Vision

[Bobmuhthol]

I went to an optometrist a couple years ago and vaguely remember him telling me my vision was 20/15. That is better than normal, and I went because I was having trouble with my eyesight. It hasn't improved any and I just remembered it today. Does anyone else think optometrists are idiots?

[CrystalTears]

They're slow. Don't get me started on it because I have been going to them since November over an inflammation in my iris and it's still frickin' there! It's pissing me off in the worst way.

[Bobmuhthol]

Oh, and he suggested I consider glasses in a few years...

[imported_Kranar]

They can't be an idiot, there's nothing to be an idiot about.

You just go, they shove a chart infront of you, and ask you to read the letters on the chart. The lenses themselves are what tell the optometrist your eyesight is so if you weren't honest or were guessing the letters and got lucky, it's not their fault.

[imported_Kranar]

<< Don't get me started on it because I have been going to them since November over an inflammation in my iris and it's still frickin' there! >>

Ow!

[Bobmuhthol]

I guess I got REALLY lucky then, because 20/15 is the maximum vision for the human eye.

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by CrystalTears
They're slow. Don't get me started on it because I have been going to them since November over an inflammation in my iris and it's still frickin' there! It's pissing me off in the worst way.
Have you gone to more than just one I hope?

If you are not satisfied with your current physician people, please go to a new one.

So many people tell me how they do not really like their Dr.

Coming from a medical family please be assured that any decent physician will totally understand and not make any bad marks in your chart ala seinfeld.

A relationship with your physician is about as intimate as you can have in life. You need to be able to discuss anything and if you are not comfortable that kind of compromises the whole thing.

Sorry for the length here.

End sermon.

[CrystalTears]

No I actually this group of doctors. They really are trying and from what I hear of my condition, it doesn't just go away easily. I'm just frustrated about it, that's all, and I don't think I can blame them really for trying.

The first doctor I went to treated me for a month, said it's better, gave me a prescription for glasses and sent me on my way. A week later my eye flared up in the worst way. Him I didn't like, obviously.

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by CrystalTears
No I actually this group of doctors. They really are trying and from what I hear of my condition, it doesn't just go away easily. I'm just frustrated about it, that's all, and I don't think I can blame them really for trying.

The first doctor I went to treated me for a month, said it's better, gave me a prescription for glasses and sent me on my way. A week later my eye flared up in the worst way. Him I didn't like, obviously.

Well especially when it comes to vision, I am a bit paranoid. I could live with one arm, one leg or the like relatively well, but blindness freaks me out and I would not play at all.

Please do seek another opinion soon if your situation is not clearing up.

Sometimes a fresh approach is all that is needed to find the source of the problem.

Even if you get a new physician in the same practice it's not really the same thing as they may have shared information. Purely in an attempt to assist one another to be sure, but a second opinion should start from scratch and be formed wholely on its own.

[HarmNone]

Originally posted by CrystalTears
They're slow. Don't get me started on it because I have been going to them since November over an inflammation in my iris and it's still frickin' there! It's pissing me off in the worst way.

I hope you are seeing an MD (Ophthalmologist) about this. An Optometrist is not a medical doctor and has no business treating inflammation.

HarmNone

[Edited on 9-14-2003 by HarmNone]

[Bestatte]

What HarmNone said. Optometrist is an eyeglasses specialist. Opthomologist is an eye DOCTOR.

Bob, you went to a glasses dealer and he had you read a chart. That tells you only how far and how close you can see with each eye before things appear blurry.

You need a battery of tests, which takes around an hour. This includes this puffy air thing they poof into your eyeball to check pressure for glaucoma, looking at dots that make up an image using this funky machine that looks like an old 3D Viewer, occular reflexes by moving a pencil back and forth in front of your face and following it with your eyes....and a whole mess of other stuff.

20/15 means that you can see. It doesn't mean your eyes are in good shape.

I have "better than 20/20" vision, but was also warned that I might need reading glasses in the next couple of years. I can read a sign in a supermarket window proclaiming the sales price of cabbage from a block away. I can also read a small-print novel in dim light.

I'm also the only person in my entire family, mom and dad's side, who doesn't need glasses. I did, however, have astigmatism when I was a kid. This doesn't affect the 20/20 thing at all. It just sorta makes the little dirt spots on the ceiling look like they're moving, and makes it difficult to read music because the notes keep jumping around. It's more of a perception thing than a vision thing, you know?

I also have what the doctor said is extraordinary wide-angle perception, which explains why I can read and walk at the same time and never bump into anything. People at work think it's freaky, but I've been doing it all my life.

Crystal Tears, while you're waiting for the medical doctors to determine the most effective course of action, I would suggest a simple *treatment* that is non-medical and NOT a cure or solution:

Brew a cup of chamomile tea. Drink the tea, with honey and lemon. Put the teabag, wet but squeezed so it isn't dripping, into the refrigerator. An hour later, get the wet teabag out and lay down on the couch, and place the teabag on the affected eye (with your lid closed of course). Keep it there til the teabag is room temperature.

Chamomile is a very strong antihistimine, and an antiinflammatory herb, once it's been heated and the essential oil released from the flowerbud. At the very least, it'll feel great for around 20 minutes and you'll have enjoyed a nice cup of tea. At the very most, it will assist in clearing up the inflammation.

[Trinitis]

I've been thinking about going to get these tests done, but my lack of any type of health insurance tends to sway me away from doctors. How much does this normally cost to do? :)

-Adredrin

[CrystalTears]

HarmNone, I'm seeing a series of ophlomologists, yes eye DOCTORS. I've gone from the tame guy to the eye expert and she's tried many things, from drops to steriod pills to actual steroid injections. At one point she had thought of sending me a specialist in Boston but she's trying everything to keep me local if she can. I trust them and I don't want to give them up, so if it means taking a little long to cure it, that's fine with me. I'd rather be comfortable with my doctor, unlike the first one who didn't know what I had and just helped me until it was at a desirable rate for him and dismissed me.

And I really don't see how putting tea bags on my eyes is going to cure or help anything. That would be fine if my eye was swollen. I have an inflammation on the inside of the iris of my right eye. And lovely, it would feel great for about 20 minutes, so what would you suggest I do for the other 23 hours and 40 minutes of my day while my eye is bloodshot and the iris is now skewed to the upper part of my eye because the inner fluids are stuck to the iris thus allowing it not to move?

I have an eye condition called Iritis that I may need surgery at some point, and I think they're trying to prevent that if at all possible.

[Tsa`ah]

I personally recommend a nice fatty liver from those barley mash fed cattle. If you feel a more costly cure is needed, try a good thick NY strip... aged angus of course!

Slap that slab of meat over your face and let stand until you attract flies.

It's hard to swallow one's expertise when we have no evidence of them, let alone advise from someone using a Klaive quote as a signature.



[Edited on 9-14-2003 by Tsa`ah]

[Bestatte]

Essential oils are absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream. The closer to the affected area, the quicker it can go to work.

You can look up Chamomile in any medical book regarding herbs, essential oils, Aromatherapy, folk lore, and even the AMA attritibutes high regard for this relative of the daisy as an antihistimine and anti-inflammatory.

Just inhaling the fumes from the tea can help some inflammation of the capillaries in the nostrils, while its scent can be soothing to the nerves and the ingestion of the tea causes drowsiness.

Remember, over 90% of all pharmaceuticals have their base in herbs and other plant substances, from aspirin (white birch and willow bark) to Valium (valerian root) to digitalis for heart disease (foxglove).

Just because it's a plant, don't think it can't possibly help. Chances are, whatever you're taking for your cough, or sneeze, or exema, or dandruff, or headache - comes from a plant.

Edited for Ts'ah's benefit: Regarding expertise, I am a clinical Aromatherapist, certified by the School of Aromatherapy in San Raphael, California, and registered with the Masonic Hospital in London. Part of my study to acquire my certification was intermediate biochemistry, including studies on chemotypes, molecular structures and diagramming of over one hundred plant chemical components, from thujones to phenones and alkalydes. Polysaccharides, sugars, esthers, etc. etc. etc.

So yes, I do have a measure of expertise on the subject.

[Edited on 9-15-2003 by Bestatte]

[CrystalTears]

You may be an expert on Aromatherapy, but that still won't help my situation. Thanks for trying to help, but compresses won't alleviate an inner eye problem.

Good thing you weren't certified in acupuncture. :rolleyes:

[Edited on 9/15/2003 by CrystalTears]

[Bestatte]

I think you're missing part of my post. Aromatherapy is usually applied externally (in the USA it can't be legally prescribed for internal use but in Europe it can, and is), but it works INternally, through the bloodstream.

It's the same as using ben gay on your skin to relieve inner muscle pain. You're not putting the stuff in your body. It's getting absorbed through the skin and working on stimulating the blood vessels to warm the surrounding tissues. Ben gay's primary ingredient is oil of wintergreen. I use oil of wintergreen in its pure form instead, diluted since the oil undiluted can cause severe blistering on the skin.

Chamomile works in the same way. It will absorb through your skin, into your bloodstream, and help "deflamate" the inflammation, which (no matter what the cause) is a whole mess of swollen and broken blood vessels in the eye. If you don't want to try it, that's fine. Just don't tell me that it isn't worth the effort, simply because you can't imagine it working.

As I said, it probably won't cure the problem. It isn't meant to be a cure. But it might relieve the symptoms for a couple of days. As I said, worst case scenario is 20 minutes of immediate relief, simply due to the fact that you have a cool compress on your eyes and are laying back in a relaxed position. Plus drinking the tea -does- cause drowsiness, so that might help as well, especially if you experience itchiness in the eyes while trying to sleep.