Eye problems and eye doctors

I've gone to eye doctors and I always walk out with no answer and $150+ less in my pocket. They tell me that I just need a better prescription and it will make it better. It doesn't. The solution is to get new glasses and for the sensitivety to light, just wear sunglasses all the time. Well I have to wear regular glasses now and i can't always have sunglasses with me.

I went as far as tinting the windows in my car, which is illegal in illinois and now I keep getting tickets for it. I am not taking them off cause it hurts my eyes without them.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced these problems and not getting them resolved from the eye doctor. And also if there is something else I can do about the tinted windows. The doctor did say that my eyes being sensitive of light could be because of my crohns. Doctors are able to write prescriptions, but its hard to get them to.

Im sick of my eyes hurting all day every day.

The first doctor I started telling the problems to was an optometrist. Than the next was just a regular eye doctor and the person I went to tonight was an optometrist. It's getting too expensive to have no results.

Crohn'snme said...
I think you should see a regular eye doctor. If they are dealing with Crohn's they will bill it under medical. Do you have medical? There are a series of xrays that they do to track crohn's and it's progress if you have insurance it should be covered. I see a regular medical eye doctor and have my glasses filled at a cheaper facility like costco. If you go see a doctor who refers you to a eye doctor for this situation your more likely to be covered than a regular eye exam.

Hi!  I have the EXACT same problem, only I also see little dancing spots or stripes when exposed to anything other than dim lighting.  Anyways the light/sun really bothers me a lot and my eyes are always hurting from something or another.  I went to optometrists every year for 10 years and they were like yeah yeah whatever.  I went to the opthamologist and he was like hey your pupils are messed up, here have this eye drop.  The eye drop is called pilocarpine, it reallllllly burns your eyes and it's difficult to see correctly for maybe 20 minutes afterwards, but once that stops my eyes feel lots better!.  I can even drive at night without having problems since the other cars' lights aren't making me see spots or stripes everywhere or giving me eye pain.  The other nice part is it's only like $10 for the eye drops and the drops last a couple months.

I thought I should mention I also live in Illinois and have a bajillion friends who are Illinois cops.  You can get permission to have tinted windows if you have a medical reason, like a skin or eye condition that is aggravated by the sun.  You can tint everything but the front windshield for medical reasons.  The optho or even your primary doctor should be able to write you a medical note about that, so once you get that note, whenever you get stopped for your tints they can't write you a ticket for it.  If they DO write you a ticket anyways, you can take your medical note to the circuit clerk or to the traffic prosecutor or the traffic judge and your ticket gets tossed.  You should also totally complain to the watch commander of the police department who writes you the tint ticket despite it being medical tints, the cop who wrote the ticket will get chewed out big time and they will make sure to pre-emptively chew out every other guy in the department to make sure nobody else writes someone a ticket for medical tints.

Good luck at the optho!

Now, it looks like I am going to save the eye. It's now 20/70.

It appeared as a "mass" to my eye dr when he examined it after dialation. He then sent me to a opthamalogist retina specialist who after 6 months gave up and sent me the a opthamologist retina specialist with an inflamation specialty at the Baskin Palmer Eye Institute, and she is also a professor at the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine.

Take a tip for me and have your eyes checked regularly by an opthamologist. The prognosis of going blind is REAL BUMMER!

BTW, although very rare it is called Scleritis of the Eye.

Dave D

indigosunrise,

You are the first person I have come across that also has (had) scleritis of the eye. It really got me down when I was 20/400 in the bad eye and started to affect the good one and 100mg of Prednisone per day was not helping. I was really hurting both physically and emotionally. My flying (piloting) days were over. I could no longer drive our RV. I didn't dare get in the boat without someone sighted with me. I even bought a white cane.

Then I got in to see Dr. Janet L. Davis, MD  http://www.bpei.med.miami.edu/site/find/find_results_doc.asp?doc_id=8&old=1

My old ophthalmologist did not know what to do with me so I researched it and found that Remicade was the treatment of choice. I then got my G.I. to put my on it. Dr. Davis added 20mg of Prednisone and bumped me up to infusions every 4 weeks. That was seven infusions and seven months ago. Now my good eye is back to 20/14 and my bad 20/70 due to the retina damage and a cataract, probably from all that Prednisone. I plan to get that removed the first part of June.

I know now that it was never a sinus ache. It was the scleritis. about a month ago, I got another “sinus ache.” Oh crap! Here we go again. But rather than take a Vicadin that would just stop the pain, I took 60mg of Prednisone for just that one day. It did not work as quickly as a Vicadin would but it did work. Today, that’s my secret weapon.

Lifestyle changes are still in order but I threw away the cane.

Dave D

So far, my Scleritis has stayed away, but I just got off prednisone maybe three weeks ago.  My Internist said that if it does come back, it would be better to put me on an immunosuppressive drug as opposed to prednisone again.  THAT scares me!

With having posterior Scleritis, did your eyes get red?  Or was the pain your clue that something was wrong?

I have been getting the "sinus" headaches off and on, and I have even had pain in my eyes, but it comes and goes so I don't know what to think.  I do see my Opthamologist this Friday for a follow-up from taking the Prednisone.  I am assuming they can see Scleritis, even posterior, by looking through a slit lamp?

To Brian,and anyone else who reads this who gets what looks like "pink eye", I just want to say, if you don't believe it is pink eye, get another opinion.  When my eye problems first started, I was told it was either pink eye from allergies or dry eye.  They originally treated it as such, then figured it was Episcleritis, then it got really, really bad in one eye and they diagnosed it as Scleritis and figured it was probably that all along.

Also, my health insurance has paid for all of my visits to my Opthamologist, and believe me, I have had plenty this past year!  I pay my $15.00 copay and I have Aetna.  I would check into your health insurance, Brian, to see if they cover eye visits. 

Take care and let us know how your eyes are! 

So far, my Scleritis has stayed away, but I just got off prednisone maybe three weeks ago.  My Internist said that if it does come back, it would be better to put me on an immunosuppressive drug as opposed to prednisone again.  THAT scares me!

I understand your fear about the suppressants. In the beginning I ojected to the massive amounts of Prednisone. The Drs said. "Okay, you wil lose the eye." I gave in. Remicade is best.

With having posterior Scleritis, did your eyes get red?  Or was the pain your clue that something was wrong?

Yes they did but the first problem was I found myself reading with one eye closed because it felt tired and didn't seem to focus. I knew I had a cataract and figured that was why.

I have been getting the "sinus" headaches off and on, and I have even had pain in my eyes, but it comes and goes so I don't know what to think.  I do see my Opthamologist this Friday for a follow-up from taking the Prednisone.  I am assuming they can see Scleritis, even posterior, by looking through a slit lamp?

Yes they can. But with my cataract, it was difficult to see. My Optometrist missed it. Said it was just a cataract. The REAL specialists take a handhend magnifying glass and have me lean back; then get up close to look, making me look up, down , right, left, etc., with the eyes really dialated. Then they back it up with many pictures. Then the inject dye in the vein in the arm to make everything look red and take more pictures. Afterward, my urine looked like Mello Yellow.

Brian,

See another Opthamalogist. Tell them of you concerns of another autoimmune issue in your eyes. Your insurance will cover this. Don' let it get out of control. Like they told me, "You will simply just lose the eye."

Dave