LymeNet Flash: glaucoma at such a young age!!

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»	LymeNet Flash » Questions and Discussion » Medical Questions » glaucoma at such a young age!!

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Topic: glaucoma at such a young age!!

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

i have finally found out the cause of my vision

problems, i was shocked to find out i have bad

glaucoma and optic neuritis too, i just always

thought only only people got glaucoma!! i am only

33, i am so worried about my eyes since they are

only getting worse and i am so scared of going

blind, what i was wondering is could lyme or babs

cause these eye problems?? i cannot think of any

oother reason why i would have gotten these

problems, and if i am not able to tolerate the

antibiotics, will my eyes keep getting worse?

even if the doctor has given me the prescription

eye drops, will they not work if i am not

treating the infection? thanks for any info and

help

Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

madge
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 13704

posted

Radha, almost 8yrs ago my husbands eye DR told
him he had glaucoma...then he got ever sicker...
bad head and eye pain...he did take his eye drops..everyday...

then 3yrs ago we find out he has Lyme...

when he started his 2yr in treatment for Lyme
all of a sudden his eye pressure went down form
24 each eye to about 17...i then said to the
eye DR do you thing that this is not
glaucoma but his Lyme...she said she never
heard of such a thing...

now in his 3yr in treatment his pressure is
now 12 in each eye..he stomped his drops and
even his Lyme DR agree's it was Lyme

he still has head pain and eyes hurt but his
pressure is normal...

just thought you like to know this and hope
things work out for you...hang in and take
care...Madge

--------------------
madgen

Posts: 342 | From newjersey | Registered: Oct 2007 | IP: Logged |

Gabrielle
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 5329

posted

Radha,

I am convinced that Glaucoma can be caused by an infection - which one, I don't know.

My husband and I we both have Lyme and who knows what else. He was diagnosed with Glaucoma some years ago, after years of abx treatment for Lyme.

Then, 1 year ago I was diagnosed with Glaucoma - also after many years of abx for Lyme.

The abx treatment didn't cure our eye problems but both of our glaucomas can be controlled with the usual eye drops.

The statistics say that 1-2% of our population here have a glaucoma. I really cannot believe in a coincidence that in our 2 person household 100% have a glaucoma and both are sick with Lyme or whatever.

I'm sure that our glaucoma are caused by an infection which is transmissible from human to human.

Gabrielle

Posts: 767 | From Germany | Registered: Feb 2004 | IP: Logged |

Pocono Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5939

posted

Hi Radha,

I don't know if you are on or have been on steroid eye drops, but they can increase your intraocular pressure.

I was put on them for bilateral iritis and my pressure went to 47. I had to use drops to lower it and was switched to nonsteroidal drops.

After Levaquin, the iritis resolved, the pressure is normal and no drops at all. Vision still blurry though.

Very frightening when it comes to vision.

The glaucoma drops did work prior to the antibiotics. The first drops I used didn't work but the next ones did.

--------------------
2 Corinthians 12:9-11

9 But he said to me, �My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.� Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ�s power may rest on me.

Posts: 1445 | From Poconos, PA | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

thanks to all of you for replying, can you tell

me the name of the eyedrops that did help you? i

have Xalatan and Alphagan but i think the second

one is actually making my vision worse, has

anyone experienced this? and could this be normal

in the beginning when you first start the drops?

how long did it take for your vision to improve

after starting the drops? or after starting the

predisone if you had optic neuritis? yes vision

problems are very very scary, especially when the

doctor bluntly tells you that if you dont follow

the treatment, you will go blind!! my eye

pressure is 35, and one eye is almost black, and

other is so so blurry, and i also have optic

neuritis which i am taking prednisone for now,

after 3 days of IV steroids that i got in my

home, so all this can be from lyme? since i

cannot think of any other reason to have these

eye problems, no genetic disease, thanks such for

your input,

Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

timaca
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6911

posted

Radha~ Here is an interesting article to read:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/glaucoma.htm

There are more here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=glaucoma+cause&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Here's one on the infectious causes of glaucoma:

http://books.google.com/books?id=QHK2-q5WsAYC&pg=PA284&lpg=PA284&dq=glaucoma++infectious+cause&source=bl&ots=d715pF24G1&sig=CRt0jWziylueD6J6sVlpq2_SPiA&hl=en&ei=iyYRS-b0CpHsMajdmDM &sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=glaucoma%20%20infectious%20cause&f=false

(If that doesn't come up, do a google search for "glaucoma infectious cause" It's the book: Glaucoma Science and Practice

Here is a list of what can cause optic neuritis:
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/o/optic_neuritis/causes.htm

I know you are quite ill, and the doctors don't have a good handle on what is causing your illness. Perhaps taking a hard look at what the book and last article have to say will shed some light on your problem.

Best, Timaca

Posts: 2872 | From above 7,000 ft in a pine forest | Registered: Feb 2005 | IP: Logged |

Pocono Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5939

posted

Radha,

The drops that worked to decrease the pressure was Xalatan.

It was the steroid drops that caused my increased pressure. The Iritis was the reason for the steroid drops. I was switched to Xibrom drops for the inflammation. No more steroid drops for me!

Possible the steroids are causing your glaucoma?
Called being a "steroid responder"

My vision hasn't cleared but the pressure has returned to normal.

I saw my eye doctor three days after starting the first drops but the pressure didn't come down, so switched to Xalatan. She had me go in nearly daily.

It was difficult as tapering the steroid caused extreme flares in the iritis, but thank God the Xibrom worked.

If I remember right, it took about six months for the pressure to reach upper limits of normal.
Now running 13 and 15. (about 1 1/2 years)total.

--------------------
2 Corinthians 12:9-11

9 But he said to me, �My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.� Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ�s power may rest on me.

Posts: 1445 | From Poconos, PA | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged |

Radha
LymeNet Contributor
Member # 8464

posted

thanks so so much to all of you for all your

helpful replies and for the great links, tonight

i had a very very scarey episode, the worst worst

headache i ever had and i have haedaches

everyday, allt he time, but this was something

toaly different, i think i got an attack of the

acute gluacoma, have any of you experienced that?

thanks God the headache is better now, but i am

so terrified it might come back, and i am not

strong enough to run to the emergency room, i

just dont understand how i could get all this at

such a young age, especiallly the glaucoma and

such high pressure, 36, maybe i have had it alot

longer than i knew, since i only find out i had

this a week ago, and the problem is finding

someone to come to my home to regularly check the

pressure since i cannot travel at all, but then

i have other medical problems too, thanks again,

and if there is any other treatment other than

prednisone and the eye drops, pleaes please let

me know, typing this is a major job for me, sinc

everything is so so blurry and dark!

Radha
Radha

Posts: 392 | From New York | Registered: Dec 2005 | IP: Logged |

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