Eye Exam!

[goprog]

Actaully, think I heard something about doing something with
the eye muscles that adjust the lens. They become less
flexible with age and by cutting? parts of them, they can
then properly focus the lens. But that was maybe 4-6 years
ago?

 

[frigilux]

Eye exam: Former punk rocker now wears bi-focals. In fact, it's time to adjust the prescription because I'm removing my glasses to read small print. I've become the middle-aged man I used to scoff at.

Colonoscopy: I'm 48, so the big debut of that test is only 1-1/2 years away. Oh, goody.

Middle age: So much to love, LOL.

 

[toggleswitch]

~Steve you better behave yourself or you will be getting a cystoscopic exam. (lol lol)

There aint nothing goin'in MY urethra, TYVM.

 

[whirlcool]

Fortunately at age 56, I still have 20/20 vision. 20/15 in the left eye actually. I have to get an eye exam every 6 months due to my job. It's a snap. Nothing to it. Yes, they do the drops and the look up, look down, look left, look right thing.

I know quite a few people who have had either the RK surgery or the Lasix surgery. ALL of them say there was nothing to it, and the worst part of it is getting to the appointment. All said they were given a nice strong valium and the preparation for the procedure is the longest part. Basically all said that it's just like having a flashbulb go off a time or two. All also said they were very surprised when the doctor said, "OK we're done". They thought, hmmm that's all there is to it?

A few of these guys had only moderate vision loss before the surgery and afterwards had 20/20. One guy had vision loss so bad he had to go to Mexico to have the surgery done because they needed a stronger laser than is allowed in the U.S. But, his American doctor went to Mexico City with him and performed the surgery himself. His result was pretty good, he ended up with 20/40 and most of the time just needs very light weight glasses for fine print. Before he had these huge (and heavy) coke bottles he needed to see anything. He is the only one with a side effect, and that's at night he sometimes, and I emphasize sometimes, sees rings around streetlights or the moon.
At one time, your health insurance company would pay for this, but around 1992 or so, most companies changed their policies so that it is considered cosmetic surgery and is no longer covered. So I can honestly say that everyone I have known that has had the surgery has been 100% satisfied with it. One gal said that the surgery will actually pay for itself over time. Glasses are expensive!

 

[whirlcool]

Now as far as the prostate exam goes. Yuck. I like that about as much as you like an eye exam. But I have a good urologist and he jokes about it which helps considerably. He tells me he could have a nurse do it, but he feels she wouldn't know what to feel for!
He also said he does have a few patients who actually like it!

I had a colonoscopy done one time. I was mislead by my general practitioner. He said they'll put you to sleep and when you wake up you won't know what happened. Hmph, the doctor I had that did it just said "You don't need anything, learn to take it like a man!". It hurt like ---king hell! He only got about 1/2 way through when I told him that enough was enough and if he didn't stop, I'd get up and use the equipment on him! He stopped and I called my GP and told him what happened. He said he never heard of such a thing before and said he'll reschedule me, and he did. With the same damn doctor. I canceled and that was that. I know I need to get it done, and from what most people I have talked to have been put out during the procedure, but I guess one time sets the tone.....

 

[maytagbear]

I really wasn't going to comment in this thread-

but my colonoscopiES have been fine. I have had them done by my general surgeon, and he has been very gentle through the years. Most recently, he did my biopsy/lumpectomy last year. (Again, it was benign).

It is important, I think, to talk before a procedure abut pain control.

The procedures I found really uncomfortable were my two cardiac catheterisations, because of having to lie still for 6 hours. I was given serious medication for my bad hip.

I am very lucky to have a team of excellent medical practitioners.

Oddly enough, I had an eye exam today, as well. I am grateful. I hadn't had one since 2004, and am really relieved to say that except for a fairly drastic change in my prescription (which will re-correct me to 20/20,) my major fear was of diabetic eye disease --there is none!

As for my life, I test my blood sugar 5-8 times a day (in my fingers!) and inject insulin 4-6 times a day.

Until late 2004, I did not have any medical coverage.
I have coverage now. So, I am very grateful (most days), to take my pills, test my blood sugar, and inject the insulin. Most days.

The first time my current internist checked my prostate, I said: "Does this mean we're engaged, now?" He laughed.

Who else wants a cup of cocoa before bed?

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[JerseyMike]

I have a form of arthritis that COULD lead to something called uveitis (see link below), which could result in blindness. My rheumatologist (arthritis specialist)freaked when he found out that I was going to one of those mall eye glass places for my annual eye exams. He insisted (and I mean INSISTED) that I go to a teaching hospital for my eye exams from now on.

Last November, I made an appointment for a general eye exam at the State University of New York's Optometric Center on 42nd St. They warned that that exam would last for over two hours. They weren't kidding. It lasted for over two and a half hours. I was seen by both a resident and his professor. The professor duplicated the entire examination. She picked up a couple of minor things that the resident had missed. (I already knew about most of them.) It took me about two days to recover from the exam. I met a friend for dinner after the exam. My eyes were so dazzled that I could barely see my cell phone's address book.

I going to endure this type of examination from now on. It's better to catch a potential problem early. Even if it means staggering to the Port Authority after the exam.

Mike

Uveitis - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[sudsmaster]

The presbyopbia cure is a flexible lens that can actually change its shape. The cause of presbyopia is that the lens gets harder with age and less able to adjust for close-up vision - or at least that's my recollection of what I was told...

The flexible lens product I heard about is called Crystalens. I believe it's currently used for replacing lenses clouded by cataracts.

Here's a link:

http://www.presbyopia.com/Crystalens.htm

 

[sudsmaster]

Here's another link on the Crystalens product...

Crystalens Accommodating Premuim IOL

Detailed Crystalens premium IOL information from a nonprofit patient advocacy, detailed eye surgery information.

www.usaeyes.org

 

[badata]

MAYTAGBEAR

WHY are you checking your sugar so often and WHY are you injecting insulin so often???? if your diet is correct and you MEDICINE IS CORRECT you should NOT have to be doing it so often.......that is crazy to have to do it that often!!! Tell your doctor to get real!!!!!! They need to get you better controlled!!!

Toggle................never say never..(nothing in your urethra) and i HAVE done those things you say to think about to a quad...

never had a colonoscopy, HATE the glaucoma test (refuse anymore), don't mind the prostate check...go figure...

by the way its LASIK, not LASIX......lasix is a drug...a diuretic (water pill) very easy to confuse.

 

[goprog]

Presbyopia

This doesn't sound exactly as I remember what I thought I
heard, but it does make reference to doing something with
the muscles that focus the lens. But it says the problem
is with the lens growing as we age. The second link
disputes the first:

http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic748.htm

http://aglasser.opt.uh.edu/presbyopia/presbyopia.html

All-in-all, looks like it is best to wait for more study
to be done before considering this particular procedure.

 

[goprog]

insulin

I have a friend whose teenage daughter has diabetes. She
believes it is better to keep insulin narrowly controlled.
Her daughter has an insulin pump and will adjust her insulin
level many times during the day. Not necessarily always by
testing but by monitoring the type and amount of food intake
and experience. This appears to work better for them than
limited testing and injections.

Just another (their) point of view.

 

[sudsmaster]

Goprog,

The thing to remember is that the Crystalens product is intended to be a treatment for cataracts, primarily, with the adaptive focusing capability a plus over fixed focus lens implants. The second link makes this more clear. Also, while it can correct for presbyopia, it's not (currently) being marketed as a cure for such, and the results are not the degree of lens focusing ability that one would have, at, say age 30 (see second link).

Badata,

Narrow control of blood sugar is indeed the best thing. A diabetic might have to take insulin before each meal, and also with in-between meal snacks. Long-acting insulin (12 to 24 hour) can help to temper that need, but it doesn't eliminate it. Currently I have 3 to 5 insulin shots a day - two of long acting, and 1 to 3 short acting, depending on test results. The effects of wide swings in blood sugar are not good, so more frequent shots are not a bad thing. Of course diet and exercise help a lot, but it's good to remember that this is a primarily hormonal/metabolic deficiency to begin with. It can be difficult for people without diabetes to understand how helpless one can feel about the disease, esp if one is used to eating whatever one wants whenever one wants.

 

[goprog]

Rich

Yes, I read both your Crystalens links before I posted.

 

[toggleswitch]

And the Academy Award Goes to.............

~never say never..(nothing in your urethra).

Yes I hear ya. Dad had/has prostate cancer and just the thought of what he endured has prompted me to get my base-line PSA levels checked and determined for future reference.

And as far as the prostate exam goes, well it is probably best not to giggle and get the shivers and goose-bumps, but rather to feign discomfort. And it is absolutely pointless to enqure as to what happened to the card and flowers that that normally precede such things.

 

[countryguy]

Contact lenses - I've worn them for 28 years and have not had a problem. I get my eye checked annually and replace the lenses approximately every 2 years. I didn't think I could ever get used to them either. The first time the optician put them in my eyes I passed out in her lap. She had to get a patient from the waiting room to get some smelling salts and to get me off her lap LOL. The only other time I've passed out is when the optometrist put that thing right on my eyeball (I presume it was for the glaucoma test)- I passed out on him too. Now he uses another test for glaucoma - a puff of air is shot at the eye.

Root Canal - I've had 2 done and both were a piece of cake - no pain during or after. The pain is not a result of the root canal, it is a result of the infection that is usually present beforehand and which results in the root canal being needed.

Lasik surgery - I had a friend that had it done twice on both eyes. The first resulted in problems with night vision and driving. The 2nd time the vision got better but he still couldn't drive at night. He ended up having it done a 3rd time.

Gary

Gary

 

[rp2813]

When I start up with any new eye doc, they all go into a panic because the one eye appears to show glaucoma. It looks just like the picture on the wall of the bad eye compared to the good eye. But, I don't have glaucoma. This has been going on for 20 years. My current doc has me coming in more frequently and every 6 months he does a glaucoma test. I was just in there on Monday for the field of vision test where I am always thinking I'm seeing phantom flashes and push the button when I shouldn't, but the results seem to come out OK. Friday I go in for the whole eye drop thing, the worst part of which is feeling my way home across town behind the wheel.

I've had a colonoscopy and it was no big deal. I mean, geez, I'm a gay man. Prostate exam may raise an eyebrow with the doc since I don't offer any resistance but I'm sure I'm not the only male patient of his who behaves that way.

Never had a cystoscopic exam but I know it wouldn't bother me. Chalk it up to my more twisted side. I hear urethral play is becoming more and more common in the leather/bondage community.

Bottom line is, my mom has macular degeneration and is legally blind so I am willing to take as many tests as are necessary to do everything possible to prevent or treat it if I start showing symptoms.

Ralph

 

[maytagbear]

There was an important medical trial

called the DCCT-- Diabetes Control and Complications Trial. One group had the then standard practise of one long range insulin injection, and the other group had multiple daily injections and testing. The trial was supposed to run 10 years.

However, the trial was ended about two years before that, because the evidence of the benefit of mutiple daily injections, and frequent testing was overwhelming.

You could Google it, or I believe there might be a Wikipedia article about it.

The tighter the control, the fewer the complications.

My internist (also living with diabetes,) and my CDE-Certified Diabetes Educator agree with tight control.

Yes, tight control is a bother, a pain in the fingers, and more expensive, but after 14 years of diabetes, I have only one complication, some neuropathy (nerve pain), which is being treated.

I have never been able to use alternate sites (like my arm) for blood samples. Oh, well.

Here's a point in general: Preventative care does cost, but acute care costs more.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[toggleswitch]

The tighter the control, the fewer the complications.

Good health advice AND parenting advice.
(ducks and runs!) *sound of whip cracking against floor*
Contol is like a handful of sand. Hold it too loosely and the wind takes the sand away. Hold it too tightly and it slips through your fingers.

If people are anything like cats...
There is a ratio of insulin to body weight. When the insulin needed reaches the upper limit (unti of insulin per unit of body weight), there are greater chances of wild fluctions in the blood-sugar. This scenario would logically seem to extend itself to greater and tighter montoring and control. Am I even close to the mark on this one?

I had a fear of needles. Diabetic cat required shots, so I grew-up and rose to the level of the challenge. I got over my fear of pricks. With a qood quality needle "it won't hurt a bit".

 

[sudsmaster]

IMHO the ideal situation would be a device that both measures blood glucose and automatically administers small doses of insulin to address high levels - within limits, of course. I'm told that companies are working on this but so far I haven't seen anything concrete. The big fuss right now seems to be insulin that can be delivered in an inhaler - which is ok I guess but it doesn't really address the problem.