Mom diagnosed with Glaucoma

[furryrabidbunny]

I honestly know very little about Glaucoma. They dont know how severe it is or how early it was caught, but is it generally something thats manageable? Does it often mean guaranteed blindness? I would love to hear from people on macrumors about this that are living with it or have someone very close to them that is. I am just worried because I dont want to imagine how hard life is going to be for my mom if she is suddenly blind towards the latter stage of her life.

 

[WildCowboy]

My dad has mild glaucoma. He has been taking eye drops for years to keep the pressure down and slow the progression. Lately, his pressure has started to creep upward even with the drops, so his doctor put him on additional drops. So now my dad has to put in eye drops every couple of hours.

Fortunately they caught it pretty early and he's only lost a little bit of peripheral vision so far.

So while there is no cure for glaucoma yet, there are things that can be done to dramatically slow the progression...I think my dad's been on drops for well over ten years now with no significant additional progression...he's in his mid-60s now.

 

[furryrabidbunny]

My dad has mild glaucoma. He has been taking eye drops for years to keep the pressure down and slow the progression. Lately, his pressure has started to creep upward even with the drops, so his doctor put him on additional drops. So now my dad has to put in eye drops every couple of hours.

Fortunately they caught it pretty early and he's only lost a little bit of peripheral vision so far.

So while there is no cure for glaucoma yet, there are things that can be done to dramatically slow the progression...I think my dad's been on drops for well over ten years now with no significant additional progression...he's in his mid-60s now.

Thats good to hear, my mom mentioned going on some sort of drops for it. Like I said, no idea how early it was caught or the severity of it, she is going back on the 8th. I am just so angry right now at her eye doctor and I seem to be the only one that is. He is so inept at what he does is unbelievable. She complained last year she had trouble focusing and seeing at night and he blew her off, but this year its a different story, now it's suddenly an issue. She did everything right too, eye doctor once a year, did everything she was asked. Funny thing is the eye doctor didn't even diagnose her correctly, he thought it was detached retinas, so thats the specialist she saw today. I swear to god i want to go in that and slug him in the face. If you read this and live in the East Valley of Arizona and see Doctor Whipple on Gilbert and US 60 stop if you enjoy your vision.

 

[WildCowboy]

Also keep in mind that the most common type of glaucoma is hereditary, so you may be at increased risk of developing it as well. While not all glaucoma sufferers exhibit high eye pressure, it is a leading indicator for the disease. So be sure to go to your eye doctor regularly and make sure they check your pressure. The "puff" test is pretty good, but I think the newer "pen" test is more accurate.

The most important thing you can do is catch it early.

Check out http://www.glaucoma.org for more resources.

 

[Stampyhead]

If you read this and live in the East Valley of Arizona and see Doctor Whipple on Gilbert and US 60 stop if you enjoy your vision.

Is that near Trader Joes? I'm trying to think of where there's an optometrist near there so I make sure never to go to it. I live in south Gilbert not too far from there...
Anyway, sorry to hear about the glaucoma and hope your mom is able to keep it under control. I've never known anyone who had it, but I sure dislike those glaucoma tests with the blowing air...

 

[danny_w]

I'm 53 now and was diagnosed with glaucoma in 1983, and have been on ey drops for 23 years now. At least for the last 18 years there has been no real change in my vision, but an occasional change in eye drops as I get accustomed to the ones I am using. Occasionally my pressure will go up and cause some alarm, and apparently the detached retina diagnosis is fairly common because of the increased chance with glaucoma. If this is the only problem you have with your doctor, I would say stick with him, because it sounds like he was looking out for your mom. About 4 months ago I had bouts of dizziness and black spots, and was sent to a retina specialist multiple times looking for the problem. All they could ever find was evidence of a hemorrhage; it went away and all is now well, but the retina doctor was the key.

 

[furryrabidbunny]

Is that near Trader Joes? I'm trying to think of where there's an optometrist near there so I make sure never to go to it. I live in south Gilbert not too far from there...
Anyway, sorry to hear about the glaucoma and hope your mom is able to keep it under control. I've never known anyone who had it, but I sure dislike those glaucoma tests with the blowing air...

I dont go to that area too often, only thing i remember is a carl's jr. very close to it.

 

[furryrabidbunny]

Also keep in mind that the most common type of glaucoma is hereditary, so you may be at increased risk of developing it as well. While not all glaucoma sufferers exhibit high eye pressure, it is a leading indicator for the disease. So be sure to go to your eye doctor regularly and make sure they check your pressure. The "puff" test is pretty good, but I think the newer "pen" test is more accurate.

The most important thing you can do is catch it early.

Check out http://www.glaucoma.org for more resources.

I go to the eye doctor once a year, I need to wear glasses/contacts, and I get the puff test. I am young (20), so I am not too worried about myself, maybe when I get older I will, more worried about my mom.