I was just told that I have glacoma. I haven't started my research yet and find that people who know can explain it better. Can anyone give me some help? Thanks, Kim

My grandmother has glacoma. From what she has told me, glacoma is not a good thing to have at all.

Apparently, your tear ducts will eventually stop functioning, and pressure will build up behind your eye which will damage your optic nerve. Your eyesight will definately deteriorate over time, and it is quite possible that you may go completely blind after many years.

The usual treatment for glacoma is basically artificial tears. They are put in like eye drop every few hours. You'll probably start this treatment when ur about 50yrs old. With this treatment it helps to prevent blindness in later life, although it is not always successful.

My grandmother was diagnosed with glacoma when she was 30yrs old, she is now 70, and went blind 4 years ago.

Thank you, Well, let's hope for new discoveries. I'm sorry your grandmother has gone blind. It must be difficult to learn how to do things differently at first. Hope she is bearing well. Kim

Sorry, but the previous post from DJA has some terribly wrong information. Glaucoma is a disease of the nerve to the eye, called the optic nerve. The nerve is like a cable that connects the eyeball to the brain.

Eye doctors can see the end of the nerve as it enters the eye. It looks round like a donut with a hole in it. The doctors will measure how large the diameter of the hole(called the "cup") is compared to the diameter of the whole nerve (called the "disc"). The ratio of the cup to disc (C/D) is one of the measurements to detect and evaluate for glaucoma. Large cupping (C/D), or having larger cupping in one eye compared to the other is a sign of possible glaucoma. In uncontrolled or untreated glaucoma the cupping keeps increasing. This means that the nerve is deteriorating. Normally cupping is not expected to change in our lifetime.

Another thing the doctor needs to check for is the intraocular pressure (IOP). This the pressure of the water INSIDE the eye. This is not from the tears. High IOP is another risk factor for glaucoma.

Another test is the visual field. This is a test of the peripheral vision, looking for abnormal blind spots off center. Most people cannot see even very large blind areas that are in the sides of our vision.
Abnormal blind spots are a sign of nerve diseases such as glaucoma, strokes, brain tumors, etc.. In glaucoma, you typically lose your side vision first and central vision last. You can have severe tunnel vision and still see 20/20 in the middle.

All three of these tests are needed to diagnose glaucoma, and to follow for loss of vision, worsening of nerve damage or poor control of glaucoma.

There are many types of glaucoma, but the most common type has no pain, discomfort, or loss of vision until it is very severe. It requires an complete eye exam to detect, due to the lack of symptoms. Unfortunately most people only go the the doctor when their vision changes.

Most glaucomas have no cure, but can be controlled to prevent vision loss with eye drops, pills, laser treatments and surgery(last resort) that reduce your IOP. Artificial tears will not help. Poor compliance in taking medicines is a major cause of continued progression of glaucoma.

Risk factors for glaucoma are high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, as these reduce blood flow to the eye and nerve. Having a parent or sibling with glaucoma is a risk factor. Eye injuries, even from many years prior, are risk factors.

Glaucoma is called the sneak thief of sight, just like high blood pressure is called the silent killer. Both have no symptoms till its too late.

If you have glaucoma, make sure you take you medicine/drops as prescribed, see you doctor consistently, and control the risk factors that you can control.

Thank you dude, They have been watching me for glacoma for over 5 years. I have been doing the visual field and the others since then it wasn't till the end of Dec. that he said I have it. I have visual changes and eye as well as head migrains. FMS, CFS and No reportable cortisol levels in my body. The one doc wants steriods the eye doc said it will harm my eyes. So I'm stuck between a couple rocks right now. Thanks again, Kim Ps. Forgot. They have not given me any meds for my eyes, yet. Some days the feeling of pressure is so great my eye or eyes feel like they are going to explode and the off and on vision changes are daily. I can read w/o glasses one min. then I can't read a thing the next w/o them. Again thank you for all the info? Do you teach? You explaine so well and it is easily understood.

[This message has been edited by kim (edited 01-10-2001).]