<p>Anybody have any experience with this that can give me some encouragement for life with decreasing vision? I am terrified because I’m the primary income earner and there is no way we can survive on my husband’s minimum wage job. It’s really sad that that is my primary fear right now; I guess I’ll come terms with the other implications later.</p>
<p>On the bright side, to connect with the glass half full thread: no need to worry about replacing my husband’s car as we will soon only need one vehicle, and I don’t have to worry about finding another position when my congregations may “close their doors” in another two years. Always some positives in any situation.</p>
<p>Kkmama, I’m so sorry. It is pretty deep in my mom’s side of the family. My mom was getting regular injections for quite a while - became convinced that they were raising her BP, then stopped (with no ill effects). Don’t know if those injections really help or are some doctors’ path to wealth.</p>
<p>How are you with technology? My mom would be so much better off if she had a smart phone (with Siri or some other computer helper), and used other technology. But she lives alone and just doesn’t get technology.</p>
<p>Do you live somewhere wtih good public transportation?</p>
<p>Kkmama, this can differ widely. I am assuming you have the wet type. We have acquaintances that have been going through the injections for 10 years now and the progression has been very, very slow. </p>
<p>I don’t have MD, but I am experiencing eye issues as well, and this is something I have been avoiding facing. Start looking for message boards and forums with members dealing with this as they often have out of the box resources and ideas. I do this with a number of issues. I can’t advise about the eyes, because I haven’ t gone there yet, but for other things, it’s been a treasure trove of info that the doctors and other medical personnel just could not begin to meet.</p>
<p>My Dad and lots of his family have it. Theirs is slow; he hasn’t been able to read for two years (he is 85). His sister has it. His cousin has it. Only the cousin treats it regularly with injections, Dad barely takes the red vitamins which DO help. The cousin is 93 and sees to get around, but not to read or write. Still has a giant screen TV to watch baseball, but I think it is more the sounds. I hope yours progresses much slower than you fear. I am terrified of getting it, too. So far so good. </p>
<p>A colleague’s wife has this. Recently, it got to the point where she no longer is comfortable driving. Living in a place with almost non-existent public transportation, this is difficult. She also has given up her substitute teaching job since she felt she couldn’t see as well without getting up really close. I know they’ve been down to Boston to see specialists and get her fitted with some special glasses that will help her read. Good luck…</p>
<p>I got the preliminary diagnosis a few days ago and see the specialist next week to determine if it’s the wet or dry. I’d been having vision problems for awhile and finally got the new glasses last week that were prescribed in February. That made my vision worse, so I went back to the optometrist who found damage to the macula that was not visible six months ago.</p>
<p>This is one of those reasons why you should not use casual friends as medical practitioners - it was as hard on him as it was on me. He kept saying that he had really hoped to find a growing cataract instead.</p>
<p>I have amblyopia and of course the MD is in my good eye. I am really freaky about anything to do with my eyes and I’ve taken clients from the moonlighting job to get the injections. So next stop is off to my family med person to get a good dose of xanax so that I can survive the diagnostic stuff.</p>
<p>I had dry eyed and I stopped eating lots of junk food, more fruits and vegetables and my eyes are significantly better. More carrots did improve. I had minor cataract due to years of going to the beach without sunglasses, doctor said on the scale of 0-10, I might have less than 1.
I don’t know how severe your eye problem is but doing a little things could improve your situation.</p>
<p>DrGoogle, I hate to break the news to you, but if you “had” dry form AMD, no amount of fruits and veggies can restore your vision! It means your vision was impaired because of something else OR you simply adapted to live with somewhat lowered vision. </p>
<p>This is somewhat an oversimplification. AMD means that a number of photoreceptor cells in your eyes died. This is a pretty much irreversible process, because these photoreceptor cells responsible for vision are neurons, and just like neurons in the CNS, they do not regenerate or multiply! There is NO treatment that can restore vision, but there are some that can slow down this slow death of the remaining photoreceptors. As EK stated, sunglasses that block blue light and vitamins (AREDS formula) is pretty much all one can do. Sad… </p>
<p>Bun, I did say I don’t know what OP has, it could be more serious, mine was a dry eye case and it did help. No I have no intention of being a doctor. So don’t jump on me. Did you have too much coffee this morning?</p>
<p>Dr Google, why such hostile tone? Coffee has nothing to do with my post. I am a bio researcher who is very familiar with the molecular issues underlying the causes of AMD. It is a serious condition, AND it is irreversible! there is enough misinformation out on the web; your post implying that veggies and carrots can treat AMD just adds to this pile. If you doctor said you had AMD, and now it is gone, s/he misdiagnosed you in the first place. What exact test did your doctor run to make the diagnosis?</p>
<p>Bun, sorry my post came across as hostile. It wasn’t meant to be. I apologize if you think it was. No I didn’t go to any doctor because I had this condition before, maybe 10 years, and when I last saw him he diagnosed as dry eyes and told me to use some drops. That’s what I did this time and it didn’t go away. So I decided to cut back on this particular junk food that I have been eating recently, which has a lot of fat.</p>
<p>KKmama, sorry to hear about your eyes. I reread my post #7, I think I did mention I had dry eyes and not assume your condition is dry eyes.
My own mother is technically blind, she only had peripheral vision. She also was a handicapped, was paralyzed for two years when she was pregnant with my sister and she never become whole again. So I fully sympathize with you.</p>
<p>I think there was confusion between “dry eyes” and the dry form of macular degeneration upthread.</p>
<p>Kkmama - the good news is that there are more treatment options for this than existed just a few years ago. I’m sure it is a very frightening diagnosis - hang in there - this is the time to find the best specialist in your area and investigate the treatment options.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, yes, but it was not clear what precisely DrGoogle was talking about - this is a thread titled “macular degeneration”. Did she call “dry eye AMD” “dry eyes” in her post or was she talking about dry eye, which is a totally different condition? I have seen the former incorrect terminology used quite often.</p>
<p>Kkmama, I really feel your pain. My mom has it, and it begins to affect her quality of life, since reading is her way of life. There is a lot of misinformation about dry form AMD on the web, so when you research this issue, be very careful about the sources. A simple googling of “dry AMD reversed” pulls up a lot of dubious sites peddling panaceas.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, sadly, there are no new treatments in the horizon for the “dry” form. I’m not that surprised that there has not been much progress towards finding a treatment for it. One of the issues is that this is not a gruesome disease. It does not kill, it simply progresses until it impairs vision to the point that it affects one’s quality of life. Not “sexy” enough for pharma to invest in it. </p>
<p>Here is a good source (it addresses both “dry” AMD and neovascular (“wet”) AMD):</p>
<p>Im trying to find articles geared towards more general audience… Not easy. This article that lists some of the novel experimental treatments is about 4 years old:</p>
<p>Can’t find what happened with Fentetinde in phase 3. Emixustat (sp?) or ACU-4429 is still undergoing investigation, with phase 3 to be completed sometimes in 2016 per the FDA site. </p>
<p>rockvillemom- sorry you are facing this diagnosis. I am not a medical professional. I know every situation is different. My father was diagnosed with this in his 60s and is now 90. At the time, he was told get his business affairs in order in anticipation of this loss of sight. He was very fortunate, because though one eye is severely effected, the other eye remains functional. It has been enough for him to do what he needs to do for years. </p>
