. I don't have the vision problems, buit I can certainly relate to the blepharitis and the dryness and the stye.

I have used TobraDex before. In fact, after I stopped needing the anti-biotic portion of it (Tobramycin), he just kept me on the steroid part (dexamethasone). I LOVED how the dexamethasone made my dry eyes feel. I was putting it IN the eye and on the lids. I used to get plain, unpreserved Dexamethasone ointment specially compounded and shipped to me from a pharmacy in California that makes virtually any compounded eye medicine known to man. It made my eyes feel soooooooooooooooo much better. But dexamethasone is an extremely powerful steroid, and it gets absorbed into the eyeball. So after a few months of being on it, my inta-ocular pressure skyrocketed from 12 to 35. I had to immediately come off of it. We tried it at various different strengths and dosages, but it always made my pressure rise. So now I use the FML ointment. FML is also a powerful steroid, but it doesn't get absorbed into the eyeball. So it doesn't make the pressure go up. Even if I had an infection, I wouldn't be able to use the TobraDex becauseit would make my IOP go up too high. It figures that the one thing that makes me feel better would risk damaging my vision permanently.

Howcome you use a q-tip to put it on your lid? I just take a little bit on my fingertip and smear it on.

Mornin', Elyse! Glad my bellyaching didn't get to ya'.:D I'm battling daily vision changes like crazy! My rt. eye is better than it was yesterday, but that left! I called the dr's office while ago to slate an appt. for consultation about getting this cataract done in the left eye. I read on a site where they don't have to "ripen" as thought in early years--they can be gotten out when they start causing lessened quality of life. I'm ready! Now "if" the doctor will agree!

That is something how the steroid made your pressure hit the ceiling! That's another good point for using a Q-Tip like I do. I figure globbing it on there with my finger might get it in my eye, and I don't want a pressure increase either!:D I use the magnifying mirror for super accuracy, and it just seems easier with the Q-Tip. Well, too, the Dr. said to use one.;)

Well, I don't know a lot, just tired of not seeing well. Watching TV, my favorite pasttime besides being on computer, is a lost cause lately! Really, I fight to see the computer screen as well. I'm making typos left and right due to not seeing good in the left eye.

Well, I'll scat and try to "see" you later.;) Already "jackhammered" the crust off my left eye this a.m.! VICTORY! YESSS!:D

Yeah, I was going to tell you that if you are using the TobraDex in your eye, then you have to get your pressure checked.

Thankfully since coming off of the Dexamethasone, which is much stronbger than the FML that I currently use, my pressures have been very good. My doctor even tried to compromise with me. He allowed me to use the dex. and had me use Betimol to keep my pressures low. We thought that if that worked, it would be the answer to my prayers. But after a few weeks I started to get high pressures even with the Betimol, and it was making my weyes not feel so good. It just got ridiculous. But, my doctor and I always say that we'll try anything once, to see if it will work. That didn't work. So sad for me. The dex. was the only thing that ever made my eyes feel "normal". But I can't risk compromising my vision.

I hope that the doctor agrees to do the surgery sooner, rather than later. If it were me, I would really push the issue.

P.S. How did you get the srust off of your eye?

Evenin'- "One Eye" at your service.

That's good that you got the pressures down.

I'm going to have to get pushy about the surgery, it sure looks like. I will see him I guess, next week to hash this out. I'm not enjoying TV, anything that requires good eyesight now. I can't get glasses that fit. I'm extremely depressed and despondant about this. Even though I don't have the fogginess or stuff in my vision from a cataract, the early stage formation of them is really destroying the sharpness of vision. That, I can't hack.

To decrust, I just used the damp hot rag, and scrubbed til it would finally turn loose of the eyelash.

I feel so bad for you. I don't know what is worse: Having painful, dry eyes or having poor vision. Poor you, you have both. :(

I started using the lid scrubs every day for the past few days. So far, no change in the cruddiness.

:(

Here I be again.
Well, I'm a tiny bit hoped up, but not a lot.

The Dr. said the stye is pressing on the cornea and causing the blurriness and changed strength and astigmatism in the eye. The other day, he agreed that yes, cataracts can do this! So, I guess I'm supposed to buy that both of these are doing this. He said he could rid it faster by injecting something in it, but that it would be painful, so I opted to stay with the lid scrubs, the TobraDex, and warm rags. He said it should leave in two weeks. Well, I've been battling it for several months, but during the flu back in Feb., I wasn't up to "eye doctoring", so it did slide for a while.

I am so tempted to get a 2nd opinion on these eye changes, Elyse! I've had my eyes to be crazy with no blepharitis or styes! That July 4 3 years ago, when the left eye was crazy that first time, and it scared me, there was no blepharitis then or stye. So, time will tell. If it is still way off after this should clear up, then I will battle for cataract surgery. I asked him today if he thought the cataract could be causing some of this. He said a bit hesitantly, "Uhh, Nnno." :confused: So, I'm stuck with bad vision unless I just go and get glasses anyway, from an optometrist!

Sorry for rattling on about my crazy eyes! I do hope the crud leaves ya' soon. Ain't we havin' fun? Not!:dizzy: Thanks for feeling bad for the ol' man here. Same at ya'. We still deserve a break today! :cool:

So, there I was sitting and observing another teacher today at work as part of a training seminar and all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain in my right eye. I took out my mirror, and what'dya know? There was an eyelash sitting on my eyeball, just floating around in there like it owned the place! Luckily, I had a q-tip with me. With that, and plenty of tears, I was able to pull it out! My bad eye luck is continuing, it seems! Had I not been able to get it out, I would have had to go down to the school nurse, and I would have been really really really really squeamish about letting her touch my eye! I'd rather do it myself and risk poking a hole in my eye than let someone else (who is not my doctor) do it! I've gotten so used to him, that I get really upset when somebody else has to examine my eyes! When I go down to Maryland, it feels really WEIRD to have somebody other than him on the other side of the telescope thing (or whatever the heck that machine is called!) I sometimes wonder if he can see into space when he looks in my eyes. :)

If I were you, I would definitely try to get a second opinion. Just for the fact that he thinks all of your vision problems are associated with a stye that just came about a few weeks ago! Even though he seems like a very good doctor, I would still get a second opinion just to put my own mind at ease. (Hell, I've gone so far as to get second, third, fourth and fifth opinions!!!)