Burrito Day

[susandennis]

I went back today for another eye scan - my third. My second 5 minute each eye one. My fourth visit to this clinic this year. The last two times they fucked up the appointment schedule. Today the very irritating front desk lady was not there so that was a bonus. But the rest of the whole thing just wore out my last bit of patience. The doctor thinks it is necessary to explain everything 14 times AND to give me a whole bunch of information that is of zero use to me.

This morning was no different. I tried just to shut up and listen until she was done but then I realized that unless I chimed in, she was not going to stop. She does not know if I have glaucoma or not. Maybe. But maybe not. My eye pressure is high but my vision is ok. I have to go back in 6 months. I could start drops now. What are the cons of drops. They need to be done daily. What is the cost. $0 with most insurance. Ok, drops. Now I will need to see you again in a month to evaluate the drops. NOPE HARD NOPE. I'm done. No more. I'll make an appointment for 6 months and then I'll decide if I'm going to keep it.

Coming home I had the thought that maybe I'll see about changing doctors. They have more than one there. I think I'll do that first. Next appointment is in November.

Then I went to the grocery store. I've been craving breakfast burritos so I got the fixins and that's my project today.

Joan called Myrna last night and things are ok. I asked Myrna what it takes to recover from that kind of injury and she said Patience.

I think I'll go do some puzzle before burrito making. I have nothing on my schedule for the nicest longest time.

Comments

[spiffikins]

Changing doctors seems like a good option!

I did that with my eye doctor - the one I had been seeing retired in between my yearly appointments, so I got assigned to the new guy, Dr K - well he was...fine, but not great? So when I was setting up the next year's appointment, I said to the front desk woman, "I am flexible - we can get me in with another doctor too" - and she looked at me, nodded and said "how about this date with Dr R?" Works for me!

And now I have Dr R and he's great :D

I did the same thing at my last dentist with my hygienist - the lady they kept getting me in to see, was really not great - she talked the whole time - but didn't pay attention to what she was doing - once she flossed one side of my mouth twice, and missed the other side :D So when I was scheduling the next one, I said the same thing "It doesn't need to be with X, I'm flexible!" and the receptionist got it *immediately* and scheduled me with another hygienist - who was fabulous :D

Plus, eye stuff is important - you want to have a good doctor, who is going to not annoy you so much, that you don't follow up on stuff because you want to avoid them :D

[msconduct]

Depending on what they gave you, there *is* a con of drops. Most of them have the preservative benzalkonium chloride (BAK) in them, and it's very common for people to find that this really hurts their eyes - their eyes are red, stinging and painful. What's more, it's also well-known that BAK actually damages the eyes - it can cause inflammation and damage to the trabecular mesh. There are preservative-free drops available, and I highly recommend them if you've been prescribed a drop with BAK in it.

This has been a whole thing here in NZ. N had to start using drops at one point, and she had the BAK drops and the symptoms were intolerable. We discovered that not only can you not get the preservative-free brand free here, they also have not approved the preservative-free drops for import even if people are prepared to pay for them. We ended up sourcing them from a British online pharmacy - this was expensive, but N felt it was the only option as there's no way she could tolerate the other ones. Many people give up drops altogether because of this, and of course that risks your eyesight.

N's eye specialist is actually the president of the Glaucoma Society and she was very helpful in supplying prescriptions for N to get the overseas drops. As a result of N's experience, she started recommending to her other patients the British pharmacy we used, so it's become a whole thing where NZ glaucoma patients are all sourcing their drops overseas if they can afford it. The Glaucoma Society is now battling Pharmac (the entity which decides which drugs we can get here) to get them to approve the preservative free drops. It seems insane to me that they won't, because although they're more expensive than the others the health system will be paying for medical care down the line to treat all the eyes damaged by BAK.

[susandennis]

Wow. Ok now I'm doubly glad I said no

[roasted_beets]

Did the doc say just how high the pressure in your eyes is? Mine is 16-18 and I've been using Latanoprost drops for years - no pain at all. My husband also except he doesn't need those drops since his cataracts were removed. (My cataracts were removed in 2016.)

My older sister did experience discomfort from drops, but her doc just prescribed different ones until they found some that agreed with her.

[jwg]

I take latanoprost at night when I go to bed and briomodine in the morning and they seem to work to keep may pressure down.

[mollywheezy]

About 15 years ago, my eye doctor thought I had glaucoma because my eye pressure was so high. I had the eye scans and all the tests, and it turned out my high pressure is normal for me and there was no issue with my eye nerves and no glaucoma. I still have scans every year or two just to be safe, but so far so good. Maybe a little higher pressure is normal for you, too?

[susandennis]

YES! I vote for this. Thank you.